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A hiss slid out of her before she could stop it, which only made Jonas give her a gloating smile.
Charles plucked at his collar. “He may well have inherited her psychic barbs. Even if he hasn’t, touching his mind would be a bad idea if you really don’t want him to slam up his shield. A foreign psychic touch could make him and his demon feel threatened.”
“True,” Jonas ground out. “Look at him, Harper, just sitting there staring at the shuck—completely unafraid. Your son is either very brave or very stupid.”
“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you. This won’t end well for you, Jonas, and you know it. I can’t even imagine why you started it.” She frowned as a hazy swirl appeared in front of the cage. Then, suddenly, an imitation of Heidi stood in its place, smiling slyly. Harper gave it a scathing look and then spoke to Jonas, “Ah, it’s your little pet dog again.” The incorporeal bared its teeth.
“That’s such a mean thing to say.”
The words didn’t come from the incorporeal. Or Jonas. Or the practitioner. They came from the person who strolled out of the trees and sidled up to Jonas.
Harper’s mouth dropped open. What. The. Fuck?
“It was the incorporeal you saw burn on the YouTube video,” said Alethea, smirking. “It took on my form so I could fake my death. Ta-da,” she sang, like she’d performed a magic trick. “Oh, come on, that was clever—admit it.”
“You didn’t even consider it, did you?” The incorporeal sighed, as if it pitied Harper. “I can maintain a physical form. And just as I can choose what form to take, I can change that form. Make it appear as though it is wet, burning, decaying—whatever I want.”
Harper slid her gaze back to Jonas. “You faked her death so that you wouldn’t be a suspect?”
“I did believe it was unlikely that you would suspect me of ever harming my sister. But, mostly, I did it because Thatcher was suspicious of her—he was having her watched because he suspected she was the remaining Horseman. Killing him would have been stupid of me, since some believed him to be the Horseman. It was far better to have him as a scapegoat. But I needed him to stop keeping tabs on her. Charles here was good enough to slather her mind in a spell that protected her from being sensed.”
Hearing the shuck snort and shake its head, like something was jammed up its nose or something, Jonas paused a moment to shoot it an exasperated look. Turning back to Harper, he went on, “I was rather hoping Alethea’s ‘death’ would make you and Knox suspects, considering how much you both detest her, but—alas—that did not pan out.” His eyes flicked to the hellcat. “I should really give Alethea the credit for bringing Drew to our side. I have to say, you don’t look very surprised to see him, Harper.”
“You made a mistake taking him to the house and showing him the prison in your basement,” said Harper.
“Ah, so you found a way to untangle the spells.” Jonas gave a delicate shrug. “No matter.”
Well, it seemed to matter to dear old Charles—he looked pissed that
someone had undone his work.
Harper’s eyes helplessly slid to Asher as she reached out to Knox. Alethea is alive. The incorporeal posed as her on the YouTube clip.
Anger crashed into her consciousness. That bitch, he growled. We’re close.
Clenching her fists, Harper felt her nails digging into her blistered palms; the pain distracted her from the debilitating fear. “I thought it was the Four Horsemen. Alethea would make that five.” He gave her a look that questioned her intelligence, and her brow knitted as she suddenly recalled something. “Isla recruited Roan after she started the campaign to be Monarch. He was never really a Horseman, was he?”
“Oh, he was a Horseman,” said Jonas. “He was the one who came up with the pathetic name. He would have branded us the Five Horsemen if he’d known I was involved.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I didn’t trust him not to keep his mouth shut. He wasn’t as easy for Isla to recruit as you might have thought. It wasn’t that he felt any loyalty toward you. But he did fear Knox. I’m sure you noticed that Roan was somewhat egotistical. Isla appealed to that; told him that she, Alethea, and Nora needed a man to help them; that they’d been looking for someone who they thought was strong, smart, and brave enough to help them take Knox on. He practically rolled over in delight.” Jonas sighed. “So easily manipulated. But then, so were Isla and Nora.”
It was Jonas who had started and led the group, Harper realized. “I don’t think Roan was the only person scared of Knox. I think you’re pretty terrified of him. You sat back and let the other Horsemen take all the risks. Hell, you basically set them up as sacrifices. And now you’re here with your sister and a practitioner to hold your hand—not to mention you have an incorporeal, a shuck, and a hellcat to protect you.” She gave a snort of derision. “Oh yeah, very brave, Jonas.”
Face tightening, he cut his gaze to the incorporeal and tipped his chin. The entity abandoned Heidi’s form, fading and then bursting into vapor. Harper winced as she felt a sudden pressure against her mind; like knives trying to slice through her skull. Then the pressure abruptly disappeared, and the vapor jerked back, obviously hurt by her psychic shields. It whooshed through the air and plunged into Charles, who blinked rapidly, but it didn’t seem to take control of him; simply needed to hitchhike on him.
Looking put-out, Jonas pressed his lips together. “I had a feeling you’d be too strong for it to possess you. Shame.”
With a snarl, her inner demon lunged for the surface, making Harper’s eyes bleed to black. “What do you want?” it asked.
Jonas’s eyes flickered. “Mostly, we want to see Knox die. Killing his mate and child is just a bonus.”
The demon laughed—a dark, unnerving sound that seemed thick with power. “How very foolish you are. You started a war you stand no chance of winning, and you are too dimwitted to see it. I look forward to watching you and your sibling plead for death.” Satisfied by the apprehension that flashed across his face, the entity retreated.
“Your demon is clearly very confident that Knox will save you,” Alethea said to Harper. “You yourself appear to be quite calm for someone who is caged and unable to protect your son. Relying on Knox to save you, sphinx?”
Calm? Harper was so far from calm it wasn’t even funny. She was also fighting the urge to plead with them to leave Asher be. Begging them wouldn’t work. They would get nothing but sick satisfaction from it. Her only hope was to seem confident in his ability to protect himself. “Asher isn’t as helpless as you seem to think he is.”
