“Yes.”Careful, Cora.“But it will happen little by little. I suggest you keep testing until you are successful.”
Lucifer tilted his head. “That’s a poor strategy. Every time I attempt it, I reveal and then close off another way of accessing her. We need to save it for when she’s weak.”
“Don’t mistake Eloise Roberts for a weak elemental when stripped of her god power,” I pointed out. “It will be your downfall.”
“Indeed, the manipulator of a blood curse strengthened in each generation is to be respected,” Abaddon muttered.
The Roberts’ curse. It isn’t the sort of thing that fizzles with a quick spell—it digs in its claws and keeps on taking.
It started with Helen, the powerful woman who fell for a liar already claimed by two wives. Fearing her wrath, he tried to leave them for Helen, but they banded together and struck back. They cursed a pregnant Helen so that every Roberts woman who truly gave her heart away would be bound to the will of the man she loved. If he chose, he could strip her of every ounce of power.
Louise, Helen’s daughter, fell for Eric, a cruel man, and he drained her dry while she carried his child. As a result, the baby, Eunice, was born powerless. So Eunice spent her life trying to undo the curse. She never succeeded in breaking it, but she managed to twist it. She found the strongest elemental she could, used his life force to create a child—my grandmother—and when that baby drew her first breath, he breathed his last.
That little “fix” bound the curse even tighter. Now, in every generation, the firstborn Roberts daughter inherits both the burden and the reversed curse running in her blood. I’m the firstborn.
The mating bond with Hudson is different than if I’d fallen for an elemental. A shifter bond wouldn’t allow him to hurt me or me hurt him, but it did, however, make him act stupidly.
I twisted my hand over and stared at the wound. What ramifications would it have with an ancient god? Could I use it? The more pertinent question was, if Eloise had made blood pacts with Donn, could we use that to destroy her?
I squeezed my fist and lifted my head, meeting the curious gazes of my father and uncle. I needed time and a visit to the vaults. Alone.
“Is there anything else I can help you with? I have a war to prevent.”
Lucifer’s lips twitched. It seemed my uncle was amused by my problems. “The war is already here,” he replied.
“Every hour that goes by, the more souls are torn from their rest to walk the earth,” Abaddon added.
The remnants were poltergeist equivalents, but not sentient in the way Harry was.
“That they are coming from the realms you are responsible for makes it your problem.”
Lucifer shook his head while stroking Bella, who was glaring at me. “The moment they walk the earth, they are part of the laws laid down by Father.”
“Then stop letting them escape,” I snapped. “I can only fight this on so many fronts.”
Lucifer pointed at me. “I’m already bending the rules by recruiting more reapers to drag mine back to Hell.”
I blinked. “What?”
He grimaced as if he’d said too much. I’d never even met a reaper.
“The veil cannot fall, Cora,” Abaddon said.
Ice skittered down my spine. “I’m aware.”
“The more souls that wander the earth, the weaker it becomes,” my father said.
“If that happens, remnants will be the least of our problems,” Lucifer muttered.
Abaddon glared at him, and I stiffened as they conducted an entire silent conversation in the space of a few heartbeats.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Lucifer swung his gaze to me. “There are many things in the veil that have no business on earth.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “The time for cryptic warnings has passed. I need to know what the stakes are.”
“The stakes? Armageddon. Complete annihilation of the human race.”
