The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(58)

But apparently that had changed, because he was still here, and he’d married Beth at Martha’s behest. Because of a dream. What a crock of shit. “How have you been?”

“Good. Really good.” He hugged her tightly enough to squeeze the breath from her lungs and set her back on her feet. Jon had never been a large guy, and time hadn’t changed that. In her boots, they were exactly the same height. He’d filled out a little, though, in the same way most guys did once they hit twenty-five, his muscles apparent beneath his plain gray T-shirt. Lucky Beth. She shut the thought down real fast. It had never been like that with her and Jon—with her and anyone at Elysia.

His smile widened. “Are you doing anything right now? Beth’s got lunch going, and it’d make her day if you came over.”

She had wanted a chance to talk to Beth a bit more. Eden turned to glare at the doors. “I’m here to talk to my mother.”

“You might be waiting awhile. She’s holed up with Joseph and Abram. She had nightmares last night, so she’s seeking counsel to determine their meaning.”

She eyed him, but there wasn’t any cynicism to be seen. He actually believed that her mother’s nightmares were prophetic visions, and that if she had time to “get counsel” she would be able to determine the future. How does a grown man of generally sound mind fall for that kind of thing? Jon had had most of his life to get inoculated into that sort of thought process, but he’d always been the one Eden went to when she was furious and questioning everything about her life and the beliefs of her mother’s flock.

A battle for another day.

At least she wouldn’t have to sit here and wait at the door like a kid in time-out. She forced a smile. “Lunch would be great.”

“Awesome.” Jon led her out of the square and into the second circle of houses. They all looked more or less the same, but there was a charming potted-plant arrangement by the front door that screamed Beth, and when he opened the door, the smell of fresh-baked bread wafted out.

Inside was more of the same. There were the expected Elysian elements—a print of the same mural that was in the chapel hung over the fireplace, and the bookshelf in the living room was filled with nothing but Martha-approved texts—but there were also pictures of Jon and Beth together, alone or in small groups, smiling at the camera. As if they were really happy.

Maybe they are. Just because I was miserable here doesn’t mean everyone is.

That didn’t make it right, but it was something she needed to remember. If she came crashing in here and demanding everyone see reason, the very people she was trying to save would throw her out faster than she could say clusterfuck.

They rounded the corner and walked into a cozy little kitchen. Beth was frowning down at a plate of sandwiches, but she broke into a smile when Jon said, “Look who I found.”

“Eden!”

She was once again engulfed in a hug. Eden had been hugged more in the last few days than she had been in the last few years. Beth smelled of strawberries and practically bounced on her toes when she stood back. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“I didn’t get you into trouble the other day, did I?”

She frowned in incomprehension and then laughed. “Oh, of course not. Everything is fine. I just got a little uppity in one of our small groups. You know how it is.”

“Uh . . . okay.” She wasn’t sure if she believed the other woman, but she wasn’t in the position to call Beth a liar. Or to point out that getting uppity wasn’t enough to justify hours spent scrubbing a floor. But Eden was so damn tired of fighting and being on her guard every second of every day. She took a seat at the island, letting some of the problems of the current situation fall away. She could question Beth and Jon; then she’d corner her mother and head back into town to talk to Zach about the body.

I hope someone’s with Rachel when she hears about this.

She shook her head. She had enough to worry about without adding a teenager to the list, but there was something about the girl that she identified with. Rachel’s relationship with her mother was obviously light-years better than Eden’s, but she seemed to kind of stand just outside the circle. Neveah had drawn her in, and she’d put up with some serious crap in her effort to maintain that contact.

And now Neveah is dead.

She accepted the lemonade Beth set in front of her. “Thank you.”

“You’ll have to tell us everything you’ve been up to the last ten years. I bet it’s so exciting.” Beth loaded up two sandwiches and passed them to Jon. “Is it true you’re in the FBI?”

“Word gets around fast.” She was surprised Martha had advertised that fact. Her mother despised the feds, though her ire was usually directed at the white-collar crime division. They were the ones who’d given her such grief about taxes back when Elysia was first becoming a force to be reckoned with. She’d won that war, but she was a smart woman. She knew that most cults were brought down because of fraud.

Eden imagined her mother knew a thing or two about fraud, though she hadn’t been caught yet.

“Well, you know how it is. This time of year, all anyone can talk about is the crops.” She lowered her eyes, her voice dropping to just above a whisper. “That and Persephone being taken.”

Call her crazy, but Eden had forgotten. She sat back. “That’s in”—she did some quick mental math—“a week.”