Page 81 of Forging Darkness

They’re no use to me if they can’t be controlled.

That one phrase of his still haunts me, even days later. When will the time come that he thinks the same about me? Maybe it’s already here.

I turn to face him, hoping to gauge his response. “What’s your endgame? I’ve been here for the better part of a week and all you’ve done is show me your fortress and beat the ever-living crap out of me. You say you want me to see how you live, well fine, I’ve seen it. Congratulations, I’m impressed. You have a very big castle and a strong and brutal army. Yippee for you. So what? How am I supposed to decide on anything when you’re keeping the real point of all this hidden?”

“It’s not time yet.”

“Time for what?” I press.

“You don’t know enough about us yet. But in a couple of days I’m sure—”

“No.” I slash an arm through the air, instantly agitated from his attempt to put me off once again. “I don’t need a couple of days. I’ve put up with your song and dance long enough. What’s really going on here? You must need me for something. I want to know what it is.”

Thorne and I glare at each other, each of our stares intense enough to make a normal person squirm. But as he’s repeatedly reminded me, we’re not normal.

“You’re not ready,” he snaps.

“I’m not ready?” A brittle laugh rattles my chest. “You meanyou’renot ready because whatever it is, you know my answer is going to beno. I’ve seen all you have to offer and what I’m ready to do is call in your promise. Let. Me. Leave.”

Thorne’s nostrils flare as he inhales.

“You don’t mean that. There’s no one else on this planet or in either realm that will ever know you like I do.”

“I do mean that. We may very well both share the blood of the seraph, but if I’ve learned anything over my lifetime, it’s that blood doesn’t dictate your family.”

A muscle under Thorne’s eye ticks. “Your mother would be disappointed to hear that.”

My stomach bottoms out. “My mother? What are you talking about?”

“She’s the Forsaken who tried to kill you.”

I catch my breath and it feels like time freezes for a moment.

“You’re lying,” I whisper.

“You can choose to think that if it makes it easier for you.”

I wrack my brain for tidbits of what Tinkle revealed about my mother, which admittedly wasn’t a lot. I sit down on the bed behind me.

“I was told she was murdered.”

“The Nephilim would likely consider her transformation to Forsaken as a murder.”

And apparently so would a Celestial.

“Is she still alive?”

Thorne seems extra reluctant to offer information, most likely regretting his loose tongue. I squeeze my hands, nails biting into my palms as I wait for him to answer.

“Yes.”

“Is she here?”

“No.”

“Then where is she?”

“I honestly don’t know anymore.”

---