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She shook her head, bewilderment taking over. “You think you can lower the veil with no consequences from the goddesses? You think nobody knew about that little stunt you pulled to get your boyfriend back?”
“Again, Marcus forced me to—”
“I don’t care! You lowered the veil. You did this, Lyra. It was not Marcus’s blood that opened it, nor Alek’s or even mine. It’s you!”
I stood taller, raising my chin defensively. “So what? You just came here to tell me that? Is that what you brought me all this way for?”
Theia turned, pacing the room in thought. I rubbed my palms against my jeans, trying to regain my composure, my patience that so quickly depleted.
“I came here to warn you, Lyra. You may hate me, but you are still my daughter.”
My eyes narrowed. “Warn me of what?”
She stopped pacing, the back of her white blazer facing me as she answered, “Your blood lowered the veil. The darkness will come for you.”
The wind howled outside. Chills erupted down my arms beneath my black leather jacket. “What darkness? What do I do to stop it?” I said quietly.
“There’s more.” She turned to face me, ignoring my questions. “I am the Goddess of Light, protector of the veil. I’ve lived my entire life praying and willing nothing like this would ever happen, but I was too naïve to believe my daughter may actually listen to me. You have lived a sheltered life, yes, but I can’t protect you anymore. Not after what you did.”
“What are you saying?” I pressed.
“You are now the keeper of the veil, Lyra. Your blood opened it. You can damn well learn to close it. Anything that happens from now on will be on your shoulders, will be your burden to bear.” She stepped closer to me, her eyes wild and sharp. “I’m done.”
I balked at this, sputtering, “I’m not the… how can you possibly—”
“I won’t lie, it hurt when you watched as I was stabbed, left to bleed in front of everyone. I thought maybe you would protect me if given the choice between your own family or those demons. I thought maybe you would see what chaos they would bring to the world, how cruel and evil they could be. Turns out I was wrong. You seem to have all the answers. You seem to know plenty about the veil, as does your new demon family. Good luck to you.”
She turned to walk away, not hesitating for a moment. Not waiting to see what I had to say, any questions I might have. I was half-tempted to call her bluff, to scream at her to stop walking, tell her to turn and face me and tell me what the hell she was talking about.
But I stayed quiet. Theia might not have sensed the darkness in me, might not have sensed my power, but I could feel it.
I was not the same weak child she knew once. I was a weapon. A destroyer.
And she had threatened me one too many times.
Hours passed. Even if I wanted to sleep, it would have been impossible. My mind replayed the conversation with my mother over and over again, trying to find a crack in her words, trying to locate the ulterior motive on why she would give up on the veil.
That’s what she was doing, right? Giving up? Throwing it on my shoulders without any preparation or knowledge as to what would close the veil again?
She knew. She had spent her entire life protecting the veil, so she had to know what would close it once it was opened.
But Theia was a coward. My mother was selfish and bitter and cruel, and she enjoyed seeing me suffer.
I was a fool to forget that.
She wasn’t going to leave me without a final punishment, without a final, cruel goodbye.
Darkness would find me? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
I didn’t want to believe her. Hell, I should have discredited anything that came out of that lipstick-lined mouth of hers. She was a liar, only after one thing: protecting herself.
I couldn’t trust her.
And what she said about my father…
I shook my head and pushed aside the foreboding feeling stirring in my gut. My father was actually trying to help us close the veil. He may have been gone all those years, but he was here now.
And he didn’t keep me locked in a basement for most of my life. That immediately made me like him more.
