Page 12 of Eternal Sacrifice
“One more thing, my boy.” Beelzebub’s grip tightened, digging his fingers into Jax’s shoulder. “Marlene’s controlled my every move. Chose every word I spoke. Since the day we got married. Your wedding present was a Hell of a lot better than mine.”
“I don’t want, or need,anythingfrom you,” Jax said, reaching up to grab his father’s hand and remove it from his shoulder. “Stay the fuck away from us. Find another path if you see one of us walking down a hallway.”
Jax signaled through a sharp move of his head, but none of us turned our back on Beelzebub as we left.
“Are you okay?”I asked inside his mind as we headed back towards our palace wing.
“I don’t care what excuses he has.”Jax came back defensive, and his emotions were just as complex.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to listen to anything he has to say.”
I saw Jax’s hands ball into fists, clenching and unclenching.
“Justice,” a man said as if in celebration, arriving through a hallway that suddenly appeared.
This time Justice stiffened, and his body moved slightly in front of me as he looked at his father, Mammon. Apparently, today was In-law Day.
Justice
“WhatdungeonisMomlocked up in this time?” I asked.
Better to have loved and lost than to have them escape.
I schooled my features, ensuring my father wouldn’t see any indication of the voices swirling inside my head. I wouldn’t be chained in a dungeon to experiment on like he did to Mom.
“You know how her fits are,” Father stated, waving his hand like he wasn’t the one to blame. “Why don’t you ever ask about Vanity, Hope, or Mercy? They are your mothers, too.”
“They are your other wives,” I said to clarify. My other moms were alright, but Liberty would always bemymom.
“Which makes them your mothers as well. Mercy was just going on the other day about the wedding.” Father left the end of the sentence ambiguous, floating in the air. But when I searched for his emotions, all I found was amusement.
“Was there a point to this chat?” Fox asked from behind me. Her hand rested on my back, between my shoulder blades. Knowing that I stood as a physical shield protecting her comforted me.
I watched his eyes slide past me. His lips curled into a smile as he looked at my mate.
All around, we go. Don’t let it stop. Don’t let it slow.
I could feel my fox pushing calming energy into me, directing it through the bond that connected us like a hardline to a sedative. Taking a breath, my fingers relaxed, and the wounds in my palms made from my nails started to heal. As soon as it finished healing, I dug into my flesh again.
“Ahh, the lovely Morrigan. It’s so good to see you again.” My father stuck out his hand, and I knocked it out of the way.
“No touching. No hugs, handshakes, or embraces of any kind.” I glared at my father until he returned his hands to the pockets of his twill pants. My eyes trained on the bulges, ensuring they stayed where they belonged.
“He’s getting worse, isn’t he?” my father asked, keeping his hands in his pockets, but his gaze shifted back to Mor.
I should have added that he couldn’t look at her either.
Her hand started to move, rubbing the spot between my shoulder blades in a comforting gesture. She didn’t answer my father. He looked at my fox expectantly, like it would only take a few minutes of silence before she would break and fill the space with an answer. But a long pregnant moment filled the hallway.
“Well, if you need help with his infliction, my door is always open for Hell’s Princess.”
I didn’t like how his tongue rolled through the title of my fox. Caressing the words like a snake charmer invoking a trance. But he left before I could decide what to do about it, disappearing down a hallway that appeared for him to escape through.
“I think it’s time to go before any more Sins want to talk to us,” Jasper grumbled, deciding to take the lead. Guess he wanted to be in front in casehisfather decided to stop by for a chat. Out of all our parents, Jasper’s were the most tolerable.
A quick hello from his family would likely end up in an afternoon-long conversation over tea while an orgy of demons carried on in the background. It made it hard to focus.
Spread the jam. Nice and even. All the sides.
