Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I’ve thought about it,” she admits. “The Lancasters have a reputation.” She raises her eyebrows and lets me pull her to her feet. “They take pride in pure bloodlines, even though it’s a little incest-y.”
“Yeah,” I chuckle. “Marrying a third cousin isn’t frowned upon.”
“And in terms of magic, I think you’re as pure as it gets. Your dad is a freaking archangel. Like, you have a royal pedigree.”
I loop my arm through hers and laugh. “I’m a top-quality show dog.”
She lets out a snort of laughter. “But if you think about it…I don’t know if it would be a good idea to let them know you’re alive.”
Her words take me aback, even though I know she’s right. I’ve craved family my whole life, knowing deep down there was no way I was actually a Martin. It made no sense. Every once in a rare while, you’d see a witch born from a nonmagical family. But their lineage could be traced back to someone having powers, and most times it was only a generation or so removed.
And everyone knew it was damn near impossible for a witch to surface with such great powers the way I did.
“Tabatha knew,” I say as we get into the guest room. “She knew I wasn’t a Martin but never told me.”
“Would it have changed anything?” Kristy asks as she flops into bed.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly, shaking my head. My dark hair falls around my face and I push it back behind my ears. “Maybe it would have given me a sense of an identity.”
“Or made you question things even more. At least, as a Martin, you thought you knew where you came from? I don’t know. The Martins are poop heads. Not Abby though. She’s cool.”
“She is.” I let out a sigh. “For years, the anger I had toward them fueled me to keep going, to succeed and prove them wrong. A wiser version of Callie would be thankful for that.”
“Hey, you’re getting there.”
“Slowly.” I pull the blankets over Kristy and let my mind wander for a moment again. If things hadn’t been laid out so precisely, I wouldn’t be here. The Lancasters being dicks about bloodlines forced my mother to take desperate measures. Said desperate measures lead her to dark magic and Lucifer. He fell in love with her, and I’m starting to think she loved him back. But then Michael was sent to save her and their love was true and pure and out of that love, I was born.
It’s a cosmic mind-fuck, that’s for sure.
“I’m sorry again for, uh, everything,” I tell Kristy.
“It’s okay,” she replies sleepily. “Take me to Disney.”
I smile. “I’ll do that. Night.”
“Night,” she mumbles and I leave the room, shutting off the light and closing the door behind me. Eliza and Eamon are downstairs. I pause in the hallway then shake my head, telling myself I’ll deal with it later. Eamon is an obvious problem, but I don’t think he’s a danger to us right now. Though there’s still the issue of Jacob from the bank.
“Fuck,” I huff, not trusting Eamon to take him home. Rubbing my forehead, I go back into my room and pick up my phone. There are less than half a dozen Uber drivers in Thorne Hill, and I wonder if any are even available to pick someone up at this hour. Still, I give it a try and am happily surprised to see someone will be here in fifteen minutes.
Yawning, I go down the back staircase and into the library so I can wake Jacob up to get his address. Eamon watches as I work my magic again, convincing Jacob that he brought over documents, stayed for dinner and had a little too much wine. Right as I’m getting him up to wait on the porch, the back door opens and closes. In an instant, Lucas appears in the threshold of the library.
His dark eyes meet mine and a chill runs through me. Fuck.
He knows.
Chapter
Seven
“I got him an Uber,” I say, lips curving into a smile. There’s no bullshitting Lucas, and really, I don’t want to bullshit him. There is no one on this earth I trust more than my husband, no one I love more and no one who loves me more. He’s my true ride or die, and by die I mean he’ll kill for me—like how he has before.
But this time…this time I’m going to be letting him down. Still, there’s a chance he’ll understand why I did what I did. It was for him—for us. We can be together now and I would do anything a thousand times over if it means being with him.
“I could have taken him home,” Lucas replies, voice deep and steady. “It would have been faster.”
“This way we can stay home.” I start forward and Jacob, believing to be drunk, stumbles a little after me. “Together.”