could they do that to their Fated?” Eve demands when we’re far enough away. “If Adam ever cheated on me…” She shakes her head vehemently, a dark look clouding her eyes.
“We shouldn’t deal with matters that don’t concern us,” I insist as we return to the pathway. In the distance, I can see Caius and Adam languidly walking towards us, talking amongst themselves. They understand how important this time is for us, how much it means to me that I’m able to giggle and gossip with my best friend.
“But—”
“What are you two doing?” a familiar, strident voice demands. Lilith appears on the pathway a moment later, eyes hurling daggers as she first stares at me and then Eve.
I can’t help but exchange an anxious glance with my best friend, one she returns.
“What?” Lilith straightens her shoulders and spears us with a long, withering look.
“Nothing,” we blurt out in unison, and then we giggle.
For a brief moment, jealousy springs to life in Lilith’s sea-blue eyes before she tamps down that emotion. I’ve never liked Lilith, the Envy Fate. I hate the way she lusts after Caius and covets my best friend. In all honesty, it makes me wrathful.
And when her eyes slide to my lover, an almost wistful expression marring her pretty face, I allow my wrath to seep from my pores like a sickly poison.
“Why don’t you find Lucifer and bother him?” I ask snidely, wrapping a possessive arm around Caius’s waist when he steps up to us. “I think I saw him over there.” I point in the direction I had last seen him with Abram. I know this will hurt her, positively destroy her, but my sin doesn’t allow me to care. The need to enact vengeance is riding me hard.
Eve gives me another one of her wide-eyed stares but doesn’t contradict me.
“Fine,” Lilith huffs, stalking away.
“Claire, what did you just do?” Eve hisses, and for the first time, there’s fear in her voice. “Lilith is going to hate you!”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I protest immediately. “I would want to know the truth if it were me.”
Though…
That’s a lie. I think a part of my soul would shrivel into dust if I discovered Caius no longer loved me.
And Lilith? I can deal with her envy and hate. I have dealt with her envy and hate, and I probably will until the day I die.
Though I just didn’t expect for that day to come sooner rather than later.
Chapter 4
Preston
I don’t think I’ve ever felt this awful before. I don’t know where I am or what’s going on. All I know is that I feel as if I've been ripped in half, as if a part of me is missing.
I want to run my hands down my body, to make sure that I have all of my limbs, but I can’t get my arms to move. My legs feel detached, and I’m scared to even attempt to wiggle my toes.
Voices begin to filter down to me, and fear settles in deep, weighing on my chest.
Who are they?
Where am I?
I rifle through the last thing I remember, when it all comes back to me…
The monsters.
The fight.
Lilith.
Hadley…
“Hadley!” My attempt at shouting fails, sounding more like a dying bullfrog than actual speech. But thoughts of Hadley have adrenaline pumping through my veins, and with a grunt, I force my body to sit up.
Several things hit me at once—I’m still in the secret room in the tunnels, two of my brothers are lying unconscious next to me, and Aggie and Buttox—back in their old, saggy meat suits—are talking to a woman with her back towards me, someone I’ve never seen before.
Surging to my feet, terror gripping my insides, I call upon my scythe to protect them. The glowing woman with white wings and horns must be part of Lilith’s plans. She has shimmery hair which is a variety of colors—white like an angel, black like a demon, dirty blonde like…well…like Hadley’s natural hair color, with streaks of washed-out brown.
I can’t let them hurt my brothers or Hadley.
I thrust out my arm, reaching inside myself for the magic that calls upon my weapon, but find that part of myself is empty, devoid of anything.
What is happening to me?
My chest feels hollow, empty, like I’m not whole anymore.
Shaking my head, I try again, wiggling my fingers in a feeble attempt to call upon my magic, even though I know it won’t come.
Did Lilith hurt me too?
“Don’t come any closer!” I shout as Aggie…or Eve, as