Page 118 of Magic of the Damned

“Centuries they have been imprisoned and now they are free,” Areleus mused. The look he lobbed in my direction showed his accusation, although he managed to keep it out of his voice. Snatching away the distance between us, he bent until we were face to face.

“What are you?” he inquired. “What secrets has my son kept from me?”

“None,” I blurted. Even to me, I sounded unconvincing. I definitely needed to get better at lying. Not a skill I really wanted, but my new life required it.

“Nailah has set up a meeting with the Conventicle.” Helena settled her attention casually on Emoni, but with wariness of having this discussion with her present. I assumed she decided Dominic would handle it, so she returned her attention to him. “She still sees the same deaths as she saw before.”

Dominic’s eyes narrowed to slits on his sister, studying her. “And what are you leaving out, Helena?” he asked.

“And ours,” she admitted.

Emoni didn’t require any encouragement to leave. Anand’s mere mention that she should go home had her quickly gathering her things and readying to leave. Her dedication to my safety was the only thing that caused her to linger. She insisted I join her and refused to leave until I promised her, with a level of assurance I didn’t truly feel, that I would be okay. That moment of hesitation cost her and Helena was quick to stop her exit.

“She’s allowed to leave without consequence?” she asked, shocked. They had openly discussed information about the Conventicle in front of Emoni, which meant that information needed to be protected. Magical manipulation would leave her without any of the information.

Emoni attempted to sidestep past Helena. Moving with liquid grace and strikingly fast movement, Helena’s hand was around Emoni’s throat. She hoisted her into the air.

“Put her down, now,” I hissed. Anger raced through me like an inferno, igniting all my protective urges. Grabbing the marble coaster from the counter, I used it to add heft to my strike to her head. Her mouth gaped in surprise. It was shock more than pain that caused her to release my friend.

“Don’t you ever touch her.”

Sheer awe at my retaliation had stunned Helena into momentary silence. The prey attacking the predator. Uncomfortable silence filled the air as we watched Helena’s contemplation of how I’d pay. Her eyes were murderous, her claws extended, and thunderous magic rippled off her so violently it felt as if the building would eventually come down.

“Helena.” Dominic’s tone managed to be cajoling yet firm. The confidence with which he dealt with an enraged Helena seemed well practiced. “You will not retaliate.”

She was past retaliation. The world needed to be set on fire to display her displeasure. It was extremely unsettling to remember that she was responsible for protecting humans and keeping the other supernaturals in check.

“If Luna trusts her, then she is to be trusted.” Dominic looked to Emoni who had recovered and was standing a few feet away with pepper spray she’d retrieved from the contents of her bag aimed in Helena’s direction.

“We can trust that everything revealed to you will be kept secret?” Dominic confirmed.

Without taking her eyes off her target, Emoni nodded.

“Just her word?” Helena barked. “No magical binding or oaths? We’re taking the word of humans now.”

Emoni split her attention between looking at the objects on the floor as she returned them to her purse and Helena, while keeping the pepper spray extended toward her.

“She will be allowed to leave. No magic and she will not be touched,” Dominic asserted, directing the demand to his father who looked similarly disgusted.

“I don’t recognize you anymore, brother.” The disappointment in Helena’s voice made him flinch. He recovered from the insult quickly and appeared to be considering her words. Was being around me making him too merciful to do his job? What I saw in his expression, Helena did as well. She relaxed, seeing the potential for him to be the Dominic she wanted him to be.

Emoni attempted to quietly slip away but had to get past Helena who only allowed a small space for her to navigate. Anand volunteered to escort Emoni home and to meet them later. She wouldn’t drive with the amount of alcohol she’d consumed, but Anand could drive her car home and she wouldn’t be without it.

She hesitated on the threshold of the door, giving me an over-the-shoulder look of concern. I offered a nod of assurance and a wide smile, but it didn’t put a dent in her worried expression.

CHAPTER 16

Anand had joined us at the same building where I’d initially met the Conventicle and negotiated the new terms of operation. At the door, I had a moment of pause. I would agree with Helena very few times in my life, but my presence during this meeting was one time; we were in accord but for completely different reasons. When it came to Peter and me, there were no coincidences. The shades had been freed at the same time I was released from the underworld. It would be easy for the Conventicle to make the connection. The connection might be harder to make without me present. Out of sight, out of mind.

I wasn’t naïve or optimistic about Helena’s newfound interest in my safety. She didn’t want me there because my continued presence with them bound me to the royal trio and offered me some form of protection. People would see me as an extension of the royals, although she claimed I’d be treated with hostility because people would eventually link me with the continued mishaps. It was the protection that she didn’t want me to have. Helena wanted them to do her dirty work and get rid of me—leaving her hands clean.

Helena and Areleus believed my death would make things significantly better. As much as I hated to admit it, they weren’t wrong.

Entering the building, we were met with speckles of blood at the entrance. Crimson handprints made gruesome patterns on the wall. Violence didn’t have a smell, but it had a feel. It created tension and unease in the room. I couldn’t keep up with the royals, who left me behind as they raced to the meeting room. When I got there, Helena’s hand was pressed against the closed door, a halation of light peeled away from the door, and her lips moved fervently.

When it stopped, her shoulders slumped with fatigue. “It’s done,” she whispered.

Preparing myself for a gruesome sight, I was relieved that it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, if I ignored the shade’s mangled body. I wasn’t sure if they breathed normally, but this one clearly wasn’t.

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