Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
I hold up my hand. “I did that.”
She nods my way. “Excellent. Good job, though don’t think Luc will kill him. He’s all for the insane close-off-Heaven thing. He has daddy issues. Now, let’s get you back where you belong.”
“You can do that?” Zoey asks.
Lilith stops for a moment before answering. “I got here, didn’t I. Are you ready?”
Dev steps back. “So ready.”
Lilith snaps her fingers.
And we’re in Frelsi again.
“Hey, you’re back. Girl, you look good.” Josie sits on a rock to my left. “Do you really have to go to New Zealand? It’s boring when y’all are gone.”
“It’s our timeline,” I say with a smile. “Josie’s here.”
“We’re home,” Rhys says with a sigh of relief. He takes a deep breath as though something about being on his home plane settles him.
“Yeah, about that,” I begin because I see a problem now. “I am not living with your brother and Fenrir.”
The biggest smile crosses his face. “I think we’ll find our own place. Until then we can probably get Fen and Lee out of the house by having sex as much as possible.”
There’s a problem with that. Lee would want to watch.
“Where’s Zoey?” Neil asks.
We look around. We’re all here. Cassie and Brendan and Lee. Meadow and Sasha are here. Danny and Dev.
But no Zoey.
We’ve lost her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Zoey
I turn on the infamous first woman when I realize I’m the only one in my party still here. It’s me and Lee—still holding his moonstone—left in the parlor, and I wonder if I’m being tricked once more.
“Is there a reason you separated me from my husbands?” I ask in my iciest tone. A thought occurred to me, one that threatened to make me sick. “Or did you send them somewhere else? Who are you working for?”
“Lady who looks like my mom, do you need me to kill her or something?” Lee asks in an oddly polite tone, like he’s really not sure the etiquette for dealing with a girl throwdown over one of them sort of kidnapping the other.
Lilith frowns. “Of course I sent them somewhere else. I sent them to the place I saw in the Fae’s mind. Someplace called Frelsi. The wolves were thinking about it, too, as was the vampire. As to the timeline, your bodies naturally want to be in the proper timeline. How did you get here? Was it a spell? Or did you use the blue stones?”
Well, no one could say she didn’t know her way around the universe. “We were given stones and told to go through a doorway that led us here. We thought we were going to the Seelie sithein in our timeline.”
She nods as though listening. “Yes. You needed to go there because there’s a… I believe you’re describing an amulet, child. Yes, I can see it. It does not work here?”
“I’m sorry, who are you talking to?” I ask.
“Look, lady. I don’t know how you got here but this is my kingdom and she’s sort of my mom in some weird timeline where I get to be this supercool vampire and sleep with everyone, and I don’t end up with a crown I don’t want and a weird sphere that’s apparently full of energy, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Lee announces.
I feel for the kid. “You need to go and meet Mia. I think it will change your life.”
His eyes widen. “Because I like her in your world.”
“You are obsessed with her in my world, and you’re lost without her,” I explain. “Now I think there’s something wrong with this woman, and I need to have a chat with her.”
After all, according to her, she has my daughter.
“I think she would talk more if we put her in the dungeon,” Lee offers.
Lilith waves a hand, and Lee is suddenly gone.
“You have to stop that.” I round on her. “You can’t disappear people.”
“He didn’t disappear.” Lilith takes a seat on the sofa like this is a friendly girl’s chat. “I sent him to the place where they need the moonstone. I pulled that out of the ascended goddess’s head. She was thinking about her sister, Mia, and I saw her bedroom and then you mentioned Lee should meet Mia, but you were thinking of the other Mia. I quite like this plane. I’m super powerful here. Usually I can only read soul’s.” She gasps as though having a revelation. “Oh, of course. It’s not the plane. It’s Harriet.”
I put a hand to my belly. “I never said I was pregnant, and don’t you tell me I’m showing. Because I’m not.”
“I would never. You look beautiful, Your Highness. Or I suppose since we’re in Faery I should call you Your Grace.” Lilith pats the seat next to her. “Seriously, you have my daughter. I would not betray you because it’s not my nature, but I certainly wouldn’t fuck you over before I’ve even seen her. It’s been so long. So many lifetimes between us.” Her eyes close and when they open there are tears shining. “I am known as the mother of demons. That was the price I paid for defying my creator and denying Adam. A harsh lesson to learn, and yet I would do it again. Sometimes I wonder if my punishment was to try and try and try to give birth to a child who could truly love me. Like I hurt my creator so he would let me feel what he had. And then I gave birth to her. Don’t get me wrong. I have a couple of sons who I get along with. My sweet Tix is a joy to me, and I take such pride in him, but Layla… I knew she held a real piece of me, something the others did not.”