Page 2 of Truth Revealed

Betrayal’s warm palm fell away, and when she glanced back, his expression was stone—not an ounce of emotion in the lines of his face.

“So…” Daria could hardly wrap her mind around it, her frustration fading in the wake of disbelief as she turned back around to stare at her… sister.

“We’re sisters,” Sofia finished for her, a wince crumpling her features.

“Why did you lie?” Daria demanded, conjuring a hard edge into her tone. A reunion with hand holding and frolicking through the fields would have to wait. Their plan might have worked, Sofia might have helped, but she still lied.

“Hey, watch how—” Wrath started, but Sofia cut him off by placing a hand over the one he squeezed around her side.

“It’s okay,” she assured him, while staring right at Daria. “I didn’t lie, really. Curious is… in me, for lack of a better phrase.”

Daria tilted her head, remembering how often she struggled with that particular phrase.

“Oh fuck,” Betrayal grumbled from behind her.

“Yeah, that appropriately sums it up.” Sofia smiled sadly as she spoke, and Daria’s heart thumped.

“Is it just Curiosity?” Daria inquired, slumping down to sit on the arm of the couch, keeping her eye on the couple seated across from them in the recliner.

“No, but… I don’t know what Pandora did to them, but they don’t talk like Curiosity does.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re quiet. Silent. They don’t speak and if I couldn’t sense them, I wouldn’t even know they were there.”

“Sofia was Pandora’s backup plan,” Wrath interjected with a scowl on his face.

While that information sank in, Daria studied her demons. Misery’s eyes were latched onto her like glue, and when she met his starry gaze, not a smile was in sight. He was sitting on the floor at the end of the coffee table, and his knuckles were white from where they gripped the edge of it.

On the couch sat Death, Hope, and Truth, tension radiating off each of them. It prickled her skin where she sat close to Truth. Betrayal was right behind her and his heat reached her from how near he was standing. Protective, wasn’t he?

Death interrupted her thoughts with a question they were all thinking. “What do you mean she was the backup plan?”

“Pandora knew as soon as you were born what Samena had been up to,” Wrath clarified with a glance at Daria.

“Seducing Chaos?” Daria guessed, wincing at the thought of her mom using Chaos.

“Yeah. She knew you would be the one to break the curse. But when your mom gave you up, she had no choice but to wait. So she waited until I came into the picture…” When Sofia trailed off, Wrath pulled her closer, and Daria couldn’t help but empathize with them. With Sofia.

They were all pawns in a bigger game, one they didn’t know the rules to, one they didn’t know the point of.

“You were so little,” Truth whispered, his voice cracking on the end of his sentence.

Sofia’s jaw tensed and she glanced away, blinking quickly. “I know,” she said. “I don’t even remember… anything.”

Daria put her arm behind Truth, raking her fingers through his hair and he leaned into the touch. It was reflex. The hurt in his voice made her want to erase it, and she didn’t even notice what she had done until Misery caught her gaze and smiled affectionately.

“We thought you died,” Hope rasped out, his eyes locked on Sofia. “If we had known…”

As he trailed off, Daria wished she had another set of hands so she could comfort them all. Their sadness permeated the air, weighing it down like an unexpected rain on a summer day.

Since she couldn’t comfort them all, she tried to move the conversation along to the heart of the matter—avoidance. That was the best course, right?

“So, the curse can only pass forward, not backward. Once I received the curse from my—our mother, and then broke it by dying—which was so not my fault by the way…”

Her attempt at humor fell flat when Wrath cut a glare at her. Sofia took over, grabbing his hand in hers. “When you died it passed on to me, and Pandora knew somehow. Even though the demons were freed instead of passing on to me, she still knew. So she seized the opportunity like she’d always meant to.”

“We know they can’t talk, but do you know the other demons you’re hosting besides Curious?” Death asked calmly—maybe too calmly.