AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alek was only doing what he thought was right,” I finally spoke up. It wasn’t the entire truth, but it was true enough. There was no way in hell I was going to admit I knew about his plan to drop the veil.
“Well,” Theia continued, “you sure continue to surprise me, daughter. I spend my entire life protecting you, and this is how you repay me?” She motioned to Alek. “By sleeping with the enemy?”
My face flushed. “Alek is not my enemy.”
“No?” she asked. “Then tell me, Lyra. Did he happen to mention the fact that he killed your father?”
I repeated the words in my head. “What?”
Alek’s grip on my hand tightened. Theia nodded, a satisfied smile growing on her face. “That’s right. Your father—the one I never speak of. He wasn’t a nobody, he was a demon. A powerful one. The most powerful one to exist in years, actually. And your friend here is responsible for his death.”
My heart pounded in my ears. No, this couldn’t be happening. My mind raced back to the lake house, to the photographs in the room.
The one photograph that looked so familiar. So…similar.
“Lyra,” Alek started.
“Stop,” I said. “He was my father?”
He swallowed before answering, “Yes. He was.”
Emotion rushed through my body. Alek had somehow managed to keep yet another secret from me. “You knew this whole time, and you didn’t tell me?”
He turned to face me. “I wanted to tell you, Ly. I wanted to tell you so badly at the lake house, but so much happened that day and… I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Scare me? I’m the descendent of a demon, Alek! I think I should be told information like that!”
Theia laughed quietly. “Like I said,” she started, “Alekzander Black is many things, but your friend is not one of them. He killed your father because he held too much power, and he’ll do the same to you to get what he wants.”
“No,” I said. I pulled myself from Alek’s grasp. Everything was happening too fast, too much. Too much was going on, I couldn’t think straight. I just needed to think.
Alek reached forward again, but I pulled back.
“This is what she wants,” Alek hissed. “She wants to split us up.”
I glanced between the two, between the two people pulling me in entirely opposite directions. Freedom or prison. Life or death.
How the hell did we get here?
“You killed my father because yours told you to do so,” I said. “Why should I believe you won’t use me to drop the veil, too? What’s changed? How can I believe this isn’t still part of your scheme to gain my trust so I’ll drop it and bring back your brother?”
I closed my eyes to try and force the tears away, but I failed.
Alek’s jaw tightened. I hated this. I hated everything about it. I trusted Alek. Even after everything, I had trusted him.
But what now? Where did we go from here?
“Come home with me, and we’ll forget all about this. We’ll start over somewhere else,” Theia pushed. She took another step toward me.
But Alek put his body between us. “Don’t do this, Lyra,” he said. “She’ll lock you up like she’s done your entire life. You’ll never live!”
“She’ll die with you!” Theia yelled. Alek moved quickly—too quickly that I almost didn’t see his hand move to his belt. He pulled a knife and held it between them.
Between us and her.
“No,” he answered. “She’ll live with me. The only person here who wants her dead is you.”
She laughed again, taking in his knife. “You have no fucking idea how wrong you are, boy.”
