Page 98 of Demon's Bride

When we’ve rifled through it front to back, we each take a seat again and fall into a contemplative silence.

“It’s strange,” I say after a few minutes. “Before coming to this realm, I’ve never experienced the depth of power I have while I’ve been here. I expected the opposite, given everything that’s happened.”

“The Goddess works in her own ways,” Vayla says with a wry smile. “Perhaps all of this is her machination.”

My lips turn up a little at that, but something about the idea doesn’t sit quite right. If all of this is part of some Goddess-orchestrated scheme, where does Emilia fit into it? Where does the bargain and any of the Tithe brides who’ve come before?

Emilia had to manage all on her own here, cut off from her coven and her realm, as every single Tithe bride before her was expected to. Like I’m expected to.

For the first time in a long time, a sense of kinship with my sister witches washes over me.

True, I may not have had the same advantages as Emilia and Josephine and all the rest, but I’m just as adrift here as any of them would have been. I look over and study the cover of the grimoire again. If it belongs to who I suspect it does, maybe she didn’t have much help, either.

“What was her name?” I ask Vayla. “The first witch. Is her name recorded anywhere?”

If she’s surprised or confused by the question, she doesn’t show it.

“Ariana.”

I run a gloved hand over the cover of the grimoire and whisper the name. “Ariana.”

As soon as I’ve spoken the name, a gentle glow of magick seeps from the book. It would appear that Ariana has given her answer.

I know what has to come next. Afraid or not, it’s past time for me to wade back into whatever this book seems so determined to show me, and for that I’ll need the only anchor I’d trust to keep me safe while I do.

“Can you take me to find Eren?”

Chapter 35

Eren

My realm and court are in utter chaos.

In the short time Allie and I were gone, there was another earthquake in a neighboring territory, a brutal storm that battered a seaside village, and a rock slide on the other end of the Bone Peaks, all of which are being blamed on the failing magick of the bargain.

Crowley is at the front of a crowd of angry, vocal courtiers eager to argue for abolishing the bargain altogether, send us back to the dark days of reaping, but I stop his tirade with a raised hand.

“If you wish to say something, I would advise you to speak plainly,” I tell him. “I’m in no mood for your bluster today.”

Crowley draws himself to full height and looks me up and down insolently. “The troubles in this realm grow worse each day. We would have answers for it, plans for how we are to proceed.”

A chorus of agreement rises behind him.

Scanning the eyes of my courtiers, I find weariness, fear, bright flashes of anger. All of it’s justified, of course, but my blood heats beneath my skin as Crowley continues speaking.

“What answer have you for this, majesty? Do you remain firm in your position to maintain the bargain and forbid us from returning to the old ways of reaping?”

Sending him a withering glare, I address the entire room. “You have only to look to our histories to see what damage reaping brought on the demons who were tasked with it.”

An erosion of soul, of self. Guilt and corrosive magick that ate away at demons like cancer. We all know the stories.

Crowley, however, does not back down. “How much better off will we be when the bargain collapses entirely? Do you want to find out what that does to our realm?”

“It will not come to that,” I say with more certainty than I feel.

He’s not fooled for a moment. “I say that we put it to a vote. Those in favor of clinging to the bargain and those who would see us go back through the Veil to do what’s necessary to save our realm.”

More calls of agreement echo behind him, and an unsettled energy fills the hall.