Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Yeah, well, they don’t mind kidnapping people either. They kidnapped Dean’s mom and dragged her to a vampire plane. She was pregnant at the time, and that child grew up and studied witchcraft. He’s quite good at it. The prophecy is about Dean, but I think it also refers to Lee and Myrddin. Myrddin believes that Lee and one other—a baby he sent off plane, according to Stewart—are the only beings in the universe who can kill him.”
“I assure you if I get close enough, I can kill him,” Trent replied.
“Don’t even try. I’m not joking. I lived through a prophecy, and there was no getting around it. I firmly believe Myrddin’s wrong about his interpretation. Probably because he used that fucker Stewart as his focal point.” The magic Myrddin had worked wasn’t so much prophecy as seeing into the future. It was a form of clairvoyance that became prophecy once it was spoken aloud. And Myrddin was interpreting what he’d seen all kinds of wrong. “The prophecy concerning Dean and Lee talks about a weapon.”
“That’s what you want the primals to help with,” Trent deduced.
“I’ve already given the prophecy to Henri and Hugo.” I’d met with the academics the night before, and we’d talked about Marcus and everything that had happened. They would give me their thoughts when I returned to Frelsi. “I need the primals to look at it and see if they can figure out what this weapon is and where I should look for it. Now tell me what’s wrong with Gray.”
Trent growled but he turned toward me, laying his head down on my lap. He took a long breath through his nose as though surrounding himself with my scent, our mingled scents. They would form a blanket of comfort around him. “After we ran, he needed to stay away in order to avoid leading Myrddin’s forces to us. Like I said, he could protect your brothers. Both Nate and Jamie were willing to state they would stay out of the war.”
“We should bring them to Frelsi. Once Myrddin knows for sure we’re here, he’ll use my brothers as a way to draw me out.”
“No, he won’t. He can’t use them against you at all,” Trent said, his tone going grave.
“Why wouldn’t he…” The answer became crystal clear. “Tell me they didn’t sign a contract.”
“They didn’t.” The “they” portion was emphasized heavily.
The enormity of what had happened hit me. “Gray did.”
“It was already signed by the time I spoke to him again. Sasha had moved us to New Zealand, and we’d been there a couple of months before Gray returned to us. We had a pretty big fight, and one that I regret now. I didn’t realize how long it would be, how much this war would cost us. Deep down he did, though I understand he can’t see everything. He was playing a bit fast and loose by protecting your family, but I suppose putting himself on the line made it acceptable to whoever judges these things.”
Heaven. I was pretty sure it was Heaven who decided what a prophet—dark or light—got to do. No matter how much Hell likes to think of itself as this mighty, independent thing, I often wonder if they’re not merely a recalcitrant child who serves their father’s purpose. I wonder if Hell isn’t a necessary thing because all beings must find a balance between their light and dark, and sometimes that means punishment.
I often think if Heaven chose, Hell would cease to be.
Unless someone took that choice away. Unless someone wanted to cut out the dominant plane. To tell Mommy and Daddy we’re on our own now. That’s what Myrddin was attempting to do. He planned to close off the Earth and Hell planes from the Heavenly planes, and then no interference could harm his plans.
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I wasn’t about to test the theory.
I got the feeling I hadn’t heard the worst of it. I needed to know everything. “What all was part of this contract?”
Trent sighed and hugged me closer.
“Who is he working for?” I knew when one of my men didn’t want to talk about a specific thing, it was probably bad news.
The grim look on Trent’s face had me bracing myself for whatever he said next. “In order to protect your family, he has to descend at least once a month for a week of Earth plane time, and he must work as a focal point for Lucifer Morningstar. Sometimes it’s more than once a month, but never for more than a week.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Yep. It was bad.
“Don’t get upset with me. I didn’t sign that contract, Kelsey.”
“No, Gray did, and now he’s fucking working for Lucifer? Who thought that would go well?” I rolled out of bed and started looking for whatever clothes I had left.