Page 92 of Their Demon

“Fuck.”

“Hail Satan.”

“No.”

I couldn’t tell whose reaction was whose, but I turned to see each brother staring at me with wide eyes. Keir was shaking hishead. Nicholas had the palm of his hand on his cheek. Aiden was just blinking, frozen in shock.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“To become Satan, you have to kill the current Satan,” Keir answered me.

“Oh shit…” I felt like a ton of bricks were dropped on my chest. “Wait…” I tried to control my quick breathing. “You guys think that prophecy is aboutme?” I pointed at my chest, where my heart was threatening to give out on me. “Why did he think it was me? Why wouldyouthink it's me?”

“I’m not saying it’s you,” Ida told me. “But I’m not saying it isn’t.”

“Ida…” Keir said in warning.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat things, dear. Hell was a mess before her existence was made public. Now, it’s a fucking shitshow.” I had never heard Ida speak like she did to Keir, and he was even surprised at her words and tone. “She’s the first human in Hell since your mother. It's no wonder Bellowig jumped to that conclusion. Doesn’t help that he’s probably half-mad from being down there so long and surviving on Aridam’s scraps.” She was quiet for a moment, letting the information settle. “Your father thought it could have been your mother at one point,” Ida said without looking at the guys.

“Once she was here, Bellowig and a few other lords began to spread rumors about her, saying she was the human the prophecy referred to, that she was going to save them from her husband.” She looked at the princes. “Though she came to Hellwithhim, not through a portal, your father couldn’t take that chance. Why do you think he forced her into submission? Madeher scared of him? He broke her until she was nothing but a shell he filled with his lies.

“With your mother taken care of, she was no longer a threat to him or his throne. The rumors died off,literally, thanks to your father, and it was never spoken about again. He made sure anyone who ever spoke of the prophecy was killed and made an entirely new council.”

“That explains why we’ve never heard of it,” Nicholas muttered.

“And when you came into the picture…” She looked at me. “He couldn’t just kill you. You belonged to his sons. They love you, and he knew they’d never let that go. Killing you became too messy. That’s the job of the trials.” She paused. “If it is you, though…” Ida held my hands in hers. “You will not be alone.”

I cannot catch a fucking break here,I thought to myself.

No shit, Keir’s voice met me in my head.

It can’t be true, though. Right?

I can’t be sure. Ida seems to think it's possible.

“So what now?” Aiden asked Ida.

You need to calm down, Lillian. I can feel your panic. Everything is okay. We won’t let anything bad happen to you. I swear it.Keir was trying his best to reach me.

Too late.

“It’s going to be alright, dear,” Ida comforted me, as if she could sense the explosion of panic about to go off inside me. “Who knows, maybe it's not you. We have no way of knowing if the prophecy is even true, let alone who it’s about.”

“Yeah…” I nodded, but I was a million miles away right now.

Chapter 38

Nicholas

It was the morning of the council meeting, and Lilly was no better. She’d been in a funk, as we all had since Ida dropped the news about the prophecy. Ida managed to get some lunch in her before leaving, but Lilly asked to sleep alone on the couch that night.

That wasn’t happening, so we compromised.

Sort of.

Once she fell asleep on the couch, Aiden and I took her to our room and slept beside her. She didn’t make a fuss when she woke up; she just followed us to the kitchen for breakfast. Keir suggested training would get everyone back to a normal routine, but she didn’t speak much to any of us during our sessions.

Keir slept with her last night, and as we prepped breakfast for our girl this morning, who sat at the table silently, he quietly let us know that nothing had changed regarding her state.

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