Kane’s jaw tenses, but then she turns her glower on Drackus. “And you. God knows you’ve done your share of destruction, leaving a trail of carnage that spans over centuries.”
Drackus shrugs, unaffected by her words.
Then she cuts her glare toward Zee and Deke. “Are you two innocent?”
Zee frowns, thinking it over. He’s the most innocent of the night stalkers, but still not completely devoid of wrong doings. Deke rolls his eyes.
She gives a pointed look at Sierra who leans against the wall with her arms crossed, and then her eyes cut toward Amy and her new night stalker whose name I’ve yet to learn.
“And you?” she asks, motioning between the three of them. But none of them answer her.
“What about you, changer?” she asks Thad. “Or what about the absent dark angel? His name is Dray, right? Or what about the demon you’ve brought in?”
Thad snorts, shaking his head as though he can’t believe her audacity. The dark-haired man in the corner peers up, seemingly uninterested in the whole ordeal. I assume that’s Shaylan.
“This room is full of people who are adept at killing and bereft at mercy, yet I’m the one being judged—the only one.”
Then her eyes shift to settle on Gage. “What right do you have to doubt my motives? You of all people should understand a person’s ability to change. After all, I met your mother. She may have withheld information about the strength your magic possesses, but she didn’t hold back the details of your formative years. You have no right to deny me the chance to make amends.”
That certainly piques my interest, and admittedly scares me a little, but Gage merely smirks. “Oh, I can assure that she held back many details,” Gage says, sounding smug and a little menacing. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have been brave enough to come here.”
Sadie swallows audibly, and I cast a questioning look at Gage. He’s still in his tux, looking every bit like a dark fantasy dressed up. But now I wonder how dark he really is.
Several pairs of curious eyes turn toward Gage, but no one speaks as he stares down Sadie.
“Speaking of my deceased mother,” Gage says, putting his hands behind his back as he begins walking toward Drackus, “what did she want from purgatory?”
Sadie looks genuinely confused. “Damon and Dragona. That’s what the primary goal was—to set them free.”
Gage studies her for a moment, but purses his lips in thought. “I understood Hilly wanting to set her parents free—no matter how misguided and delusional she was. But I always wondered why Mother wanted Damon and Dragona free. So why did she?”
“She never said,” Sadie says quickly, still frozen to her spot.
“It never did fit Amari’s personality,” Drackus muses. “She didn’t want to be associated with someone who possessed ultimate power. She wanted ultimate power.”
I was fortunate enough to only briefly meet Gage’s mother. Any prolonged exposure to the woman might have been a reason to pray for death.
“Castine certainly didn’t want to be ruled,” Kane says thoughtfully. “If anything, she would have died before serving someone. I never really understood why in the hell she wanted to bring back two tyrants.”
“Amari could have killed me multiple times,” Alyssa adds, her wheels turning now as well. “Castine could have killed me, too. Instead, she toyed with me and imprisoned me with Kane after starving him. Supposedly she wanted him to drain me, and as a true mortal, I would have died. But I wasn’t a true mortal, and witch’s blood is much stronger. Considering I was actually a creature goddess, my blood was ten times stronger than a witch’s. There was never any true risk of death. Both pretended to not know I was a witch, but both were working with Aunt Hilly, so they actually knew all along who I was. Hell, they knew what I was before I did.”
It all plays out like a freshly solved puzzle.
“They wanted you to live so that you could kill Dragona and Damon,” I say in a reverent breath. “They knew you were supposed to kill them, and they wanted you to go through with it. They only helped Hilly in order to open purgatory and let the unknown spill out.”
Gage turns back to Sadie. And she stumbles forward when he releases her from his invisible hold.
“Sounds like you were all getting played by my mother and Castine. They just never planned on getting killed in the process.”
She looks as taken aback as I feel.
Gage continues, only adding to the unraveling mystery. “It’s masterful, really. Everyone was supposed to be distracted with the two deadliest, coldest, most heartless beings known to man, that no one would see the bigger picture. Whatever they wanted, it was apparently more powerful than Damon and Dragona.”
That leaves me to shiver, and Ella drops to a couch and tilts her head back.
“I thought they were the most powerful beings,” Ella says, sounding exhausted already.
Sadie becomes forgotten, but I refuse to look at her. The others may find our world fucked up enough to overlook the crimes of her past, but I was one of her victims. I may not seek revenge, but I won’t forgive, and I sure as hell won’t forget.