“Don’t bow at my feet, Gabriel. I get it.” I wrung my hands in my lap as he looked up. “So you were a pawn this whole time. They never wanted us to have a hybrid baby.”
“Not exactly.”
My heart thumped harder. “No fucking way. They were going to use the baby.”
He scowled. “At first, yes, but the witch was firm in her decision; it had to be you.”
“Did you know about the prophecy?”
“No. I was just told to kill you to keep balance.” He swallowed hard, getting back to his feet before sitting next to me. “That part wasn’t a lie. Your powers were strong.”
“And now?”
“Now you’re a weapon with no limits. You could be used to destroy balance itself.”
I ran my fingers across the bracelet that zapped each one that touched it. “And the bracelet?”
“To seal your magic. At least, that’s what I was told.”
“You don’t believe it?”
He shook his head, reaching over to touch the bracelet but pulled back with a wince. “I guess I still can’t take it off.”
“Did you try before?”
He nodded. “When you were hungry for blood and out of it, I tried, but it shocked me.”
“Why are you making me feed only off you?” I scrunched my nose up. “It’s a little desperate, don’t you think?”
“I am desperate when it comes to you.” He let out a breath, rubbing his palms on his thighs. “But I was ordered to only let you feed off me.”
“Queen Astral?”
He shook his head, and it clicked. “Oh, fuck, Gabriel. You’re working with the blood witch?”
“Queen Astral and King Zelek want to use you as their knight to maintain balance forever, but the blood witch, she wants to keep you from them. I don’t know why exactly, but—”
“Hold up.” Alarm bells started ringing in my head. “You’re telling me a fucking blood witch is trying to protect me to spite Astral and Zelek?”
“I mean, they think I’m teaching you how to control your angel magic, but…” He froze.
“Yeah, Gabriel. There’s no fucking way she’s trying to protect me.” I heaved an irritated sigh. “Has she told you anything else? Can you get a message to the guys?”
He shook his head. “No, she hasn’t said anything, and I’m under a blood oath not to contact anyone from Hell.”
“We’re fucking screwed.”
“Yep,” he said with a sigh.
If a blood witch was really involved, we were royally fucked.