She must’ve known, damn her. In that moment, she’d known what I was up against, and withholding it from me was Arcaena’s final revenge for killing her twin. More consequences to the reckless choices.
There had been one other person who could’ve told me, I thought with a rush of helpless frustration. He hadn’t withheld the truth from me out of pettiness, at least. I pictured Jacob’s face again, just before he’d left in a lurch of car exhaust and terror. Sometimes, he can reach you in your dreams.
My dreams.
Arcaena and Jacob weren’t the only people who’d known about the one hunting me. My parents had figured out the truth, somehow, and they’d done everything to stop him. Even binding my power and making it useless, as Dad had said in that cave. He was protecting me. Just as he’s protecting me now, I thought slowly.
Reliving the last time I spoke with my father, I saw his wide eyes, felt the desperation in his fingers as he grabbed my hands. He’d seen that golden-haired person in my head and realized what was happening. Wait. Fortuna, hold on. That wasn’t me, in your dream, do you understand?
Matthew Sworn was long dead, and not even the bleak divide of death had stopped him from being the brave father I remembered from my childhood.
There was no time to linger near the warmth of this light, because I was realizing there was one other person I was forgetting. One other person who’d learned of the danger lurking in my future. Nym had also tried to warn me, in his own confused, desperate way. In my mind’s eye, I saw all those broken clocks and the ancient faerie standing in the middle of them, his skin white, his body frail. Still beautiful, despite the tragicness of that moment, or maybe even because of it. I heard his hoarse, terrified whisper. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
My eyes flew back to the golden-haired stranger standing in that mirror.
I was at the end of the mental path now. There were no more lights, no more blinding truths to lighten the dark. We’d only been standing there a few seconds, but it felt like a small eternity had passed since I opened the door. The male smiled, slow and smoldering. The sight of it evoked such an instant, powerful response from my body it was immediately followed by an avalanche of terror that sent a rush of cold through me.
There had been so many signs. So many painfully obvious clues. I should’ve seen them sooner. Why hadn’t I fucking seen them?
Survival instincts scrambled to gain purchase. I thought of everything I knew about the figure currently filling my doorway. His faces were legion. His names even more so.
“It’s nice to finally meet in person, Fortuna Sworn,” he said warmly, interrupting my desperate efforts.
That voice—it made me think of silk bedsheets and bare skin. Something in me clenched. I held the door knob tighter, fighting to hold onto reason. Names, I’d been thinking of names.
Serpent. Tempter. Beast. Adversary. Wanderer. Dragon. Rebel. My mind whispered one more, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. The stranger’s smile widened, as if he heard it anyway. I took a short, shuddering breath and let it out. At that moment, I heard it, too.
Lucifer.
END OF BOOK FOUR