Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
But not anymore.
By the end of the hour, there would be hundreds of people personally invested in keeping me and whatever powers I possessed out of Lucifer’s clutches. That bitter bitch would get nowhere near the power he killed my sister for. He would forever remain the kicked-out-of-heaven reject he was born to be. My mother’s delusions of a big, happy reunion would remain that—a delusion. And Ronin would never get the only thing I knew he wanted more than power.
Me.
“How’s that for making them feel my wrath?”
Ronin shoved through the crowd, rushing over to me. “Charlotte—”
“So what did you think?” I sliced in. “Did that go the way you planned?”
Turning my back on him, I left him calling my name without a single glance back.
RONIN
I trailed behind Charlotte to our first class of the morning, close enough to watch over her, but not so close as to provoke her. But going by the scowls she kept tossing over her shoulder, I wasn’t far enough.
Flashes of her mutilated mouth roared through my mind. Gushing red blood, and the way she fainted—eyes rolling up in her head and flopping limp on the bed... as though she’d never get up again.
The last thing I wanted to do was upset her again, but I still couldn’t leave her to her own devices.
I flicked up. My pet’s fallen into a particularly deadly pit of vipers.
Kama, Raven, Eris, Ursula, and Sauda fluttered around her, sticking to her like glue ever since she made her morning announcement.
“So, you’re really a witch?” Kama purred, trailing a finger down Charlotte’s arm. “You know, I’ve never fucked a witch before.”
“And the longest-living goldfish made it to forty-three years old,” Charlotte replied.
Kama shot her a confused look.
“You know,” Charlotte continued, “since we’re blurting out random facts that no one cares about.”
I smothered a laugh as the princesses cracked up. Even the hardest, sharpest version of my Charlotte was funny and witty. Would there ever come a time when a single word from her plump lips didn’t make me pitch a tent?
“I can never love you now. Because of you, I’ll never smile again.”
My grin evaporated. Yes. The answer was yes.
“So, you weren’t bullshitting with all that All Hallows stuff, right?” Sauda edged in between Kama and Charlotte. “The legend is real?”
“Real enough to close the gates of hell so tight, not even the most powerful beings in hell can open them. Doesn’t get realer than that, does it?”
Sauda inclined her head, accepting this. “And the hallows of the air, flame, wood, and sea... You sure you don’t know who they are?”
“I do not. After my foremothers cast the spell to banish the supernaturals, they destroyed all traces of what they’d done and then killed themselves,” Charlotte said. “And they did it for exactly this reason. They didn’t want anyone reversing the spell, setting the supernaturals free, or claiming the power of the All Hallows for themselves.
“But that’s why I had to come. The Hallows are no longer in the mortal realm. Someone had to come to hell, discover who they are, and collect their secrets once again, and my sisters trusted me with this task,” Charlotte lied through her teeth. “It was the only way to bring about the age of the witches, and take our rightful place as leaders of the mortal realm.”
Gods, this woman’s such a fucking liar. It’s so hot.
“And anyone who helps us in this task will be greatly rewarded.”
“But once we get the feather of the air hallow, burn the flame hallow’s sire, and all that other stuff,” Kama interjected. “What exactly do you do? How are you supposed to bind it all together into a grand power that can be shared?”
Charlotte smiled at her. It didn’t reach her eyes. “Come now, Kama. You’re the princess of lust. Don’t you know better than to rush the climax?”
The girls busted up laughing again, but behind Charlotte’s back, Kama shared a displeased look with Ursula.
I picked up the pace, drawing closer.
“So, what did your witchy sisters think of your mother giving birth to Lucifer’s spawn?” Eris flung, going right for the jugular. “If they hate supernatural beings so much, why didn’t they smother little Adora in her crib?”
Charlotte didn’t skip a beat. “Because my mother didn’t give them a chance. She took Dora and went on the run, hiding from the coven. I was raised by my father and given my birthright.”
“Hmm.” Eris frowned. She clearly thought she stumped her there, but Charlotte was too slippery. “So why were you so attached to her if you didn’t even grow up together?”
“Who the fuck cares about things like that?” A hard, dangerous edge bled into Charlotte’s voice. “She was my sister. End of. I was happy to be reunited with her. And she...” Charlotte tossed her head, clearing her throat. “I don’t share my coven sisters’ hatred of supernatural creatures. Another one of the reasons I was chosen to come here over everyone else. Meeting Dora was the best thing.” Charlotte whipped around, spearing her glare through my chest. “And losing her was the worst.”