“Yes, I feel so much better now that I’m being judged. Please continue.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Cora.”
I slammed my fist on the table, making Dayna jump and Abbadon narrow his gaze.
The teapot hissed in sympathy. Even it knew I was done.
My wings itched with the need for release. I clamped down on them. “Unless you have something meaningful to offer the group, you will be quiet or leave.”
Abbadon tilted his head to the side. “Have you looked into your lineage yet?”
I blinked. “Yes, that’s how we unraveled Eloise.”
“No, not the Roberts side.”
I squinted at him as a siren song wove around my mind. Faded, forgotten, but not erased. It hummed in my veins, a memory imprinted that slithered out of my grasp.
“And while you’re at it, try digging up everything you can on the god you’ve bound yourself to.” After dropping that nugget,he disappeared, and everyone sucked in a breath, waiting for the ax to fall.
“Bound?” Hudson roared.
So that was how it was going to be? Drop the bomb and run from the room to watch the fireworks from afar?
I glanced at the ceiling and sent him a metaphorical middle finger.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Every tree has a shadow. Every shadow has a root.
When in trouble with your mate, avoid him like the plague by hiding inside your family vaults with the doors closed. Despite pointing out the fact that he was also hiding things from me, things that were likely more troublesome than the deal I’dmade with Donn, Hudson couldn’t reconcile that he was in the wrong too.
The problem was, once Donn demanded his first date, all would be revealed to Hudson, and if he hadn’t already revealed what he and Lucifer had done, I would remain in the dark. I would have to barter a truth for a truth before my secrets were spilled.
I unrolled a scroll and pinned it open on a table using a few priceless artifacts. My finger traced the line from my name to my mother’s, and then my grandmother’s.
Frank Shepherd, Horologist.
In place of where everyone else had their elemental power noted, he had his job, signifying he was a completely ordinary human who tinkered with clocks and watches. My grandmother was done with her children, and yet she fell for this simple man’s charms. Unfortunately for him, that was a death sentence, as Eloise couldn’t risk the curse sucking the power from her. How sad to walk this life alone. Perhaps that was why she was the way she was.
I twisted my lips to the side. Maybe she fell pregnant by accident? But that didn’t fit with the precise way she moved through this world. She selected each and every man to be the father of my aunts to avoid the curse taking hold of their power, ensuring she never fell for them, even a little. They were basically sperm donors.
Which means Eloise covered it up and eradicated him from our history. Why? Embarrassment at falling for a powerless man? Or something more profound... something that would give us a glimpse into why my father was pushing me to explore this side of my family tree?
I scribbled some notes down on a pad. I wasn’t taking anything, including this scroll, out of the vaults when our world was so unstable.
The air crackled with power, and the candles illuminating the room flickered. I narrowed my gaze on a hazy spot and let Indigo rise to the surface, ready to battle whatever was trying to push past the hefty wards guarding the Roberts’ most precious things.
The failsafe would destroy them if they succeeded in the breach, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Wind swept through the room, and the candles lost their battle, plunging us into darkness. My wings itched against my aching spine as I went still. Someone was here, and the wards had failed in both their protection and destruction.
“I tire of waiting for you.”
My shoulders relaxed. I couldn’t avoid him forever, and I was surprised I’d gone even a few days. Donn didn’t strike me as a god with patience, or one who forgot he was owed a dating debt.
“I’ve been busy,” I replied. “Could you turn the lights back on? Holding a conversation in the dark is disconcerting.”
He chuckled, the sound warm as it curled around me. With a flourish, the candles leaped to life, revealing the god of death. He was exactly as I remembered, yet the sight of him still made my breath catch. It wasn’t just the silver eyes and inky hair curling around his sharp face; it was the effect of being in the presence of a being who held eons of knowledge at their fingertips.
