Page 105 of The Demon's Delight
She shook her head. “I want to stay. For now.”
We stepped out of the cell, allowing Magnus and Rylan their turn at interrogation. We listened as the councilman began to slowly reveal nearly a century’s worth of plots, schemes, and shady deals.
Greta had been quiet as she watched Magnus and Rylan work in tandem, Vassago a quick third when they needed a hand atencouraging the man to keep talking. But suddenly her hand was shaking as she pointed at him.
“Ask him about my mother.”
“Little niece?” Magnus turned, a frown on his mouth.
“You’re the man in the suit. The one in the woods. She trusted you, and then I never saw her again.”
The councilman grunted as Magnus turned his way, fire in his eyes. “You’ll never find any of them.”
“Any of who?” Hailon asked, interest piqued.
“They were all going against express council orders. I took care of it. All of it. All ofthem. You shouldn’t evenexist.” His words were directed at Greta, but Hailon also seemed bothered. Calla, too, stepped forward.
“You’re the reason our parents are missing,” Calla said coldly, green plumes of smoke billowing around her.
“Someone had to do the hard part. Passing regulations and making rules only goes so far. I told Hugo and Auggie?—”
Magnus roared, his hand around the councilman’s throat. “Rotten to the core, the entire cursed council! You will tell me what you’ve done with my sister!” He started making several demands of Brookes, none of which he could comply with given the meaty fist around his neck.
Hailon stepped away from me, boldly walking right up to the councilman, who sneered at her. “Were you going to try to weaponize my healing power? Or was it another ability you wanted to sell?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? You were nothing more than a means to an end. A lucky find from a useless town.”
I shook my head at the foolish man. Hailon pulled the obsidian dagger from her belt and approached him. Magnus backed away. Nobody spoke or moved to stop her as she took what she wanted from him.
I recognized the revenge in her strokes. She cut sections of hair, bits of skin, nails. She used the handle to knock out a tooth. When she was finished, she handed the weapon to Imogen.
“I’d like to go now,” she said, walking past me and up the stairs to the main floor.
“Third floor, second on the right.” Calla pressed a key in my hand, and I dashed after Hailon, leaving the rest of them there to deal with the councilman as they wished.
Chapter 45
Seir
Iwas wound tight as I closed the door and locked it behind us, caging her against it.
“Are you alright?” I asked, looking down into her lovely face.
She nodded slowly. “I’m fine. Better now, I think the energy has settled. Don’t let the necklace come off my skin though, it’s how you can all use your powers near me.”
I nodded my understanding, then leaned down, resting my forehead against hers. “You have blood on your face,” I said, close enough to smell the iron in it.
“So do you,” she countered.
“I was worried about you.”
“And I about you.”
“You’re wearing the ring.” My heart thudded rapidly against my ribs as I picked up her hand, admiring how it looked on her finger. I knew what a ring meant in human customs, knew what offering one to her and hiding the one she’d been drawn to in the strongbox implied. I’d lost my breath for a moment when I first saw she was wearing it.
I pulled back, gazing down into her incredible eyes. They were wide and round, her rapid breathing betraying the samelust my body had been pulsing with since she’d begun releasing her rage.
“Yes. It fits. And it helps.”
