Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(78)
Granted, he never broached the subject often, probably because it was too painful for him, and later, as Tess and I got older, it was us who preferred not to bring her up. But in those rare moments when our lives stopped and he spoke of her, his eyes lit up like the Fourth of July every single time. She was the love of his entire existence, and somehow, knowing that had always given me solace. It was through his undying love for her that I learned forgiveness. And from that forgiveness, I had found my peace.
And now, thanks to my uncle, that peace was quickly crumbling like dry mud in my hands.
“She doesn’t deserve to be down there,” I said, speaking blindly from my heart. I couldn’t accept that a man as strong and noble as my father would love someone who wasn’t his absolute equal—who wasn’t just as magnanimous as he was.
He wouldn’t. None of this was adding up.
“You know nothing of your mother and even less of the monster she became.”
“Then tell me!” I demanded, my palms slick with sweat. “Tell me why I can’t know her.”
“Jemma.” Trace squeezed my shoulder as he tried to calm me down, to keep me focused on the end goal.
But I couldn’t. This was my mother he was talking about and she was laying lifeless in wooden box. And for what? Because she was Revenant? So were Gabriel and Dominic and who knows how many others, and they were all permitted to live freely amongst us, so why the hell couldn’t she when everything inside of me was telling me that she could; when everything in me was screaming at me to get her out of there.
“He’s hiding something, Trace. Just like he always is.” My gaze snapped back to my uncle. “Tell me the truth!”
My uncle’s eyes hardened into stone. “Very well. If it’s the truth you want, then it’s the truth you shall get,” he warned, his tone as cold as a frozen tundra. “You mother was a depraved murderer who slaughtered hundreds of innocent people in cold-blood. She cared nothing for you or your sister and even less of her friends and loved ones—those of us who had sacrificed everything for her!” There was more than just repulsion in his tone; there was detestation and hatred.
“Her only loyalty in this world was to her unquenchable lust for blood, and to her sire, and opening that casket today would yield the very same result. Something that I’d sooner die for before ever allowing to happen,” he said with deadly conviction in his eyes. “It took over a decade and countless lives lost to hunt her down and put an end to her reign of terror, and when we finally did, the world was a better place because Jaqueline Morningstar was no longer in it.”
An icy chill entered my body and I shivered at its callous hands.
“Is that truth enough for you, my dear?” His penetrating eyes stared me down, waiting to see if he’d broken me.
My throat felt dry and thick with sorrow, but I’d be damned if I let him render me silent. “Yes. Thank you.”
The corner of his eyes lined as he took in my disparaging expression. “Do not waste your gifts trying to save the unredeemable. She will bite off the very hand you saved her with.” He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk. “Let the High Casters do their Job and you do yours.”
I looked up confused. “Mine?”
“If you are truly as indestructible and determined to defy the prophecy as you have presented yourself to be, then go forth and do so. Go to the Underworld and find Lucifer. Destroy him in his tomb so that he never threatens you or this world again. That is your true purpose and nothing else.”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. I closed my broken heart to the past and refocused on the here and now. On the future that was coming at me full speed ahead. “How do I do it?”
He slowly withdrew to his chair, pressing himself against the backrest. “It isn’t just the Realms around Sanuinarium that have weakened. Hades has become just as vulnerable. Now is your chance to get in. If you’re ready to face your destiny as you say, then come to Temple tomorrow and we will ready a conclave of Watchers and Anakim to fight beside you.”
A dark, visceral fear speared through my insides as I ruminated on my day of reckoning. Just like that, my house of cards had fallen once again, shifting and rearranging themselves as they illuminated the way to my destiny.
Could I trust the path before me or would I find myself amongst smoke and mirrors once again?
I looked back at my uncle for answers; for reassurance that I wasn’t in this alone. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? How do I know you’re really trying to help me this time?”
“You don’t,” he said curtly and without apology. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
Arianna was waiting for us at the Manor when we returned after my meeting with my uncle. I’d stayed silent for most of the drive home and let Trace do the talking so that Gabriel and Dominic could get caught up on what had gone down. I needed a minute to get my thoughts together; to let the reality of what I was going to do sink in. Of course, I’d always known that this was coming, and so it wasn’t a complete shock. I just didn’t realize it was going to be so soon.
“Any Reapers up for some time travelling?” asked Arianna as we convened inside the den. Despite how we’d left things off last night, she appeared to still be willing to help us.
“About that.” Trace tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “It looks like we’re not going that way after all.”