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“The principle matters,” Frankford said. He stood there, managing to look haughty even with his arms still restrained behind his back. “The fact that you’d take this witch’s word over mine matters. What kind of justice is this if any maniac can send the Assembly scrambling across the countryside? By the Spark, don’t you have better things to do?”
Justin Brimsey shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He didn’t want to be here anymore.
“You can’t listen to him,” Naomi said. “He’s trying to cover it up, still. You have no idea how many people he’s hurt.”
“How?” Miriam Travers said. “With these ‘monsters’ you’re going to claim are lurking around this property? Have you seen them too?”
My cousin hesitated. “No, but I know Rose wouldn’t make something like that up.”
“I’veseen them,” I said. “So has he.” I squeezed Gabriel’s shoulder where I was still holding him.
“And me,” Damon said grimly. “And believe me, you won’t get it until you’ve seen that thing for yourself. Why the hell do you think we went to all this trouble to get you out here?”
Remington stiffened at his brash tone. A gleam of triumph lit in Frankford’s eyes. “You see,” he said. “This is what I tried to tell you about. The lengths her little group will go to. The disrespect they have for anyone who’s earned their authority. I know you’re smart enough not to be manipulated by ploys like that.”
They weren’t smart enough not to be manipulated by him. The Assembly members exchanged a glance, and I could read their thoughts on their faces. This whole situation was ridiculous. They’d been dragged out here for some sort of petty grudge-match. They might not have any great love for Frankford, but asking them to believe in a conspiracy of this size was a whole different ballpark.
They didn’t have any love for me either. He’d already poisoned them against me as well as he could.
I’d faced off against Frankford once and taken a deal to save myself and my consorts. But I hadn’t really saved anyone that way. I’d only given him the opportunity to hurt more people. This time I wouldn’t make that mistake.
If I had to go down to take him down too, then so be it. I hadn’t come this far for nothing. His demonic reign ended now.
I brushed my hand over Gabriel’s forehead and kissed him there. “I love you,” I murmured, needing to say it one more time so he’d know he hadn’t lost me anymore than I’d lost him. His breath stuttered as I stood up. Ky gripped him, helping to keep him steady.
“Sprout,” Gabriel croaked. The nickname wrenched at me, but I’d already committed to my final plan.
I’d never cast a spell this finely complex before, and I had to work it fast. But I couldn’t say I really cared if I hurt Frankford a little in the process. My fingers interlocked and broke apart. I called up all the energy of my spark, sending it to my hands as they darted and spun to draw the spell I needed.
Ruiz caught the movement. “Lady Hallowell!” she said, starting to move.
Not fast enough. With a tearing sensation in my chest, I threw the illegal spell into Frankford’s face.
“You’ll tell us the truth,” I said. “What’s in the cave down the cliff here? All of it!”
The other investigator grabbed me, but Frankford was already under the truth-spell’s effect and the compulsion of my question. His mouth twisted as he fought it, but only for a second.
“There’s a portal,” he said in a strangled voice. “To another plane of existence, where creatures live with powers unheard of here. We call them demons.”
His face flushed red. He yanked at his arms, but Ruiz clamped them in place. “Lady Hallowell told us the truth about what she saw?” she demanded. I guessed there was nothing illegal about taking advantage of an unsanctioned truth spell once it’d already been cast.
“She did,” Frankford grated out.
Brimsey’s face had paled. “What in the world do you do with these ‘demons’?” he said.
“We siphon power from them for our own ends,” Frankford said. “We—damn it—we let them drink magic from our witches in return.”
A chill ran through me. The files I’d read hadn’t been that clear about exactly how the witches his faction had used intervened. It wasn’t just about controlling the demons. It was about feeding them.
“I’ve heard enough,” Remington said. “I need to see what in the name of the Spark is going on.”
She turned on her heel and stalked toward the trees that hid the cliffside. The other two Assembly officials and their assistants hurried after her. Ruiz shoved Frankford toward her car.
“You stay with them,” she said to her colleague with a jerk of her head toward the people heading cliff-side. “Lady Hallowell isn’t going anywhere, are you?” Her gaze settled on me.
I shook my head. When the enforcer released me, I sank down with Gabriel again. Something in Ruiz’s eyes softened. “I’ll call for a medic as soon as Frankford is secure,” she said.
At those words, a desperation Frankford hadn’t quite reached before crossed his face. As if he’d only just realized how fully he’d lost, how far he was about to fall.
