A chill rolls down my spine, and flashes of my own mother raping me flood to the forefront. I have to roll my head to loosen the tension creeping up my shoulders.
I’m fine. I’m fine…
“Serynne, who was close to Belial prior to being cast out of the Vayl, knew of the prophecy due to her connection to fertility. She can sense the population growth, present and in the future.” He grins, and my nose twitches at his amused chuckle. “You and Serynne would be great acquaintances.”
“I’d rather slip your big toe in my ass than ever have anything to do with one of those Gods. Now, move on.”
His chest rises as he takes a deep breath in, and I’m getting angry at these boys getting aroused at my temper. What about me being a bitch turnsanyoneon? I thought Kairhyse was weird for it, but this filth smells of arousal.
“The Divine Twelve’s purpose really is to just keep balance. I’m not here to say they are right or wrong, but for the most part they stay out of mortals affairs. They are far too lustful and drunk to care otherwise. However, the prospect of your kind populating this world got the attention it deserved. So, they sent someone to stop it.”
“You,” I remark dryly.
“Exactly. The moment you came into this world as part Mundane, part Succubus, the prophecy was no longer that of foretelling, but an inevitability.”
Sipping my orange juice, because unfortunately it’sweirdto have tomato juice, I narrow my eyes. Is he confessing to being here to try and take me out? And I don’t mean on a date.
“I arrived on this world when you turned three, and to answer the question in your eyes, yes. I was sent to try and kill you.”
Softly, I set my glass down, the gentle clink against the table sounding sharper in the tension-filled silence. My lip twitches as I shift both feet firmly to the floor, and the movement alone is enough to make him throw his hands up in defense. “Settle down, I amnothere for that. Quite the opposite.” He pauses, and I cease from doing anything that would cause a scene. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I don’t need to be giving my mother any trail of where I’ve been when we set off to our final destination.
“You are telling me youknewmy mother was doing this but didn’t tell me at the club that night? Or just, ever?”
He shakes his head. “You are getting ahead of the story?—”
“You are taking too godsdamn long, what is this? Just get to the fucking point.”
Sighing, he runs his fingers up and through his long, white hair, dragging it over his shoulders. “When I came for you, you were alone in the home with a babysitter. I assumed your father was the Incubus, which would have made more sense where the prophecy was concerned. He could have bred with you if the rupture didn’t occur as they predicted. I had no idea your mother was a Succubus, that I swear.”
I’m not going to hold anger toward him for that, or anything honestly. I don’t want to feelanythingwhen it comes to this Fallen. The disgust at his nonchalant remark about myfatherbeing the one to impregnant me for the prophecy is enough to nearly have me releasing all of my breakfast.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” I ask indifferently.
He groans. “Because I was weak, and in hindsight, I should have just thrown my morals out the window and done what was commanded of me.”
That, I can respect. At least he recognizes his shortcomings.
“I’d protected life my entire existence, then when I came face to face with ending a barely talking child… I couldn’t do it.” He rolls his lips together, never taking his eyes off mine. “Plus, I felt a strange connection to you.”
My nose lifts as I scoff, rolling my head back and releasing an exacerbated snarl.
“Moving on, when I returned to ask for forgiveness and try to find another solution that didn’t end in your death, I was punished and cast out, becoming a Fallen.”
“Right then, your connection with me should’ve ended,” I say, pushing my plate away. The appetite I had is gone now, though I should’ve expected as much considering what this conversation was going to bring.
“It did,” he remarks quickly. “That is, until someone showed up on mydoorstep nearly twenty-five years later.”
I give him a moment as he pauses before I ask, “Are you going to say who, or make me fucking ask?”
“In his mortal form” —Oh, fuck off—“Belial himself.”
Pressing my elbows to the table, I place my face into my hands. A swarm of bees buzzes around in my head, and every piece of food I had just eaten is threatening to show back up.
“You’ve become quite the topic in the Beyond, according to him.”
I don’t want this… I just don’t want any of this.
Pain and heat build behind my eyes as I begin counting backward. There is no way that the ruler of the Beyond is sending a Fallen to… what? Protect me? Bring me to him? What is happening?
