robe without butchering it.
I turned my head to look at the clock on the mantle. Ari had taken off for a little, promising to be back within the hour, and it had already been over an hour and a half. Where in the hell could he be?
I started to shift my weight when I felt a sharp tap sting my leg. "Do you ever stand still?" Serena grumbled under her breath.
"Hey, I'm not the one that decided new clothes were in order," I coolly remarked, making faces at her. "My shirt and pants were perfectly fine."
"Of course they were," Serena packed as much sarcasm as she could into the four little words. "If you want everyone in Charon to know who you are. At least while you wear this you'll have a little coverage. Smell less like death, too."
"I did not smell like death."
"Oh, you certainly did." She pulled out a pair of scissors from the small sewing box alongside her. "And at least that scar of yours is covered up, too."
Blowing out the air from my cheeks, I muttered an offensive word under my breath. Serena began to cut into the fabric using a part of household scissors, carefully snipping so the remaining half of the dress brushed the tips of my toes.
"Serena?"
"Hrmm?"
"Why do the buildings get darker the further you leave the main road in Charon?"
The sound of cutting fabric came to a stop, and I looked down to see her free hand comb through the mess of caramel curls on her head. She seemed to consider my question for a minute, mulling over the answer edging on her tongue.
"Centuries upon millennia ago, when Charon was first formed, it was like a crystal paradise," Serena began, her eyes glazing over to a faraway stare. Her fingers inched down to her cheek, absentmindedly tracing the edges of her blue mark. "The first Queen, the True Queen as we call her, made it into a place of love, of endless possibilities. She was one of the first Nephilim to have been created.
"For countless lifetimes, she reigned with a pure heart and angelic soul. She married another Nephilim, and together they created two daughters, Harmony and Ebony. Harmony had tragically passed in an accident, leaving Ebony the sole heir to the throne. When her mother eventually passed, legend has it she made Ebony promise to keep their bloodline true, and marry another Nephilim. It would never happen."
It was as if Serena had painted a picture for us both to step into; I imagined an even more beautiful, crystal version of Charon, suspended in a state of perfection for centuries. Lead by a gentle, but powerful woman who did everything in her power to embrace the sacred blood in her veins.
Serena went on, her words continuing the visual in my head. "What Ebony had never shared with her mother is that she rejected her bloodline, and all the purity that came with it. As her name is dark, she aimed to be slathered in ink, and in her ultimate defiance on her mother's dying wish, married a demon and gave birth to his child. A corruption, a half-breed torn between two worlds at ultimate extremes."
"But would that child not be of three? Human, angel, and demon?"
She nodded. "Indeed, the child was, and for centuries after, the line continued, fathered by demons, all children born male. Until Lucretia. She is the last of the legacy, and unable to have children."
I felt like my head was crunching in on itself. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I tried to wrap my mind around the problem Serena was trying to spell out in front of me. "So Nephilim can have children, and demon can have children too, but mix them together and they can't?"
"In a sense, yes. A hybrid of Nephilim and demon who is male can have children, but a female cannot."
The light bulb went off in my head. "And Lucretia is a female, and a mix of both."
Serena's faint smile told me I was on the same page. "Exactly. At first, no one knew, and who could have expected it when all the males could produce children?"
Of course no one would know. Never once had there been a question that a Nephilim-demon
I turned my head to look at the clock on the mantle. Ari had taken off for a little, promising to be back within the hour, and it had already been over an hour and a half. Where in the hell could he be?
I started to shift my weight when I felt a sharp tap sting my leg. "Do you ever stand still?" Serena grumbled under her breath.
"Hey, I'm not the one that decided new clothes were in order," I coolly remarked, making faces at her. "My shirt and pants were perfectly fine."
"Of course they were," Serena packed as much sarcasm as she could into the four little words. "If you want everyone in Charon to know who you are. At least while you wear this you'll have a little coverage. Smell less like death, too."
"I did not smell like death."
"Oh, you certainly did." She pulled out a pair of scissors from the small sewing box alongside her. "And at least that scar of yours is covered up, too."
Blowing out the air from my cheeks, I muttered an offensive word under my breath. Serena began to cut into the fabric using a part of household scissors, carefully snipping so the remaining half of the dress brushed the tips of my toes.
"Serena?"
"Hrmm?"
"Why do the buildings get darker the further you leave the main road in Charon?"
The sound of cutting fabric came to a stop, and I looked down to see her free hand comb through the mess of caramel curls on her head. She seemed to consider my question for a minute, mulling over the answer edging on her tongue.
"Centuries upon millennia ago, when Charon was first formed, it was like a crystal paradise," Serena began, her eyes glazing over to a faraway stare. Her fingers inched down to her cheek, absentmindedly tracing the edges of her blue mark. "The first Queen, the True Queen as we call her, made it into a place of love, of endless possibilities. She was one of the first Nephilim to have been created.
"For countless lifetimes, she reigned with a pure heart and angelic soul. She married another Nephilim, and together they created two daughters, Harmony and Ebony. Harmony had tragically passed in an accident, leaving Ebony the sole heir to the throne. When her mother eventually passed, legend has it she made Ebony promise to keep their bloodline true, and marry another Nephilim. It would never happen."
It was as if Serena had painted a picture for us both to step into; I imagined an even more beautiful, crystal version of Charon, suspended in a state of perfection for centuries. Lead by a gentle, but powerful woman who did everything in her power to embrace the sacred blood in her veins.
Serena went on, her words continuing the visual in my head. "What Ebony had never shared with her mother is that she rejected her bloodline, and all the purity that came with it. As her name is dark, she aimed to be slathered in ink, and in her ultimate defiance on her mother's dying wish, married a demon and gave birth to his child. A corruption, a half-breed torn between two worlds at ultimate extremes."
"But would that child not be of three? Human, angel, and demon?"
She nodded. "Indeed, the child was, and for centuries after, the line continued, fathered by demons, all children born male. Until Lucretia. She is the last of the legacy, and unable to have children."
I felt like my head was crunching in on itself. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I tried to wrap my mind around the problem Serena was trying to spell out in front of me. "So Nephilim can have children, and demon can have children too, but mix them together and they can't?"
"In a sense, yes. A hybrid of Nephilim and demon who is male can have children, but a female cannot."
The light bulb went off in my head. "And Lucretia is a female, and a mix of both."
Serena's faint smile told me I was on the same page. "Exactly. At first, no one knew, and who could have expected it when all the males could produce children?"
Of course no one would know. Never once had there been a question that a Nephilim-demon
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