“Because it’s time I answered your question,” Rev said, “and this was where you first asked it.”

“And what question is that?”

“You asked what happened to our mother.”

“And you said you killed her.” Reaver rubbed his chest, and Revenant wondered if he felt the same ache Rev did when he discussed her. “But you never said why or how it went down.”

Revenant closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself to go back to that awful time and place. To his credit, Reaver didn’t rush him, merely waited in silence. Finally, Rev opened his eyes and looked his brother in the eye. He deserved that, at least.

“I told you I was separated from our mother and taken to slave in magma crystal mines, yes?” At Reaver’s curt nod, Rev continued. “Ten years later, I was taken to Satan. Filled with lies and half-truths. Promised power and influence. Once he felt I was loyal to his cause, he sent me to fetch our mother from the dungeon where she’d been kept for two decades. I didn’t know what he was going to do to her, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. She knew it, too.”

Gods, he could still feel her frail frame hanging on to his when they’d been reunited in that filthy cell where he’d spent the bulk of his childhood. The years had not been kind to her, and she was but a shell of the beautiful angel he’d remembered.

And yet, in the depths of her dull, sunken eyes, there had been a spark of life that burned bright when she’d seen him. The breath that shuddered from her lungs had reeked of despair, but her strength shone through even the wear and tear on her body.

“I escorted her out of the dungeon, but I couldn’t take her to Satan. I tried to run with her, to get her out of Sheoul, but we were surrounded and trapped by Satan’s forces. She had no power left in her, and I wasn’t powerful enough to flash with someone else, so we holed up in a cave and waited to die. That’s when she told me the truth about who I was.”

“Who did you think you were before that?”

“I grew up thinking I was vyrm. Our mother told me what Satan told her to say, that she was an angel imprisoned for mating with a fallen angel. But while we were holed up, she told me about our father. About you. She was desperate for me to find you and for us to be a family. It was her greatest hope that somehow you could help me rid my blood of Satan’s taint.” He took in a deep, shuddering breath. “And then she begged me to kill her.”

Reaver closed his eyes. “Aw, damn.”

The air around them went still and cold. Rev didn’t know who was responsible for that, himself or Reaver, but the damp chill settled deep in his bones, making them ache as much as his soul.

“I couldn’t do it,” Revenant said. “Not at first. I refused, argued, was prepared to fight Satan’s forces to the death. But as they closed in, they shouted out their orders… what they intended to do to us before they took us in chains to their master. I didn’t care about myself, but I knew her suffering would be beyond measure.” He held out his palm. “Give me your hand.”

Reaver hesitated, the distrust between them thickening like an invisible wall.

“I’m going to show you,” Revenant said. “You need to know.” And he didn’t think his voice would make it through the entire tale.

Finally, Reaver pressed his palm flat against Revenant’s, and Rev queued up the memory he’d tried so hard to forget.

“Please, Revenant.” Lying limp in his arms, Mariel gazed up at him with eyes that were once brilliant sapphire blue, but were now pale and cloudy. “I’m so far gone that you don’t need a special weapon.” She cupped his cheek in one trembling hand. “Feed from me. Drain me as far as you can. My blood will strengthen you and weaken me so your blade can finish it.”

“Mother, no. I can’t do what you’re asking. Your soul will be trapped down here —”

“You must. Hurry. They’re coming.” A tear slid from her eye and plopped to his arm, and all he could think was if she had her way, the next thing dripping from her would be blood.

“Please, no,” he whispered.

“Do it!” She lowered her voice to a gentle murmur, barely audible over the pounding footsteps and coarse laughter of the approaching demons. “I love you, Son. Tell Yenrieth that I love him, too. I hope he can forgive me for abandoning him.”

Revenant’s tears joined hers as he bent and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “I love you,” he rasped.

“Hurry.”

Against every instinct that screamed for him not to do this, he bared his fangs and bit into her throat as tenderly as he could. In his arms, she went taut, but gradually her body relaxed, until her strong pulse became stronger as her body tried to compensate for the blood lost.

He wept as he fed, and eventually, her heart couldn’t keep up. The tap of her heartbeat against his teeth grew weaker and slower, until he couldn’t feel it at all.

She wasn’t dead, but she was close. The rumble of Satan’s advancing army made the ground shake outside the cavern they’d hidden inside. He had a minute. Maybe two.

“Forgive me, Mother,” he whispered as he palmed the dagger at his hip. With the greatest of care, he brushed her hair back from her pale face and sang the lullaby she’d sung to him when he was little.

“Moonbeams and sunshine, the clouds and the seas, all part of the many worlds I want you to see. Fear not the unknown, nor the depths of the night, for nothing can harm you when I hold you tight.”