For the longest time, Raphael stroked my hair while I cried my heart out. Why did doing the right thing always feel like shit? I knew the answer to that. It was because I was never meant to live in the first place.
60
Even though I begged, screamed, and negotiated, none of the Nephilim would tell me how to undo the bond. Either they were terrified of Kai, or they were so ashamed that Tiberius tried to kill me, that it made them all mute.
Not even Chanelle would breathe a word. She had a lot of other words for me, but when I asked her to help me break the bond already, she stormed off.
As a result, my mood was erratic. Most people kept as far away from me as possible. It was the strangest three weeks as the supernatural world tried to recover from the betrayal of their Councils. The elite guard investigation into the Supernatural Council ended two days before Christmas. They were all cleared except Jonah, but Kai had already taken care of him a week after the attack on the prison. The Nephilim Council were still being scrutinized.
I was in the Reserve the day Durin was released. A sigh went through every shifter within earshot. The air felt like it shimmered with a sudden taut anticipation. All around me, shifters burst into their animal forms.
They all disappeared towards Durin’s house. I sat down heavily on the fence of Basil’s place. “Thank goodness,” Sophie said.
I raised a brow at her. “Did you think he was guilty?”
She snorted. “As if. I’m just glad he’s back. Max was getting unbearable to be around.”
I’ll say. Charles had been snapping at everything in sight. He made Cassie cry and then spent the next week following her around grovelling.
Best of all, as soon as Jonah died, the hex that made me forsaken completely lifted. I no longer needed the seal. The flex of magic was comforting. It meant I could go back to Bloodline when the new year started. It just didn’t do all that much to dampen the effects of the stupid bond.
I may have screamed and yelled at Raphael for a while. “There’s nothing I can do, little one,” he’d said.
“I’m getting very tired of hearing that,” I snapped. Then I turned on Michael as well.
“You all did this to begin with! Help me fix it!”
Michael opened his mouth, his eyes soft around the edges. I balled my fists. “If the next words out of your mouth are ‘free will,’ I am going to have a coronary.”
I swear most of Seraphina heard me shrieking. Maybe that was part of the reason why the Nephilim all tried to avoid me.
Andrei and I came to an agreement. We would build up to raising his family and we would find the truth. But only if he helped Sophie and me locate the ingredients from Hilary’s diary.
Nanna insisted that she would host Christmas the first year out of her coma. “How is this any different to last year?” Sophie observed. We were in the kitchen being slaves while the adults were outside enjoying their mulled wine and the food poor Sophie was sweating to get ready. Every once in a while, Nanna would waltz into the kitchen to “check on us.”
The front door banged open. An almighty bellow of good humour filled the whole house. “Happy holidays!” Aedan Pierce yelled before he burped so loudly I thought the ceiling was going to come down on our heads.
“That’s disgusting, Da!” Diana laughed.
“Yours is louder than mine,” her da shot back. She ran into the kitchen with us to get away from him. Unfortunately, he followed. Diana and Roland’s dad was about two inches taller than me. When he hugged me, it felt like being squeezed by a barrel. He kissed the top of my head. His breath could sterilise metal.
“How much have you already drunk?” I asked.
He slapped my back. “You sound just like my Jessa.” Then he winked at me. “Gotta get a wee bit in me in preparation for the night’s festivities.” The way he pumped his brows made me think he didn’t mean Nanna’s party.
“Oh my god, Da!” Diana screamed. “Can you not.”
He bellowed. “Come now, lass. Did you think you just popped out of a hole in the ground?”
Sophie was biting her bottom lip so hard to keep from laughing. Jessa Pierce kicked open the swinging kitchen door. She had two packages in her arms.
“There she is!” Aedan said. He grabbed his wife and planted a kiss on her lips. Twenty years from now, Diana would look just like her mum.
Jessa handed a package to Sophie and gave the other to me. “What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s Christmas, ya daft chit.”
“I know. But we said no presents.”
Jessa rolled her eyes. They sparkled as I unwrapped the gift. I pulled out a thin piece of mithril chainmail that was lighter than actual material. It shone a lustrous silver. There was a small lock on one side. The thing was, it was kind of small. The triangular shape of it wouldn’t fit over my head at all and…I turned it around so the tip of the triangular part pointed to the floor. Diana’s jaw dropped. She covered her face with her hands and groaned.
Basil walked into the kitchen. He took one look at the thing in my hands and guffawed. “Is that a chastity belt?”
I gave Diana’s parents my most impassive look. They hooted and slapped each other on the back. “Just in case Pendragon gets any ideas.” Aedan winked at me. Their mirth was so infectious, I found myself smiling despite it all.
“I’m so sorry,” Diana said when they left to join the adults. “I had no idea.”
“It’s okay.”
She grabbed my arm and studied my face. “Is it?”
I felt myself unclenching. When I nodded at her, it wasn’t a complete lie.
Just before dinner, Jacqueline and Cassie’s mum, Joanna arrived to pick up Cassie. For obvious reasons nobody would speak about, they wouldn’t
