Page 82 of Rites of Passage

Mae blinked.Damn! I didn’t think of that!

Brimstone’s ears perked up.

Mae turned to Marlena, muscles tensing. “Does the book have a lock of sorts?”

The witch shook her head. “No. It has intricate metal covers, but nothing that remotely resembles a keyhole.”

Mae deflated.

Brimstone transformed, startling them. “I recall something I heard Azazel tell Ran Soyun once.” He came over and plopped down beside Mae. “Does anyone know the story of the first Sorcerer King?”

There was a general shaking of heads.

Mila shrugged with a clear this-is-not-my-rodeo expression.

“The only ones who have knowledge about that man are the Sorcerer Kings who came after him,” Nikolai said bitterly.

Surprise jolted Mae at that. “Does that include your father?”

A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s jawline. “I would bet my life on it.”

“Azazel would never utter his name.” Brimstone’s eyes grew distant. “Even Ran Soyun did not know it. But my master did disclose one thing to his wife. The pact he made with the first man he granted magic to involved sealing his mortal soul in a grimoire.”

Mae’s heart stuttered. “What?!”

The Councils exchanged stunned looks.

“Are you certain?” Derrick said in a strained voice.

“Yes, I am.”

Mae could see cogwheels turning in everyone’s minds at the familiar’s bombshell statement.Is this something we could use to defeat the Sorcerer King?!

Brimstone lowered his head on his paws and side-eyed Mae. “He was meant to do the same with Ran, but he could only bring himself to enslave half her soul in the end.”

“Wait.” Mae lowered her brows, confused. “Wouldn’t that make the Sorcerer King weaker? I thought a soul was necessary for a magic core to exist.”

Crimson flared in Brimstone’s pupils. “The power Azazel granted the Sorcerer King went beyond that. Which is why his betrayal makes it impossible for me to forgive him.”

“Are you implying theBook of Lightis that grimoire?” Marlena mumbled, ashen faced.

“No. Azazel referred to the text as theBook of Shadows.”

Mae’s chest tightened. “But you think theBook of Lightand that key have something to do with theBook of Shadows?”

“I cannot say for certain. But,if the current Sorcerer King is after the grimoire Oscar stole today, it might be as powerful as theBook of Shadowsin a way we are yet unaware of.”

Marlena’s knuckles whitened on her lap. “But—theBook of Lighthas never been used as a weapon in all of its history.”

“You said it’s absorbed a piece of the soul of every magic user who ever made a pledge upon it.” Vlad clenched his jaw. “Could that be what they’re after?”

Surprise widened Marlena’s eyes.

“I doubt those fragments of soul are what they’re after,” Mae muttered. “They’re incomplete and wouldn’t be of much use to them.”

She fisted her hands. She couldn’t help but feel they were missing something.

She looked over at Mila. “What did you and Madeleine find in the samples we gave you? It must be the reason you came here with Abraham, right?”

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