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I shook my head. “I wasn’t—Skye had to half carry me out of there, but it was nothing compared to what it did to you.”
“What it did to my blood, my veins, abated after a few hours, or at least the paralyzing effects of it did. But it did make me an easy target for Helen. They just carted me away and I couldn’t lift a finger in defense.” He jutted his chin out at me. “So what did you find out?”
“Skye could trace my lineage all the way back. My bloodline goes back—on the matrilineal side—all the way to Persephone.”
His head snapped backward, his eyebrows high. “Persephone and Zeus?”
My words slowed, dread in them. I didn’t know it would be this hard to say this out loud. “Persephone and Hades.”
His brow furrowed. “But I thought?—”
“Nope. Turns out Hades could bring life to earth. He wasn’t just death. Persephone’s daughter, Melinoë, was his.” My jaw shifted, the sting of tears starting to well in my eyes. “Or at least that’s what the tree tells us.”
His eyelids closed, and his head swung slightly back and forth for a moment. His eyes opened, lifting to the heavens. “Well…that’s…holy shit…that’s huge. A malefic and a panthenite. An original half-breed. That is insane.”
I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek, emotion hitting me at the worst possible time.
I hadn’t been able to truly think about it, consider it, because just as soon as Skye had discovered the lineage, Helen had found us and then Damen was missing and it hadn’t left one second to acknowledge the insidious storm swirling inside of me.
“Wait.” Damen’s eyes notched into full-out concern. “Why do you look sad? This is good, no? That we know what line you come from, how that can affect your powers—hell, it explains exactly why you have your particular power.”
“The power of death, oozing from me? Yes.” I choked the words out, then heaved a breath, trying to calm myself, but it had little effect, for the tears started to flood my eyes and my words tumbled madcap off my tongue. “But it also makes me the monster I was always afraid I was. I thought…I don’t know…I thought maybe what I did when I killed all those people was an anomaly, or it was something else. I had thought maybe…possibly…it hadn’t been me that killed everyone. Even though I knew I’d done it. But it turns out I really am the true monster. A malefic, a monster. There is no denying it, no falsely reasoning it away.”
Damen instantly stiffened, his arms dropping from my sides as he stood straight. “You know what that makes me?”
“What…?” I looked at him through the blur of tears in my eyes, confused at the sudden harshness of his tone.
“A monster. You are telling me that I’m a fucking monster, Ada. If you’re half a one, than I am a full one.”
“No.” I shook my head, my hand landing on his chest. “No.”
He stepped around me, abandoning me on the balcony.
And it looked like for good.
Chapter23
{ Damen }
Leaving Ada on the balcony with her mouth gaping open, I stalked into the hotel room, headed straight toward the bar across the room. I needed another drink.
Or a dozen after this fucking day.
A monster.
A fucking monster.
That was what she thought of me. Of all of us. Of Venetia.
“Damen.” Her hand clamped onto my arm before I made it to the bar.
It didn’t slow my stride, but she used the leverage to swing herself in front of me.
I stepped around her.
She grabbed my arm again. “You’re walking away from me.”
“And?”
