Chapter 15
Orion insisted we all sit down at a traditional Demigod feast. He briefly informed me that I’d accidentally converted Olivia into a Light Mage—no biggie—and that the gods would enjoy having lunch with her.
Within moments a glimmer of servant sprites had set out an enormous blanket with a long table in the center that boasted every kind of mouth-watering treat I could have imagined—because Cherubs had better things to do, according to Orion.
He also invited some of his relatives, who were all just as gorgeous as he was, and I tried not to wonder too hard if they were actually gods as they struck up conversation with Olivia.
However, Orion’s hot uncles and cousins weren’t who had me pinned to the spot.
No, that shock was reserved for my mother.
She sat across from me with her legs tucked underneath her as she smiled ear-to-ear. “Lilith, I can’t believe how far you’ve come. Just look at you.” She reached out and stroked my blonde hair for the third time, tucking it behind my ear in a way that made me feel like this really was my mother.
But how could she be? Brilliant white wings spanned out behind her and a golden glow emanated around her head.
She was an angel.
Which made me… what? Exactly?
I cleared my throat and coddled my goblet of wine, because no Demigod feast was complete without goblets.
“So… you were about to explain where I come from,” I said, having trouble meeting her grey eyes, the only part of her that wasn’t blazing with the same intensity of gold I’d endured outside. “My conception, I mean.”
“Your father and I wanted you so badly,” she began, beaming at me with pride. “I couldn’t conceive because of what I am.”
“An angel,” I said, stating it out loud just to make it real.
She chuckled. “Yes.”
Orion plucked a bunch of grapes from the main stem on the table and offered it to me. “You must be starving after your trip. How did you manage to get here, anyway? Is it because you’re part angel?” He waggled his brows. “None of my relatives can say they’ve fucked an angel.”
“Orion,” warned an older man with a long, silver beard. He took a sip from his goblet and glowered. “Have some manners.”
Orion’s question washed over me. I was part angel; what else could this all mean? It was hard to believe that’s what I was. I didn’t feel very… angelic.
“I’m good,” I said as I pushed away the grapes.
My mouth went dry, so I took another sip from the goblet.
The warmth of the wine traveled to my belly and helped me to feel more grounded, as if I wasn’t sitting in a field with a bunch of gods and my angel mother.
“And how I got here is none of your business,” I added.
“Was it one of Renee’s cards?” Silvia, my mother, asked with a gentle smile.
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I recalled from my studies that Renee was one of Fortune Academy’s founders, as well as a powerful Fate Witch. If anyone had the power to get to Heaven, it was her.
Olivia chuckled. “You’re so defensive, Lils.”
Olivia didn’t seem to be having nearly as much trouble processing all of this, but perhaps that had something to do with the fact that coming here had given her a new soul. She took the grapes from Orion, who frowned in response.
“So you were saying you couldn’t conceive right away,” Olivia pressed, stuffing two grapes in her mouth. “Was Lily’s father a mortal?”
“Olivia,” I hissed, but my mother waved me off.
“It’s all right, dear.” She tugged at her tight dress as she readjusted her position on the ground, revealing pale-white porcelain skin. She didn’t dress very modestly for an angel, but she definitely had the body to pull it off. “Your father was the Incubus King.”
I sputtered on my wine. “So that’s why I’m part succubus?”
She shrugged. “Perhaps. There is your second mother to consider in your genetics.”
“Excuse me?” I’d thought Kaito to be exaggerating a lesbian couple situation. Yet, the way my angel mother was talking, she was saying I actually had three parents.
She perused the treats on the table until she finally selected an orange and began peeling. “You’re special, my daughter. You were conceived by the power of an Incubus King, a fallen angel, and a third powerful supernatural that I can’t speak about on holy ground.”
That made me raise my brows. “Because she’s demonic royalty?”
She chuckled. “Something like that.”
“And you’re a fallen angel?” She sure didn’t look like one.
Her face took on a somber expression as she considered her orange.
“I earned my feathers back when I sacrificed my mortal life.” She glanced up at me, peering through the filter of her white eyelashes.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to see you all grown up, but here you are.
” The love she held for me in that gaze made me hold my breath until she finally looked away, working again at her orange.
We all went silent for a while and Orion’s relatives splintered off into quiet conversation.
“I’ll leave you be,” he said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. The motion was so natural that I didn’t pull away. “Don’t miss me too much,” he added.
There’s my cocky Demigod.
Silvia ate her orange, then wiped her fingers on a small napkin while Olivia sampled some of the meatier dishes. I finished off my goblet, kicking it back to take in the final drops and then I set it down, only to find it completely refilled when I picked it up again.
“Why don’t the two of you tell me why you’re here,” Silvia said after we’d all been quiet for far too long.
Olivia startled, having been working on a slab of ribs, and set her plate down. “We were attacked.”
Silvia looked to me and I nodded in confirmation. “We were boxed in. I had the card and I knew it would take us somewhere else. I didn’t think too hard about it, just got us out.”
“I see,” she said, disappointment on her face as she looked at her hands.
I knew that I should feel something, or want to hug her or tell her how happy I was to meet her, but I didn’t know this woman—this angel. She felt so foreign and strange to me and I didn’t even know what to say.
“I’m sorry,” I finally offered, wishing I had something better than an apology. “I know that doesn’t fix anything, because you were probably hoping I’d come here to see you, but before today I didn’t even know you existed.”
She drew in a deep breath, as if collecting herself, and then smiled. “Edwin told me that your memories would be wiped, and it’s just as well. I’m grateful for that.”
“Edwin?” I asked, wanting first to know if this was another surprise I should be aware of. “He’s not my second father too, or something, right?”
She chuckled, the sound coming with a delightful little jingling in the air. “Heavens, no. He’s Renee’s mate and a fellow angel. In fact I intend to take you to meet him when we’re done here. He’ll be able to explain things about your… heritage, that I cannot.”
“Because…?” I asked, letting the word trail off.
She gave me that weak smile again. “Because I have regained my wings, dear. I’m no longer free to make my own choices, to an extent, and I am happy with that.
However it means there are certain things I cannot discuss without violating the terms of my ascension.
I will be more use to you here, as an ally and emissary, and Edwin will be able to fill in the rest.”
I looked warily to the gates where an intense brilliance shone through like light under a doorway. “I don’t know if I can handle going out there again.”
She chuckled. “It’s something you get used to, I promise.”
With that she got to her feet and brushed invisible dirt from her pristine dress.
The silver fabric clung to her curves and I glanced down the way Orion and his relatives had gone.
He had his back to us as he raised a goblet and crashed it against his Uncle’s.
Wine went everywhere and his laughter carried on the slow breeze to my ears.
At least he was too busy having fun to ogle my mother.
“Can I come too?” Olivia asked as she got to her feet. She brushed away her white-washed hair, seeming to be self-conscious about it as she looked at her feet.
Silvia squeezed Olivia’s shoulder, making my friend’s eyes go wide. “Of course, dear. You’ll stay with Lilith until Edwin returns you both to your homes. I don’t know the protocol for your situation, so I’ll leave it to him to handle.”
Olivia offered a shaky nod before we all made our way to the gate.
Once outside and back into the bathing brilliance, I tried not to sweat as light seemed to go straight through my retinas and pierce my skull. There was no way I was going to get used to this.
“I summoned Edwin earlier and he told us to meet him at purgatory.” She brushed her fingers through her hair. “Why he wants to meet there, I have no idea.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I followed my mother down golden streets. We walked away from the massive pillars that speared into the sky and towards a darker part of the horizon that I hadn’t noticed before. It reminded me of the horizon when a storm was on the way.
“Purgatory?” I finally asked once we’d entered into a dark mist that blocked out the worst of the brilliant rays. “As in, the place where the dead go before going to Heaven?”
Silvia shrugged one graceful shoulder. “Something like that. It’s a place where supernaturals tend to go who need sanctuary, or for angels who have recently fallen.
” She puckered out her lower lip in a frown.
“I hope that Devon creature isn’t joining us.
That could be why he wants us to meet there. ”
“Who’s Devon?” Olivia chimed in, catching up to me and threading her fingers through mine.
“He’s also one of Renee’s mates,” Silvia offered, as if there was nothing strange about that.
“How many mates does she have?” I asked as I side-stepped a shard in the street. The golden tiles had morphed into dark, splintered remains and it was getting harder not to impale myself on the jagged edges.
“Three. An angel of Heaven,” she began with an upswing to her voice, then it promptly fell into a sneer when she added, “as well as an angel of Hell and a vampire.” She shivered, her feathers rustling with the movement.
“But I’ll let them explain it to you, especially if you choose to fight your fate.
” She peered at me over an arch of her wing.
“As I hear you will have multiple mates as well, should fate have its way.”
And there it was. Confirmation that the universe, Heaven and Hell had picked my Virtues for me.
And I was just about to hear what happened when I messed with the order of the cosmos.