Page 56 of Cursed Heirs

It was close enough to being dead if I couldn’t actually achieve that because I was being watched like a hawk now. Abigail had guards stationed throughout her mansion at my father’s request. Well, I doubted he’d actually had to request it of her, she would’ve just intuited that he needed it and done it for him.

“Yes, black magic.”

“Ore said he could’ve cast out Constantine’s control over her if it had been dark magic, but now we know it’s black magic, how do we do that?”

“Angel magic, baby bird.”

“Wait, so she can cast him out herself?”

“It’s not that simple, Tal. She won’t want to now he has his claws in her. The longer it goes on, the deeper he’ll dive until her reality is warped. Until all she’ll see is him.”

“My daughter won’t be that monster’s victim. I will cast him out.”

“Abi, you do that as an outside force and his magic could corrupt you.”

“She is my daughter, El. And Orpheus is correct, I should have protected her better. My intent to cast her aside and keep her from all of this, to make her believe I didn’t value her input was in a bid to guard against her becoming involved in this at all. But it was clearly the wrong tactic. And now my own flesh and blood will suffer for my mistake.”

“You’re not the only one whose mistake has caused their child pain, Abi. Constantine turned Xavier on my territory, on my watch.”

“He sent an army to overwhelm you.”

“And I could have annihilated them had the kill not been outlawed.”

“We cross that line and we become those we fight, my sweet.”

“Perhaps.”

“Or, just throwing it out there, you don’t have a uniform rule and judge situations on a case-by-case basis.”

“There are inherent dangers in that approach, Orpheus. We are not gods.”

“You’re a Fallen, you’re closer than any of the rest of us. And with the way things are, somebody needs to take on that role, or you’ll lose everything and end up sacrificing everyone in the name of upholding some arbitrary moral code.”

“The time to evaluate something so profound isn’t now, in the midst of war where tensions and emotions are high even among allies.”

“Abi is right, Orpheus.Exemplarmust focus on retrieving Alena and Saryan, and I need your focus to be on my son while I am attending to these matters.”

That’s why Orpheus and Talon had shown up here?

Well, the other reason?

I’d thought it had solely been about Alena being taken by Constantine—or going with him as it really sounded like.

Of course Orpheus thoughthecould fix me.

Until Constantine, he’d never met a challenge he’d come up against that he hadn’t been able to best. I was sure that he didn’t even believe he’d lost that challenge against the almighty megalomaniac either, just that the defeat had been temporary and he’d ensure he bested that beast next time. Lofty goals, that one, no doubt.

Although, challenging Abigail Rose regarding the laws ofExemplarwas another that actually rivaled the Constantine one. He’d chosen the most opportune moment too, while she was vulnerable with the loss of her daughter, something I highly doubted was a coincidence. It seemed like he’d even made a dent too.

If I still cared about anything, I’d be majorly impressed.

As it was, I didn’t. At least… I didn’t want to. Overhearing their conversation, though, every single fucking thing about it… it was testing that to the max.

I forced myself to tune out.

Fortunately, my insistence on not feeding for days on end, unbeknownst to Wilhelm and my father who’d provided me with blood bags that I’d since thrown up, meant I was permanently exhausted.

It wouldn’t give me the ultimate peace that I desired, but if I managed to continue denying myself blood, I would be able to find temporary peace in desiccation that would put me in something akin to a comatose state.

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