Page 21

Lilith

L ast night I fell asleep almost right after they got me dressed for bed. One minute I was trying to keep myself awake to wait for them to come to bed, and the next Daemon was waking me up for breakfast. I take a long, hot shower before going downstairs to find out what my mom wrote.

When I get done in the shower, I dry off and get dressed. It is hotter here than at home, so I wear jean shorts and a simple tank top. Instead of putting Mom’s necklace back on, I take it with me downstairs. I don’t want to take what might be the last thing of her left from him.

“Good morning,” Dad says with a smile when I walk into the kitchen and find everyone is here.

“Morning,” I say happily. “That smells good. What is that?”

“Omelets,” he says. “Want one?”

“Uhm… Sure,” I say.

“Do you like eggs?” he asks when he sees my hesitance.

“She’s probably never had them,” Kael says.

“Let’s not,” I say.

“Let’s not, what?” Dad asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Nothing,” I say as I sit at the kitchen island between Daemon and Callum.

“It’s because Zypher would feed us this flavorless slop bullshit,” Leli says. “Before that, I think the fox shifters always ended up with shit for food because everyone else wouldn’t let them in most stores.”

“Leli,” I sigh.

“Is that true?” Dad asks, looking at the guys and not me.

“Don’t,” I say. “Don’t start pointing fingers.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Dad says simply.

“In their defense, not all the maidens were treated like that. Zypher was just one of the worst ones. He is a sadistic narcissist who got off on humiliating Lilith. He couldn’t cause her pain, so he broke her down instead,” Leli says with venom in her tone.

“I’m assuming he was still a loudmouth with you too?” I ask.

“Yeah. He never shut the fuck up about you,” she says. “It took everything in me to not set him on fire with how he was talking about you.”

“I don’t even want to know,” I say, shaking my head.

“He’s going to be a problem,” Dad says.

“He’s already a problem,” I say. “I didn’t see it before, but when he showed up to that party and cornered me, I realized that he is obsessed with the idea of breaking me.” Something in the back of my head is slowly connecting the dots between threats Zypher has made over the years to the vision of myself naked and beaten. “Can we talk about something that isn’t Zypher, please?”

“Your grandmother translated the letters,” Dad says.

“Really?” I ask, looking at Grandma. She is sitting quietly at the table watching us interact.

“Eat first,” she says simply.

“Try it with ketchup,” Volis says.

“Don’t listen to him,” Dad laughs and sets a plate in front of me. I pick up my fork and take a small bite. When the flavors mingle on my tongue, I smile. “Good?”

“Mhmm,” I say happily before taking another bite.

We eat while listening to Sylvie tell us a story about a girl in her class she is friends with. I thought teenagers had a lot of drama going on, but apparently, it’s preschoolers that have all the juicy gossip.

When we get done eating, we move to the living room. Grandma hands the translation to Dad first when I sit between him and Callum. He reads what she has written, and emotions well up instantly, and tears trail down his cheeks. He closes his eyes and presses his fist to his mouth as sadness consumes him. Grandma is on his other side rubbing his back as he struggles to keep himself from completely falling apart.

“Fuck,” I say with a sigh when he hands me the sheet. I close my eyes, not willing to look. I’m not ready to know what her last thoughts were. I’m not prepared for the guilt that it will bring. She sacrificed herself to keep me alive, and I’ll never forgive myself for being the reason that she’s dead, and my father will spend the rest of his life grieving. Striker and Volis will never have another memory with her because of me. Sylvie will never meet her, and Grandma will also spend the rest of her life grieving the loss of her oldest child. My aunt has been left with distant memories of her sister because I exist and Mom no longer does. I may be the salvation that the world needs, but my existence was her death sentence.

After a while, I flip the paper over and read Mom’s letter.

Pain stings through my chest as I read her words over and over. The guilt I knew I would feel forces a sob from my throat. Dad takes the letter out of my hand and tosses it on the coffee table before wrapping his arms around me. I don’t know if he can tell how much guilt is coursing through me as the sobs wrack through my body as I fall apart while he holds me tightly.

“She’s gone because of me,” I whimper.

“No, Lilith,” Dad says as he pulls away and cups my face. “She’s dead because someone killed her. They killed her because she was a witch.”

“She wouldn’t have been there at all if I didn’t exist. I am the one that drove her to go there,” I argue through my tears.

“You cannot blame yourself for her actions. She knew the prophecy. She would have done it all over again the same way if it meant you would be able to go on and fulfill your destiny. No matter what we did or how we did it, you would have ended up in that country with all of the evil. Having you at the heart of the problem meant you knew what you would be one day fighting to fix. Your existence broke the curse and saved countless women from dying a very awful death,” Dad says firmly. “You did not kill your mother. A monster did.”

“Morwen,” I say.

“What?” Volis asks.

“Brion Morwen,” I repeat. “He’s the man who raped me. Mom told me when she came to me in that dream that Morwen was the one who caught her.”

“How did she die?” Volis asks.

“I know he raped her before, but… She never said how,” I say. “That’s when she told me he assaulted me too. I didn’t even see it that way until she said that.”

“He strangled her,” Dad says after a beat. “I could feel it… All of it.”

“That’s awful,” I say quietly.

“Yeah… Please don’t blame yourself, Lilith,” Dad says.

“It’s hard not to,” I admit.

“I know, but just understand that your mother knew what she was doing,” he says softly.

“Can we get away from the sad shit for a while? I hate crying,” I sigh.

“Yeah,” he smiles. “Where do you want me to start?”

“What happened with the witches in the beginning? I know everything started there.”

“So, twelve generations ago, a group of witches wanted to change the natural order of things. They worked with a group of shifters in an attempt to assassinate the kings before they could find the next high witch. Because of this, chaos wrecked the land for decades. Most of us, as a truce, agreed to be exiled to stop the fighting. Unfortunately, we could not bring everyone. Those that could shift into foxes found it easy to hide within the fox communities, but because they tried to help, they were deemed untrustworthy to have a social standing,” Dad explains. “I am terribly sorry to hear how they have been treated since. It sounds like you all have already started taking steps to rectify that.”

“Yes,” Daemon says.

“Although, I don’t know how well that’s going right now. They are likely looking for me,” I say. “So, what exactly is this prophecy?”

“When translated, the prophecy reads, ‘When the witch is fated to the Three Kings, the moon risen full and high, the darkness begins to creep, a war between shadows and light is nigh.”

I repeat the words back to myself in my head, trying to make sense of what they mean. Dad is watching me think, letting me connect the dots myself. “Wait,” I say. “The darkness begins to creep… could that be a solar eclipse?”

“It is… We have ten days,” he says simply.

“Ten days?” I ask in shock. “A week ago, I didn’t know the simplest of spells, and now I have ten days to learn how to not get everyone killed?”

“Which leads me to how you being half succubus is what will be the most beneficial, considering what you are up against.”

“So… The guys have explained the very basics of what a succubus is,” I say. “They said the first succubus was named Lilith?”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “That was your mother’s doing. She had an interesting sense of humor.”

“So, just so I know I have the full picture here, just assume they haven’t told me anything,” I say, and Leli laughs.

“To be fair, she doesn’t know much because we don’t know much,” Daemon says. “We know the very basics.”

“Okay,” Dad sighs. “A succubus feeds off sexual energy. She draws power from that energy and stores it away. Certain things can help her draw more power, like semen. As a witch, you can tap into that power and use it to strengthen your spells. The caveat to that is you have to learn how to tap into that reserve of power that you’ve pooled.”

“So… What types of sexual energy would I draw from?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” Dad asks.

“Would I still draw from that sexual energy if I wasn’t a willing participant?” I ask, and he frowns.

“Yes,” he says. “It’s still sexual energy; it doesn’t matter if it’s consensual or not.”

“So… Would I already be storing that energy?”

“Yes, you just don’t have the ability to access it just yet,” he says, and I laugh. Leli laughs with me, which further confuses Dad.

“What?” he asks.

“So, remember when you and I first talked and I briefly mentioned some of what Zypher did?” I ask.

“Mhmm.”

“Well… Zypher did that… frequently,” I say. “The day after every full moon, any type of celebration, or when he got bored, I was the… center of attention,” I say. “This included every adult male in the pack. Sometimes this included a visiting pack as well.”

Dad’s eyes flash red, but he closes them and takes a deep breath to calm himself. “And this happened for five years?” he asks with a hint of anger beneath his words.

“Yeah,” I say. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this part, but I’m still going to… that’s… messy. So, including what Zypher would do on a regular basis, I have stored far more energy than you realize.”

“Messy is a good word for that,” Leli chuckles. “Although, repulsive works too.”

“Fuck,” Dad sighs and looks at Leli. “And that’s what I sent you into?”

“It wasn’t your fault, Dad. You had no idea where I would end up or if I would even get close to her. You asked if I would consider going because you trusted that I would fight for her in the same way that you would. I was hesitant, yes. I knew what maidens were made to do, but I knew I had to do it. I knew what was going to happen to me when I left this country to find my sister. You didn’t do that to me… Zypher and Morwen did.”

“It just makes me angry that he did that to the both of you,” he says. “It absolutely infuriates me that the same man who raped and killed Ashara also assaulted you two. If he had even a hint that you two were witches, you’d both be dead right now…”

“Dad,” I say, and he turns to me.

“Lilith,” he frowns.

“Listen to me, please. Do I like that I got passed around like an object? No. I hated it, but it was my normal. Yes, my life sucked, and I am only just now realizing how bad it was. At the time, it wasn’t as traumatizing as you think. I have a lot to learn about normal relationships with other people who don’t want to use me, but I’ll get there. The only thing my repeated rapes mean, is that I’ve won, and they don’t know it yet. If my learning how to tap into my reserve of power is what will win this war, we will be fine. Knowing this means that I know that no matter what happens, I have a way out now. I have an advantage that no one else will see coming because no one knows who my father is. No one knows the power that I hold from that abuse and will continue to strengthen,” I explain.

“You could have left the last part off, but I get it,” he says with a heavy sigh.

“Really?” I ask, and Leli laughs. “You literally just told me that come makes me stronger, and you are being weird about me saying I’ll have sex with my mates?”

“I don’t know if I like how similar you and Leli are,” Volis says, laughing. I smile at him and look back at Dad.

“I know it hurts to know how badly we were treated by him, but I promise… he won’t survive this war. Brion Morwen will die for what he did to Mom, Leli, and me. Anyone who contributes to that evil will not survive, and you teaching me how to tap into that power will only solidify their fate.”

“Your mom would be proud of you, Lilith,” he says softly.

“She’d be proud of you too,” I remind him. “You are every part of this prophecy as I am. I draw energy from them, and you teach me how to access it. Together, we will change the world, Dad. Don’t count yourself out when speaking about how proud anyone is or should be of me. I will be the savior I am meant to be because you guided me there… Just like Mom knew you would do.” My words make a wave of emotion come down on him, and he pulls me into a tight hug.

Knowing how much power I actually hold now… None of them stand a chance against me. I have no worries about how I will accomplish this, knowing that Zypher and his abuse fueled his own demise.

“Let’s get started on your training then,” Dad says with a smile when he pulls away from our hug.