Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(67)

“And what time is that? Before or after I start collecting social security?” At his amused silence, she threw him an accusing glare. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Killing me with boredom so I’ll decide this isn’t for me and I’ll move on to the next thing?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Now that’s a good idea … if only I’d thought of it sooner.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, doc.”

“And yet.” He chuckled. “And, if you remember, Julius gave us this assignment. We both know he’s not about to do me any favors by giving us a dud target.”

He had a point.

When the brothers had picked up their Hunt task, the palpable friction between them had been unmistakable. She couldn’t fathom having a tense relationship with either of her sisters, and even with Christina, despite how much her mother grated on her nerves. Add in her dad, and Edie and her grandfather Jethro before he’d passed, and she’d never lacked for close, supportive relationships.

That hadn’t been the case for Damian.

She leaned her rear against the railing across from him so their shoes nearly bumped. “What happened between you and Julius … if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Shouldn’t you ask if I mind you asking before you go ahead and ask?” Damian teased.

“Just passing the time since Virginia is obviously never leaving the concert. You don’t have to answer.”

He slowly crossed his arms, the move highlighting his broad shoulders. “Why does there have to be an inciting incident? We could simply not get along.”

“Because until recently, you haven’t talked or seen each other in years. That’s more than not getting along.”

Damian’s lips remained willfully closed.

“Did it have something to do with a woman?” She bit her bottom lip, debating her next question. “Did it have something to do with the ex who hexed you?”

“That would’ve been easier to deal with, but no. At least not directly.” He studied her carefully, as if assessing her. “I’m not sure you’re ready to hear this story.”

“Don’t think I can handle it?”

“I know you can. I’m not sure I’m ready to face how you’ll look at me afterward,” Damian admitted, shifting his gaze off her and onto his feet. “It’s far from a fairy tale.”

“Fairy tales have always been more Olly’s thing. It always annoyed me that the princess constantly needed saving by the prince. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But don’t use that as an excuse.”

His gaze latched on to hers, and held. “Julius and I had different mothers, but share the same father. Ezeil. To say he wasn’t a father figure is putting it lightly. He had two goals in life. The first, to create good little spawns to boost Lucy’s army. And the second was to do the first to secure his position as his father’s favorite prince of Hell. That second one is finally what got him kicked off the Supernatural Council and exiled back to Hell because he didn’t have anyone’s best interests at heart except for his own.”

Rose tried hiding the knowledge of what Vi had already told her behind a mask of surprise.

Damian didn’t miss a second of it. “You already knew all of that, didn’t you?”

“No,” she said almost too quickly, before adding, “well, I knew about the prince of Hell part, but I didn’t know your father was Ezeil.”

She fought not to cringe. Damian couldn’t help who is father was any more than she could deter her mother’s matchmaking attempts. But Ezeil, the former demon representative of the Supernatural Council, definitely had a reputation—and not a good one. If memory served her right, she’d met him at one of the first Supernatural summits that she’d attended with her gran, and that fleeting introduction had been more than enough for her.

But to be raised by the demon? Rose nearly shivered at the thought.

Damian chuckled dryly, almost as if reading her mind. “Yeah. Safe to say he wasn’t the playing catch type of father.”

Rose was struck with a thought. “So if Lucifer was your father’s father, does that make you a prince or duke or earl or something?”

This time Damian’s chuckle was real. “Not even close. To Ezeil’s annoyance, he wasn’t conceived. He was created. It was enough to award him a prince title and to put him in charge of building up Lucy’s elite forces for about five hundred years, but that was about it. So in a second attempt to win his boss’s favor, the bastard put extra focus on Julius and myself and hoped we’d be able to achieve what he didn’t. Becoming Lucifer’s right hand.”

“And Julius liked the idea and you didn’t?” Rose guessed, slowly digesting everything.

Damian hesitated, looking slightly less sure of himself. “For a long time, it was the other way around.”

“Really?”

“My mother had been a Norm, which in Ezeil’s eyes was my largest weakness. So I overcompensated. I trained harder. Worked smarter. The more I embraced my demon side, the more approval I saw in his eyes. The more approval I received, the more I sought. It was a never-ending, escalating cycle.”

“And Julius?”