My heart ached deeply, but my mind couldn't forget everything King had done: standing between Dagon and me, dismissing our feelings as infatuation, lying about who he was, withholding truths about the objects, forcing the object bond onto me.
Love is powerful, love is many things, but even love shouldn't forget and forgive harm done in its name or justified by some higher belief.
Standing with Dagon now, I knew we'd survive whatever heartbreak lay ahead, because we had each other.
Chapter forty-three
Dagon
Iwas seething with anger – anger at myself, at King, and at the whole damned world.
I was furious that Diablos felt forced to point a deadly weapon at our father. Furious at King for the disgust I saw on his face, and enraged that Wild thought he needed to protect the others from me. Most of all, I was livid that this entire mess had caused Di to raise his walls, making our bond feel muted.
Di chose me, chose to stand by my side. It shouldn't have had to come down to this. King meant so much to both of us… why did we have to stand against each other?
Little did King know I had always been a demon. Now he knew. He must know I'm a Starborn. Part of me felt guilty for who I was, for the angel who unknowingly raised a demon. ButI pushed that part deep inside. Di needed me, and I would stand proudly next to him.
“You have nothing to feel bad about. It’s not your fault you’re a demon. It’s not your fault! You didn’t know King was an angel.”Di's voice resonated in my mind.
I should have known Di would be able to hear my thoughts. My emotions were all over the place, fueled by anger and pain. I was projecting loudly.
“It doesn’t make it easier. If my powers hadn’t been suppressed, I would've known to stay away from King.”
“Then we wouldn’t have met.”
“One way or another, we were always going to meet, my love. Always.”
Turning my attention back to King, I saw his hands trembling, his power pulsing dangerously through the room.
"What? How?" King's voice cracked with pain.
I hated myself for causing him pain. Before being an angel, he was my father. Losing him would destroy a part of me, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise.
A wave of anger hit me through the bond – Di's anger. I shut down my thoughts and tightened my hold on his hand.
Di remained silent, knowing this was my story to tell.
“I’m a demon, a Starborn, I’ve always been.” At the word 'Starborn,' something flickered in King's eyes, likely disgust. “I grew up in Hell until I was twelve. There was an attack on the Starborns. Our parents were killed. Me and my little brother tried to run away, but he didn’t make it." My voice cracked. With Di's support flowing through the bond, I continued, "He was killed in front of me.”
The room got the kind of quiet that follows a sound no one knew how to brace for.
Andras closed his eyes and took a exhaled deeply. Bren made a sound I had never heard him make before – small, wet, likehe had been hit. Luc reached for Andras's hand without looking. Wild stayed standing, still half-positioned between me and the rest, but I saw his throat work twice.
And King.
King… who had pulled me out of a park when I was thirteen and named me his son, did not move. His hands stopped trembling. His power stopped pulsing through the room. His whole body went into the kind of stillness an angel's body goes into when it is praying and grieving at the same time. I could feel him counting backward through every conversation we had ever had. Every meal. Every birthday. Every time he had watched me sit on his couch quieter than the other boys and not known why.
He was looking at a thirteen-year-old who had just lost everything and tried to steal his wallet because nothing on the surface had taught him a kinder way to get bread.
His eyes were wet.
An angel's eyes werewet.
He didn't say anything. I think he couldn't.
"Someone sealed our powers, instructing us to hide on the surface until we're safe, but only I survived. Losing my brother devastated me. I never reached the safe place and refused to unleash my powers. I lived on the streets for nearly a year, then tried to steal from a man one day…"
King's jaw tightened, and I wanted this over. He'd never accept me fully, but I had to speak my truth. "You helped me, and gradually I trusted you. I became part of this family, and I'll forever be grateful for that. No matter what, you're my father, and I'm sorry. I didn't know you were an angel. If I'd known…"
