My brows crumpled. “That’s not right. She’s always been there.”
“You cut yourself off from half of your bloodline, and in doing so, created a monster in your mind, because you couldn’t accept yourself.”
I shook my head. “No,” I whispered. “She craves souls and death.”
Donn’s expression softened. “You aren’t two beings, Cora. You chained a vital part of yourself, and your psyche did what it needed to for survival.”
That made… complete sense.“Indigo?”I asked, only to be met with silence. Tears pricked my eyes as pain lanced through my chest while my world fell apart. It was simple to pretend that the worst parts of me weren’t under my control. It was something I’d rejected for so long.
“Of course, your mate quickly figured this out,” Donn said, glancing over my shoulder at Hudson.
My head shook back and forth. That couldn’t be right. He wouldn’t keep something like that from me. Hudson could be counted on to tell me the truth, no matter how painful it would be to hear.
I spun on my heel to face him. His gaze was hard. No. “Tell me it’s not true,” I begged him. He squeezed his eyes closed and fisted his hands.Oh my God.
His throat bobbed as he stared at me, his eyes beseeching me to understand. “I was going to tell you, but it needed to be done delicately. You literally created another personality to survive, Cora. Just throwing it out there would have caused more damage.”
“How long?” I whispered, fisting my trembling hands at my sides.
“About a week after you first turned into her.”
That was months ago. “But… but you can hear her thoughts, separate from mine.” It didn’t make sense. If we were one and the same, he would have been able to hear all of my thoughts.
Hudson’s gaze bored into mine. “You keep your thoughts protected behind a massive mental wall. But your angel side, Indigo, is outside of those restraints. You don’t accept her as part of yourself and therefore, she isn’t afforded the same barriers. I can hear her, because she is free.”
The room spun as I stared at him, my blood turning to ice. I flinched when warm fingers gripped my shoulder and a sharp fingernail dug into the top of my spine.
“Don’t touch her,” Hudson roared, as I arched against Donn.
He leaned down to whisper in my ear, “You are magnificent, Cora, inside and out. He hid it from you because he can’t accept you. You crave death and power.”
“But we are mated. Th-the b-b-bond…”
Hudson hung his head. That was not a lie. I felt it inside my chest. Even now, his heart beat against mine.
Donn chuckled. “Oh, the bond is very real. But his beast won’t tolerate a half mating, so to make that a reality, he had to make deals.”
“What kind of deals?”
Lucifer tilted his head back, his shoulders dropping.Oh, Hudson, what have you done?
“He did what he had to, to become the male you needed, the male you deserved. But he could never measure up to the storm in your soul. So while they schemed to strengthen him, they also spun a delicate web of control over you to contain your true power. They made you weaker.”
I took a step back. That wasn’t true. Mates wouldn’t do that—it went against the bond.
Hudson roared. “That is twisting the truth.”
Twisting, but not lies. My hand hovered over my mouth. “Did you do something to me?” I asked.
Lucifer sucked in a breath. “I did.” Trust the Devil and get burned. Why did it hurt so much? “It was to give you time to accept everything that you are. Your mind broke, niece. You don’t remember it. Think back to after The Hound tortured you. When they found you, they put your body back together, but your psyche was splintered. When you accepted your other half, you shook the world. You think the remnants are because of your grandmother? Think carefully. Donn has been here longer than they have. I spun a tale of lies to protect you, and your mate helped me do it.”
My hands shook as I reached for those memories. “You put a psychic straightjacket on me? Made me weak and vulnerable?”
Hudson pointed at Donn. “You have no right. She is mine to protect.”
“You made decisions about me,” I shouted back. My heart felt like it was breaking.
The nail in my back dragged down my spine, splitting my flesh apart. “Time to shed that deception and embrace the storm, Cora.”
