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“The master has to attend the gathering,” Cronus said without opening his eyes. “But your hounds are here.”
“Eddie?” A woman whispered.
“This one smells like you, but is nothing like you,” Xerxes said.
“Eddie are you awake?” Rosabella slipped through the door crack. “It’s Mom.”
Her mother was here. Nobody had said a word to her about that. Easing herself into a sitting position, Eddie said, “Hi.” She couldn’t quite manage the mom and didn’t want to hurt Rosabella’s feelings by using her name.
It had to be weird that her first thought wasn’t joy about her mother being here, but more along the lines of what Rosabella wanted.
“Oh, Eddie.” Rosabella pressed a hand to her mouth. Her aqua eyes swam with tears. “You look awful.”
Okay, putting that one down to shock, Eddie said, “It’s been…rough.”
“I told my mother she shouldn’t get you involved in this guardian shit.” Rosabella perched on the side of her bed. “Look what it’s done to you.”
There were so many counterarguments to that statement, but Eddie didn’t have the energy. Some time in their brief interactions she’d given up on contradicting Rosabella’s version of reality. “I’ll be fine. Wrath and Ramiel have been healing me, and Shade says I need to rest.”
“What happened?” Rosabella patted her cheeks dry. “Nobody will tell me, and I am your mother.”
In the loosest and purely biological sense, that was true. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Of course.” Rosabella nodded and looked stricken. “I shouldn’t have asked.” Her eyes teared up again. “I just had to see you to make sure you were all right.”
Flashes of moments when Rosabella had not been there went through Eddie’s mind—the time she had broken her arm falling off the stage, the time she had come home crying from the park because none of the children would play with the “weirdo from the theatre,” her first heartbreak. “I’m going to be fine.”
Cronus pressed his huge body against her. “You will be. The master and your hounds will make sure of that.”
“I don’t know what’s going on around here,” Rosabella wailed. “But nobody will tell me anything, and now there are archangels and hell princes all over the place.” She sobbed and swiped at her cheeks. “And they’re all meeting and waiting for the guardians, and they won’t let me attend. Of course, my mother is allowed to attend.” Rosabella’s face hardened. “And I don’t know why she’s allowed to attend when she isn’t even the guardian anymore. That idiot Daniel has taken over from her, and officially she wasn’t even the guardian before he arrived. I was.”
“Hmm.” Eddie kept it noncommittal. But she didn’t believe you could claim the title of guardian without having been near the hell gate in years.
“Anyway.” Rosabella heaved a big breath and squared her shoulders. “That’s nothing for you to worry about.” She patted Eddie’s legs through the covers. “You need to rest up and recover, and the last thing you need to worry about is me.”
Eddie’s head gave a dull throb, and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. She didn’t have it in her to deal with Rosabella right now. “I am very tired.”
“I’m sure.” Rosabella squeezed her leg. “After what you’ve been through. I mean, after what happened to you…” She gave Eddie a look brimming with hope that Eddie would fill in the blanks.
“I could make her leave,” Xerxes said.
A warm swell of appreciation washed over her. “No, it’s fine. I’ve found the best thing to do is let her have her say.”
Cronus eyed Rosabella. “And you are certain of this course?”
“Ugh!” Rosabella flapped a hand in front of her nose. “I’m sure these smelly beasts on your bed are not helping.”
“They’re helping.” Eddie put a hand on each ruff. Having them here was almost as comforting as having—Nope! She couldn’t think like that. The last few weeks all felt like too much, and she only had to close her eyes to see those metal walls closing around her, smell the astringent bite of whatever they had pumped through the air vents, feel the soul-tearing agony of that amulet draining the very essence of her.
Cronus put his mammoth head on her lap. “We are here.”
“I saw Wrath was back.” Rosabella tucked a shiny fall of hair behind her ear. “We chatted.”
“Right.” Despite all her questions, Eddie didn’t want to discuss Wrath with Rosabella. Of the two of them, only one had never lied to her—not that she knew of, in any case. As soon as the caveat popped into her mind, she dismissed it. Wrath was nothing if not brutally honest.
Rosabella pursed her mouth and tossed a hand in the air. “Of course, he hates me now.” She rolled her eyes. “I honestly don’t know what he expected me to do. I was alone, young, pregnant by a demon?—”
“Hell prince,” Eddie said.
