out for her beside him, while I move around the table to one of the empty seats across from my sisters. I plop down next to Ire while Toreon sits on my other side, and Vudu pulls out the chair beside him.
“So, how are things in Heaven?” Medley asks conversationally, as dishes start to get passed around and people fill up their plates.
Delta warned me about the weird food she was fed at her last dinner here in Hell, but everything on the table looks relatively normal, unless the noodles in the fettuccini are worms or something. Like a smart sister, I wait for Delta to take a bite of everything and swallow it down before I declare it safe and help myself.
“Things are good. News of Morax’s destruction was welcome. The Legion requested to meet with the three of you to say thank you for the services you provided Heaven, but I told them I’d get back to them about when you three would be available,” she tells us as she moves food around on her plate.
Her armor gleams in the candlelight, and I wonder if she ever takes it off figuratively, if she ever relaxes.
“They probably want to give you three medals,” she tells us, a small smile sneaking across her face before she hides it away.
Tazreel sits up a little straighter, pride beaming from him. “Naturally, they should be rewarded,” he declares. Our realms would have fallen if not for our daughters.”
“Very true,” Nefta agrees, and I swear, food falls out of Delta’s shocked open mouth as they agree with each other before they go back to moving food around their plates.
I watch as Nefta’s eyes flit between me, Medley, and Delta, and there’s so much uncertainty in her purple gaze that I can’t help but feel for her.
I think back on the words that I snapped at her the first time I ever met her, and I suddenly feel bad. Every word I spoke was true, but I think I was missing a big part of the picture that I most certainly understand better after the argument that just went on with the Sins. It may have sucked for me, but I can see that Nefta tried to do the best that she could. She hid us for a very valid reason.
“How come we couldn’t have stayed together?” I ask abruptly, and Nefta’s eyes dart to mine as the question hangs in the air.
Her gaze flashes with regret for a split second as she looks at me before clearing her throat. “You could have unknowingly broken the wards I had put on you,” she answers, and I think about the fact that Medley’s blood is what finally shattered the last of mine, and I nod in understanding.
“You know what I was wondering?” Delta begins. “If you wanted to hide us from demons and angels, why leave us so close to the portals of the Hellgate?”
At our sister’s question, Medley and I both look to Nefta curiously.
“It was a failsafe,” Nefta admits. “If anything ever happened to me, I wanted Tazreel to be able to find you to keep you protected. I had protocols in place to alert him,” she states, making Taz look slightly taken aback at her trust. “Plus, you all would’ve been naturally drawn to the portals anyway. It was better to keep you close to them in case you needed to flee into Hell.”
My sisters and I exchange a look, filled with surprise at Nefta’s forethought. Even though things didn’t quite work out the way she planned for us, hearing that she thought about ways to protect us even if something happened to her is comforting.
“I know how I come across, that it might seem like I’m unfeeling or that I didn’t care about abandoning you…” Nefta starts as she sits back in her chair and stares down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at me and my sisters. In this moment, she doesn’t look so much like a hardened Heavenly warrior. She looks like a female filled with regret.
“Life and experience hardened me more than I knew. I’m working on that,” she promises with a wry smile. “But I promise I was trying to give you the best life I could. I thought I had found families that would love you and protect you. I thought each of you would grow up treasured and happy, completely ignorant to the dangers that have always surrounded our kind. I don’t