Page 127 of The Demon Court

Why did her words hurt so much when her touch was so gentle? Tears pricked Selene’s eyes even as she knew Minerva would punish her. “And I am sorry to have failed you.”

“Have you come to tell us all his weaknesses? To bring about the age when the sorceresses will sit upon that throne?”

The lie stuck in her throat. She wanted to tell her mother that yes, she was here to do just that. She’d do anything if Minerva would save her life. But Selene couldn’t force herself to lie about him.

She opened her eyes again, though it felt as though they were full of sand. She met her mother’s waiting gaze and slowly shook her head.

“No,” she whispered. “I am here to beg for my life. As your daughter. As the child you found in the cold and now a woman who owes you her life.”

Minerva gently lifted her head, cupping the back of it and holding her suspended above the snow. “You owed me your life when I sent you to destroy him, and you returned to me not only empty-handed but as a disappointment. What makes you think I’ll save you now?”

“Hope,” she whispered, and her gaze met Sibyl’s behind Minerva’s head. “I have never given up hope that you are not the monster I always feared, Mother.”

“I’m not your mother. But you have given me a unique opportunity in coming here. I will fix you, Selene, and I will destroy him in the same breath.”

Why did that sound so menacing?

Her mother stood and the cool touch disappeared. Selene tried to follow it. She tried to lift herself up, but her body betrayed her. She fell back into the snow with a wheeze of breath that didn’t seem to reach her lungs.

Two pairs of hands reached underneath her and dragged her upright. The world spun. Trying to get control over her senses and her suddenly squeezing stomach, she blinked a few times to clear her vision.

Sibyl had helped her up, and Bathilda was on her other side. They held her with quiet strength as they strode into the Tower.

Minerva strode in front of them, her voice ringing through the Tower. “You have shown me that there are other ways to get what I want, Selene. If you could deviate from your plan, then so could I. The High Sorceresses before me were so certain of one thing. The demon must die for us to take the throne."

She had heard all this before. The death of Lust would bring about a new age. Selene couldn’t have killed him on her own, but that was the intent. If they could not enslave him to her wiles, a very small chance at that, then they would destroy him with whatever secrets she’d learned. But there were no secrets. He wasn’t even a man. He was a spirit.

Selene wouldn’t be the one to tell her. She’d never let her mother know the truth, just to spite her.

“We don’t need him dead.” Minerva started up the stairs and her sisters forced her to climb. Together, they all made their way up the countless steps that led up the Tower. “We just need him out of our way.”

Where were they taking her? Selene’s neck spasmed and lolled forward. She couldn’t keep it upright, no matter how hard she tried.

“Selene,” Sibyl hissed in her ear. “Help us, please.”

Her tongue was too thick to talk. She couldn’t even lift her feet to help them anymore. They dragged her up the stairs with her boots clunking against each one. Her sisters were breathing hard, but then she wondered if they were really her sisters. If they were so willing to help Minerva in whatever madness this was, were they family?

Or was that guard who had been so reluctant to leave more family than they were? Or Greed who had listened to her every word until he decided that he’d let her go? He had helped her even though it would anger his own family.

Her head wasn’t on right, that much she knew. And she wouldn’t live that much longer if Minerva didn’t do something.

Oh, Lust, she thought. I’m so sorry.

If she was going to die, then she should have stayed with him. She should have been in his arms right now, letting him wash the sweat off her forehead while he whispered how beautiful she was. How much she had changed his life.

“Here,” Minerva said, and Selene couldn't guess how long it had been.

She’d hidden away in her mind the last bit of this journey. So when she blinked her eyes open and saw the vast landscape of the entire kingdom laid out before her, a gasp escaped her lips.

Selene had forgotten how beautiful it was here. The world looked so lovely while she stood so far above it.

“You will stay here,” Minerva said, standing in front of her. “He will come to us and we will trap him. The Tower will become his tomb, even if he’s still alive within it. We’ll see how long it takes for him to crack open like an egg tossed off a counter. But for now, you will remain here as bait. And once he arrives, I will deal with you.”

At her nod, her sisters released their hold on her arms. Selene crumpled onto the floor, but it was easier to breathe up here. Almost enough that she had a little energy.

The circle of magic, she remembered. This was where they had cast the spell, and perhaps this was where she could break it. Power still lingered in the air and it gave her strength.

Shoving herself up onto her forearms, she looked at her mother and croaked, “Are you leaving me here to die?”

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