Her gaze fixated on the metal encircling my wrist.
I’d never seen it before. Had never noticed it before right this moment. It looked eerily similar to the bracelets grandfather’s prisoners wore.
How come I’d never noticed it? Why was I wearing it?
Gloria gestured toward the bracelet, murmuring an incantation.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, but my voice was shaking.
Both of them ignored me. Grandfather studied me as if I was a bug.
And it hit me.
They’d taken my memories. My power. Mylife. And they were going to do it again.
My earrings burned. Gloria chanted. Grandfather watched me.
I snarled, swiped the letter opener off the desk, and lunged at Gloria.
Her eyes went wide, and Grandfather lifted his hand. Agony swept through my body and dropped me to my knees.
I screamed and screamed.
* * *
SAMAEL
No matter how I tried, I couldn’t reach Danica in her dreams. I attempted to create the connection again and again throughout the night, and then again during the day, since time passed twice as fast for her. But something blocked me. Had Lucifer hurt her? Was he hurting her even now? I could feel her, faintly at the end of our bond, so I knew she was alive. But I couldn’t contact her.
I paced in the guest room I’d moved into. Danica would be… displeased to see what had become of our room. The ghost of a smile trembled around my mouth as I pictured her reaction. I was sure she would have much to say about the fact that my power had instinctively protected the bed. Her smart mouth had been just one of the things that had made me reluctantly fascinated with her when we first met.
Something latched onto my ankle.
I glanced down. Lia had been stalking me, hiding beneath the bed so she could lunge out at me. My mouth trembled. I leaned down to pet her, and she swiped out at my hand. Her claws were tucked away, and I allowed her to bat at my arm for a few minutes.
“Yes. I miss her too.”
Someone cleared their throat. I turned to find Vas in the doorway.
“What is it?”
“The… gnome is here.”
I frowned.
“Gary,” Vas clarified.
I opened my mouth to tell him to leave. I wasn’t interested in company. But Danica’s face flashed across my mind. Her friend. The gnome was her friend.
I sighed. “Let him in.”
I made my way to the living room and Vas returned a few minutes later with the gnome, who looked as exhausted as I felt. His gray skin was sallow, and his hair stood up as if he’d been continually running his hands through it.
He nodded at me. “I see you’re coping about as well as Danica did when you were out of commission.”
I shrugged, stalking toward the bar. “Drink?”
“Wouldn’t mind a vodka.”
