Deva bit down on her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. “If I tell you, you could be in danger —”

“I’m already in danger! I need to know the truth about your fall and Father’s death. The whole story.”

Deva sighed, and Blas’s heart sank. As much as she wanted to believe Revenant, she’d wanted to know her mother was being honest, too.

“It wasn’t all a lie,” Deva said. “Not the part about the object, anyway. Your father got involved with a rebel group in Heaven that wanted to replace Metatron with Raphael. Raphael worked out a deal with his friend, Stamtiel, to retrieve a mystical item that would allow Raphael to destroy Metatron. Stamtiel would take Raphael’s place as an archangel, and Raphael would fill Metatron’s shoes.”

Oh, dear… God. Rebellion in Heaven was bad enough. But plotting against not only an archangel, but the archangel was beyond the pale.

“I was afraid your father was going to be caught. He was so reckless and too open about his feelings toward Metatron, and people were starting to talk. So I agreed to help Stamtiel while your father kept the peace in Heaven.” Deva kicked aside a length of chain meant to hold down combative patients and sat down on the exam table. Tucking her hands between her knees, she closed in on herself, and for the first time, Blaspheme saw vulnerability in a female she’d always viewed as a rock-hard pillar of strength. “I was caught, relieved of my wings, and booted out of Heaven. But becoming a fallen angel didn’t change anything between me and your father. We stole secret moments together until I learned I was pregnant. At that point, I went into hiding until after you were born.”

“And then what?” Blaspheme offered her mother a cup of water, but she refused.

“He was still plotting with Raphael and Stamtiel, and he couldn’t afford to be connected to us.” Her mother took a deep, shuddering breath. “He hooked up with another female and disappeared from our lives. I only saw him once after that.”

Blaspheme could hardly believe this new version of events. Her entire life was more of a lie than she’d thought. “What happened when you saw him?”

“He attacked me. He didn’t want anything to do with me or you, and I didn’t know it, but Raphael put a price on my head. He can’t afford for anyone outside his close circle to know he was plotting against Metatron. Maybe Raphael still is plotting against him.”

Blaspheme sank down on a rolling stool before her legs gave out. “So do you think the attack on you was about Raphael tying up loose ends? Or was it because I’m a vyrm?”

Deva shrugged. “Could be either. Or both. It doesn’t matter. I should have told you all of this sooner, but I was trying to protect you. That’s why I told you your father died before you were born. I didn’t want you to waste your time trying to find him, only to face the same rejection I did.” She looked up, her gaze liquid with unshed tears. “I loved him. I fell from grace for him, and he abandoned us.”

Deva didn’t know the half of it, and she wasn’t going to. Blas was going to keep Revenant’s tale of her father’s willingness to hand over his ex-mate and daughter to herself.

“I’m so sorry, Mother,” she whispered.

Deva exploded to her feet. “Do not dare pity me. I wasn’t completely innocent. I deserved to fall, and I’ve accepted what happened afterward.” She jabbed her finger into Blaspheme’s breastbone. “So do not feel sorry for me. Why are you wasting time with this, anyway? You should be getting ready for the False Angel ceremony —”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not doing it?” Blaspheme hurled her cup into the garbage without having taken a single drink. “I’m working on something else. Something you won’t be happy about, but it’s my choice.”

Deva’s eyes darkened dangerously. “Daughter,” she growled. “What have you done?”

This wasn’t going to go well. “The Destroyer,” she said. “His name is Revenant. He’s a Shadow Angel. And he knows the truth about me.”

“He what?” Deva’s shout rattled the pictures and anatomical models hanging on the walls. “How? And why the fuck are you standing here like it’s no big deal when you should be hiding?”

“Because,” Blas said, “I’m the one who told him. And… I’m kind of sleeping with him.”

Her mother, the rock-solid pillar of strength, lost all the color in her face… and passed out.

Twenty-Eight

After swiping a vial from one of Underworld General’s supply cabinets, Revenant materialized outside of Thanatos’s keep, figuring that if he was going to be asking for a huge favor, he might as well get off to a good start and not pop in out of the blue. Steeling himself for the confrontation, he knocked on the door. A minute later, Thanatos was standing there, his expression shuttered, but the 3-D scorpion tattoo on his throat was writhing.

“What do you want?” Thanatos scowled. “And since when do you knock?”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

“No. Never mind.” Than stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Well?”

This wasn’t going to be easy. Dealing with the Horsemen never was. “I need a favor.”

Thanatos crossed his arms over his chest. “Do tell.”

Yeah… not easy. But he had to protect Blaspheme. If she could disguise herself as another species of demon, Satan would never be able to find her, and Revenant would do anything to keep that from happening.