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Grant didn’t appear rattled by the conversation or my look. “Because it isn’t true.”
“It is. You were next in line. The old Magistrate died, and that left the position to you.”
“I never accepted it.”
“Acceptance is nothing more than a technical issue. So long as you’re alive, the position is yours by right.”
Grant narrowed his eyes, the first sign of real annoyance from him, as if the talk had moved from unpleasant to downright objectionable.
Maya took a step backward, her back straightening as if she’djustrealized she was poking something she really didn’t want to get a reaction from. “I’m sorry,” she rushed out, “I was just talking.”
“I can find my own way to the council room. I remember where it is, and nothing here is more dangerous than I am.”
“Of course.” Maya said it with the hesitation of someone who didn’t like the idea but knew better than to argue any further.
We left her standing there, though it took a moment for me to follow Grant. I felt rooted in place by the bombshell they’d just dropped.
I went back in my mind to everything Grant had told me, all the times we’d talked about the guild and his past. I would have remembered if he’d saidhewas the Magistrate, wouldn’t I?
Though, suddenly the acting Magistrate showing up to the fight in hell, and Grant being unable to fully separate from the guild made a lot more sense.
We went to a large doorway near the end of the open space, and by that point peoplewerelooking. I didn’t get the sense that it was because they knew who he was, but rather the exchange with Maya had clued them into something being amiss.
It would have been like someone dressing down the President of the United States. I didn’t need to know who that other person was to know that they weren’t someone to screw with.
Another piece of metal, similar to the intercom at the entrance but not as modern looking, sat beside the doorway at the end. Grant slid his fingers over the front of it as if drawing a sigil, and when he finished, it glowed red.
The door opened, and I frowned.
We were clearly on the bottom floor. I recalled walking into a ground floor building. However, through that doorway, a stretching skyline said the new space was farther up, and through the far side, I caught sight of a mountain.
There was no mountain near the building we’d walked into.
It seemed I outlasted Grant’s patience, because he set a hand on my lower back and pressed me through the opening. “Come on.”
“But…”
“Yes, each of these doorways are actually a portal.”
“So how can I pass through them? When Lucifer called for me, it didn’t work.”
Grant stopped, as if he realized I wasn’t going to be quiet until he explained it. “Lucifer created a transient portal. They’re less stable magic because they bridge two places temporarily. The kind used here connects two places permanently. Arches at each end stand as fixed points.”
“Why did the first door affect me more than these?”
“Because the first one had wards to keep out unwanted visitors, so you were reacting to more types of magic. These are simple passageways.”
“And?” I crossed my arms, refusing to move any farther into the empty room we’d entered, the portal fading away behind us until the noise from the large open area had disappeared. We had other things to talk about than just how magic doors worked.
“And nothing. They clearly work for you.”
I lifted my eyebrow, telling him that wasn’t even close to what I meant.
He set his hands on his hips and let his head fall back, releasing the loudest, most long-suffering sigh. “Do we have to do thisnow?”
“We talked about you not lying to me.”
“I didn’t lie—I just didn’t mention it.”
