Page 124 of Living Legend

“Daya…” I started, but she wiped whatever tears she had on her cheeks with the back of her hand and looked over at me. Her eyes were tinted with small hints of red and still had the remaining glassiness of crying.

“Back then, the Divine Library had records of everything. That was the first place I went after I visited. I wanted to know more, and that was the one place I thought I would get my answers. A baby between an angel and a demon was something people just didn’t understand, and I have always been the type to put people at ease with information and facts. So, I went to the library and looked through everything I could find. In older texts, they were called amalgams, while nowadays, hybrids and halflings would be the better term.”

She shifted so that her feet were on the floor and her back was resting against the couch. “Everything I read mentioned them being feared centuries ago, only because they had angelic and demonic blood. There hadn’t been one for ages, due to their unstable nature. People actively avoided producing that kind of…problem. The energy in the hybrids was always fighting with itself, never knowing which one was more in charge, so when it was time for their powers to release, it could be a massacre. They could be powerful beings. That kind of power had to be nurtured and disciplined.”

Powerful enough for a high angel to be jealous or for a demon queen to be vengeful, I thought silently to myself.

Daya placed her hands in her lap, overlapping them on top of each other. “One look at that baby and none of it mattered. The baby was as normal as they come, with my cousin’s eyes and its father’s nose and mouth. Her mother did come to see her, one time. She even held the baby, but they didn’t speak anymore after that day. My aunt always regretted that. She never admitted it, but I knew she did.”

Her eyes darkened a bit. I tilted my head to the side and pushed her further. “What happened?”

Daya rubbed her forehead. “This is where things get confusing. A few months after the baby was born, my mother came to me at The Skies, and she told me that….” She blew out two long slow breaths, trying to regain her composure.

I placed my hand over my mouth, my brain automatically attempting to finish her story before she was ready.

She cleared her throat. “My mother came to tell me that the baby had passed. She told me that there were whispers an Enchanter had played a role in its death. She herselfwas adamant a demon was the culprit, which putan even worse strain on my family.” Daya shook her head. “You should have seen the love the people in Oculus showed my cousin. It just didn’t make sense to me, but she had told me Isaac had a source and he was taking action immediately. I had gone back to my room to pack to stay with my parents when I overheard other angels say that they were dead set on blaming the demons, even going so far as blaming the baby’s father. Everyone was taking sides and pointing fingers. I wanted to go to my cousin and be with her, but under my mother’s gaze, I was a coward.

“Then, I was hearing different things, like Jonah’s father knew that the Enchanters had more power than they needed, that they were likely working with the demons. He couldn’t risk them using their powers on anyone else. If they could hurt an innocent baby, what would stop them from hurting everyone else? I’d never seen The Skies so unhinged before. Sentries were dispatched all around me, guardians were being called back to Heaven’s Gate...it was madness.”

I tapped my chin, thinking. “So, Jonah’s dad just made a decision. Just like that?”

“If you had known Isaac, that would not have been surprising. I think he didn’t like the fact that his own people were listening and confiding in Moira for years more than their own leader. I don’t think Isaac needed much to make his choice. He wanted them powerless, literally. He always had a dislike for Enchanters, hated their differing powers, but in reality, he was just threatened by them.”

“That’s what started this war? The death of your cousin’s baby?”

She gave me a sad smile. “Yes and no. There was peace in the realms, but there was always tension. I think people believed that this baby would somehow unite the two worlds of angels and demons. Not everyone would want that, but no one thought someone would rid the world of it. This baby could have shown what a world united looked like. Enchanters couldn’t trust angels anymore, so I think they turned to the next best thing, hence siding with Lilith, since she “embraced” their gifts.” She air-quoted, as if she didn’t believe a word of it. “Which clearly didn’t look good in Isaac’s eyes.”

“You went home during all this? You weren’t there to help them?” I didn’t want to sound accusatory, but I would have gone stir crazy if I was just left in the dark.

She sighed, turning her head slightly. “I regret it, not fighting. My mother would have been so upset with the side I chose to fight on.” She got up from the couch, taking both our coffee mugs with her.

I slid to the edge of the couch and tapped my fingers along the front end. I was rattling my brain with all of this. I bit at my top lip until it was painful.

“Moira locked Lilith in Purgatory with all those Enchanters who took her side…” I started, looking over my shoulder as Daya placed the mugs in the sink. She turned to me and arched a curious eyebrow. “Under the orders of Jonah’s father.”

Daya scrunched her face, as if my words didn’t make sense.

“What?”

“Moira put the lock on Purgatory in the midst of the war. Isaac was slaughtering her people and you want me to believe she just did as he asked? Just like that?” She folded her arms over her chest.

“From what Natalia said, that’s what happened. That lock was put up at the request of Jonah’s father. Then I guess Moira placed the glamor over Oculus to shield her land once the angels had left all the carnage.”

Daya turned back to the sink, shaking her head. “Dani, I only met Moira a handful of times, and the one thing I can say is that she would have only done what Isaac wanted her to if she was fearing for her life and the life of her people. It wouldn’t have been some casual agreement.”

I walked around the couch and over to the sink. I leaned my hip against the counter and watched her clean. She looked determined to do dishes, but I wasn’t having it. I reached my hand out and cut the water off. She let out a breath and smirked.

“So, Isaac threatened Moira into putting up that lock, locking her own people inside of Purgatory,” I said.

Daya nodded. “She must have told Natalia something that wouldn’t sound so harrowing to a child.”

I slammed both my hands on the edge of the counter, leaning the front of my body against it. “Where the hell was Jonah?”

Daya shook her head, her braid dancing back and forth behind her back. “He was a teenager, Dani. His father wanted him to take over one day. I never spoke to Jonah much in those days, but I knew through some other guardians that he didn’t want to be his father. He had no real power then, so whatever Isaac said was the end of it.” She leaned her back against the sink. “Every time I did see Jonah, he was almost always with Maurice, and he was so different from his father. Where Isaac was stoic and calculating, Jonah was always laughing and a little studious. He was just…different. When he ascended after his father died, he tried to make things better, but Moira was already weak, and he would have to start over with Natalia.”

I nodded more to myself than to her. She thought Jonah was a good person. Despite how Nick’s father felt about Jonah, Daya was allowed to have her own views and opinions. “And Nick’s dad? He left The Skies, so is that the reason?”

Daya tilted her head to the side and tilted one corner of her mouth up. “That is something for Maurice to explain to you himself. Telling you about my life and my view on the war is one thing, but that isn’t my place to speak on.”

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