Page 10 of Rites of Passage

Instead of killing him like he’d thought they would, Oscar and Barquiel had wanted to capture him. Not just because he’d managed to perform theAura of the MoonandSoul Stormon his own. But because he’d broken the binding ritual Barquiel and the Sorcerer King had concocted to entrap Mae.

Not once, but twice.

And now my father probably knows I can draw upon ley lines too.

Bryony had wondered if it were the possibility that Nikolai could unlock this particular skill one day that had kept him alive in his father’s court all this time. He shivered as he thought of the hellish years he had endured under the Dark Council, always waiting for the one wrong move that could end his life.

In a way, the spell his father had engraved in his soul had protected him from whatever grim fate would have awaited him had he managed to manifest that aptitude while still at his mercy.

Alastair shifted nervously, his claws sinking into his flesh when he sensed Nikolai’s unease.

If my father gets his hands on both me and Mae, this world is doomed.

The memory of the kiss he’d shared with the witch the night she’d broken the spell binding his soul sparked through Nikolai’s mind. His chest tightened. He could not deny that he was attracted to Mae, just as Vlad Vissarion was; the incubus had made his intentions ruthlessly clear since his first meeting with Mae. Truth be told, Nikolai believed those two had more in common with one another than he and Mae did, especially since they were both descended from demons.

Still, he could not extinguish the hope that had ignited inside him. The only thing he had ever wanted in his life was to escape the clutches of his father and avenge his mother. And now, he wanted something else. The love of a woman he likely did not deserve.

The doors to the basement chamber clattered open, startling him and scattering his troubled thoughts.

A young sorcerer Nikolai dimly recognized from the local coven stormed in, face pale and expression haunted. A golden retriever and a cat stopped next to the man. The dog lowered his head and pressed his body against the sorcerer’s leg, his whimpers echoing across the room.

“Please.” The sorcerer’s voice broke as he locked gazes with Nikolai, his eyes full of despair. “Please, help my sister!”

A woman struggled violently in his arms, her teeth exposed as she snarled at him past her gag. Her skin was scraped raw where she’d fought the ropes binding her and her pupils kept flickering from black to the sulfurous yellow common to demons.

Her eyes flared when she caught sight of Nikolai.

CHAPTER7

A coupleof soldiers rushed in after the sorcerer and grabbed his shoulders.

He shook them off furiously.

One of the coven witches hurried over to him, brow furrowing and voice a low hiss. “Gregory, you know you’re not allowed in here! Your sister’s exorcism isn’t scheduled for another two days!”

The sorcerer’s chin quivered, his anger vanishing as quickly as it’d appeared. “She doesn’t have two days, Rita. She’ll die if she doesn’t get purged right now!”

A soldier undid the safety on his gun. “Look, pal, the lady said it isn’t her time yet, so—”

“Wait,” Nikolai ordered. “Let him go.”

His skin itched as he observed the faint aura of darkness bubbling above the possessed woman’s head, his gaze unblinking.

Is that what Mae meant when she said she could detect bedeviled humans?!

Alicia was studying Gregory’s sister with a thoughtful frown.

The sorcerer barged past Rita and the soldiers, his cat familiar and the dog keeping close to him. “I’m begging you. I’ll do anything you want me to do. Just save Agnes!”

A low sob was wrenched from his chest as he fell to his knees before Nikolai and Alicia, tears streaking down his face. The dog sat on his rump, lifted his head to the ceiling, and let out an agonizing howl.

Nikolai’s throat closed up.

“You don’t have to do this,” Alicia told him warily. “This wasn’t your fault.”

Nikolai shuddered, face locked tight. “Everything that happened in New York was my fault.” He turned to the Soul Reaper queen. “Will you help me?”

Gregory drew a sharp breath, hope lighting up his eyes as he looked wildly from Nikolai to Alicia.

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