She would have liked to smite him, but I held her back. We might need him, after all and despite her raging fury at him, I recalled her liking him once, ever so long ago, when he was her father and she was newly made. She refused to admit it, though and I hardly blamed her considering what he'd done to her in the name of protecting Creation for her very existence.

I wasn't the only one with daddy issues, it turned out.

"Maut." Nero held out both hands, face contorting, ...