It then dawns on me. “You made a bond with him?” I ask, even though I already knew the answer.
Her shoulders shake as she nods up and down. “I couldn’t refuse him.”
There is a reason the term unequally yoked is a thing in our world. A mate-bond with the wrong being could be like a slave/ master situation. It allows the dominant partner to control the other. That was the problem I had with Abigia. She was the daughter of a duke, and I was a nobody. It’s why I reached out to the angel to break the bond.
Part of me felt bad for Unina. I know what that mate-bond must have felt like. Hell, I even know why she would start one. It’s why I started one. She was caught up in something she couldn’t get out of.
Standing to my feet, I walk over to her.
“Come here,” I say, opening my arms. She plows into my chest, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. She buries her face in my stomach.
I ran a hand down her hair.
“I’m sorry, Raziel. I’ll do anything to make it up to you,” she pleads.
“Shhh,” I calm her. My wings spring from my back. “No need to worry.” Letting her go, I step back. Her tear-filled eyes stare up at me with a soft smile.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “I will send that muthafucker to be with you soon.”
Her gaze widens. Crossing my wings over my chest, I then spread them back out. My talons slice Unina in half. Pulling my scythe from the void, I rip an opening into the pits of the underworld. The sulfur smell clogs my nostrils, and the screams fill the apartment. I kick her corpse into the hole and then close it up.
Although I felt bad for Unina, she had ample opportunity to tell me what was going on. If she hated that bond so much, she should’ve come to me. In the same way I figured out a way to get out of mine before I was forced to do something against Khalid, she could have done the same thing.
Unina broke my trust and, if I’m honest, my heart as well. She had to go.
Conah appears in my office. “You didn’t find out who she was working for?”
I turn to him, with clenched teeth. “I already know.”
Pain erupts in my chest, causing me to clutch a hand to my heart.
“What’s wrong?” Conah asks, alarmed.
Looking over at him, fear and dread fill my veins. I don’t answer his question. Instead, I rush through the void hoping I will not be too late.
chapter Twenty-three
Truth Is
Nasiah
Standing outside my childhood home sends a wave of sadness through me. Reminders of my lonely life behind this door slam into me.
This morning, Tanisha called to tell me that my mother isn’t doing well. Apparently, Aunt Karema—Tanisha’s mother and Mommy’s sister—came by to see her and said Angie hasn’t left her bed. She isn’t eating or sleeping. It’s time I relieved some of her stress and had this talk with her.
I love my mother, despite her issues. I honestly didn’t think my being gone would affect her as much as it has. It helps me to understand that all the times I questioned whether she and Daddy really cared about me, they actually did.
“You still want to go in?” Erazel asks behind me.
Even though I needed to check on my mother, I wasn’t crazy enough to come without a guard. My last experience with the incubus scared the shit out of me. Even Razzy knows where I am in case something happens.
“Yeah, I’m going in,” I say without turning to face him. Using the spare key under the rug, I let myself in.
The house is dark, not a light on, even though it’s the evening. The sun hasn’t gone all the way down yet, but there’s not enough sunlight coming through the closed curtains to have the lightsoff. I also notice the house smells stale and sour, like there is food left out somewhere.
Switching on the living room light, I can tell that she hasn’t cleaned in a while. The pillows from the couch are on the floor. There are blankets scattered about along with plates and cups. This place looks nothing like the sterile and clean childhood home I grew up in.
Erazel steps up beside me. “Smells like depression, bitterness and anger in here.”
