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)
I could only stare at her. This was the longest conversation Raven Zuriel and I have had. Ever. And I still didn’t understand why it was happening.
“But all these political games aside, what he did to you guys was messed up. He may not understand that, but it was.”
My jaw clenched, hands fisting underneath the sheets. “How could he not understand what he did? Of course he knew what he was doing, and he got exactly the outcome he wanted.” My eyes filled. “I’ve got nowhere to go now. I’ve got nothing... to live for.”
Raven just eyed me, her expression no less nonchalant than when I wasn’t speaking. “It may be hard for you to understand, mortal, but sisters aren’t worth that much around here. Most demons only adopt one child because what’s the point of two? And for those that do adopt multiple children, they do so to pit them against each other... like my father did with me and my sisters.”
I stilled.
“Ten of us,” she said, dropping down on her back. “And you might not believe it, but we weren’t raised to hate each other. On the contrary, Father pushed us to get along—saying that wrath was always best delivered in a group. For a long time, I really believed that I’d one day be queen, and my sisters would be my advisors.
“That all ended when Father trapped us in the endless maze and told us the one who found her way out alive would remain his princess, and if we refused to kill each other, he’d hunt us all down and cut off our heads. He told us that if pissy little brats like us weren’t ruthless enough to kill for the throne, we had no business being the ladies of wrath.
“I killed four of them,” she dropped. “The rest took out each other.”
“I... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Raven.”
“What are you sorry for?” she snapped, scowling at me. “You didn’t do it. I did it. I chose power over my adopted siblings, and it wasn’t even fucking worth it because that rancid dump of a father will never give up the throne. In the end, my sisters weren’t worth very much to me either, but I could tell it was different between the two of you.”
Sniffling, I wiped my nose on a corner of the blanket. “You could?”
She nodded. “That day, you said all that stuff to us about the empire of sin because you didn’t want her to see you get hurt. Because you knew it would upset her. And even though you were pulling all that shit out of your ass, you handed me the best method for revenge against my father. It’s taken eighty-two years, but that dick isn’t calling me a pissy little brat now.” She shrugged. “So I figure I owe you one.”
“Oh.” I bobbed my head. “Well, then, thanks again for healing my—”
“And here it is: get the fuck out of this bed,” she blared, blowing me back. “All the people who hurt your sister are out there, so what are you doing in here?”
Normally, I’d bristle at that comment. Get mad or indignant, and ask if she had a trace of tact or sympathy in that beautiful head—
—but I couldn’t even summon the energy for that much.
“Where else would I be?” My tone was flat—lifeless. “In here or out there, there’s nothing I can do to Lucifer, Mother, or Ronin to make them pay for what they did to Dora. One is frickin’ Satan, and the other two are masters of dark magic, while I...” I looked away. “I’m just a weak mortal who couldn’t protect the one person I swore to always protect.
“There’s nothing I can do—”
“Bullshit,” Raven sliced off before I finished my sentence. “That’s just what they want you to believe. That you’re helpless. That no one exists who can bring consequences against them, but that’s only true when people like you give up. Tell me something,” she said, raking me up and down. “Would your sister give up on you?”
“Don’t fucking pull that,” I barked, anger flaring in my chest. “Don’t ever use her to emotionally manipulate me, Zuriel, I’m not one of your braindead flunkeys!”
“Yeah, whoo!” She clapped, whooping me up and bursting my anger like a balloon. “Finally. Got some life in this corpse after all. So now, if you’re gonna get this mad at me just for bringing her up, I’d better see you unleashing holy hell on Lucifer, Mommy, and Ronin right about...” She snapped her imaginary watch. “Now.”
I blew out a breath, dropping my head back. “Yeah, that was a nice trick, but I’m not buying it. Why would you want me to get back at Ronin? You need him and the alliance with House Sloth to unseat your father from his throne.”