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Ooh. Mother must hate being ordered around like some servant. This place looked grand, the type of place that needed people to run; Nastafar might have possession of it, but he hadn’t staffed it yet.
He turned back to me. “Now where were we?”
“I was just telling you how I wouldn’t turn on you, because our goals are different. I don’t want power or magic. I just want to keep my mind and body.” I looked around the room that oozed wealth. “And a cushy life.” I raised my eyebrow. “Possibly with a rich and powerful man. You wouldn’t even need to fight for it like you would with Amrita.”
That caught his attention. “You’re happy being a trophy wife, while Amrita will probably slit my throat in my sleep.” He scratched his chin. “Yes. That does sound like a good offer. But you’re already soiled.” He looked at Liam, who was still unconscious.
“Oh him? He’s not mine. He’s Seth’s.” I waved my hand casually. “Seth wasn’t interested in what I had to offer.” I hoped he believed I’d made the same offer to the other wizard and was just as fickle as he was, willing to jump ship for a better option. Let him believe I’d been there looking for a husband and not magic lessons.
I must have said the right thing because he sneered. “It’s disgusting what thatboyhas with that monster.“ Typical. The bigoted old wizard made a gesture toward my cage and the door opened. “We have a deal.”
Yes! The magic woke inside me, but I didn’t dare touch it yet. I didn’t dare take on Nastafar alone unless I had to. I needed to free Liam.
Nastafar had other ideas. He pulled me to himself with his magic, then grabbed me by the hips, his fingers digging in cruelly. I wanted to shove him away but I couldn’t, not if I wanted him to leave me alone with Liam so I could try to free him. I had to play this game just a bit longer.
“Not yet.” I put up my left hand and pointed to my ring finger. “Do I look like the type who’d put out without a ring?” Channeling my inner gold-digger, hoping it was believable, I added, “And the diamond better be bigger than the one Dean gave me.”
He laughed. “Of course. A kiss, for now.” He mashed his mouth on mine.
I tried to relax and blank my mind, even though I was thoroughly disgusted. A disturbance coming from another part of the house rescued me from my moment in hell. Nastafar grumbled something about Dean being useless and stomped away.
I made a gagging face the moment he left the room. I needed to rinse my mouth out with a lot of soap, but I was free and I had my magic. I turned to the cage.
Liam glared at me, fully awake. “You jumped ship fast.”
“Nope. Still on your side.” Then I sent my magic out to explore the outside of the cage. Magical bindings wrapped around the cage like heavy chains; they weren’t thin threads I could break.
“There has to be a way,” I muttered. I kept following the chain around and around the cage until I found several chains that left it. I tracked them, but they didn’t go out the door to connect with the wizard. Instead, they went up to a trio of urns on a shelf above the desk. “Liam, what are those?”
“Trapped demons and other beings.” Then softly to himself, “Guess I’ll end up back in one of those soon.”
“They’re connected to this cage. If I break those urns, will it break the spell on the cage and free you?”
He brightened. “Yes. But you’ll free all the souls in them as well. I don’t know what kind they are, and some of them will be angry. They might attack the first person they see.”
“Then you better get ready to protect me.” I climbed onto the desk to reach the urns, throwing each down to the ground. They landed with loud crashes and magic filled the air. As the magic curled and swirled into forming creatures, I hurried over to the cage.
Liam was already stepping out of it. He dematerialized and formed around me, his tension palpable. As the first figure formed, he relaxed.
“Prax. An incubus. I recognize him,” his incorporeal form said in my ear. “The worst he can do is fuck you silly.” He waved to Prax, a strange feeling because he was surrounding me.
“You freed me?” Prax cracked his neck.
“No. Tansy did.”
“Then I owe her my thanks.” The incubus, who looked nearly identical to a demon, surveyed me. “A pretty little witch. I’m in luck.”
“Welcome to freedom,” I said. “If you want to repay me, help me fight Nastafar. He’ll be back.”
“My pleasure. I plan on wringing his neck.”
“You’ll have to get in line,” Liam said. “Eamon’s probably on his way.”
My heart did a little hop and skip at the mention of his name.
The next spirit didn’t even fully form, it just flew right through the closed window and disappeared. Smart spirit. It was free and it didn’t plan on getting caught again.
We weren’t so lucky with the last spirit; it solidified into a giant ogre, and it was angry. It roared and looked around. Seeing me, it raised a giant fist and bellowed. Then it charged at me.
