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She'd said my name—that was the nagging feeling.
Aveline! Oh my god, Aveline!
But I'd told her my name was Freya, and I'd never once told her I was Avie, let alone Aveline.
Someone else had.
"No wonder your man doesn't take you to Morrisons; he's a heartless monster who abducts and tortures little girls for kicks."
Maxine shot me a surprised look that bled into alarm. "He's worried about you, Aveline."
"He's trying to use me tobecome the devil,you absolute cowbag!" I snapped, and jerked away from her when a cool wave rippled over me like a sheet of water. "He'll kill me when he's on the—oh."
The sheet of water was magic, apparently. The second I passed through it, the field behind the church stopped being all Christians and baked goods; an army stretched right to the wall on the edge of the property, arm to arm, dressed in midnight black.
And waiting for me with a glare that promised endless, unbearable pain, was Christian Lachesi.
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It was jarring to see him looking human. I'd been so prepared to see him in his lizard skin that seeing him look like the man who abducted me andraisedme threw me completely off balance.
Maxine grabbed my arm and squeezed, like she was trying to comfort me and not restrain me. I threw her a salty look.
"I trusted you, you two-faced, lying rodent. No, that's unkind to rodents—rats are sweet babies. You're a grub, one of those gross, wriggly things. And eventhoseare probably less backstabbing than you!"
I was angry and hurt enough that my power should have been blazing inside me, but it barely cracked an eye open. Even when I wrenched on my core of magic, trying not to look at the demon army or my psycho abuser too closely, it barely trickled into my palm.
Oh wow, my finger lit on fire.
So helpful. Thanks.
"He missed you, darling," Maxine tried to justify her deceitful actions. I couldn't believe I'd fallen for the wholeI was worried about youroutine. I knew better than that.
"He missedstealing my magic,"I spat, glaring at the bastard himself as he strolled forward. "Give me my magic back, you thieving lizard."
"Very creative insults today, Avie," he remarked, not sounding threatened or even pissed off. I hated him like this, when Iknewhe was furious but he acted so normal I could never tell when he was going to grab a fistful of my hair and throw me into the wall to ‘make me stronger.’
"What's the plan here?" I asked, shoving Maxine off and stalking over to Eidolon. It was harder not to think of him as my father when he looked like this. I remembered all the times he'd cut me, strangled me, and drowned me—but I remembered the McDonalds trips to celebrate a successful hunt, and the rare hugs he'd given when I made him proud, and the way he always kept a light on in the hall so I didn't wake to true and total darkness if I had a nightmare.
I swallowed, and went on, looking at his stubbled jaw because I couldn't meet his eyes. "Let me guess. You’ll drain all my magic, wipe Orchid Vale off the map, and make yourself king of the ruins because you can never be the true devil of Hell?"
"I've never known you to be defeatist before," he remarked, a muscle feathering in his jaw. "Why wouldn't I be the devil?"
I smiled, and edged my mouth with coldness and cruelty. "Because you need the sceptre, and it's gone. Destroyed, actually. And I'm pretty sure you know that—that's why you left that candyfloss cone at the Feared Tower."
I let my hands hang at my sides, easy and casual.1
"You were always clever, Avie," Christian replied, and Ihatedthe pride in his voice with a seething passion. Hated the way it made my whole chest cave in.
"Yeah, well, I had to be clever," I spat, my skin crawling with awareness when we were five feet apart. "You raised me on torture and fear. A twelve-year-old should never know what it feels like to have a five-inch wound opened on her back."
"You were in no real danger," he dismissed, watching me stop in front of him and his stoic army. "I was there the whole time."
"Because you were the one who flayed me open!" I yelled, and had to battle to reel my fury back in.
The moment I locked eyes with him, this monster who raised me and made my life a living hell, I couldn't look away.
"I was in danger every damn second I spent with you. Just because you didn't kill me doesn't mean cutting, stabbing, poisoning, suffocating, drowning, and drugging me was okay."
