words weren’t sharp or cruel, and yet they pricked my heart like a barb.
“I’m not the same.” I shook my head. “I don’t think I ever can be.”
“I suspect I know what they’ve done. They did it once before.”
I stilled as my gaze shot to hers. “What do you mean?”
“Before my stroke, I stumbled across a book I’d kept in my library for ages. I’d never read it before, but why would I have? It was a book of alchemy. Just nonsense, or so I thought.”
I shook my head. “What was it?”
She wet her cracked lips. Wanting to give her more relief than that, I reached for the glass of water, but she held up a hand.
“It hurts too much to swallow now, lass.”
“Then you don’t drink, but you still need to wet your throat.” And so saying, I yanked a small strip off of the end of her gown and dipped it in water.
She gave me a befuddled look, but didn’t argue when I pressed the soaked rag to her lips. She sighed into the touch and softly suckled on it for a moment.
“Thank ye.”
I nodded.
Taking a deep breath, she continued her story. “It was a hidden text. About the prophecy.”
My heart gave a painful lurch. There was still so much about this prophecy that we didn’t know. “And? Was it anything new? Anything that could help?”
Her eyes were sad. “I learned a lot, yes. Back in the sixteen hundreds they found another Nephilim called Aquilla. She looked remarkably like you, and like you, she was also a Lust neph. The Triad took her, they vivisected her, studied her organs while she lay strapped to the stone slab—”
A wave of sickness washed over me, and I grabbed hold of my stomach as I breathed through the violent onslaught.
Grace didn’t speak as I dry heaved on the bed, suddenly so grateful I’d not eaten a thing during my four months with Ash.
Her words brought the images back in bold strokes of vivid color. The feel of hot steel as they’d shoved it through my heart, how my blood had literally churned through my veins. The way they’d opened me up, pulled out my insides and then dipped me in ice until I screamed and cried and pleaded with them to let me go, that I’d give them anything, tell them anything, as long as they just let me go.
I shuddered.
She picked up where she left off, offering me no sympathy, for which I was grateful. I was able to hold my pride together because she hadn’t tried to console me with pointless platitudes. Nothing could make it better, or make it go away.
“Anyway.” She waved her hand. “They tortured her for a year. In that time, they’d stripped her of her demon.”
“Why?” I swallowed the bile still thick on my tongue. “To what purpose?”
She shook her head. “As far as I could decipher, they needed to strip her bare to rebuild her. After a year, they let her loose.”
Something was wrong with the story. “So why have I never heard of Aquilla? Or why hasn’t any of my family, for that matter? If she was around back in the sixteen hundreds, shouldn’t there at least have been rumors of Armageddon?”
Grace held my gaze for a second before dropping hers. “Because it didn’t take, lass. Aquilla went mad, turning on her captors. She brutally slaughtered them, very nearly wiping out the Order herself.”
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “You all know how to stop us—it’s not hard with the right knowledge—so why didn’t they—”
“She was too powerful. Not only had they given her Lust back, but they’d envenomed her with the other six deadly sins.”
My heart literally skipped a beat. I grabbed my chest as the slithering undulations of extra souls inside me swirled suddenly to life.
“As they’ve done with you. Haven’t they, Dora?”
“Why did they do that? Why?” My last “why” trembled, and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from losing my composure. I reminded myself over and over that Grace was merely the messenger, not the one who’d done this to me, not the one I wanted to
“I’m not the same.” I shook my head. “I don’t think I ever can be.”
“I suspect I know what they’ve done. They did it once before.”
I stilled as my gaze shot to hers. “What do you mean?”
“Before my stroke, I stumbled across a book I’d kept in my library for ages. I’d never read it before, but why would I have? It was a book of alchemy. Just nonsense, or so I thought.”
I shook my head. “What was it?”
She wet her cracked lips. Wanting to give her more relief than that, I reached for the glass of water, but she held up a hand.
“It hurts too much to swallow now, lass.”
“Then you don’t drink, but you still need to wet your throat.” And so saying, I yanked a small strip off of the end of her gown and dipped it in water.
She gave me a befuddled look, but didn’t argue when I pressed the soaked rag to her lips. She sighed into the touch and softly suckled on it for a moment.
“Thank ye.”
I nodded.
Taking a deep breath, she continued her story. “It was a hidden text. About the prophecy.”
My heart gave a painful lurch. There was still so much about this prophecy that we didn’t know. “And? Was it anything new? Anything that could help?”
Her eyes were sad. “I learned a lot, yes. Back in the sixteen hundreds they found another Nephilim called Aquilla. She looked remarkably like you, and like you, she was also a Lust neph. The Triad took her, they vivisected her, studied her organs while she lay strapped to the stone slab—”
A wave of sickness washed over me, and I grabbed hold of my stomach as I breathed through the violent onslaught.
Grace didn’t speak as I dry heaved on the bed, suddenly so grateful I’d not eaten a thing during my four months with Ash.
Her words brought the images back in bold strokes of vivid color. The feel of hot steel as they’d shoved it through my heart, how my blood had literally churned through my veins. The way they’d opened me up, pulled out my insides and then dipped me in ice until I screamed and cried and pleaded with them to let me go, that I’d give them anything, tell them anything, as long as they just let me go.
I shuddered.
She picked up where she left off, offering me no sympathy, for which I was grateful. I was able to hold my pride together because she hadn’t tried to console me with pointless platitudes. Nothing could make it better, or make it go away.
“Anyway.” She waved her hand. “They tortured her for a year. In that time, they’d stripped her of her demon.”
“Why?” I swallowed the bile still thick on my tongue. “To what purpose?”
She shook her head. “As far as I could decipher, they needed to strip her bare to rebuild her. After a year, they let her loose.”
Something was wrong with the story. “So why have I never heard of Aquilla? Or why hasn’t any of my family, for that matter? If she was around back in the sixteen hundreds, shouldn’t there at least have been rumors of Armageddon?”
Grace held my gaze for a second before dropping hers. “Because it didn’t take, lass. Aquilla went mad, turning on her captors. She brutally slaughtered them, very nearly wiping out the Order herself.”
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “You all know how to stop us—it’s not hard with the right knowledge—so why didn’t they—”
“She was too powerful. Not only had they given her Lust back, but they’d envenomed her with the other six deadly sins.”
My heart literally skipped a beat. I grabbed my chest as the slithering undulations of extra souls inside me swirled suddenly to life.
“As they’ve done with you. Haven’t they, Dora?”
“Why did they do that? Why?” My last “why” trembled, and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from losing my composure. I reminded myself over and over that Grace was merely the messenger, not the one who’d done this to me, not the one I wanted to
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