Page 69 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

I stand up, fist my hands and glare at her. “That doesn’t make it right.”

She stares me down, a look that made me cower as a child. Today, however, it lacks the fire which burns in us Waterford women. “Nor does it excuse what you did.”

Hands grip my shoulders and spin me around, Ty’s dark eyes glare over my shoulder before he looks at me. “I may be the King of Monsters, Natia, but you are getting a genuine look at the human nature you fight so hard to protect. Can’t you see how corrupt even the virtuous people are? They condone rape so long as the perpetrator doesn’t plan murder. This is the world you want to save? Isn’t it time to wipe the slate clean and start again?”

My head falls forward onto Ty’s chest. “You take comfort in the arms of a monster which shows me and The Creator your true nature, Natia. You are no daughter of mine,” Gran says. It’s an illusion, it has to be. Gran would have slaughtered any man who thought to violate a person the way Jack planned. She wouldn’t have condoned centuries of oppression.

I spin around and out of Ty’s arms to face the creature who dares to take the face of the woman I love. “If you were my Gran, you would know that she would protect me from any type of evil… she would fight for any man or woman who was in danger. My Gran was a fierce woman and you are dishonoring her legacy by wearing her face today.”

Her face splits into a grin. “You first walked at nine months old, you hate raspberries but love anything raspberry flavored. Your first love broke your heart,” her eyes flick to Ty, “but your second owns it. How am I doing so far?”

I shrug. “Common knowledge or old news.”

“You wept by my grave and prayed for forgiveness, for your Gramps, and for the courage to follow your heart.” I flinch at the reminder; this was only a few weeks ago. How would she know?

“Even your family understands your true nature, Natia. You might be born of light, but light can only reside in darkness,” Ty whispers against my ear.

My head shakes. “No, I will not help you eradicate the world I know.”

He tugs on my arm and spins me around. “My family did not understand me and worked to imprison me. I am designed to destroy, and when I fulfilled that destiny, they locked me away. I am not sorry for embracing my true nature, you should not be ashamed of following what you know in your heart.”

“And what’s that?”

He presses his hand against my chest. “That this age has run its course. The world needs to be reset. Mankind is a failed experiment, one which you have the power to help make right. It’s time to return to the old ways, where gods were mighty and man was only a speck of dust in The Creator’s eye.”

“I thought you were angry at your family?”

“I am. But it isn’t who I mean. For centuries I have rotted in Tartarus with others locked away because they feared our power. These are the people who will live in our kingdom.”

“You want to open the gates of Tartarus?”

He grins, like we just got on the same page.

“It’s not enough for you to rule hell? You want to rule the monsters Hell fear?” Gran snaps. I spin as she stalks towards us.

Ty sighs. “You weren’t meant to overhear that.” With a snap of his fingers, her mouth slams closed and skin grows over her lips. She paws at the place where her mouth was, a frantic look in her eyes.

“What did you do?” I shriek as my hands slam through the bars, reaching towards Gran. She backs away from me like I’m the cause, her accusing eyes darting between me and Ty. “Give her mouth back!”

“Why? So she can continue to spout utter rubbish about you? You were justified in your act of murder against the boy. And if The Creator saw fit to send you to Hell for it, is that a world you want to save?”

I shake my head, horrified by Gran’s terrified eyes. “It’s not my place to decide on the laws of humanity or what makes something worth saving. That honor should lie with The Creator himself.”

Ty widens his arms. “And where is he?” His head falls back as he looks at the ceiling of the cell. “If he thought they were worth his time, wouldn’t he be here to save them?”

I frown. “What are you saying?”

“He’s abandoned you, Natia. He’s moved on to greener pastures.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re standing in hell, yet you believe Earth is the only dimension which exists? Don’t forget you use an alternate dimension to travel around the world.”

I blink, my internal axis shifting. My brain reorganizes its understanding of our place in the universe. “SotheGod is the God of multiple worlds?”

He grins like a teacher who’s witnessing anahamoment. This isn’t one of those, though. This is a mind explosion that’s likely to last a lifetime. He leans forward and uses his index finger under my chin to pop my mouth closed. “He is the beginning of everything, little temptress. He is my Creator, your Creator, without him nothing would exist, because before him there was only the Abyss.”

I tilt my head to look at him. “He’stheGod of all gods?” He nods. “And there are multiple worlds out there?” I wave my hand around the tiny dank cell.

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