Page 66 of Demon Touched

“Yes, and I bailed you out then too,” I say, playing my role. “It’s becoming a bad habit for both of us. But let’s do it just one more time. Viz?” I turn to my chamberlain. “Will you break things down for us?”

Leah gives me an unimpressed look but goes to take a seat in a chair at the table.

“All right,” Viz says, dropping a stack of papers in front of her. “Here’s our main issue: we need to invert the spell the sorcerers performed. But to do that, we need a detailed knowledge of the runes they used. And unfortunately for us, our one link to those human-sacrifice hobbyists is dead.”

“Hathwell,” Leah says on a shaky exhale. She whips her head around to me, and I read her expression easily. The implications of her killing Reed—and me encouraging her to kill him—are hitting her hard.

“You didn’t have a choice,” I remind her. “He was trying to kill you. Again, might I add.”

“Except now I’ve screwed myself,” she says dropping her head into her hands.

“Probably. But not completely,” Viz replies, no doubt thinking he’s being very reassuring. “Thanks to my research, I have some idea of the general shape of the spell. But it will take some trial and error for us to get it exactly right. Which is why we needed to meet with you in person.”

Leah lifts her head, a calculating look in her eyes. “Would it help if I actually remembered some of the runes they put on me?”

Viz’s toothy smile makes an appearance. “Do you?”

She shrugs. “Maybe if you showed me some options, I could pick them out. That night was…memorable. Being painted with your own blood isn’t something you easily forget. And yeah, at the time they were just random shapes to me, but I can read Cyrax now, so it’s probably even more likely something will ring a bell if I look at them now.”

“You can read it?” Viz repeats with interest. “Is that how you created the rift out of Infernum?”

For Viz, it’s a perfectly innocuous question—a matter of intellectual curiosity—but it falls on the room like a leaden weight.

Leah refuses to meet my eye.

“Of course,” she says in flawless Cyrax. “I speak it, so reading it should be easy, right?”

Viz shakes his head. “Not everyone who speaks Cyrax can read it too. A lot of the mireborn don’t bother to learn.”

“Hey, I had better things to do!” Aster protests from where she’s settled onto a couch in the corner. “Besides, I can read it a little. Enough to get by. Not everyone studies ancient demon texts for fun, Vizmodeus.”

Viz ignores her. “I suppose your ability to read Cyrax is the next logical progression given the other developments you’ve experienced with the bond.”

Leah nods. “Syrus told you about the shadows.”

“I did,” I say, pleased when my words drag her gaze back to me, even if only for a moment. “But that’s exactly why we need to break this bond. You’re taking on more of my traits by the day.”

Again, she makes a face. As if the very idea of becoming more like me is incredibly uncomfortable.

“Let’s start with showing you some options,” Viz says, peeling open a heavy book he brought from Infernum. The ephilium couldn’t reasonably object to him carrying it, given they have no idea what any of it says.

He and Leah both sit at the table and start to flick through it, discussing different rune meanings, Leah occasionally pointing out ones that seem familiar. Viz adds them to a growing list as I come up behind Leah’s chair and do my best to help too where I can. I didn’t pay much attention to the runes the sorcerers painted on her at the time, but both Viz and I saw them before Leah washed them off, so even if Leah has the best recollection of them, we’re not relying on her memory alone.

“There’s one,” I say, after about an hour, leaning forward and pointing over Leah’s shoulder at a symbol in the book.

Viz reads the Cyrax aloud. It’s an old word I can’t quite translate. “Unity,” he explains. “You’re sure that was one of them?”

“I think so,” I say, but inhaling to speak hits me with a wave of Leah’s scent, and I’m suddenly conscious of how close I am to her, my arm bracketing hers as I lean across the table.

Leah hasn’t noticed—or doesn’t care. Her brows are furrowed, and she’s thinking. “He’s right. I think they put it by my ankle.”

Viz nods and makes a note.

She rises abruptly from her chair at the table, forcing me to take a few steps back. “I really should be getting back to the academy. People will notice if they don’t see me all afternoon.”

“Yes, yes,” Viz says, gathering up the papers in front of him. “I have plenty to be getting on with now. We can reconvene in a day or two.” He heads to his room.

Aster has drifted into a light snooze on the couch but is roused when I wave a glass of wine under her nose.