“Samael saw her soon after she was killed. He’d gone to the area because he was worried it was a witch he was seeing. I made him show me his memories.”
“Why would you do that?” Evie was fighting to sound disinterested, but her hand tightened around her mug.
“I’d seen pictures, but I’d never seen what really happened. She… fought for her life. She was brutally slaughtered. Anything she’d wanted to achieve throughout the rest of her life, any secrets she finally wanted to tell us, any bridges she wanted to rebuild… all that was ended. I don’t know why she came back here— maybe she’d decided that we could move back. Maybe she wanted to see you. Maybe someone lured her here to kill her— I dunno. But she didn’t deserve to die that way. No one did.”
Evie sniffed, glancing away. “Why are you telling me this?”
I needed to be careful here. Evie and I were finally repairing our relationship. “I think you’ve been so busy being mad at mom, that you’ve never truly grieved her. And I get it, believe me I do. I was so, so mad at her for such a long time that when she died, we were barely speaking. The last thing I said to her–”
I cut myself off and took a deep breath. “She may not have been perfect, and she may have done a lot of things that hurt us both, but she was our mom. Burying it all down only means that it’ll come up when it’s the least convenient.” My panic attack the other day had proven that.
I pulled out the other set of earrings from my pocket. Grief flashed across Evie’s face as she took in the blue beads, and then she ripped her gaze away and stared into her coffee. “I’ll think about what you’ve said. That’s all I can say.”
I placed the beaded earrings on the table next to the diamond studs. “That’s all I ask.”
A witch named Brooke waltzed in. Her hair was a similar shade to Evie’s, and almost as long, and she had the same curvy build. She raised her hand as she walked to the fridge. “Sup.”
“Hi,” I replied.
She took out a can of coke and pointed it at Evie. “Don’t forget about tonight.”
Evie grinned and I raised one eyebrow. “What’s happening tonight?”
“Dress up party at Meredith’s.”
I frowned at that. “Mere doesn’t usually do private events.”
Brooke nodded. “Yeah, but Jessica is one of her besties. She convinced Mere to let her have her thirtieth at the bar, as long as we opened it up to the public at midnight. You should come!”
The underworld would freeze over before I voluntarily put on a fancy-dress outfit and dealt with drunk witches.
Evie grinned at whatever expression I’d made. “Danica’s busy. Maybe next time.”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Maybe next time.” Misty glowed red and I covered the dagger with my shirt. Traitor.
Brooke wandered out and Evie cleared her throat awkwardly. “Are you… seeing Samael?”
“No.”
“Dani–”
I took a deep breath and filled her in. By the time I was finished, her eyes were wet with sympathy. Maybe eating my feelings would help. I reached for a cookie and took a bite.
“Wow, this is good. Don’t look at me like that. Samael lied to me. This whole time. He says it was because he was ‘protecting me’ and he didn’t want me to find the prophecy. But I know him. He was planning to use me to take down Lucifer.”
“He loves you, Dani.”
I gaped at her and burst out laughing. “You’re a romantic.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. Lia swiped at my hand and I shook my head. “He doesn’t know what love is.”
“He’s a demon. You know more than anyone that he has no experience dealing with humans. He’s not used to having to compromise. You need to teach him.”
“You know what I was thinking when I arrived in that library? Wow, this is so cool. I can’t wait to tell Samael about this.” I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.
“You love him too.”
I let out a startled laugh. “I feel… something for him,” I admitted. “But sometimes that isn’t enough.”
