Her little mouth tightens in a knot. “How dare you speak to me that way. I am not your charge. You may never banish me. I don’t—”
“Enough.” Demetri’s voice comes across loud and crisp, that perma-smile still firmly etched on his lips. “He is correct, dear Sage. If he wishes, you would be banished, although that may be too harsh of a word.” He nods my way. “But you will not do that. You love her too much to be separated from her.” He pauses a moment, that smile fading ever so slightly. “Those that you cherish you wish to hold near. There is no separation you wish to endure, certainly not one that could last an eternity. Is there?”
“We both know it’s not Sage we’re talking about anymore. It’s Skyla.” I look to the miniature version of myself to his right. “Yes, Sage, I still love her. But you are wrong. I am not for her. I am very much her enemy. So wash your mind of anything that sings to the contrary. It’s setting up a divide between us, and I don’t like it. And while I have your attention, be mindful of the fact that I don’t dislike her. In fact, I love her. My intentions on maintaining my throne are slightly different than those of my father. You, however, have zero vested interest in this. And for you to say you do is nothing more than a fallacy. You have no right to hate your mother the way you do. Not one.”
She jumps to her feet. “But my allegiance—”
“Is not needed. All I need is your love. That’s all your mother needs, too. Don’t think you need to hate one to love the other. It doesn’t work that way. Appreciate the differences, have an opinion, but don’t burn something that could be beautiful to the ground on principle. At the end of the day, we will all be in eternity together. That is the way of the world. That was the destiny of all those who went before us, and it is the destiny of all those who come after us. Eternity is the constant. We are only here to decide which eternal path we would like to take whether we come by the decision with the proper information or the blind willingness to believe it. What do you think will happen in one hundred years, a blink of an eye for you, when your mother and I and your brothers are all standing in Ahava? Will you still disparage her then? The answer is no, Sage. So why do that now? Allegiance? Who fed you that crap? Don’t answer that. I’m looking right at him.”
Demetri chuckles. “Your last point is a far cry from the truth. In fact, it was me who suggested you maintain your relationship on Earth with Skyla. She was willing. She had the kingdom giftwrapped for Logan. This briar patch was your chosen path. You forged your painful present. This is your doing. Thus, Sage’s determination to abhor her mother was simply a reflection of what you put out in the universe.”
His words stun me into submission.
Is this true? How could it be true? And then it hits me. I guess I had done this. My projection of hatred was simply a façade, a wall that I needed to get me from point A to point B, but for Sage it was her teacher.
I take a full breath and hold it.
“Sage.” My eyes close, weary from the conversation, weary from the hour. “Shit,” I mutter to myself before looking at my beautiful, beautiful daughter. “Sage, I have ruined so many,manythings in my life by simply trying to make them right.” I know for a fact Logan has said the same thing about his own life on many occasions, and that might be true, but I seemed to have taken them to an extreme. “I cannot,willnot ruin you. Believe me when I say, I appreciate your devotion to me. You have no idea what a pillar of strength you are for me. And truthfully, I don’t know if I would have gotten as far as I did without knowing I have you in my corner. But you must realize that you don’t ever have to choose between your mother and me. She loves you so much.”
“Stop.” Her tiny chin lifts high. “You are out of line. You do not get to dictate to me who I will treasure or who I will disregard. That is entirely up to my discretion. My devotion to you is not simply because you are my father, but because I believe in what you’re doing. I believe the Fems should stand, that Celestra should fall. I believe it is better for the Nephilim…” Her voice trails off as if she were questioning this for the first time herself. Then as if a match were lit from underneath her, she straightens like a pin. “You have tried my patience.” She looks to Demetri. “Solve this. He is weak and quickly slithering out of our grasp. I will not lose what you have promised.” Her eyes glow like blue flames as she cuts a sharp look my way. “How dare you infer I have no mind of my own. Be strong, Father. You are about to be sifted like wheat. You may not see it. Grandfather may not care enough to warn you, but here it is, the final battle on the horizon. You must choose life. You must choose to hold onto your throne. I’ll see you both in Eversor.” She nods to Demetri. “The jubilation with the Fems will begin once I arrive. Don’t tarry, tell him the great news.” She stalks off, and her body dissipates before she ever hits the door.
Demetri frowns my way. “Haven’t you learned by now not to unsteady a woman? No matter how great or small, they prefer peace to war—literal or figurative.”
“The girl can’t stand her mother. It needs to end. That’s not what this is about. It was never about that.”
“Yes, well, such is life—and such is the afterlife as well. It will all work out in the end.”
“So long as things end your way?” I ask.
“I’m glad I didn’t have to say it.”
“Why don’t you say this great idea of yours? I’m interested to see what your dark mind has concocted.”
That cheesy grin crests his lips again. “Your people have left you. Your mission is to retrieve them.”
“They no longer need me. Skyla has the serum. The government is voluntarily running tests, and out of an abundance of paranoia people are voluntarily taking them and posting the results for all to see, lest they be called out as aliens. Do you have a permanent serum?”
“No.” He sits back, relaxed, as if this was something to be nonchalant about. “Skyla does.”
Everything in me electrifies at the thought. “Shit.”
He nods. “Yes, it could’ve been trouble but no longer.”
“Why? Do we have one as well? Do we get them back with an even playing field?”
He shakes his head. “I’m afraid at this point it’s simply not enough.”
“Then I’m assuming whatever you have cooking is.”
His smile expands. “Son, what we have is the holy grail. It is enough to make every Nephilim in existence pledge alliance to you tonight. Within hours your kingdom will be restored. What you gain will by far surpass what you have lost. Every last Nephilim will be at your mercy.”
“Not Skyla. Not Logan. They’re willing to go down with the ship.”
He shakes his head again. “Not this time. In fact, I predict not only will they come around on their own—if you wanted, you could force them to bow in your presence first.”
“My God”—I lean forward, my elbows planted on my knees—“what is it?”
“When Wesley left, there was a cache of serums at the lab.”
