Page 194 of Their Lethal Pet

“No, I suppose it wasn’t,” she replies, still smiling. “But I’m fine, Lina. Just tired. It’s been… a unique two years.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask her.

“Not right now, no,” she murmurs. “However, I may at some point. If I do, I’ll let you know.”

I swallow, wishing that there was more I could do.

But if my sister doesn’t want to talk about her experience and whatever actually happened in that garden, then that’s her choice. And it’s a choice I have to respect.

“You really ought to get back to your mates,” she goes on. “Reaper is growing antsy.”

I frown. “How do you know that?” She’s not wrong. I can feel him in my head, patiently waiting for me to finish my conversation with my sister.

Flame and Orcus exude similar thoughts of patience. However, all three fae want to introduce me to my new room, to our futurenest. But I wanted to see to my sister’s comfort first.

“He’s pacing over there,” she says, gesturing with her shoulder to a space on the other side of her bed—away from the balcony doors.

“He’s… what?” I glance at the empty room around us. “There’s no one here but us.”

“Technically, that’s not true,” Reaper replies as he materializes by the nightstand. “It’s strange that your sister can see me in the in-between, while you can’t.”

“The in-between?” I repeat, my brow furrowed. “What…?”

“The space between life and death,” my sister whispers. “That’s how Reaper told me what to say to Demeter.”

“When I realized she could see and hear me, it made our plan a lot easier to execute,” my Death Fae says conversationally.

“So you… you can see the in-between?” I ask my sister, unsure if that should impress me or concern me.

She shrugs. “Apparently.”

I look at Reaper. “And you go to the in-between?”

“Often,” he replies. “In fact, that’s how I found the spell Demeter used to yank you into her Omega prison. She cast it over the entire Elite City, which is pretty fucking impressive. That’s why she sent you the note to go there—she knew the magic would eventually ensnare you.”

Yeah, I more or less figured out the latter part of that when Demeter mentioned the note earlier.

Still, it’s strange to me that my sister can see the in-between plane.Is it related to whatever Demeter did to her?I wonder.

Alas, I know now isn’t the time to ask.

Something my sister confirms as she says, “As I said, I’m fine. Go be with your mates, Lina. I’ll still be here tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. We can talk then, okay?”

The last time I saw Sera, she was eighteen and somewhat frightened by her first Day of the Choosing as an eligible Offering. I’ll never forget the way her shoulders caved in when the Viscount called her name or how my heart broke to watch her stumble up those stage stairs.

But seeing her now, I realize the sister I knew is no longer here. This is Serapina the survivor. The woman who drove a knife into the heart of a Goddess.

A Goddess who may or may not be her mother.

I swallow down that thought, determined to worry about that another day.

For now, I need to give my sister her desired space.

And go properly thank my mates.

Because they’ve given me everything, including providing this lovely room for my sister.

Not to mention saving me on Monsters Night, gradually introducing me to their lives and desires, and basically rescuing me again from a crazy Goddess.