You should’ve figured that out by now.”
“I guess I have. It’s just hard to wrap my mind around it.”
“As I was saying, my parents basically locked me in the house for most of my life. They were afraid that if they let me out and I visited the other Spheres or, God forbid, Earth, I’d be lost to them. Someone would steal my heart and I’d run away or something. So, when the invitation to apply to Grim Reaper Academy came in the mail, it literally saved my life.”
I blinked in confusion. “When you came to Grim Reaper Academy, that was the first time you left your house?!”
“My family’s property. I was allowed outside, obviously.”
“Oh shit…”
Domina took a step closer to me. I had nowhere to go.
“Are you putting two and two together already, Yoli?”
This wasn’t about her. This was about me. She’d told me her story because I was supposed to understand… Understand what it had meant when Davien had chosen me over her.
“Don’t tell me Davien was…”
“My first,” she said. “Yes, he was my first. And I thought he’d be my last, too. I thought it was love at first sight, because how could an incubus, a lustful creature of Hell, set eyes upon me, a marvelous creature of Heaven, a seraph and a virgin, and not be enthralled for life? He was mine, and you took him from me.” She was sneering in my face now, and I was just realizing that she had pretty long canines.
“Domina, it all happened on day one. Day one!”
“I fell in love with him the second I saw him. He’s perfect for me. He’s everything my parents hate, and that’s why I need him. You will not stand in my way. I won’t let you. This ends here.”
“Domina, what are you going to do?”
My knees were trembling. I had both hands on the railing behind me, and I was squeezing it for dear life. I stole a glance over it and gulped. It was a long, long way down. I closed my eyes and focused on the restaurant below, trying to teleport there. It didn’t work. What other options did I have? I reached inside my pocket and grabbed Corri’s bell. But when I pulled it out, Domina smacked it out of my hand. It fell on the platform, clinking pathetically. Corri didn’t come. The bell only worked if the owner rang it. Domina could’ve rung it, and nothing would happen. It had to be me.
“I’m going to make you pay for all the heartache you’ve put me through. And then, I’m going to take my man back.”
“Domina, no…”
She pushed me over the railing, and when I tried to hold on to it, she raised her wings, tips turned into sharp blades, and slashed at my hands. The pain was too much. I let go against my will, and I fell fell fell… It was a long way down, indeed. I tried to teleport again. It had to work, or I was going to hit the ground and end up in pieces. I focused with all my might, eyes closed and hands squeezed into fists. I couldn’t feel my body. My heart beat in my throat, and my head was about to explode. I kept falling and falling. I struggled, trying to teleport again and again, and at some point… something happened. I felt myself zapping out, and then back in. One second later, I was hitting the ground hard. I heard a snap, and pain erupted in my right arm. I moaned. I couldn’t move, but I was alive. Apparently, I had managed to teleport, but not perfectly. I must have teleported from a high altitude closer to the ground. It had saved my life, but not my arm.
I lost consciousness.
CHAPTER TEN
I tried to open my eyes, but a splitting headache erupted behind my eyelids, and I shut them back tightly. My breathing was shallow. If I tried to take in more air, my right side hurt. I tried to move, but it was even worse than before I’d passed out. Now my entire body seemed to be paralyzed, and my right arm hurt so bad that all I wanted was for it all to end. I wanted to disappear. Domina had tried to kill me. The thought alone chilled me to the bone. She would’ve managed if I hadn’t teleported at the last moment. She must have known. She must have calculated this carefully.
I gave up and allowed my