Page 97 of The Demon's Delight
“Odd indeed,” Ophelia said. “One item to enhance each power.” She nodded, as though this made perfect sense. “They just need some calibration. That’s all,” she muttered, mostly to herself.
“But the dagger was in a city on the other side of the realm. How could it possibly have been meant for me? If I hadn’t been kidnapped and taken there, then what? I stole it when we left because it looked expensive, no other reason.”
“It found you.” Imogen’s words were clear and intense, despite the low volume of her voice. “It would always have found you, eventually.”
“That’s her gift,” Lovette explained, seeing my blank expression. “We don’t argue with Imogen about anything to do with blades.”
I still found myself resistant to accepting the ease with which such things were coming together, but perhaps that was the most reasonable explanation after all. I had long since stopped trusting in the fates, but given the last few weeks, there was enough evidence to make me reconsider.
Ophelia tried several more things to trigger something inside me, some kind of sense that would allow me to feel and control the nulling ability. Morning spun into afternoon, and after a break for lunch, she had me trying a new set of things, including reading off spells from an ancient tome. The absolute lack of success there proved, if nothing else, that I was not a witch, even if I did have some witch blood in my veins.
“I’ve tried everything I can think of for something like this. The girls will take you to d’Arcan. The demons can help, and Greta is there. She can read your letter. There will be good guidance there, I’m sure of it.”
I gathered everything Seir had suggested I take to his brothers, and we started toward town.
Answers were closer, but still felt far away, and as we made our way down the road, my thoughts inevitably strayed to the demon I couldn’t help missing.
Chapter 42
Seir
Iwas tired of pacing hallways waiting for Keplar or Rune to send for me.
It had been hours without any kind of update. I went to the dining hall with Asim and ate tasteless food while I filled him in on how I’d found Hailon. I even managed to bathe, change, and catch a few hours of sleep in the apartment that would soon no longer be mine to use. I made sure my mission notes were up to date and all reports were filed. I wandered the halls, aimless, willing myself to be patient even though that was the very last thing I was feeling.
“Find something to do, Seir, or I’ll find something for you. The process is moving as fast as possible, I swear it,” Keplar had warned me the last time I’d strolled by his office.
Not wanting to get caught up in anything I couldn’t drop and leave immediately, I’d gotten a pass for the archives.
There was a frustrating lack of information on anything I could think to look for, particularly nulls. The only thing helpful I was able to locate was a scroll with a list of known magical nullifiers through history. One appeared every couple of generations or so, but only ever one at a time. Sometimes there was as much as a five-generation gap between them.Thankfully, the scroll I found also contained the known nulls’ immediate family trees. I copied it down so I had something to take back to the surface with me to reference against the archives the mages and stone kin both kept. Hailon’s name was not in the records, but her mother’s was. Wyn was listed as the great-granddaughter of Elowyn, a null who resided peacefully in Vincara for all of her normal, mortal lifespan. No husband was registered for Wyn on the tree, and she was the last entry for that line.
Vassago had spent a very long time at a monastery in Vincara. I scribbled a little note to myself on the parchment to speak with him about it. Perhaps he’d known an Elowyn, not realizing she was a null, or had crossed paths with her at some point.
I turned to seeing if there were any new developments in regard to several demon horde infestations that my brothers had managed in and around Revalia. Thankfully, that whole strange situation seemed to have cleared up since Ris had taken back the throne in the fae realm.
Bored, I wandered between the shelves, picking up a tome here and there, hopeful I’d get lucky and stumble across something helpful if I glanced through enough books and scrolls.
Unfortunately, I found nothing more than boring battle reports, many of which I’d participated in, and instructional manuals for torture.
I’d given up and was walking past the check-in desk when Meg stopped me.
“Did he find you?” she asked.
“Who? Keplar?”
“Yes, he was looking for you just now. Said to send you down to Rune’s office. Good luck!”
I turned and sifted, arriving at Rune’s office just steps behind my unit leader. He laughed when he saw me. “Anxious?”
“Of course I am, sir.”
Rune sat behind her desk, stoic as ever. “Welcome back. Your paperwork has been approved, but”—she held a hand up, stopping my premature celebration—“the boss requires you to bring something to Earth for him.”
“The boss?” I asked. Rune leveled me with a stern gaze that I was certain had reduced many demons to terrified puddles on the floor. I hadn’t seen Lucifer himself in decades, but we’d never had friction. “Of course. What does he need me to take?”
“He wants you to deliver this to Lilith.” She held up a thick parchment envelope.
“She’s notoriously difficult to locate, but I’m sure it can be arranged. Is there a time limit?”
