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A new memory flashed behind my eyes: Me, walking with Roman toward the school. Roman asking me to dinner at his house, and Shane standing in front of the town hall, listening and probably dying on the inside. If it had been Lucille asking him, I would have died too.
I suppressed a gasp. Lucille. I remembered Lucille.
“What about Roman? How did you get him onboard?”
“Actually, Roman was the one who approached Nortrix,” my father said. “He wanted to take down Shane so he would have a chance with you. Nortrix realized how he would do anything for you and brought him in on our plans.”
Our plans …
That sparked another memory. Nortrix standing in the main square, placing the crystals in the ground and opening a portal for Paimon. And then … Paimon revealed he was my father.
Moreover, I remembered how horrified I had been.
Paimon wasn’t trying to help the other demons. No, he was trying to gain power and become the next king of the underworld because he was selfish, arrogant, and power hungry.
He didn’t care about me or anyone else.
We were only pawns on his game board and he would dispose of us the moment we didn’t serve our purpose anymore.
“What will you do with Roman?” I was pissed at him, but that didn’t mean I wanted him dead.
He scoffed. “The boy is too eager, and a wolf shifter, but as long as he does what I tell him, he’s all right.”
“How did you fake my death?” I asked.
Shane had told me he had held my body and cremated me.
“That was Dot again,” Paimon said. “She cast a spell over the body of a fallen Whitecrest female wolf to make it look like yours.”
My stomach tightened. Poor Shane. He had held and cried for a stranger. I was sickened for this wolf’s family. If they didn’t find her body, they would never have closure.
I jerked my arms. “So what’s your plan now? Now that Dot’s spell is wearing off, are you going to kill me?”
“Why would I kill my favorite daughter?” Beside him, Ivy winced. All this time, she had been quiet and avoided looking at me. “No, we’ll replicate the spell. Dot is out now, but she’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Couple of hours. Speaking of which, how long had it been since we had left the mountain? I looked out the window, but from here, I couldn’t see much besides the brightness of the sunlight. Which meant it was probably later in the day.
“So I’m supposed to just wait?” I tried but couldn’t erase the bark in my words.
Paimon sighed. “I know you’re mad at me right now, but don’t worry. Dot will work her magic and you won’t remember a thing. We’ll be a happy family again.” He glanced at his phone. “I have a meeting I need to attend, but Roman should be back soon with your lunch.” He smiled at me. “I’ll see you later.” He squeezed Ivy’s shoulders and walked out of the sitting room.
I stared at Ivy, not sure how to feel, but not being able to stop the anger and outrage brewing inside me.
“So telling me I was your best friend was a big fat lie.”
She finally lifted her blue eyes to meet mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. About everything.” She stood. “Sometimes I wish he had erased my mind too. It would have been much easier.”
I gaped at her as she walked away.
What the hell did she mean?
* * *
Alone in that sitting room,I forced the panic rising inside of me to surface. I couldn’t break down now. I had to do something. If I stayed here, Dot would erase my mind. Again.
I looked around, trying to recognize the place. But Ivy had said we weren’t at the mansion, and I hadn’t been here before, unless they had erased that from my mind too.
The sitting room was dark and gloomy with old velvet couches, rugs, and dark wood-paneled walls. A door was nested in the wall near the back, probably from where Paimon had come through when I was talking to Ivy. The three long windows in the room only showed the green of some trees and nothing more.
