who started the Nex, you know.”
Poppy gave a short nod. She knew that much.
Lena continued. “She pled with Isley to understand that for humans to know the truth would bring about pain and chaos. It was a long-standing argument.” Lena’s chest lifted and fell on a soft sigh. “He kept playing his tricks, and she kept ignoring them, because she could not let him go. He was like a disease within her. And then the inevitable happened.”
Lena sat up and rested an elbow on her crossed leg. “She ended it. For you see, she finally realized that passion without trust, without compromise, was a useless thing that only served to burn her out.”
“Isley did not take it well?” Win asked, his voice as soft and rough as Poppy’s had been.
“No. There were… complications.” Lena’s black gaze flicked to Poppy. “She was with child.”
The air in the room vanished. On stiff limbs, Poppy rose and paced away. “A child.” Her tone was brittle, disbelieving. But she did believe, and it made her ill. His child for hers. She braced a hand upon the back of the chair she’d vacated.
Lena did not move. “He promised not to interfere with her children,” she whispered. “But he wanted this one. Because this one turned out to be male. He believed the boy would inherit his legacy, be made into what he was.”
“Children?” An ocean roared in Poppy’s ears. Somehow she made her numb lips move. “I thought…”
Lena rose with subtle grace. “No, not me.”
Poppy swallowed hard. Dimly she felt Win’s hand slipping into her ice cold one. “Moira Darling?”
“A nickname for Mary,” Lena said. “His Mary Margaret darling.”
Poppy broke free from Win’s grasp. “Oh Jesus.”
Win looked wildly between the two of them. “Mary as in Mary Margaret Ellis?” He paled.
“Yes,” said Lena. “As in Poppy’s mother.”
Poppy sucked in a breath and then another. “Is he… Is he my father?”
The distaste and regret in Lena’s expression spoke before she did. “Yes.”
“My sisters.” Fear for their safety had her surging toward the door.
“He cannot get to them. Nor the boy.” Lena’s fists pressed against her thighs as she looked up at Poppy. “It was a bargain Isley and Mary Margaret made from the beginning. A safeguard laid down by your mother. Isley cannot know his children unless someone presents them to him.”
“What do you mean ‘cannot know’?”
“Just that. He literally cannot see his own children, even if they are right in front of him. The agreement won’t allow it. Unless another person presents his children to him, they are invisible to his eyes. She did so with you.” Lena’s gaze slid away. “He lost interest after that. Until he knew he was to have a son. They fought over it. And he killed her. I think it was an accident, for his rage knew no bounds afterward.”
Poppy paced again, ending up at the wall and slumping against it. “A brother.”
Lena did not blink. “When the baby was born, Margaret told everyone that he had died. I took a blood oath to hide the babe away where Isley could not get him and to do everything in my power to keep the babe’s existence secret.”
Poppy uttered a vicious inward curse. To a sanguis demon, nothing was as sacred as a blood vow. Its bond was stronger than friendship or kin. To break it would fracture a sanguis’s soul. And Poppy’s mother knew this well.
As if reading Poppy’s mind, Lena gave a slow nod. “When I heard of the bargain Isley had made with the Inspector, I knew I would ultimately fail. But I had to try.”
Lena had made her vow, but Poppy could not condone the actions she took to keep it. “Where is my brother?”
Lena’s lips flattened.
“Where, Lena?” She pushed off the wall and stalked closer. “He is my brother! My sisters’ brother too.”
“He is more his father’s child than his mother’s. If you expose him to Isley, he may turn for ill. You cannot taint him with this life.”
“Do not… I will not keep another one of my mother’s secrets in the name of protection! No more.”
“Then I will not tell you where he is.”
Poppy did not think. The back of her hand met Lena’s cheek with a blow that made her bones burn and sent Lena’s head snapping to the side. Momentum still carried her arm forward when Lena reared, her fangs out, her nails extended. She could take Poppy’s head with one swipe. But a blur of movement and a looming dark form