“No.” I tugged my hand from Ronen and sank onto the bed. “I didn’t know. But I saw the blond male attack at my mother’s funeral. I never saw him sink his teeth into my father’s neck. I assumed. Then I confronted my father and he…”
My throat tightened.
“He essentially called me ignorant and blamed me for my mother’s death.”
“Beautiful.” Alexei sat beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“I wasn’t sure,” I said weakly. “I didn’t know.”
First my mother, now my father? What did I ever do to the universe to deserve this?
“It’s okay,” Alexei assured me.
But it didn’t feel okay. My stomach churned, and I fought the urge to puke.
“Do we think he’s in league with Anya and Sam?”
Ronen dragged a hand down his face. “We don’t know. And Lucifer is no longer in the castle.”
If only I could find Anya, speak with her, figure out?—
Heavenly Shit. It was like someone had cracked me over the head with a rock engraved with the wordstupid.
Where do you go when you seek information?
She knew what I was capable of. She knew I’d come to her.
“Before we do anything, let me dream-walk to Anya.”
Ronen released a heavy breath. My resolve was unquestionable.
Alexei frowned. “The weird mind thing you do? Don’t you both need to be sleeping?”
I lay back on the scratchy bed and closed my eyes.
“No. Only she does, and I hope to hell she is.”
I squinted at my surroundings,holding up my hand to the sun. I was back at the park. The same city glinted through the trees in the distance, and the same light posts lined the cement path. Only this time, I wasn’t in my mom’s body.
“I could tone down the intensity. But being cooped up in a dungeon for years makes one miss the beating rays.” Anya’s voice came from behind me.
“So you were the one who gave my mother my amulet,” I said, turning.
“Yep. It was some of my best work.”
“And let me guess, you’re Lilith’s daughter and the blood-witch taking over Hell.”
Her long black hair, the way she held herself tall and proud, even her facial features resembled Lilith. I remembered thinking it the day of my mother’s funeral, but I chalked it up to grief and trauma. The second time, I’d been too focused on… jealousy.
Anya stepped forward, shoulders squared beneath her maroon designer trench coat. “Yes, I am Lilith’s daughter. No, I’m not the one trying to take over Hell.”
I refrained from digging my nails into my skin and showing her how distressed my next question made me. “You expect me to believe you escaped prison, had blood vials and a pentagram in your cell, and you’re not trying to take over Hell with Sam?”
She laughed. “The cute healer? Damn, she’s good. When I saw her plant the blood and draw our sigil, I saw my time was up. But I had been curious as to how she’d spin it.”
She?
“You’re lying. No other female of note entered the dungeons.” At least not one with a key intent on planting evidence. “You’re a blood-witch who knew of my powers, and you somehow knew I’d come to you, fabricating this story in advance.” Although I wished with every fiber of my being there was some othershewe could blame.
