Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“What was our house called?”
“The Hunter Hobbit House.” Dora laughed. “Is that enough? Can we hug now?”
“Not yet.” I held her back when she tried. “On your twelfth birthday, Mom and Dad threw you a birthday party at Happy Fun Land and you peed in the ballpit.”
Her cheeks reddened, especially when Ronin barked out a laugh. “Char!”
“What did I do?” I demanded.
“Char, are you serious right now?” she hissed. “There are a million people here!”
I was immovable. “What did I do to cover for you, Dora?”
She grumbled, ducking her head and squishing her nose in a way that was so Dora, I knew it was her before she responded. “You lied and told everyone you were the one who peed yourself, even though you were sixteen and your classmates didn’t let you hear the end of it for the rest of the school year. You just kept covering for me and saying it was you—”
I crushed her to my chest, crying into her hair. “Yeah,” I croaked. “We can hug now.”
And we did. Hugging, and crying, and unleashing weeks upon months of grief, pain, fear, and loneliness.
We didn’t stop until Ronin tapped my shoulder. “I don’t want to interrupt you guys, but you really do have to go. Normally, Lucifer wouldn’t send his servants into Ignavia to get you both back, but all of hell’s gone fucking insane since the announcement of the Hallow Hunt. No one’s pretending there are rules anymore.” He nodded at Samael. “The only thing left to do now is get you both away and far from his reach as soon as possible.”
Ronin grasped our shoulders and steered us over to the angel.
“But, wait, hold on.” I wriggled out of his grasp. “Sorry, but no explanation isn’t going to cut it this time, Belphe. Why?” I demanded. “Why fake Dora’s death? Why put me through all of that for six weeks?” Anger was creeping back fast. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? I thought I murdered my own sister!”
“I’m sorry.”
I’m pretty sure Ronin said sorry more times today than he had in his whole life combined.
“I didn’t want any of this to go down the way it did, but I had to act fast when I realized Radu was whisking you both away to Pomaris. I needed to keep you both far away from Lucifer and out of his clutches if I was going to get you two out of hell the second Samael arrived.” He shook his head, his face showing something I’d been looking for for six weeks. Remorse. “When I saw you three about to enter the tunnel, I knew I was out of time. I couldn’t explain, I just had to improvise and...” Ronin looked around. “This is how it all turned out.”
“But...” My voice shook. “Why couldn’t you tell me after your performance? Why let me waste away for a month and a half, hating myself and... hating you.”
He looked away, jaw clenching. “I didn’t want that. I hated every minute of you being in pain, but Lucifer knows that I’m a master of dark illusion magic, too. If he sensed even a hint that he was being played, it’d be all over. Your very real grief... made him believe.”
I sniffed, turning to Dora. She held my hand just as tight as I held her. “I... I don’t know, Ronin, I just...” I ducked my head, scrubbing my tears. “Why did you have to go to these extremes? I had my own plan. I was going to find his stupid fucking hallows and give Lucifer what he wanted. He promised he’d return us both to earth if we did and—”
“He was going to break that promise, Charlie.”
It wasn’t Ronin who spoke that time. It was Dora.
Her eyes were grave looking back at me. Grave, but steady. “That weird spell he put on me messed me up, but it didn’t give me amnesia. I remember what happened before he sent me to Abaddon Academy to be a constant reminder of what you’d lose if you betrayed him.”
Dora’s lips twisted. “He was pissing himself laughing at the stupid mortal bitch who actually believed he could get my soul back. My soul was sacrificed to dark magic, Char. It was a price that was paid, and there are no returns for stuff like that. It’s gone,” she stated clearly, driving the dagger deeper into my heart. “Lucifer knew that, and he absolutely loved that you didn’t. I’m sorry, sis, but the only thing he was going to do after you made him the All Hallows was kill you, me, and Mom. That way none of us—the Avos witch descendants—could figure out a way to take the power back.”
I dropped my face in my hands, weeping into my palms. Ronin tried to tell me— No, the whole freaking world told me when they named Satan the Father of Lies. Of course, I couldn’t trust him. I never could. I almost marched myself and my family to their deaths because I wanted to believe I was in control.