Page 80 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

“Like what?”

I tried to swallow down the rising lump in my throat, but it wouldn’t budge. “Like you’re on his side.”

She sighed. “Justine, please, you can’t label things like this. The Drude has been very good to us. He has unified our family. And at great loss to himself.”

“He is the one who took you originally!” I slapped my palms against my legs, my temper rising.

But my mom shook her head. “He believed there was no other way to stop the Fallen from taking more and more of this world from the living.”

She sounded like she was on his side because she was on his side. Suddenly I was horrified because I realized what I might have done. “Is that what you think? Or did he just tell you that?”

“Honey, we have been with the Drude and his Corrupted for many years now. How long have you known your Nephesh?”

“Long enough.”

“He told you he was you mate, didn't he? They are obsessed with that in the Underworld apparently. His first one died, slaughtered right in front of him. No wonder he was so invested in making sure you would give him his soul back.”

I huffed, fear clouding my eyes as I looked down at that couch again. Criss, cross, criss, cross, following the seams as they crawled along the base. “I can feel it, though.” I hated how I looked at them, hoping they would understand. Hoping they would agree. Anything.

But instead, they smiled softly at me. Mockingly.

I stood, pushing from that stiff, strange sofa as I did. There was nowhere to go then, nowhere to walk.

“So am I still a prisoner?”

“No, you are a student. As we once were.” She reached for me, patting my hand.

Slowly, I pulled my hand out of her reach, watching the way she barely reacted, her hand still hovering there midair. The wrongness of the reaction only added to the rapidly growing panic in my mind. “He’s completely brainwashed you.”

“Oh Justine, let’s not talk about this anymore today. I’m sure you must be exhausted. Let’s get you into a new room. Somewhere you can be really comfortable.”

Was he nuts? I stared at my father until he broke my stare and pushed to a standing position as well.

“This is your room.” He pointed at a door off to the side, a single wooden door with panels. From this side, there were no locks, no bolts, not even a guard. Suspiciously, I moved over to it and swung the door open. Inside looked a bit like a dorm room, with two twin beds, two dressers, and even a large mirror propped up against the wall. At the back of the space, there was another slender door, and with the light on there, I could see the sliver of a shower waiting there.

“Looks nice, huh?”

“Compared to a cell.” I stepped into the room because there suddenly it was quite clear there was no other option. It may not look like a jail cell, but it was. My parents both stood there, looking at me stoically, not a trace of emotion on either face. I realized in an instant that our reunion was over. I raised my chin, determined to get answers. “I thought…”

Mom’s voice cuts me off in an instant and it hurts even worse than I could’ve imagined. “We’ll have plenty of time to catch up soon. But we have jobs to take care of too.”

As if my heart could break any further. “You have jobs…” Realization dawned. I had been played. “You work for him.”

My dad nodded, while Mom was already craning her head around to look at the door to the office space. “We won’t be far. There’s no lock here, but when I tell you that you can’t go outside of these rooms, I mean it.”

The witch. The spells. Nausea stirred in my gut. I was going to be sick, I’d been so wrong. So very wrong.

“What’s going to happen to Nephesh?”

“He’ll be set free as soon as the Drude gets the information he needs.”

I gagged, my hand flying to brace myself against a doorjamb as I swallowed back the bile. “What are you going to do to him?”

“Me?” Dad blinked at me. “Nothing, baby.” He reached out, taking the doorknob in his hand and beginning to pull it closed. “That’s not my department. Now, watch your fingers.”

Then the door was closed and I was running, racing to the bathroom, where my knees slammed into the tile as I hurled up the pitiful amount of food that had been deemed edible and free of the sleeping medicine by Nephesh. Oh God, just the thought of him made me strain more, my back aching as my stomach convulsed over and over again.

By the time I sat back, letting the floor catch me with an audible thump, he was all I could see. I kept my eyes closed, suddenly so afraid of what I’d done that I was hoping this was really a huge mistake. A nightmare I would wake up from any minute then stare up into those amber eyes and kiss the grumpy, smirking line of his lips.