“Who are the people in that photo and what’s their role in all of this?” I ask, proud that my voice doesn’t crack.
“Where did you get this?” Dad’s eyes widen with wonder as his hand runs over the picture.
“That one, I got on the Road of Worth, from an…an…ally… I hope,” I reluctantly answer as I look down at Beleth’s ring that’s still on my thumb. He gave it to me and said to summon him if and when I need him. I guess my bio mother once told him I would need him one day.
“An ally? In Hell? There aren’t many that you might find,” he comments before catching sight of the thumb ring and smiling. “Yet, it looks like you did,” Dad murmurs before handing back the picture.
“We call ourselves the Pathmakers. Our purpose is to restore the power equally and put the right people in charge who balance the realms flawlessly.”
“Well, shit, you must be almost done, swiping right on the save the worlds app,” Lynx chips in.
“Yeah, it’s only taken us a few wars, rebellions, a death of a Fate, and the reappearance of a sarcastic storm shifter and the four horsemen,” Dad deadpans.
“I see where you get your sarcasm from,” Lynx turns to me.
“Everyone in that photo has a particular job. For instance, your grandmother guides the Reapers, which is why I want to throttle her when I see her next,” Dad admits through clenched teeth. “She should have guided that missive a different way and allowed me to stay, or at least given me a heads up so I could have been more prepared.”
“Well, she did say she always liked Mom better,” I tease, trying to make it light. “But I guess, she would be biased, though.” I chuckle.
Dad immediately looks away from me, and a rollercoaster takes off in my stomach with a heavy plop as ice slides down my spine from his reaction.
Fuck.It all clicks as Dad wets his lips, and I can hear the pregnant silence in the room as I’m sure everyone else is picking up on what he’s not saying.
“Who am I related to in this picture?” I can’t even look at him in front of me. I can only stare at his likeness in the photo of him smiling with his arm wrapped around my birth mother and me as a baby.
“The only people you are related to in that picture are Liliwen—your mother, one of the Fates—and me, and even that is in question.”
“What?” I jerk my head up and shake it as if trying to get water out of my ears. “I’m sorry, I must have just blacked out for a moment because I think I misheard you.”
“The only person you’re biologically connected to is Liliwen. Because of me not being around to protect your mother, you have extra magical essence of an unknown origin, so I’m not sure if we can count you as my biological daughter anymore.”
The room goes deathly silent as I stare at my dad, or not dad, for a moment as his gray eyes take up my entire vision, and suddenly the room starts to spin, until I’m abruptly squeezed, making me squeak.
“Nope, not passing out now, Kitten,” Knox croaks into my ear.
“What do you mean by essence?” Lynx asks, getting defensive on my behalf.
“It’s what happened to us,” Levi calmly says, and I turn to meet Levi’s hazel eyes. “Think of it as being the purest form of DNA, but a magical form being passed to another being and adding it to them.”
“Oh, okay.” Lynx nods but then frowns. “But then how did Rez get that?”
“Good question,” Levi says. “When it happened to us, Lilith poured her essence over us to save our lives on the days we were born, according to my dad. So, how did Rez get someone’s essence that you don’t know of?”
“I was told about it from her as soon as she realized what had happened, but I wasn’t there to actually witness it. If I were, it wouldn’t have happened, and the man who did it would have been dead,” Delvin growls.
Do I still call him Dad? What the fuck is my life coming to? I might as well hit him with the big questions.
“What happened to Liliwen?” I ask, looking for any signs of deceit.
“She died.” His answer is too short.
“How?”
“I don’t know.” His eyes flicker to the left. I feel Lynx let go of my hand and get up, but I’m too invested to pay attention to anything else.
“Lie.”
“Stabbed and drained of her power.” Dad shoots me an annoyed look. He knows that I’m not taking his simple answer, as I would have in the past. I want the complete, honest, and hard pill to swallow. I think I deserve it at the very least.
