I should have known that wouldn’t work. It never did.
Violence had crowded my dreams, and what I now knew were events from my past lives had echoed through my head, leaving me sweaty, rumpled, and still tired. Gadreel had been in one of them, wielding a sword, presumably from my life as Lenore. I didn’t remember any of the other dreams except in snippets that disappeared like fog when I tried to chase them.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I rolled over and groaned. In all the time since the accident, only when I slept beside Lucifer had I slept well.
Lucifer… My heart ached at the thought of him. After only a few days of knowing him, I already missed his presence, even though I wasn’t sure how I felt about him. Or what my place in the world was anymore.
When I walked into the huge, white, gleaming kitchen, Jo looked up in surprise. “I was just about to wake you. I made breakfast, if you’re hungry. Eggs, bacon, and toast.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, as I headed straight for the coffee pot. I still wasn’t happy with my ‘sister,’ and I couldn’t pretend otherwise. She’d hidden so much from me, and I suspected there were so many more things she hadn’t told me yet. But she was an angel…one of the good guys? Right? Or was that a lie too?
“You made the right choice by staying here,” Jo said with a self-righteous smile, as she made up a plate for me. “I can protect you from Lucifer.”
I grabbed the plate from her hand, annoyed at her words, but also hungry. Did I need protection from Lucifer or from her? Jo—Jophiel—wasn’t even my real sister, and she’d lied to me for years.
“Is anything about my life real?” I asked, as I sat at her round breakfast table.
Jo took a chair across from me. “Our relationship is real. That’s never been fake.”
“But you’re an Archangel!” I sputtered, then glanced around the house, which was like something out of an HGTV show about mansions I could never afford. “I’m only realizing now how little I knew about your life. How separate you kept me from it. How you knew all this time I was Lucifer’s mate and didn’t tell me.”
“Only to keep you safe.” She spread her hands out on the table. “Hannah, I had to keep my life separate from yours to protect you. If you came to visit me, for example, you might attract the attention of others in the supernatural world, which I knew could lead Lucifer and Adam to you. But if you went about your life believing you were an ordinary human, you’d remain hidden.”
I was getting tired of everyone knowing the truth except for me and using the excuse of trying to keep me safe like it absolved them of all their crimes. But at the same time, maybe I was alive now because of Jophiel’s actions.
“What about the accident? My parents?”
Jophiel’s face turned pained. “Your parents are dead. I didn’t lie about that.”
I sensed that was true, at least. I took a moment to eat some of my food, which was delicious. I wondered if Jophiel had really made it. I’d never seen her cook before.
“You can stay with me as long as you like,” Jophiel continued, a smile lighting her face. “Now that you know about the supernatural world, I no longer have to hide things from you. I can tell you all about your life as an angel. Oh, you can even meet my sons!”
I nearly choked on my bacon. “Sons?”
She nodded, her eyes proud. “Yes, I have two of them. Callan and Ekariel. Callan is the son of Archangel Michael and Ekariel is the son of Archangel Azrael, though I hope you won’t hold that against him…”
The more Jophiel talked, the more I felt like she was a stranger, and like my entire life was a lie. The only thing that felt real anymore was the time I’d spent with Lucifer. How did that make sense?
I pushed my plate away and buried my face in my hands. “All I want is to go back to my old life of a week ago, when I was just Hannah who worked at a flower shop and lived in Vista. Hannah, who didn’t know about angels and demons and past lives, and had no one trying to kill her. But that’s impossible now. There’s no forgetting this.”
Jophiel rested a light hand on my back, as if to comfort me. “Actually, it is possible. I can remove your memories and make you forget all of this ever happened. I could hide you from both Lucifer and Adam. You could go back to being an ordinary human again who knows nothing of the supernatural world.”
I looked up at her. “How?”
“It’s one of my angelic gifts.”
The idea was tempting, but only for a second. I shook my head with a sigh. “No, I don’t really want to forget. I don’t think it’s possible to run away or hide from this anymore. This is my life, my curse, and my fate. I have to accept it. Somehow.” I drew in a ragged breath, but then sat up straighter. “And I will. Eventually.”
“And then you’ll die again and start all over,” Jophiel said, her voice sorrowful. “I don’t want to lose you, Hannah. I realize you feel like you don’t know who I am anymore, but to me, you’re still my sister and I love you.”
I started to say the words
