“And now we are back full circle,” I uttered.
Abaddon leaned forward. “Cora, contact your grandmother and offer her an olive branch. We need to get closer to learn what she is planning, and she’s conceited enough to see you as a sympathizer to her plan, even though you bear the marks of her betrayal on your skin.”
Indigo, my sleeping alter ego, raised her head and stared at Daddy Dearest through my eyes.Oh boy.“We will not bow down to a weak elemental with slipping control on her own faction. We will not placate her, even with lies, to uncover her treachery. Eloise Roberts will die for her crimes. I will tear her heart from her chest and force it to keep beating as I suck her soul out until she is a shriveled husk of flesh, before spitting it out to wander Purgatory for eternity. Her blood will decorate the earth she is determined to rule. It will seep into the ground and with it, her memories will fade from human consciousness. I will grind her bones to dust before reforming them into a pretty crystal to hang around my neck as a reminder to our enemies of the consequences of harming Cora.”
“What she said,” Hudson added with a feral grin. Indigo retreated, having said her piece.
Abaddon sighed and leaned back in his chair, entwining his hands behind his head. “Then I guess we go with Plan B.”
Umm, there were options?
“I vetoed that,” Aunt Liz snapped. The White Furry Menace, AKA Bella, launched herself onto Abaddon’s lap, kneaded his jean-covered thighs, and settled herself into an excellent impression of a loaf of bread.
“You have terrible taste in men,” I told her. She winked at me.
Damn cat.
“You can’t veto all my ideas, Elizabeth,” Abaddon replied as his hand glided over Bella’s fur. “Unless you have your own to replace it.”
“Anything that doesn’t involve sacrificing my niece.”
Lucifer got that look in his eye that made me narrow my gaze. “Perhaps it’s time for the Devil to answer her call.”
Nothing good could come out of that. “She will have warded against you specifically,” I warned him. “And likely set a trap.”
“Silly niece, you think any ward or spell could hold me? I am Lucifer fucking Morningstar. The once favorite?—”
“An untrue rumor perpetrated by yourself,” Abaddon interjected.
“—of God, and now ruler of the worst of humanity. Don’t forget, it’s my power and my rule that keeps the demons from your door. What do you do, brother? Sniff around half-angel daughters because you got bored doing the grocery shopping?”
Where do angels shop? Walmart?
“I have lesser ranks that do that.”
“Admit it,” Lucifer said with a chuckle as our eyes ping-ponged between the two archangels. “This is the most fun you’ve had in centuries.”
My gaze landed on the Disney T-shirts they wore, and it dawned on me. This was the most fun my father had had in centuries. Isn’t there some rule against angels on opposite sides of the earthly divide becoming besties? It feels more apocalyptic than my grandmother trying to spawn the end of humanity’s reign. Lucifer caught my gaze and winked at me. Save me now.
CHAPTER THREE
We walk in shadows with secrets and lies.
Iwaved farewell to my pink T-shirt wearing paternal family and slammed the door closed before leaning my back against it. A sigh left my lips as I geared myself up for the next few hours. Lucifer was walking away like he didn’t have a clandestine meeting to attend with me. This deception hurt my heart. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand it, I did, but keeping secrets from mates was like breaking the unspoken eleventh commandment.
“I have some admin to sort before bed,” I told Hudson as he started up the stairs. He froze and turned around to face me.
“I’ll keep you company.”
No, that wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to have to alter his memories when he saw me disappear into nothing. The first two times were hard enough.
My lips twitched. “You’ll have even less time to win your bet.”
His brow furrowed.Take the bait, Principal, you want me naked more than you want to watch me open mail andorganize my diary.“Fine. One hour, Cora, then I’m coming to get you, and I don’t care who sees you naked.”
“Are we getting a show?” Rebecca asked as she moved the dishes from the dining table to the kitchen.
“Again?” Sebastian muttered as he made a show of checking outside. “It’s not even a full moon. Can you two not control and confine yourselves to the bedroom?”
