Page 36 of Truth Revealed

“So we need a distraction,” Death concluded with finality.

“We need a reason to make her gather her minions or whatever. But what could we lure her and the other demons out with?”

A knock on the front door interrupted them as they all turned in that direction. All the light bulbs still weren’t replaced, but it was bright enough to recognize Wrath as he came through the door with a hand over his eyes. “Did Truth get laid yet? Can I uncover the eyes of the innocent?” he joked.

Daria’s mouth dropped open as blood rushed to her cheeks. God, why couldn’t Chaos choose that moment to whisk her away to his mansion? Because right then, Daria could really have used a hole—or another plane of existence—to disappear into.

And to make it worse, her only sister trailed right behind him, shaking her head. “Ignore him, he’s being dumb—Oh, hi, Daria!”

Wrath dropped his hand as if it were on fire, just like her cheeks, and awkwardly cleared his throat. “Oh, hey, Daria. Uh—ah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean it.”

“Real smooth, man, real smooth,” Misery drawled.

Daria would have chimed in to the conversation, but her gaze was stuck on her sister.

Sofia.

The girl Pandora was convinced was her own daughter.

The woman Pandora had kidnapped and intended to trade Persy for.

Trying to stop herself from following that line of thought to its conclusion, Daria broke her trance… but her gaze went right back to her.

Did they have any other options?

Daria glanced around the room, her gaze flitting from one demon to another, her demons.

Could she trade one piece of family for another?

* * *

“Stressed?” Betrayal asked later, with a barely concealed chuckle as they finally got around to replacing all the light bulbs.

Daria launched her fist out to punch him in the arm, but the resounding thwack wasn’t as therapeutic as she’d imagined. Before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.

If something had happened to him? If he hadn’t come back from a simple outing?

His hesitation was apparent in the stiffness of his body, but she ignored it and squeezed him tighter. A few seconds passed before he encircled her with his arms. His warmth surrounded her, his scent curling around her, and with a deep breath she felt the tight fist in her chest release. Daria hadn’t even recognized the pressure before that moment.

“I think we should take out stock in a hardware store,” Misery commented randomly.

Thankfully, there was enough light for Misery to glimpse the glare she sent his way.

He ignored it, and with a smirk, he pointed to the ceiling. “If we keep having to replace light bulbs at this rate, we’re gonna make the market scarce.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled at him, shoving a palm into his shoulder. But then she pulled him close too, because what if it had been him who’d been hurt? Killed?

“I’m glad you guys are okay,” she mumbled against his neck. “All of you.”

“You’re not gonna get rid of us that easy,” Misery teased, trying to lighten the mood. It was funny that Misery was the one trying to inject humor into such a tense moment.

Going with the flow, which she kept reminding herself to do, she decided not to stop with just those two. Once Misery released her from the hug, she stepped over to Hope and smiled gently before embracing him. For some reason, it was like she forgot just how large he was until his arms wrapped around her. He towered over her, much like Betrayal did, and they even had a similar build—big biceps, chest large enough to land a damn plane on. A chest she rested her head on before sighing happily.

“Good job kicking ass,” she said, and tilted her head up in time to catch the twitch of his lips.

“It was my pleasure,” he rumbled in a deep voice, sending chills over her skin.

Before she was ready, she pulled away and cleared her throat as he went to join the others. Shaking her head wistfully, she grabbed Death’s hand as he tried to make his way to the kitchen. “What? You think I’m gonna hug everyone but you?”