Page 110 of Possession

“Aris found a loophole, and they—” I bite my tongue. She does not need to know about Henry. “Aris got out, and he left.”

She studies me for a moment, expression fierce as she considers whether or not I’m lying. Finally, Cera sighs and remarks, “Silva will be interested to learn of this development.”

I blink. “He’s alive?”

She smiles. “And well.”

I’m not sure what to think of that. Dominachion is also out there somewhere; he disappeared before Aris could kill him. What is he up to?

“So, is it enough?” I ask, pushing the thoughts aside. One problem at a time.

“It’s worth something.”

She goes quiet, trying my patience. I don’t want to provoke her, but she does is provoke me. Finally, I demand, “So?”

Her lips curl. “I’ll get you a book to teach you rune magic.”

“Hang on, that’s not what we agreed on. You said you’d teach me!”

“No, I said that I don’t deal in fairness.”

“I need certain spells!” I snap, my irritation giving me courage. “How can you guarantee they’ll be in there?”

She rolls her eyes. “There will be enough spells for a whole book. Don’t get greedy.”

“Fine,” I grit out. I hate that I’m being forced to trust her; it goes against my every instinct. “How will you get it through the wards?”

“Don’t worry about that. I know my way around.” She leans back on her feet and looks me up and down. “Why do you want to learn magic, anyway?”

“Maybe I’m tired of people like you pushing me around,” I say, still feeling slighted.

“You want to get on my level?” she asks, lips perking. “I’d like to see that.”

I set my jaw. Don’t respond.

Cera studies me, and her smirk gradually fades. “You know, the Following will hunt you. If Aris really abandoned you, you must have made him angry in some way. They’ll do anything to get back in his good graces.”

“They won’t try anything. Not after what happened last time.”

“I heard about the massacre.” She clicks her tongue. “A mess, but your situation has changed.”

“No, it hasn’t. Aris doesn’t want them hurting me.” Somehow, I manage to sound confident—braver than I feel. I’ve thought about them a lot over the past few months.

“Maybe he should tell them that,” she says, giving me a look. “They’ll be interested to learn of these developments.”

There is a dawning moment where I realize that I might’ve made a terrible mistake. Cera just said that she can get in and out of the Institute, seemingly whenever she wants. She’s also motivated by money, which the Following has a lot of. They could easily hire her to take me out.

Slowly, I nod.

“Good.” She gives me another long look, then nods. “We understand each another, then.”

I press my lips together. I understand the message, but is it a threat or warning? Or both? And why bother to say anything at all—is it just to mess with me?

She reminds me so much of Aris that it actually aches. But at least he has an excuse for his behavior, being a god of chaos. What’s hers?

Cera fixes her stance and starts to flip the knife in her hand. “All right, get the mage in here again. He brought me, so he’s sending me back.”

I hesitate, not wanting to turn my back to her. “Simon!” I call, watching the knife carefully.

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