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The weight of her attention was a warm blanket wrapped tightly around him, and he found himself able to voice the fears he’d been suppressing for so long. Allowing the words to tumble from his mouth should have made his every fear tangible and all the more overwhelming, only Perine took every problem and methodically rendered them into something conquerable. She slowly created an achievable plan for the two of them, together, to save him.

Oleander gripped her hand as if she were yanking him from dark waters.

He took a deep breath and leaned in, whispering his greatest fear—one he had been avoiding admitting to himself. Here, with Perine though, he found he had the courage to admit it—the walls around his mind were weakening.

He still held tightly to her as he finally voiced the deepest fear of them all. “The thing is, every time I attempt to research or try any sort of spell to rid myself of… him. I find myself suddenly doing literally anything else. I’m losing control over myself and I’m scared I’ll never be…” Oleander choked on the confession, but tried again. “He’s already got too much power over me and there’s no… I’m losing hope, is all.”

“Oh, is that all?” Perine’s eyes were warm, and a melancholy smile tugged at her lips.

Oleander huffed out a laugh and then, surprisingly, she reached her other hand across the table and firmly held both of his hands in hers. If he didn’t die by the shadow’s hand, he most certainly would die by Perine’s hands holding his.

He broke contact with one hand and tipped his tea back to finish it in one long drink. Then, feeling a bit braver he asked, “What do you propose we do?”

“Have you ever heard of the Arcane Vaults?”

“What do you know of them?” Oleander leaned forward ever so slightly, intrigued because the Vaults weren’t something often talked about.

“Not much. There are entrances in almost every library—that, I’ve looked into myself. I’ve been researching different disused places in Hell while I search for… for something important that I’ve been looking for.”

“And what’s that?” he asked.

Perine looked at him uncertainly before shaking her head, as if to clear it. “I’ll tell you all about it once we get this… thing out of you.”

“Fair enough.” Oleander sighed. “I think my father actually has a key to one of those doors. I’ve heard him mention it to one of the other Grand Dukes.”

“Moloch likely also has one then, but I’m not sure where he would even keep it.” Her gaze was distant, pondering, before her eyes snapped back to him. “Does he use it often?”

“I don’t think so?” He ran a hand over his face and tried to remember what his father had ever said about the Arcane Vaults. “I don’t know if we can even use it though—I think the keys might be connected somehow to their owners. We might be able to figure a way around that magic though. Most importantly, he claims there’s supposed to be a terrifying beast that guards it.”

“I’ve read a bit about the supposed guardian of the Vaults, but every mention is so vague and insubstantial that I’m not convinced the creature actually exists.” She bit her lip in contemplation. “I think we should see what we can find out about it at the Library of Fantastical Beings. There’s bound to be information there.”

“Give me a couple days to swipe the key from my father’s study. Then yes, perhaps there’s even a way to bargain with the beast if it actually exists.”

Perine grinned, then jolted slightly as her eyes caught on their interlaced fingers—as if she hadn’t realised that they’d been touching. Carefully, she pulled her hands from his. The loss of that contact sunk into him like a curse.

They ended their unexpected night together, drinking a refreshing lemon verbena tea and eating far too many cheese biscuits. Oleander noted that the lemongrass notes were slightly overwhelming and she gave him a mocking glare before telling him it was her absolute favourite tea.

That night, when he lay in bed, he didn’t feel the gnawing ache of anguish that he had grown so accustomed to.

Instead, he thought about their plans to meet at the Acquirement Circle the next day. A grin tugged at his lips as he recalled the sly smile on Perine’s face when she’d confessed that her family had grown lax in controlling her whereabouts, now that they believed she couldn’t leave their Circle.

The shadows around his mind pushed in suddenly, and though the obsidian walls protecting his thoughts held firm, he could feel them waver. Anxiety coiled within him. He needed a solution… and soon. Blowing out a frustrated breath, Oleander decided that tomorrow he wouldn’t leave the library until he discovered if there was any way to rid himself of the wretched shadow inside his head.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

OLEANDER BRIGHTMORE

Perine stood amidst the wildflowers surrounding the sprawling libraries. It was a shock to see her in her sorceress disguise. She was bent, rummaging in her satchel, pushing her wild curls from her face—a gesture so familiar that Oleander found himself grinning.

Her head snapped up, her eyes immediately locking onto him as he sat astride the massive hellhound. Her mouth parted slightly, her soft brown cheeks flushing a rosy colour.

She cleared her throat primly, her expression of wonder carefully tucked back away. “However did you get a hellhound to let you ride it?”

Oleander slid off the beast only for the hellhound to bound towards Perine, sniffing and then licking each wrist eagerly. The hellhound's voice was filled with respect as she said, “Perine Wilder, should your hellcat ever prove unable to take you somewhere, you need only call for me and I will be there to assist you.

She gave a nervous laugh and reached out to scratch behind the swirling shadow-like ears. “Have you got a name?”