Page 80 of Trust the Fall

I don’t know why, because I maintain that I don’t buy into my being a reaper princess, but my stomach flips and flops with nerves.

I’ve never thought about what having a mother would be like. My father was always God; angels are created by the Creator himself. We’re not born of a woman’s womb. At least, most angels. I, apparently, am one of the exceptions.

But all the talk of the queen being my mother has foreign feelings flowing through me. I feel uncomfortable and clammy. Oh so clammy.

There’s perspiration building on my forehead, and my hands are damp. I wipe them on the little material I’m wearing, but it doesn’t last long.

“Calm down, Victoria. Everything will be all right. The queen is … well …” He shuffles his feet, looking boyish, and embarrassed.

“Come on, lover boy. Out with it. The queen is … ?” I tease, and his face quickly turns into a scowl as he kicks a pebble out from under his boot.

“She’s brilliant. Beautiful. Incredible. You’ll like her and she’ll like you.”

My lips purse in mock revulsion at his profession of adoration for her royal highness.

River turns away from me. “You look a lot like her.”

I close one eye and narrow the other at the side of River’s face.

“As soon as you meet her, you’ll know it’s true. I know you are her daughter, Victoria.”

“That makes one of us.” I sigh. “We’ll see. For now, I just want to freshen up. It’s been a long damn day.”

He bobs his head. We walk for several minutes in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. Mine are firmly on the man I left behind.

He might’ve forced my hand, but in the end, I chose to leave.

“Victoria,” a woman’s voice shouts, and both River and I turn to find Leeanna heading toward us.

“How the hell did she get here?” River asks.

“I was just about to ask you that very question.”

“I can hear you two. You’re not exactly quiet.”

“We weren’t trying to be,” I mutter. “What are you doing here?”

“God sent me.” She shrugs. “I’m not sure why, but it was requested that I escort you to ensure you find your way to Queen Camille. Heaven made an exception.”

“I didn’t realize that it was Heaven’s place to allow access to a kingdom that isn’t theirs,” River snarls.

I turn on my heels, ignoring his outburst. “No need. I have my escort right here,” I say, motioning toward River, who’s joined me in my retreat from Lee. “But you’re welcome to watch the shit show if you’d like.”

“I can’t leave, so I might as well. Could be the most entertainment I’ve had in a while.”

I snort. “That’s the understatement of the year, if you’ve been tied to Michael lately.”

She sighs. “You know it.”

We walk at a clipped pace for several quiet minutes. The air is thick with tension.

“You might as well say whatever it is that’s perturbing you. I can practically taste your anxiety.”

“It’s not anxiety.”

Lies.

“No need to lie to me. I know you too well,” she says.