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“Because you have the right combination of magic and motivation to make this strategic partnership work.”
“It is an intriguing idea. So now that you’ve given it to me, why do I need you?” Faris was thinking strategically all right.
Chains shot out of the walls, grabbing Grace by her wrists and ankles.
“Because I have the right combination of magic and motivation too,” she said calmly, even as the chains pulled her toward the wall.
A slow, wicked smile twisted Faris’s lips.
The chains clamped down hard on Grace’s wrists and ankles. It must have hurt like hell, but she didn’t even flinch. “I have magic no other demon has. Or any god, for that matter.”
He watched the chains twist around her, amused. “And what magic is that?”
“Magic that has eluded gods and demons since the beginning,” she said. “Power the Immortals kept from us.”
“The power to see into the future,” he said quietly.
“Yes.”
“I’ve been collecting telepaths for centuries, hoping to find one with that rare gift.” Faris paced before her. “But even the ones I’ve found with the gift, had only a very weak form of it.”
“I know.” Grace’s eyes twinkled. “The weapon we create will have that power in its true form and more. The weapon will be a perfect balance of light and dark magic.”
Faris waved his hand, and the chains binding Grace dissolved into smoke. She must have found the winning argument.
“Mixing of light and dark, a power beyond anything either gods or demons can wield.” Faris met her eyes. “They will call it blasphemy.”
Grace shook out her wrists as she stepped toward him. “Then we’d better make sure they don’t find out.”
“Yes.” He was almost drooling at the idea of such a powerful weapon.
Grace kicked off her sandals. “Look, if we’re going to do this, we’ll share the weapon. Fifty-fifty.”
“Deal,” he said instantly.
She smiled at him. He smiled back. It was downright eerie. They were probably already both thinking up ways to steal this future weapon—me—all for themselves.
“So, enough small talk,” Grace said pleasantly. “Shall we begin?”
Her hand darted to the string closure of her dress and she gave it a soft tug. The layers of chiffon peeled off of her, leaving her completely naked.
“We shall,” Faris agreed, hardly looking at her. He must have still been thinking about the weapon they were going to create.
Thankfully, Arina chose that moment to pan away to the next memory. I really didn’t need to witness my parents getting down and dirty.
* * *
We were inside a dark room,lit only by the flickering wax candles on the wooden floor. They were positioned all around Grace, filling the air with a mixed perfume of cherry blossoms, orange blooms, and rose petals.
The demon sat on the ground, barefoot and crosslegged. She wore a sports bra and a pair of lightweight, baggy shorts. Her hands rested on her tummy, which was still flat—but not as flat as it had been when we’d seen her proposition Faris. So she hadn’t been pregnant for very long.
Her eyes closed, Grace chanted in an old, forgotten tongue.
“This is one of the rituals that your mother performed on you while you were still in her womb,” Arina told me.
“She was trying to get stronger telepathic magic into me,” I said.
The goddess Saphira’s bodyguard Calix had told me these rituals were designed to boost my future-gazing powers, a power that had eluded the gods and demons, except Grace.
