Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
She smells like Chanel no. 5 and fresh lemon-raisin bread—the aroma of my youth.
“Mom?” I manage.
“You’re here,” she says. “Go back to sleep, Hannah. Go back to sleep.”
“But…here?” I try to turn my head. “In the demons’ lair?”
She chuckles softly, smoothing my hair. “What are you talking about? You really did take a blow to the head. You’re home. At your place.”
“But…how…”
“Shh. Just rest. Larissa is coming over later for dinner.”
“Home?”
“Your apartment,” she says. “Your father called me and told me you’d taken a tumble. He asked Larissa and me to come out and stay with you.”
Tumble? I took a tumble? Uh…no. One of your husband’s minions shot me in the chest with a flaming arrow, but…whatever.
How am I here? Back in Chicago at my own place? I was in the ether. Then the demons’ lair.
I don’t remember…
The last thing was the meadow. Rogan. I craved his blood, and—
Nothing.
No blood.
Then I open my eyes and I’m back home.
With my mother. My mother who abandoned both Larissa and me when she married Richard. I always wondered how he had such control over her, why she succumbed to his every desire so quickly, to the detriment of her children.
How? Richard denied using any of his powers.
“Do you have her under some kind of a thrall? God, it’s all making sense now.”
“You think it was chance that I met your mother? I knew all along who she was. Who you all were, before you knew yourself. And there was and is no thrall. Your mother was so damned needy after your father got through with her that all I had to do was treat her a little less badly.”
But he’s a demon. He’s inherently evil. Inherently untrustworthy.
He could easily be lying.
“Where’s your husband?” I ask.
“At home in Columbus, of course. He knows how you and Larissa feel about him. He stayed away out of courtesy to you.”
Courtesy? Did she really just use that word?
My mother—my brilliant mother, the Fulbright scholar—has no clue who she’s married to. He’s certainly not in Columbus, unless the demons’ lair somehow occupies the same space on a different plane.
Fuck. This isn’t Star Trek. My mind is mush.
My mother will never know her husband’s actual identity if I can help it. Knowing who Richard truly is could destroy her. She’s fragile, thanks to her own upbringing and to her years with my father. If she finds out…
I can’t let that happen.
“I’m so sorry this happened, Hannah,” my mother says. “Your father seemed quite concerned when I spoke to him.”
“He’s never been concerned about me a day in his life.”
And neither have you, ever since you married the demon king.
The words tempt me—I’m still angry at her betrayal—but my throat is parched and talking aches. Plus, she’s still my mother. She will never know.
“I know that,” Mom says, “which is why I came. If he’s this concerned, it means you’re hurt badly.”
My heart aches.
Literally.
I took an arrow to it. Yes, I heal quickly, but my mother doesn’t know that. She thinks I took a blow to the head.
“Your head isn’t swollen, so that’s good.”
“The swelling’s gone down,” I lie.
“I can see. You need your rest, but I’m going to be waking you every hour for the next day or two.”
“That’s crazy. When will you sleep?”
“Larissa and I will take turns.”
“Larissa is in law school. She doesn’t have time—”
“She finished her last final yesterday. She has a few weeks off before she begins her summer internship.”
Summer internship. Top of her class. Larissa is everything I’m not.
And Rogan…
Where is Rogan?
Have my pheromones worn off again?
No, that’s not possible. The first shot lasted weeks.
God…Rogan…
I absently touch my abdomen. My baby. Rogan’s baby. Is it all right? It’s too soon to feel any kicking or even any nausea.
I need to know.
“Close your eyes, Hannah.” Mom rises from my bed. “I’ll be back to check on you soon.”
“Mom, I—”
“We’ll talk more later when you’re feeling better. In the meantime, you need to rest. This isn’t solely about you.”
She leaves, closing the door to my bedroom.
This isn’t solely about you.
Does she know about the baby? Or is it a dig about me being self-absorbed?
From my mother, it’s most likely the latter. She doesn’t know me. Richard has poisoned her against me. He’s told her lies about me. All those years he convinced her I was the embodiment of evil, when in reality…
What is more evil than the demon king himself?
Talk about transference.
My eyes flutter closed on their own.
Rogan… Rogan, where are you?
He knows I’m pregnant. Even if he feels nothing—if the shot has worn off—doesn’t he care about his child?
My heart hurts.
From the flaming arrow wound, yes.
But more excruciating is the pain of knowing that Rogan isn’t mine, and I’m not his.
I drift off, even as my door cracks open.
And someone enters.
11
My fangs snap down as the door opens.