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"They raised me from childhood," she said "I do not remember how they found me, or where they found me, but for solances with Elyssa, Shelton, and the others When she’d turned into a cherub, she must have fallen into the aether inside the leyworhtliss? "When did you start re the past?" I asked If she remembered her past, it meant the cupids would eventually reht return to their evil ways

"Bits and pieces have been with e years," she said "I suffered recurring, violent dreaed The Conroys eventually told me they’d found ine how many centuries I must have been there, or who put me there in the first place"

"How did youpause "I don’t know if you want to know our story, Justin"

My sto the truth had been harder than I’d expected so far Could it get worse?

"Are you okay?" Elyssa said, concern in her eyes

The rest of the group stood in a loose se not to crowd e my mom represented Shelton, Bella, Ryland, Stacey, Elyssa--ures I hadn’t noticed Thohtliss stood a discreet distance away I wondered how htliss already knew She and I would talk I remembered my plans to take lessons from her Those plans had obviously been washed away by the necessity of rescuing Mom

I offered Elyssa a s at the sealed back door of the trailer Having this conversation under these circumstances sucked I had wanted to see Mom’s face when she told ainst the trailer "Tell h "Let me first say there’s a lot I can’t tell you about him, Justin He made me swear an oath He’ll have to tell you many of the details hiat the door as if she could see me

"It’s the truth," she replied "We love each other, Justin But we realized we had to ave my sister to the Conroys when she was a baby!" I shouted "How is that the greater good?"

"I couldn’t stop them," she said, her voice a painful whisper evenstrained to discern

"You’re Seraphi to me to keep me weak She wanted me to believe I was a human Arcane She wanted me to worship and love her so when she finally revealed my true powers, I would blindly follow her" The sound of quiet sobbing came from within the trailer "I never wanted to lose Ivy or you It drove a wedge between David and me He had the power to take Ivy back by force, but he wouldn’t do it He refused to start a war over our daughter"

"How could Dad start a war?" I asked "He was Castratae--the lowest of the low for Daeet back into favor"

"I can’t say s tothe truth She did everything possible to indoctrinate me while I matured I didn’t even knohat she was until I ran aith your father, and even then, it was hard for me to believe, thanks to what she’d done to my mind"

"How did you meet Dad?"

She remained silent for a moment "I met and fell in love with your father twice, Justin I can’t tell you about the first tireat risk He convincedmy head with lies He rescued hten on mine Mom’s story sounded so similar to ours, it sent a shock of pain at the et ain, thankfully without her killing me in the process

"Why can’t you tell entler tone

"The oath I swore to David Please understand--"

"Fine," I said, taking a deep breath to bolster my patience "What made you remember your past?"

"David helped me remember at first, but it was only bits and pieces, and even he didn’t have all the answers"

I held ue despite the desire to ask how in the world Dad could help her reer than she let on

She continued "When Daelissa put is inside the astral prison, it had an unexpected side effect My htliss because I kneas the right thing to do even if I didn’t knohy" She sniffled "You don’t kno hard it is when everything is so scrambled inside your own brain When you don’t know friend from foe I haven’t trusted myself for years, Justin I know I’ve made terrible choices, and I refuse to make excuses for it All I can do is swear by all the power I have to help you rid the world of Daelissa"

"I know exactly how it is when memories are scrambled," I said "Because you did it to me" When I was little, she’d blurredinconvenient questions

"I’m sorry," she said simply

I felt Elyssa press her cheek to mine, and closed ry with her Just thinking about Dad flushed my face with hot fury Why had he sworn Moht back to the first tiht me to feed, and told me about my kind--incubus, Daemos, demon spawn