“I’m sorry,” Kiara said when Aurelie didn’t answer. “I’m just afraid you’re being led into a trap.”
“You’d do the same exact thing if your parents were in a cage in a madman’s basement.” To her surprise, she found her eyes filling with tears. “Wouldn’t you?” she asked, her voice cracking.
Kiara sat down next to her, stroking her fringe away from her forehead. “I’m sorry. I know there’s no easy answer here. I’m just worried.”
“And I’m sorry I ever got you involved in any of this. But even if Everard didn’t have Uncle Leo, there is clearly something going on with demons, Kiki. And Everard said that if the veil thins completely, it can’t be put back. Ever.”
She was quiet for a long moment. “Then I guess we’d better keep working.”
Aurelie smiled through her tears, feeling indescribably fortunate to have such a loyal best friend. She had to believe she was doing the right thing, that Everard, who’d said himself that demons couldn’t be trusted or controlled, had no interest in hurting anyone else. But deep down, she had a terrible feeling that Kiara was right. That this was a trap, and she was about to run headfirst into it, sacrificing far more than her uncle’s life in the process.
Chapter 33
Des
Gareth, Jasper, Daisy, and Des clustered around a table for a late dinner, earning curious looks from the other guards. Des never ate with anyone but Daisy, and people were rightly confused by his sudden shift into sociability.
“What did you learn today?” Des asked Gareth.
“Very little,” Gareth replied as he poked at his boiled peas. “Everard didn’t leave the house once. The demon thrall left two separate times, but I don’t know where it went.”
Des was about to rebuke him when Daisy cut him off.
“You told him to watch the townhouse, not the demon,” she murmured.
“Right. You’re right. We need another set of eyes on the thrall.”
“We’re not dragging anyone else into this,” Jasper hissed. “I was already forced to do an extra set of push-ups for being late this morning.”
Daisy smiled and ruffled Jasper’s hair. “Aw, sleepyhead. I’ll make sure you’re up on time tomorrow.”
Jasper raised his lip in a silent snarl.
“I also went to the library,” Gareth said, looking rather sheepish.
“The library?” Jasper and Des asked in unison.
“To do research on thralls,” he explained as he pulled a piece of paper from his trouser pocket. “I found something that might be helpful.”
Des skimmed the paper quickly:Masters and thralls are tethered to each other; if one is harmed, the other is, too. While the master can see through the thrall’s eyes, the thrall does not benefit reciprocally. Instead, it gains the weakness of its human master and none of its strengths.
Des reread the words several times. “So Everard does have a weakness?” Aurelie had hinted at something along those lines, but he’d cut her off before she could finish.
Gareth nodded. “It seems so, insomuch as a demon can be considered a weakness. If you kill Kobal, Everard could also die.”
The idea was intriguing, but exceedingly risky. It could alert Everard to their involvement, and Aurelie would never forgive Des if she suspected he was doing anything that might harm her uncle.
“Thank you, Gareth.”
“I wish I could help more, but my family is expecting me for Yule,” Daisy said. “I’ll do as much as I can tonight.”
Des was only half listening, because an idea was taking form in his mind. If he could trap Everard’s thrall, he wouldn’t only have potential leverage over Everard, but the perfect bargaining chip: the demon for Aurelie’s uncle. And perhaps best of all, he’d also have the first known captiveveritaspecimen. He could study its reaction to iron, prove that the veil really was thinning, which might be enough to convince Commander Yew that the king couldn’t be trusted. Gods, it was treasonous even to think such things, but he couldn’t deny that something dark was happening in Wisteria. And he couldn’t sit back and watch it happen, either.
They finished dinner and headed back to their quarters to change, then left separately to avoid further suspicion. By a little after ten, they were letting themselves inside the university gates with Aurelie’skey. Des still wore it on the leather thong around his neck. Every time he started to doubt what they were doing, he squeezed it in his fist, reminding himself that Aurelie was real. That she cared about him. That she knew what the Iron Guard meant to him and would never deliberately do something to compromise his position there.
She was in the workshop when they arrived, staring at the portal with her hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side. She was more disheveled than he’d ever seen her, her hair damp at the temples, a smudge of charcoal on her nose that made her look like an adorable, green-eyed rabbit.
Without thinking, he moved to wipe it away with his thumb, only stopping when he realized Jasper and Daisy were laughing. At him.