With a trembling breath, Ariel stiffened her spine against the terrible, unbelievable truth she must deliver to him.
“’Tis not you, Valteri,” she assured him.
She glanced up, but couldn’t bring herself to face the misery that burned in his eyes.
Why?she wanted to scream. Why had this happened?
That horrid wretch of a witch!
Mildred and her cruel stupidity. So wrapped up in her own misery, she failed to look past it and see what her quest for vengeance could or would mean for others.
For the entire world.
“I have damned us both.”
And damned more than that.
A frown lined his brow as he moved around the bed to touch her, and though he appeared calm, she could sense the roiling anger inside him. “How so?”
Ariel closed her eyes in an effort to banish the warmth of his hand against her bare shoulder, the comfort he offered.
Comfort she must shun. And shunning Valteri was the last thing she wanted to do.
How was she to tell him what she now knew about herself and the others?
He’d never believe her words. In truth, she found it impossible to believe and she knew it for reality.
Belial had played her well.
They all had.
But that one demon had surely earned his place in Azmodea for his treachery.
“Milady, what has caused you such distress?”
Her heart pounding, Ariel considered several ways to broach the matter with him, but nothing seemed right.
How could she tell him that she was something he didn’t even believe in?
That both of them had been nothing more than the pawns in a game they hadn’t even known they were playing?
“You will think me insane.”
He brushed her hair away from her shoulder. “I will never think that of you.”
She shook her head, refusing his reassurance. She must maintain distance between them.
For his sake and for her own.
This wasn’t about carnal knowledge. She was the daughter of Michael and he…
He had no idea who his father was, but she did.
Holy gods, what had Belial done?
Had Kadar brought them together to toy with them all? Just how sick a game was this?
Valteri gently took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Talk to me.”
