AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wrath chuckled, and it was a warm, comforting sound. “Perhaps just other things to worry about. Our insistence on making war doesn’t leave time for more refined hobbies.”
Eddie sipped her wine and was pleasantly surprised by its crisp, floral taste. “It’s good.”
“It is based on a Sancerre.” Wrath motioned with his glass. “That was your mother’s favorite white wine.”
As most white wine found a place in Rosabella’s heart, Eddie was surprised he remembered that detail. Ouch! The judgy thing appeared to be contagious, and clearly, she had some suppressed anger and mommy issues to work through.
The purple sky was darkening to indigo as the red sun blazed gold on the horizon.
“I shall begin with answering what would be my first question were I you. Why you have never seen me before now.” Wrath took a seat on one of the oversize lounge chairs near the table. “The answer is simply that I was unaware that I had a child until Yesterday told me as much.”
“Wait. What?” Eddie needed to unpack that piece by piece, beginning with, “Yesterday knew I was your daughter?”
“He guessed you were Nephilim.” He studied her with those cool blue eyes. “It was only once you were in hell and your true nature revealed itself that he identified your sire.”
You would think she was getting immune to all the ways Yesterday had played her. “He could have told me.”
“Imps are…” Wrath pulled a face. “Dishonest by nature. They lie. It’s what they do.”
“Like you make war?” Frankly, the we are this way because we were made that way argument was getting stale.
Wrath flinched. “Touché. Would you like me to punish him?”
“No.” She sighed. Not because she didn’t want to smack the little shit in his stupidly big mouth, but more because she’d like to do the smacking. “But trusting him in any way seems to be risky.”
Wrath grunted and sipped his wine.
Guttural shouts sounded from the courtyard and then receded. As Wrath didn’t seem concerned, Eddie decided not to be. “So, you didn’t know I was your daughter until recently?”
“Yes.” He nodded, his expression somber and pensive. “Had I known, Eddie, I would have come sooner. I would have made sure you were protected. When I left the earth plane, Deandra made me promise not to return. But had I known I had a daughter, I would have broken that promise.”
That must have been the deal Dee had spoken about when she’d first seen Wrath. Dee must have known Rosabella was pregnant when she’d extracted that promise from Wrath. Even knowing Dee had done what she’d done to protect her, it still smarted. Then again, Dee had given her a relatively normal life up until now. If Wrath had come for her, she might not have had that. She might have grown up here, and perhaps without Dee in her life. A tangle of emotions tightened in her chest. Everywhere she turned she found more questions. She couldn’t deal with them right now.
Mouthwatering smells drifted in with the evening breeze. If she’d been attempting to have a conversation with anyone else about anything else, the evening might have been companionable. But as it was, she wanted to fidget. She caught Wrath side eyeing her and guessed he was no more comfortable with the situation than she was. “How did you meet my mother?”
“Rosabella?” He started and looked guilty as hell. “I met your mother when I came through the hell gate. About…” He cleared his throat. “Twenty years ago?”
“Twenty-six,” she said. He didn’t even know how old she was.
“Yes.” He nodded. “Well, twenty-five, because you…and Rosabella was expecting…and…er…human biology being what it is.”
“Right, twenty-five.” His awkwardness put her more at ease and Eddie took the seat opposite him.
“We…that is to say, hell princes.” He stopped a moment. “Archangels too I believe, have a weakness for humans.” He took a huge slug of wine. “We find humans somewhat irresistible. It is…er…mainly for this reason that…congress between us and humans is forbidden.”
“You find us irresistible?” Eddie found that hard to believe. Near perfect beings who, judging by what she’d seen thus far, were all ridiculously beautiful, found humans irresistible.
“You are not human, daughter.” Wrath grimaced. “Not entirely human, but I am sure you are also irresistible.” He went bright red, and his eyes widened in horror. “I mean, not to me. I am not…I do not. I speak merely of the way I have seen Shade look at you. And the other demons. And a couple of the archangels.”
According to her father, she was crack for supernaturals. Seemed like a missed opportunity. “Why? What is irresistible about us? You’re the physically perfect beings.”
“When you exist with physical perfection, it ceases to be perfection and becomes the norm,” Wrath said. “We are also immortal beings. Whereas humans are so immediate and raw. They know their time is short, and that changes the way they embrace existence. We find it entrancing.”
“Huh.” Eddie let that percolate through her brain. “And me? If you’re immortal and my mother was mortal, what does that make me?”
“Long-lived enough to be close to immortal.” Wrath refilled both their glasses. “Now that your powers have been activated, so has your longevity.”
“And if I hadn’t come through the hell gate?”
