Page 40 of Broken Princess
I returned the smile. “Cool. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. Have you ever heard of Lilith Hall?”
I watched his face carefully as I spoke. I knew I was taking a risk by asking him about the place, but I was quite certain he wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about. He wasn’t part of Mom’s shadow council, after all, and that meant he didn’t have the privilege of attending the top-secret meetings.
I also knew for a fact that he’d never been to Lilith Hall. Rowan confirmed that for me earlier, using his phone’s GPS data. On top of that, Rowan said he’d frequently heard my mother lying to my father about where she was going when he listened in on Vigil. That suggested he knew nothing about her true identity as Q, and he had no idea that she was constantly sneaking off to clandestine shadow council meetings.
While he definitely knew that the higher-ranking Order members were up to something shady, and he clearly helped out with their schemes (Willow and I had both witnessed him with pregnant women at some point, so that was a no-brainer), I was quite sure he was kept in the dark about what went on in the uppermost echelons of the society.
This question would either confirm or deny that for me. He’d always been a bad liar, so if he knew about Lilith Hall, it would be written all over his face.
“No, what is that? A band?” he asked, brows gathering together. Confusion flickered in his eyes as he waited for my response.
He wasn’t lying.
“It’s a winery with a luxury resort attached to it,” I replied. “Mom’s family owns it.”
“Oh. What was the name again?”
“Lilith Hall.”
He scoffed. “What a stupid name for a winery.”
I smiled thinly. I’d actually Googled the place while I was with Rowan earlier, and I’d spotted an unrelated page discussing the name Lilith and the mythology behind it. According to the page, the original Lilith was a sexually-wanton demon who stole babies in the night.
That gave me a pretty good idea of what really went on up at Lilith Hall.
“Yeah, it’s pretty dumb,” I said, affecting a casual air. “Anyway, I brought it up because I’ve been looking at possible wedding venues.”
“For you and Willow?”
“Yeah. I thought I could start organizing things while she’s on vacation as a surprise.”
“I’m sure she’d appreciate that. Were you thinking of using this Lilith place?”
“Yes. I thought it would be good to use a family-owned business. Also, I’ve been Googling what it looks like in spring up there, and it’s pretty nice. I think Willow would like it.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. I’m planning on visiting soon to get an idea of the layout.”
“Ah, I see.” His brows rose. “You should take your mother with you. She’d be thrilled that you’re using one of the Hale businesses.”
“No. Mom can’t know about this,” I said hurriedly.
Dad raised his brows. “Why not?”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but she’s become very close to Willow lately. If I tell her, she’s bound to let it slip.”
“So?”
“So I want this whole thing to be a surprise for Willow, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right.” He nodded slowly and rubbed his chin. “You might just have to trust her, though. You’ll need a second opinion when you’re looking at the place.”
“Why?”
“Because otherwise you might miss things,” he said. “Trust me, the last thing you want to do is accidentally pick a bad venue for your wedding. Having another pair of eyes will be helpful.”
“Well, maybe you could come instead,” I said.
