Chapter 5
FIVE
Z
P anic seized the air in my lungs, and an icy wave of water threatened to capsize me, drown me.
That name…
Memories of a beautiful woman bombarded me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this “Lilith” was my mother. Not my current mother, of course, but the one that I had before, in my past life.
When I had, apparently, been an angel-demon hybrid…
A shiver skated through me.
“Z?” Dair asked softly, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I offered him a reassuring smile and shook my head, eloquently telling him that we would talk about this later. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others.
“What are the Trials of Lilith?” Devlin straightened nearly imperceptibly, hefting his chin in the air.
He may not have been wearing his form-fitting suit and cuff links, but he looked every inch the domineering, powerful prince.
Lupe’s brows scrunched together as he scanned the old book. “When the nightmares first came to be, and the ruling families were established, Lilith wanted a way to ensure her people were taken care of.”
Davia waved her hands in the air. “Wait. Wait. Wait. Back the fuck off. We’re not talking about Lilith as in the Lilith, are we? The demoness from Hell?”
My heart rate tripled, and I exchanged an uneasy glance with my mates. There was a lot we’d discovered recently, and I wasn’t sure how much she knew. How much any of them knew.
If they suspected we were the reincarnations of an angel-demon hybrid and seven demons…
Not just any demons, either, but the original ones.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
Fuck.
Lupe cleared his throat doggedly. “Yes. Lilith. That Lilith.”
“Continue on, boy.” B waved a hand flippantly in front of Lupe’s face.
To hear B call Lupe “boy,” despite being a seven-foot-tall stack of muscle, was almost comical.
But Lupe’s next words smothered my smile before it could fully form.
“Lilith wanted her rulers to be cunning. Powerful. So she designed these trials as a way to weed out the weak.”
“I don’t like the sound of this. At all,” Bash murmured out of the corner of his mouth.
“What exactly are you saying, Lupe?” I demanded, my insides coiled tightly, seconds from unraveling.
I absently rested one of my hands on the handle of my dagger. I knew I didn’t have an enemy in this tent—no one I needed to stab—but it made me feel better, gave me comfort.
“This might be the only way to legitimize our rule,” Lupe explained, though he didn’t sound happy about it.
Not that I blamed him.
Pouring lemon juice in my eye sounded more appealing than completing the Trials of Lilith.
“The council will have no choice but to follow you,” B interjected. “You would be blessed to rule by Lilith herself.”
Just hearing her name caused fear to culminate in my chest. A dull ache took up residency behind my eyes.
“That’s great and all,” Bash drawled, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. “But what are these trials?”
“Each prospective ruler will have to complete a trial based on their sin,” B told us gravely. His mouth was a firm line behind his gray beard. “And if Z were to be the queen…”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” I shook my head rapidly. “Who even said I wanted to be queen? Because let’s be real—I don’t think I fit the job description, if you know what I mean.”
The prospect of me ruling the kingdom was almost laughable. It was bad enough that the humans had taken to calling me Liberator, but referring to me as their queen? Gag.
“If the princes become the kings, and you’re married to the princes, wouldn’t that make you queen?” Davia pointed out.
A flush of heat crept up my throat as I sputtered out, “We’re not married!”
“Yet,” one of my mates murmured, but the voice was too low for me to detect which one.
B turned his searing gaze onto me, his expression hard but not unkind. “You’ve provided something for the humans that has been missing for over one hundred years now—hope. They’re in this army not because they want more nightmares on the throne, but because they want you taking the crown. You’re the reason they’re willing to fight.”
My heart hammered. “But to be queen…”
“You would have to complete all seven trials.” That came from Mali, her voice a raspy husk.
Killian’s tail began to twitch. I was beginning to believe that was something it did whenever he felt a strong emotion—agitation, fear, confusion, and even lust.
Both B and Davia homed in on the strange appendage, but neither of them commented on it.
“I really, really don’t like this,” Killian said, scratching at his cheek.
“We don’t have to decide anything now,” B told us. “There may be another way to receive support from the kingdoms and council.” He speared us all with a look before turning towards Davia. “Why don’t you show them to their tents? We can reconvene in the morning.”
I was moderately surprised when Davia led us to the second biggest tent in the very center of the camp—large enough to easily fit me and all of my mates. Mali was placed in the tent to the right of ours, and B took the one to the left. I didn’t know where Phineas and Toylo went. Probably somewhere far, far away, if the cautious glares directed their way were any indication.
The orange walls of the tent almost appeared black in the darkness, the candlelight doing very little to extinguish the shadows. There were only five cots scattered haphazardly around the open space, and I spotted a tiny chest that I assumed was for our clothing.
“This is fucking insane.” Bash threw himself on the nearest bed and dramatically placed a palm over his face.
“I don’t like this.” Ryland moved until he stood opposite the doorway, the shadows coalescing around his lean body.
“What don’t you like? The trials or being surrounded by a bunch of humans who want to see us dead?” Bash asked.
“Both.”
“No one is going to hurt you.” As I spoke, I moved towards the closest bed, where a pair of fresh pajamas sat.
They appeared to be about my size. No idea how they knew, but I was desperate to get into something clean.
“You didn’t see the looks they gave us when we walked through camp.” Bash shuddered. “There was murder in their eyes. Murder , I tell you. The stabby kind.”
“Is there any other kind?” Dair asked.
“The strangling kind,” Bash answered seriously. “And the shooting kind. And the hanging kind. And the?—”
“I don’t blame them.” Killian tentatively perched himself on the bed farthest from us—well, he attempted to. He accidentally sat on his tail, causing him to jump up with a startled yelp. He grabbed the tip, pulled it forward, and then rearranged himself on the mattress. “Our kind enslaved theirs for centuries.”
“Don’t group yourself in with them,” I warned. “You’re not like the other nightmares.”
“That may be so.” Devlin frowned. “But it’s hard for people to let go of prejudices they have had their entire lives. These humans were conditioned to fear us—to see us as the enemy—and that won’t change anytime soon.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Jax scratched absently at his wrist. “The nightmares won’t accept a human as a queen, but the humans won’t accept nightmares as their rulers—not after everything our ancestors put them through.”
The coherence in that statement momentarily struck me dumb. For as long as I’d known him, demons I couldn’t even begin to understand had plagued Jax. I knew my presence was helping to heal him, but…
Warmth for my vampire mate unfurled inside of me. I moved to stand beside him and interlocked my fingers with his. The smile he threw me caused the butterflies in my stomach to riot.
The rest of my mates continued talking, oblivious to the moment shared between Jax and me.
“The Trials of Lilith might be our only option, if we can believe that ancient text,” Lupe said. His hair stood up in all directions, as if he’d repeatedly run his fingers through the brown strands. “Having Lilith’s approval will go a long way towards bringing the nightmares to our side.”
“And the humans?” Dair lifted a brow. “If we want to change the world—and I mean truly change it—then we need to figure out a way to bring humans and nightmares together.”
As one, all my mates turned to stare at me, even Dair.
I shifted, unnerved by being the sole focus of all of their gazes. I would much rather be naked for this.
“I don’t think we have to worry about bringing humans and nightmares together,” Ryland murmured, his ice-blue eyes penetrating the darkness and locking me in place. My breath caught, and the sound caused a slow grin to curl up his lips. “No. I don’t think we have to worry about that at all.”