Page 36

Silas Moreau’s country estate looked like something out of Pride and Prejudice: an English-style manor of aesthetically pleasing buttery yellow bricks, manicured lawns, and topiary.

The helicopter was met by a man in a smart suit and polished shoes, who showed us into a grand room with a high ceiling, the walls lined with bookcases, and a burgundy and cream décor. Large enough to almost make the four-strong security entourage blend into the background.

Silas Moreau looked to be in his forties, but his Wikipedia page listed him as one hundred and thirty-two. He wore a blazer over faded jeans with a white silk shirt that fit him so perfectly they must’ve been tailored.

He rose as we walked in, smiling easily as he offered me his hand. With thick dark hair and a lightly tanned complexion, this was the face that had adorned the cover of many a magazine.

“So you’re the new warlock the whole world is talking about,” he said in a pleasant baritone.

“Yes, though I’m surprised quite how many people know that, given the drone footage didn’t clearly identify me.”

He chuckled. “Madeline and I go back a long way. She doesn’t like to refuse me.”

It was said lightly, but there was a subtle hint of pressure. I got the impression few people said no to Moreau.

He nodded to Kara. “I assume this is your bonded demon?”

“Yes. Kara Hargrave.”

“A pleasure,” Moreau said. Kara nodded, her expression cool. He turned to Iyoni. “And a celestial. Most unexpected.”

“I’m just here to observe,” Iyoni said, her serene mask firmly back in place.

“Very well.” Moreau took his seat again, waving us to the various sofas and chairs around. Kara sat beside me; Iyoni chose a chair where she could see all of us. “I’ve been dying to meet you, Xan—can I call you Xan?”

“Sure.”

“Ever since Halloween, and that tantalizing ripple in the aether.” He leaned back, casually crossing one ankle over his leg, mirroring my own posture by accident or design.

“It was quite the night,” I said, my politeness a thin veil over my indifference. I was already itching to leave.

“It certainly was.” He smiled. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“For?”

“Saving your life. Twice.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

He gestured at me. “A budding warlock, new to his powers, capable of bonding demons. Do you have any idea how many factions were after your blood? Do you think you’d still be alive if I hadn’t told them to stand down, or risk my wrath?

That was the second time. The first was at Bay Uni.

” He waved a hand indifferently. “Oh, I suppose I can’t take full credit, but I did send fifty of my men to ensure you weren’t … hampered.”

I felt my pulse spike, but fought to keep my face neutral. “There were far more than fifty supes there that night.”

“Of course there were. My sources tell me half a dozen different factions sent men in, most of them to stop you before you got started.” He inclined his head to me. “So glad they failed.”

“Which factions?” It was an effort to keep my tone casual.

“Ah,” he said. “Information is more valuable than gold, is it not?”

I shrugged. “I think the question’s reasonable when we’re talking about people out to kill me.”

“Well, I don’t want you dead, Xan. In fact, I’d like to offer you a job.”

I hesitated, curiosity rising despite myself. “I already have one.”

He smiled. “Think of this as a side gig.”

So he didn’t want me to leave SPAR. Suspicion swiftly replaced curiosity. “What did you have in mind?”

“A place on my board. Three million a year and a house as a golden handshake. There’s a nice one in Rochambeau Avenue. Five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and an indoor pool.”

Not what I’d expected him to say. But it was just numbers; it wasn’t real. When something sounded too good to be true …

“Why?” The only question that mattered.

“You’re a warlock,” he said, as though it were obvious. “I’d much rather work with you than against you.”

“Uh-huh. And in return?”

“Well.” He smiled, but for the first time, it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’d need a show of loyalty, of course.”

“Of course,” I said, relaxing as I mentally dumped his offer in the trash. I asked, only from a sense of morbid fascination, “What form would that take?”

“My people did some digging on you, Xan,” Moreau said. “You’re an un-tenured lecturer, own a bar mortgaged to the hilt, living in halls of residence—until recently.” He paused. “I suppose, given the fires, your net worth has taken a hit, hasn’t it?”

“You didn’t bring me here for independent financial advice.”

“Irreverent. I like that.” He nodded like a proud father. “Obviously, wealth like mine doesn’t come by toeing the line. If you’re to take the position I’m offering, I’d need some indication that you could be … morally flexible.”

I resisted the urge to glance at Iyoni, only by virtue of a desire to keep my head on my shoulders.

She didn’t actually carry a blade, or any weapon I’d seen, but I had little doubt she could kill me when she wanted to.

She was still the most powerful person in the room …

after Moreau. His four stooges were all midrange, smack in the middle of the bell curve, but Moreau was close to Archon Elaris’ level.

Either power grew with age, or age only came with power.

“What is it you want?”

“There’s a war coming, Xan. The pendulum has swung back again. Supes and norms are sick of each other. The Supernatural Act will be torn up in a fountain of blood over the next few months. Our precious New Providence is the epicenter.”

“So I keep hearing.” From Dacien.

“Yes, no doubt working at SPAR makes for interesting water-cooler chats. But SPAR is in the way, you see? It interferes, it slows the pace. It might—with an enormous amount of luck—even manage to postpone the inevitable.”

“So that’s why you don’t want me to quit my day job.”

“Indeed.”

I narrowed my eyes. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who put pressure on SPAR to delay the response to Bay Uni.”

He feigned a bashful smugness. “Well, as I said, Madeline and I do go back some way.”

“You claim you saved my life, but you jeopardized it.”

“Not at all.” He sounded affronted. “I had my men there keeping an eye out for you.”

“And two hundred and fifty other supes intent on killing me.”

“You do yourself a disservice, Xan. At least two other factions were also working to keep you alive.”

I wondered which ones those were. “Still not great odds.”

“Well, true. At the time, I admit I didn’t know what I now suspect. Even so, steel is forged in fire, and if you hadn’t survived …” He trailed off with a shrug.

“Cute, but that wasn’t the reason, was it? You used the ripple of my awakening to undermine SPAR.”

He smiled thinly. “Added bonus.”

“Why did Marlow agree?”

“We go way back.”

“So you keep saying.” And then it was obvious. “You’ve got some hold on her. You’re blackmailing her.”

“Blackmail is such a dirty word. I prefer … politics.”

“Politics is a dirtier word than blackmail.”

He inclined his head. “A point scored.”

“Fine,” I said, drawing the word out while borrowing some of Kara’s venom. “You gamble with my life, want to undermine SPAR, allow a war to start, and expect me to help you?”

“In essence, yes.”

“Glad we finally understand each other. I refuse.” I stood up, Kara quickly rising at my side. “Thanks for the invitation and the offer of a drink. We’ll be on our way.”

Moreau didn’t move. “Sit down, Xan.”

“There’s nothing further to discuss.”

“Sit down , Xan.” His eyes flashed, and if it wasn’t a trick of the light, I could’ve sworn they tinged red.

I resumed my seat, watching him as I probed his power.

Not just how much, but what it would take to survive it.

He reeked of greed—thick and sticky—which made perfect sense.

But there was something else, a hint of a second power.

Uncommon, not rare—I had two myself. I had to push past the first, like clawing through thick, oozing mud with my bare hands.

Then I saw it. Moreau’s second was twisted and complex, squirming beneath my inspection like it wanted to hide away. It was a binding power, and that shed a lot of light on proceedings. Obsessive control, probably through contracts, debts and oaths. Poor Marlow.

“You didn’t take the carrot,” Moreau went on, oblivious to my probing of him. “Now it’s time for the stick. You know what the problem is with warlocks?”

“There’re not enough of them,” I said.

He huffed a laugh. “No, I think one is quite sufficient.”

“This is where you threaten to kill me.” I leaned back with a resigned sigh. “You might have to take a ticket.”

“Not at all, you’re no use to me dead.” Moreau scratched at his chin.

“No, the problem with warlocks is that they’re nearly powerless without their bonded.

I don’t need to kill you when I can kill Kara there.

” He pointed, like his finger was a gun.

“I assume if you’d made a second bond, your other demon would be here too. So you haven’t.”

Kara tensed beside me, her nimbus flaring to life around her. All four of Moreau’s grunts took a step forward, jackets parting as their hands went for whatever was inside. Moreau didn’t move, just watched with a snake-like smile.

My mouth went dry, and I clenched my jaw, but I still reached for Kara’s leg, willing her not to start something. Moreau alone could take us both out. Would Iyoni act? Why hadn’t she already done her justice thing on the evil presence in this room?

Fuck, but I was getting so sick of these meetings.

“If you kill Kara and I lose my power, what value do I have to you?”

“You can always make another bond … once you’ve learned your place.”

Kara laid her hand on mine, giving it a little squeeze. A silent sign for what—her support? To take her magic as we tried to fight our way out of here? A plea not to be killed?

I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“What do you want? And can we please get to the fucking point?”

Moreau grinned. “I do like you, Xan. I’m sure we could have fun working together.

” He rolled his shoulders like a boxer preparing for a bout.

“Very well. I want you to cripple SPAR’s reputation and sabotage them from within.

I want them hampered and toothless, unable to respond when they need to, and despised when they do. ”

My hand curled into a fist, nails digging into my palm. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

“I’m offering enough in return.”

I pretended to consider it, narrowing my eyes, glancing at Iyoni, who sat impassively watching. “I need time to think it over.”

“Sure. Take a full minute if you like.”

Okay. That didn’t work. “What if I can’t get this all done? I don’t run SPAR, and I’ve been there three days.” The three worst days of my life.

“That’s reasonable,” Moreau said. “I’ll arrange for support. I already have some people inside SPAR. They’ll help you.”

“If you already have people—”

“Oh, don’t bother,” he said, dismissing my unfinished objection with a wave of his hand. “First, you’re far more senior than they are. Second, this isn’t about them, it’s about you.”

“A test.” Fuck demons and their goddamn tests. First Dacien, now him.

He smiled. “If you like. Everything has multiple layers.”

“There’s no choice,” I muttered, as much for Kara and Iyoni as myself.

“Of course there is. You can say no, but then I’ll have to kill Kara. Such a shame. She really is quite pretty.” He raised both eyebrows. “If you say yes, you get a house. It has a pool.”

“Fine,” I ground out, hating myself as I said the word, and half wondering if Iyoni would kill me the second I spoke. “I’ll do it.”

Kara tensed beneath my hand, but didn’t look at me. Did she understand there was no other option? That agreeing was the only way to buy time?

But buy time to do what? If I couldn’t find a way out, I was committed to a binding demon, and he wouldn’t accept anything less than success.

My claustrophobia was back in full force now.

“Excellent. I knew you’d be fun.” He pushed himself up, the meeting apparently over. Small mercies.

I rose too, still gripping Kara’s hand, as much to steady myself as to reassure her.

“Thank you for coming by,” Moreau said. “You’ll be contacted. I could see you out myself, but … I’m not going to.”

He turned and walked off, whistling a tune.