Page 74 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

Nephesh shifted uncomfortably. “My mother was a great healer. That’s why the human kings loved her. They wanted to keep her as a pet, locked up in their castles, waiting to keep them alive during their bloody campaigns. It changed her, being held by them. Where once she’d been soft and giving, she became harder and more cynical. That’s how she met my father. It’s a long story, but he came to her with a deal. He offered freedom, a chance to expand her power. She gave him her heart. Not that it matters now. She’s been gone since the Drude’s first attack on the Underworld.”

“I’m sorry, Nephesh. Is that when she took your soul?”

“No, that was a long time before, hundreds of years maybe. Before the slayings at Salem.”

Alarm bells were ringing in my head. “The witch-hunting Salem? Is that what you mean? Why do you know about those?”

Nephesh was quiet for a moment. “My mother was the first witch.”

“Okay, that makes sense, I guess, but…” I craned my head to look back at him. “Did they target your mother at Salem or something?”

“They did, or at least that’s what my father believes. This was before we knew that they were a united effort. But there were humans already too interested in gaining the power of the Underworld. They spread fear and lies about the witches, driving the witch trials into action in a pitiful attempt to find the witch that Lucifer loved. They knew that Lucifer had taken a wife and he was ruling this world with her at his side. You should know, every soul that comes through feeds my father’s power. They needed leverage over him since they craved his power. They knew if they could find the mate of Lucifer, his one chosen bride, then they might have a chance of defeating him and taking his throne.”

“But why the soul idea?”

“Splitting them? It was a clever idea at first. By splitting our souls, it makes us even harder to kill. Of course, I believe that it might have been my father who had the idea, not that my mother would ever tell us so.”

I could hear the smile in his voice.

“She was a proud one but so kind at her core. I see her in Kharon the most, that inherited kindness, even in the chaos.”

Nephesh’s fingers trailed up and down my spine. “Father was obsessed with her and desperate to find a way to protect her from our growing list of enemies. While being bound to him and being a full-blooded witch meant her life would be extended far past any normal woman, she was still more in danger than he was.”

“You think he gave her half of his soul. To make her stronger?”

Nephew was nodding, his fingers still tracing those dizzying patterns across my lower back. “I believe so. We know it works, since Arafel’s human mate continues to get more powerful. It explains Father’s misery too, at least according to my brothers. I haven’t been around like I should’ve these past few years, but I was…detained.”

“Oh, a bad boy? I did not realize I was dating a felon.”

Nephesh doesn’t rise to my barb. In fact, he almost sank into the mattress a little more, which was shocking considering just how flat and incorporate it truly was. “Judge?”

“When my Anna was killed, I was inconsolable. Not just because of her death, but because I had failed my family too. If I had been able to do what I needed to, I could’ve taken the soul from her, saved the Underworld, and maybe she wouldn’t have been in that place at that time.”

My heart ached for him. Not only the grief of losing a dear friend, but the weight of his family as well. “Nephesh, there’s no way that you could’ve known that.”

“You’re right, because I was too weak to see. I was too attached to do what I needed to in all those weeks before.”

“You didn’t even know how to take it from her. You can’t keep blaming yourself.”

“I can and I will, little thief. If not to honor her life, but also as a reminder of what can happen when I do not perform my duties.”

I poked at his side. “No one says duties anymore, not without laughing.”

Nephesh sighed, head falling dramatically back against the pillows. “This world is a mess.”

I couldn’t stop the smile that pulled at my lips. “Will you take me to see yours?”

“That’s not really an option right now, darling, as we are currently jailed.”

“Thank you, Nephesh,” I said sarcastically. “Like I couldn’t tell.”

“Just making sure. As soon as we find our way out of here, I’ll take you. I don’t believe I’ll have a choice not to. I can’t possibly trust you to stay in the living world and not get into trouble. Especially now that you know nearly all of it.”

“As much as you know, at least.”

Nephesh’s clawed fingers slipped into my hair, smoothing it away from my face. “I will not leave you in the dark any longer.”

“Good,” I responded, my hand going to press over his heart.