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“You look like her. You could be her sister.”
She went still. “This friend of yours has my eyes? They’re violet?”
It was more than the eyes. “Yes. They’re memorable. She’s also an incredibly powerful witch.”
“I would like very much to meet her,” Lilith said quietly, a determination in her eyes. “I’ve been looking for a woman. Someone I lost thousands of years ago. I thought her soul had perhaps moved on to another realm, but now I wonder.”
“Well, before we introduce you to anyone, I’d like to know why four creatures from your realm have recently tried to murder Lady Sloane.” Casey seemed to have forgotten the wordsubtle.
A flush stole across the petite woman’s skin, and she looked down at the largest of her hellhounds. “Hercules, come here.”
The canine turned his head up and stared into his mother’s eyes, giving her a trust I wondered if I would ever feel again.
When Lilith looked back, there was a sheen of tears in her eyes. “My poor babies. They were spelled, weren’t they? Was it a physical charm placed on them? I can’t sense an internal spell, but anyone who knows me wouldn’t attempt to set me up like that.”
“Set you up?” Casey asked.
I was still staring at her, still thinking about how Nimue had a chance to flee and hadn’t taken it. She’d come for me, tried to save me.
Like Kelsey would have if she hadn’t been tricked away from her family.
Logic stated the truth. I was part of that family. So why couldn’t I feel the connection?
“I have no reason to harm Lady Sloane. I don’t know her,” Lilith replied. “Is my son here? Tix is the only one of my children I truly have a relationship with. I would never harm Tix. He’s…he’s the only one who has a piece of me in him.”
“You’re the mother of demons.” I was still a little out of it. I was processing what I’d learned and the fact that I was sitting across from the First Woman, the one religion teaches was defective.
“Yes, that was part of my punishment for not taking my place.” Her shoulders went back, spine straightening, and Hestia placed her big head on Lilith’s lap as though the hellhound realized she needed some comfort. “In the beginning there was Heaven and Hell and Earth. When I rejected Adam, I wasn’t welcome on two of those planes. Let’s just say, my time here on the Hell plane hasn’t always been as comfortable as it is now, and many of those births were not my choice.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, wanting to be.
Lilith’s lips turned up in a sad smile. “I think you wish you could be. He cut out a center piece of your soul. He took your pain, but he took your joy, too. Youngling, I know it seems easier, but life is meaningless if we can’t feel it.” She turned to Casey, seeming to steel herself. “I assure you, Academic, I am not at fault here. I would never harm my babies. You said there were four. I only have three hounds.”
“The day we came here, a predatory cat attacked Lady Sloane,” Casey explained. “It had a brand.”
“Yes, I’m sure it did. I run something of a sanctuary for animals no one else wants,” she replied. “I’m forced to brand the more dangerous of our occupants. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I had nothing to do with it. I’ll check with my servants, but it would be fairly easy for someone of ill intent to sneak one of my creatures off plane. I know it will come as a surprise to you, but demons are easily bribed. I try to keep my circle tight, but I still need servants, and I can’t promise none of them will betray me. I don’t have the comfort of the oath Lord Sloane has.”
“Why not? I thought every great house had that,” Casey said.
“I’m not a house. I rule over the Daybreak realm, but I foreswore having more children or a spouse long ago,” she explained. “In fact, if I should be killed or found unworthy of my realm, the House of Sloane would take over.”
The implications hit me, and I worried Lilith was going to walk away. “Gray would never do that.”
“No, but his father might,” she mused. “It would be a good way to take over. If one of the creatures had managed to kill Lady Sloane, I would be accused. Of course, it makes more sense to kill Lord Sloane and take over.”
“Lady Sloane is pregnant,” I pointed out. Despite that piece of my soul that was missing, I proved I could still feel some guilt. I’d sent my bestie to Lucifer’s realm to soak up a bunch of energy that would make it possible for her house to go on the lam.
That sounded stupid when I really thought about it.
“He could want to kill Lord Sloane so he could take over easily, though he would have a better hold on the realms if he had a grandchild. Demons take their lineage seriously,” Lilith explained. “Can you be certain they were going after Lady Sloane? Or were they sent to simply create chaos and point a finger my way? Have you asked the house what it saw?”
“The house doesn’t exactly like me,” Casey admitted with a frown. “It likes to make my life hard.”
A curious look came over Lilith’s face. “Why would it do that? You understand that the house isn’t exactly sentient in a way we understand. Think of it more like a giant spell meant to protect and harbor the inhabitants. I’ve heard the humans now have smart houses. It’s a bit like that.”
“I thought the house could take form,” I heard myself say, suspicion creeping along my skin.
Lilith stared at me. “Form? What do you mean?”
