“Nor the ability to burn her enemies from their human husks.” Bennett’s eyes practically flashed with greed in anticipation of such a skill.

“You want her for yourself, don’t you? And I’m guessing Umbra will let you have her if you hand me over peacefully?” Which would mean forgoing my public execution and her chance to show the world that a seventeen-year-old “demon” hadn’t gotten the better of the deacon of New Temperance. “But you’re only willing to make that deal if Mellie’s body will be a step up from what you’re wearing now.” I glanced pointedly at her aging human shell.

Otherwise, the loss of her position and her power as a deacon would mean little.

“Will she?” The demon leaned forward to study me through narrowed eyes.

“How am I supposed to know that?”

Bennett frowned. “I saw your mother’s body. It wouldn’t have degenerated so quickly if your genetic gifts had come from her, so they must have come from your father. Your birth certificate names your mother’s late husband.” She opened the file on the table in front of her and glanced at the first page, then dropped the cover back into place. “Oliver Kane. Melanie’s reads the same. But if the late Oliver Kane had been an exorcist, or even a healthy normal man, he probably wouldn’t have died of…”—Bennett opened the file again, though that was probably just for show—“pneumonia, at the age of twenty-seven. The prevailing theory on your father’s death is that your mother poisoned him.”

I shrugged, trying to look like I was unaffected by hearing about the murder of one of the few people in the world who’d ever shown me kindness. “Sounds like he got off easy.”

“Who was your real father, Nina?” She looked straight into my eyes, and I could practically feel her hunger—for both my soul and my information. “More important, was he Melanie’s father as well?”

“Why should I answer that? What’s in it for me? Or for Mellie?”

“Nothing.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest again. “Tomorrow you’ll be on your way to Umbra, where the prelate will…well, he can’t exactly wear you, after your picture has been all over the news and you’ve been declared possessed. But I have no doubt he’ll find some use for you before he sees fit to turn on the camera and light a match. If you hadn’t already been sterilized, you might have been able to prolong your life by around nine months so your genetic gift might be passed on. But my point is that your fate is sealed, as is your sister’s. Her child, however…”