He was right, on all accounts. “I do love you. You’re right, but I know that your demon did something to me. I don’t know what he did. It can’t be good, Kellan! I’m half-messenger. You’re half-demon. It can’t be good.”

He took two steps toward me, then stopped abruptly. One hand flexed into a fist, but he forced it to relax against his thigh. “He didn’t harm you. I wouldn’t let him. I wouldn’t harm you. Leave it at that.”

I was speechless for a moment, staring wide-eyed at him until he turned away. As he did, the tension broke between us. A soft knock sounded on the door, and Aumae glided inside, a cup in her hand. She smiled, tucking a strand of her hair behind one ear as the rest gathered on her other shoulder, hanging low in a loose braid. Her robe touched my arm when she bent and placed the cup beside me on a nightstand. She turned and glanced between Kellan and me, then her smile beamed more. “I’ve brought her a cup of tea. It’s very healing, especially with her changes. It will soothe her. That’s what she needs right now.”

Kellan jerked his head to the side and left. A burst of wind rushed at me from his sudden departure, and I closed my eyes, breathing in his smell for a moment. When I opened them again as his scent had already faded, I saw my aunt watching me with concern. She sat next to me on the edge of the bed and laid a hand on my cheek. “He only means the best for you. I can see that in him. It’s so strong that there’s a different aura around him. I’ve never met a demon like him. It’s very…rare.”

“She’s holding back. There’s more she wants to say…” a voice whispered to me. I jerked when I heard it, but I calmed, knowing it was the messenger in me—or it was just me now.

I should’ve asked what else she wanted to say, what she wasn’t saying, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to hear any more new information, revelations that I couldn’t handle so I lay back down. My aunt brushed back some hair from my forehead. It was a loving touch, one that I hadn’t felt in so long, if ever.

Both of us sat there in silence, and then after a while Aumae pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “You radiate now. She’s merged with you, and you both look so beautiful. You look just like your mother now. It’s painful to see it, but also a blessing. I miss her so.”

“Where is she?” I sat up against the headboard, scooting back with my knees raised to my chest and the cup of tea in my hand.

She sat back and looked away, smiling from fond memories. “It’s painful at times to think of it, but your mother passed away. It’s been six years now.”

“What happened?”

“No one knows. She’d gone upstairs one night, and I found her the next morning. She passed away in her bed. She’d been missing you. She felt something happened to you, but we couldn’t find you.”

“She felt me?”

“You were linked together because you came from her; your Nephilim was constantly trying to find hers. At first, it was so strong, but when you were little, your connection was almost lost. It dropped overnight.”

I whispered, “When I was little?”

“You must’ve been six or so, just a little girl.” Aumae bent her head, and her shoulders shook slightly.

I heard tears in her voice, and my own throat closed up. “What do you mean you couldn’t find me before? You think my surrogate mother hid me or something? Like, kidnapped me?”

“We don’t think so. We know so. You were put in her so she could birth you, but we were supposed to keep in contact with her. Of course, you were supposed to come back to us, but as soon as you were in her, they disappeared. It was like they fell off the face of the Earth. We couldn’t do anything to find you, and we tried. We tried with our messenger side, using magic. We tried asking for help, even your father couldn’t find you. They took you away, and it wasn’t until Kellan contacted me a month ago that I knew you were alive. Your mother kept saying you were, that she felt little twinges from you every now and then, but I stopped believing her. I always thought she died from a broken heart, from missing you so much.”

Kellan had contacted—I knew he had. Of course, he had since we’d found my aunt, but it hadn’t really clicked with me before now. Kellan knew. How long had he known? Had he known this whole time that I’d been taken away from my real parents? What else did he know about me? He’d known who I was this entire time, that we were soulmates, but he’d kept it a secret from me. What else was he keeping from me?

Anger started to boil inside of me. How dare he keep my mother away from me. Did he know about her? He must’ve. He knew so much, too much.

“Shay, calm down.”

I broke out of my thoughts and realized the bed had started to rise in the air, shaking from my anger. Immediately, I set it back down and stopped the trembling. My body stopped shaking, too.

“You’re starting to control yourself better.” My aunt held a hand against my cheek, brushing her thumb under my eyelid gently. “That’s good. That means you’re growing into yourself again.”

“Kellan said we can be strong now. What did he mean by that?” I was hesitant to ask her, but he’d brought us to her for a reason. A part of me knew that I was supposed to find answers that he couldn’t tell me, but there was so much I didn’t know what to ask or who I should ask. I was still afraid to trust anyone.

“I can’t really answer that. I just know that he wanted me to meet you. He wanted you to meet me, and you’re already going strong. You’ve merged with your messenger side. You’re so much stronger than you know, but I can see it in you. So can he. That demon of yours is one very smart, very powerful demon. He knows what he’s doing and if I didn’t see how much he loves you, I would fight him myself for you. I would take you away from here, away from the mess you’re in, but I trust him. I trust that he knows what he’s doing. You’re linked to him. Anyone can see how powerful your connection is. You two need each other.”