Suyin inhaled deeply and then just spat it out. “I wasn’t on some solitude retreat. The truth is, I was taken by a demon and brought to his lair in Hell.”
Iris’s jaw dropped.
“I convinced him to let me out of his dungeon, and we kind of … became friends over the last month.”
She winced. It sounded ludicrous when she said it out loud, and she hadn’t even gone into the part where they blew each other’s minds with out-of-this-world sex.
“Anyway, eventually, we started studying together, and he told me a lot of stuff. Including who my father was.” The vow wouldn’t let her talk about Murmur’s spell or why he wanted her blood, but she could talk about herself.
“Who your—What?” Iris shook her head roughly. “You didn’t know?”
“I thought I did. I mean, I knew what my mother told me about him, but apparently, most of it was lies.”
“Who was he then?”
“A demon.”
Iris did a slow blink. And then another. Suyin couldpractically see the gears churning in her head. “But that’s not possible. Demons—”
“Are created, not born. They’re sterile, yes. I know. But …” She took a breath. “Shit, this is hard to explain. Basically, demons can evolve.”
Iris didn’t look as surprised or incredulous as one might have expected.
“After enough time spent being evil,” Suyin continued, “I guess they start to wonder what they’re doing or question why they’re doing it. They develop emotional intelligence and a conscience. They start to care about stuff. They—”
“Develop souls,” Iris whispered.
“Exactly.” Suyin frowned. “How did you know that?”
But Iris shook her head. Suyin figured she’d just keep talking. She was going to lay it all on the table, and then she was going to force Iris to tell her everything, even if she had to tie her to the chair and interrogate it out of her.
“So, my father discovered that demons who evolved souls actuallycanreproduce, and that’s how I—”
“Wait.” Iris suddenly stiffened, holding up a palm. “Wait, wait, wait. Demons can’t have children. That’s the way it is.”
“Like I said, that’s true, but not with demons who have evolved.”
“You can’t know this.”
“Ican, considering it’s how I exist.”
“Whoever told you that was lying. You can’t be half demon because there’s no such thing.”
“He wasn’t lying. It’s all in my father’s research. I can show you the book myself and explain how it’s possible. But I didn’t need to prove it to believe it. My whole life I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m different, why I heal faster, why I’m stronger, and now, why I’m not aging. This is the only thing that makes sense.”
Iris stared at her. Her face was blank, her eyes wide. Every few seconds she blinked as if hoping when she opened her eyes, all this would have gone away.
“So you’re saying … demons with souls … can have children.”
“Yes.”
“They’renotsterile.”
“Yes.”
Iris leapt to her feet. All of a sudden, she looked quite green. “No.”
“Yes. And my father proved it.” Suyin gestured to herself. “That’s how I—”
