I sank back against the sofa. It didn’t get any worse than that.
“More souls for me,”Indigo mused.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t deal with my soul-sucking split personality right now.
“So now you know the stakes, tell me, niece, what deal did you make?” Lucifer drawled.
“Nothing that affects the veil. All you need to know is I’m working on weakening Eloise.”
“I don’t like it,” Abaddon grumbled. “I don’t trust him.”
I snorted and folded my arms. “Don’t pretend to have parental concern for me now. You’re a few decades and school reports too short.”
Abaddon sipped his soda but had no comeback against the facts.
Lucifer opened his mouth to no doubt protest, but I sliced my hand in the air, cutting him off. “Don’t bother unless you’re willing to reveal the deal you made with my mate.”
My deal wasn’t a problem, and they would soon learn of it anyway. But while I had leverage of the unknown on my side, I needed everyone to stop hiding the hard to swallow shit from me.
I pointed my finger at the ceiling, then the floor. “If we are quite done, you can return to your respective homes so I can get on with my day.” I had research to do, and I needed my aunts.
Abaddon nodded at my wings. “Do you plan on walking around White Castle with those on show?”
“They will draw attention,” Lucifer added.
No shit.“I haven’t decided yet.”
Abaddon and Lucifer tilted their heads to the left at the same time. Creepy.
“She can’t retract them,” Lucifer decided.
“Do you need help?” Abaddon asked.
Probably. I could battle until I figured it out, but that might cost me precious time and increase my irritation. “Yes.”
The two angels leaned back like I’d slapped them with a wet kipper.
Was I that stubborn?
“Yes,”Indigo said.
Lucifer rubbed his hands together like Christmas had come early and ushered me to stand. Bella side-eyed me with a look of disdain. Judgemental feline. “Excellent. I’m an expert in wing management and mental blocks. It’s like training a badly behaved dog. Sit. Stay. Retract.”
I gave him a blank look. “You touch me, and I’ll clip your horns.”
“Rude. You know I don’t have horns,” he muttered.
Abaddon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Focus inward. Picture the wings folding into your back. Imagine the muscles contracting, the energy dispersing.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing.” I flapped one experimentally, and a vase on a side table flew across the room. I winced in anticipation, but it froze midair and settled on the floor. Abaddon lowered his hand. Cool trick.
Lucifer snorted. “Let’s try that again. More daughter of death, less demented chicken.”
I pointed at him. “One more poultry joke, and I swear I’ll make you lay an egg in your bed every night for the next month.”
His grin widened. “Interesting. Not something I’ve witnessed before.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
