Page 67 of Rogue Witch

Blade’s expression goes grim. “We all thought that.”

We tell him everything, including the current theory of Miriam being in Hell, along with the god of the angels.”

Caleb stares at us for a long moment, then says, “Wow.”

“You always had a way with words,” Blade says.

“Does Leilah know any of this?” he asks.

Caleb is good at seeing Ciarah strictly for who she. He never refers to her as Ciarah, or by any other name than the one she has in the current lifetime.

Raith shakes his head. “We haven’t told her anything yet. You saw how she reacted when I told her about Seton. I wasn’t sure she was ready for the news about her grandmother yet.”

Wow, Raith being considerate of Leilah’s feelings. Maybe he’s starting to mellow.

“Zadkeil let slip that their god is in Hell and they think Miriam was trying to join him,” Raith continues.

Caleb frowns. “To reach their god?”

Blade shrugs. “That’s Matthias’s theory. He thinks she wants to free Yahweh. For all we know, she might want to team up with Hades and Damien to annihilate Margidda using Shadows.”

Caleb humphs. “Wouldn’t loosing The Shadows make her a prime target for annihilation?”

“Does anyone really know what will happen if The Shadows overrun Margidda?” I ask. “We learned during the war that there were many Margiddians who welcomed the power The Shadows gave them.”

“I’ve never understood that,” Caleb says.

“You’ve never been one to care for politics,” Blade says.

Caleb grunts. “I’ve never been one to understand why someone would hand over their power to someone else. Especially someone who means to kill them.”

“Everyone thinks they’re smarter than everyone else,” Blade says. “Which brings us to Seton Alexander.”

“Fuck,” Raith mutters.

“We have to tell him.” Blade’s gaze centers on Caleb. “Before Miriam kicked Leilah out—”

“Her grandmother kicked her out of her home?” Caleb cuts in. Blade nods and Caleb mutters, “Humans.”

“Before Miriam kicked her out,” Blade continues, “Leilah had a close friend, Seton Alexander. He’s a graduate of The Academy. Turns out, he’s Tychon.”

“The demigod? Why weren’t you guarding her better?” he snarls.

“Easy there, wolf,” Blade says. “We could ask you the same.” Caleb frowns, and Blade adds, “Then there’s Chelsea Nightlow.”

Caleb’s expression darkens. “The girl Leilah saved from being hanged?”

“You were there,” Blade says to me. “Want to tell him?”

I don’t. I don’t want to think about Leilah’s limp body when I took flight for Raith’s office. “Chelsea tried to kill Leilah.”

“Twice, in fact,” Blade adds.

I shoot him a narrow-eyed look, then wince when Caleb snaps, “What the hell have you three been doing?

“You’ve been gone for forty years,” Raith says in a cold voice.

Caleb glares. “My being gone has nothing to do with you not taking care of her.”