He winced, clutching his throat.
Marcia tilted her head. “I think you might be right.”
Pete reached for her, muttering incoherently, but nothing personal, nothing forbidden, nothing humiliating escaped his lips. Just sweet, earnest, magical gibberish.
Cora Roberts—head of woman power and independence.It had a nice ring to it.
Marcia launched herself at Pete, hugging him so tightly his blanket slipped. I sighed. It was good while it lasted—all thirty seconds of it.
Bella hissed in agreement.
Another day, another spell, another naked man on my rug.
Now to find a man with a baguette.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Every lie has roots. Every truth grows teeth.
Peace settled over Summer Grove House, the potent scent of expelled magic clinging to the air where we’d broken the bonds of blood. I had a niggling feeling we were missing something fundamental. I folded my arms and leaned againstmy open lab door. The nightlife was waking as the sun sank behind the trees. It was time.
I retreated to my office, checked the door was locked, and stepped through the tear in reality and onto the grassy hill conjured by Lucifer. I was done pretending everything was fine.
I raised a brow. “Look at that. The gang is all here, almost like you were having a meeting before the meeting.”
Lucifer lounged like a smug prince of darkness in his chair. Aira sat upright, regal in her navy dress. Dave scowled at the sky as if daring it to fight him. Harry hovered an inch above his chair, trying to look grounded and failing. Great-Aunt Sophia had moved on to crocheting something in powder blue. If only the world’s problems could be solved with a triple stitch.
I ignored the empty chair and dropped a book onto the center of the table with a thud that echoed through the fabricated realm. The tree on the front hadn’t stopped smoldering since I’d taken it from the vault, but I had done some basic research, and I had questions. So many, many questions.
I flipped it open and pointed at the name surrounded by wings. “Interesting name, κ?ρη, don’t you think?” The Serpents shifted in their seats. Okay, we were doing this the hard way. “Also a name for Persephone, the Greek goddess who famously got trapped in the underworld for half the year by her jealous lover, Hades.”
Lucifer shrugged. “The real story is more complex. The history books have a miraculous habit of both over-simplifying and missing the point entirely. It’s due to the fact that they were written by small-minded humans with no belief in that which they cannot see or feel.”
“Huh. So what would a Greek goddess be doing in my family tree?”
Sophia scowled. “That’s not a Roberts tree.”
Seriously, Aunt?
“I agree, but despite our dismissal of the weaker sex, I do have a whole other side based on the male chromosome.”
“Your father has no family to speak of, other than yourself,” Lucifer edged.
Look at them trying to deflect. Pity that I’d worked out enough to keep them on their toes. “Not my father. My grandfather.” The breeze stopped whispering through the trees, as if Lucifer had forgotten to keep up the pretense of the illusion. “What’s even more interesting is the alternative name for κ?ρη.”
Harry floated away as if he were trying to distance himself from what was about to be revealed.
“It’s ancient Greek,” Aira said. “People assign meanings all the time. It’s human nature to look for patterns and understandings in everything.”
“So you don’t think it’s a coincidence that it also means Cora.”
Aira opened her mouth, and I shot her a look. “If you dare try to gaslight me, I will never step foot inside this realm again.”
Her mouth snapped closed. That’s what I thought.
“I know in my heart who I am and who I am not—genetics be damned. The more pertinent question is, why on earth would you all know and hide it from me?”
Sophia pursed her lips. Dave leaned back and folded his arms.
