Page 18 of Their Demon

There was a desk to one side of the room and four cushioned chairs facing one another on the other. The fireplace on the back wall was cold and cleaned out, and the books lining the walls were dusty. It appeared no one had used this space in quite some time.

Our mother closed the door behind us and sat in one of the chairs. Nicholas and I sat in the two across from her. She smoothed out her dress, placed her hands in her lap, and flashed us her huge, royal smile.

Our father’s perfect queen.

“Ask away,” she said as she gestured openly with her hands.

“I’m assuming you heard about Lilly’s encounter with Father?” I began.

Her lips thinned, and her eyes softened with a cloyingly sympathetic gaze. “I did. How unfortunate things came to th—”

“How unfortunate? That you ratted us out? Or that our girl’s life has been threatened?” Nicholas shouted, making our mother jump. “She’s completely innocent, and you know it.”

“I’d hardly call closing the portal ‘innocent’,” she scoffed. “Your father made it very clea—”

“She’s ahuman. It’s not like she knew.” My twin’s hands gripped the arms of the chairs so tightly, his knuckles were white.

Our mother remained calm, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, lips pursed as she said, “You’re saying you didn’t tell her? That she had no knowledge of your father’s desire to find anopen portal? You didn’t persuade her to close the portal for your own reasons? Because if she didn’t know… why did she close it? Why didn’t you leave it open when you brought her through? Why didn’t you tell your father?”

“He would’ve killed her,” I said through clenched teeth.

“How is this any different? She’s still going to die.” She smoothed out some nonexistent wrinkles on her dress, not bothering to look at us as she doomed our girl to death.

“She’s going to succeed,” Nicholas said as he stood abruptly from his chair, looming over our mother.

If I had blinked, I would’ve missed the way she flinched.

“So how is Keir? Have he and Lillian made their way to each other yet?” she asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

“You know Keir. He won’t be pushed,” I indulged her, only because we needed her to cooperate. Give and take.

“That’s not good, not good at all. Have you spoken with him?” Her forehead was wrinkled.

“Numerous times.” Nicholas was still standing over her. “You’re trying to distract us. I’m so fucking tired of you being so passive. You know this whole situation is wrong, but you sit on the sideline watching like some path—”

“Nicholas…” I spoke slowly. “Sit down.” He shot me a glare. “We haven’t even asked what we came for yet,” I reminded him.

He looked back at her as he took his seat, daring her to talk more nonsense. Much to her credit, she remained stoic, likely from years of practice dealing with our father.

I cleared my throat, ready to get things back on track so we could get out of here and back home to Lilly. “We want to know how you did it.”

Poised, she turned to me. “How I did what?”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. I found it hard to believe she didn’t know what we were talking about. We were here to help Lilly, something I thought our mother would be interested in as well, considering how she’d helped us a few days ago when our girl was dying.

“How you succeeded at the trials.” Nicholas didn’t even attempt to hide his annoyance. “We wanted to know how to prepare Lilly for hers.”

“There is noprepare, my dear boys.” Her face fell. “I do not wish ill for Lillian, especially given she’s my son’s destined love and has bonded with my other two sons, but whatever outcome your father wants, he’ll get.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat.

She pressed her lips together again and looked to the floor, purposely avoiding our eyes.

“He asked you a question,” Nicholas growled angrily. “Answer him!” he shouted, making her jump again.

She twisted her hands in her lap and took a deep breath before looking between us. “Your fatherwantedme to succeed. Do you honestly think I could have done those things on my own? I am not a naive woman. I know my limits, but no one questioned when he interfered for his gain, and no one will question him now.”

“Are you saying Lill—”

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