Page 84 of Their Offering

I focused on the sparkle of the polished black floor in the office as thoughts of what our little offering was doing filtered into my mind. I knew she was happy. What I wouldn’t give to see the smile on her face as she tasted a little bit of freedom.

Lilly needed out of the flat, that was something all of us could agree on. However, none of us wanted her to get hurt or found. Ifwetook her out of the flat, she’d surely be found out. Us being royalty would draw more attention than her being human.

Ida had also been on our asses about giving Lilly some fresh air and new sights. Once she got in on us, we knew what we had to do. Ida ‘sneaking’ Lilly out was the best option. Plus, she was more than capable of handling things if they went awry. This plan allowed her to leave the flat but kept our rules in place. Lilly would be none the wiser; Ida promised us that.

Ida told us she would take Lilly to her house and introduce her to Mavis, her daughter. We’d met Mavis several times and liked her well enough.

“What do you know? All my sons decided to come to work today.”

Keir and I turned from the large window we’d been facing, and Nicholas spun on his heels to see our father closing the door behind him. He was alone, which was abnormal for him. Even when he visited us, he always had at least two bodyguards. We were family, but our father trusted no one, not even us.

“What do you want?” Keir asked him.

Our father chuckled, a sound that sent shivers up my spine. “Why so harsh, boy? Can’t a father visit his sons at work for a nice chat?” Even the smile on his face was sarcastic.

“Without his henchmen?” Keir noticed too. Good. “Not likely.”

Our father huffed and sat down in Keir’s chairs behind his desk–a statement. No space was safe from him, not even Keir’s personal space. The bold move made me nervous. He swiveled back and forth a bit before kicking his feet onto the desktop.

“Clever,” he acknowledged. “I need to talk with you.Allof you.” He looked away to peer at me and Nicholas.

We all waited silently for him to say something else, to tell us what he’d come for, what he wanted to talk about.

After what seemed like a few minutes of uncomfortable looks, he finally spoke. “I want the truth.”

Keir smirked and let out a short snort. “You need to be more specific,Father. What truth?”

That earned him a glare. “The portal,” our father stated.

I fought the urge to stiffen and hoped my body language stayed calm, like I had nothing to hide. Why was he bringing up the portal? What did he know? It had been a couple of weeks since we’d given him our final report, all three of us signing off on it.

“We told you what we found. Nothing. No portal.” Keir stood his ground.

Our father clicked his tongue, and I fought the urge to wince. The nagging feeling our father knew more than we’d anticipated crept in. We should have known better. He had eyes and ears everywhere. We couldn’t hide from him. We never could.

Did he know about the portal? Did he know about Lily? What if he did? What would he do? What wouldwedo? We’d stood against our father many times before, but never on something of this caliber.

I knew what I was willing to do for Lilly, but would my brothers feel the same way?

“Have you heard from Squad 34?” His question was directed at Keir, trying to catch him slipping up.

Squad 34 must’ve been the group of demons that attacked Keir and Lilly when they’d first journeyed to Hell. Keir was suspicious that our father had sent demons to follow him, and while I understood why Keir took Lilly through the portal, it was reckless and dangerous. Lilly thankfully came back in one piece, but more of her heart belonged to Keir than before, even if she didn’t know it. We could sense it—even see it.

“I didn’t even know you sent out a squad. Did you not believe your sons? Had to send some of your henchmen out to do what we’d already done?” Keir was an expert liar, which was why he was the one talking, not us.

Our father chuckled and shook his head. “Believe my sons? The sons who choose to live away from me and their mother? The sons who have yet to invite us to their home after over a century living there? The sons who refuse to become captains of my army? The sons who––”

“We get it. You don’t trust us,” Nicholas interrupted him.

Keir and I exchanged glances. Nicholas hardly ever spoke against our father, though he stood with us. He hated conflict and avoided it when he could.

Our brother continued. “If you don’t believe us, have our minds searched. We’ll go willingly. You can have our brains picked apart and find out for yourself.”

He was challenging our father, and it was stupid. Volunteering to have our minds searched? Wewerelying to him. If he looked into our heads, he’d find out the truth: that we’d found the portal, opened it, brought a human back, and had her close it. I had no idea what my twin was thinking, but it was too late to say anything.

Nicholas and our father glowered at one another, neither backing down. Our father’s jaw shifted as he thought about how to handle the situation. I could see the wheels turning. Either take Nicholas up on his offer, possibly pissing off our mother, and potentially be made to look a fool, or take the ‘high road’, trust his sons, and wait for them to slip up?

“I don’t need to search your minds to find the truth,” our father gritted through his clenched teeth. He knew he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

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