Page 69 of Balance

I would need to shift soon, even if only to shed this pressure.

“But you don’t know exactly where?” Damen stepped forward, hand briefly brushing over mine as he pulled her from my grasp, cloaking our senses and throwing my focus back to the present.

“No…” she answered, hesitant, as her gaze moved slowly between the two of us. “I’m sorry.”

Bianca had noticed—I could tell from the slight lift of her eyebrow, and the analytical tilt to her head.

But, in that case, why wasn’t she afraid anymore?

Even restrained, I could feel the creature inside struggling to break free—I’d never had to separate these two aspects of myself before; it was growing harder to maintain every day.

“It’s okay,” Damen answered, pulling her with him and throwing Julian an urgent glance. “Every little bit helps.”

He wasn’t wrong. With every step closer, and the more that everything fell into place, the more my soul struggled to break free.

“I’ll keep watch.” Julian was talking to Bianca now, claiming her attention as he waited for her to grab her bathing supplies. “That way you can take your time and no bear will eat you.”

“There’s no bears.” She sounded put out. “They should be hibernating. Even I knowthatmuch.”

She shouldn’t be embarrassed. It wasn’t like we expected her to know everything, and if shehadknown, then… Well, we might have never gotten this clue. I’d stepped toward the two of them, just to let her know it was okay, but Damen stopped me, hand closing over my own.

I wanted to move, but I couldn’t as the flames fanned into an inferno, holding me prisoner.

It wasn’t until Bianca disappeared with Julian that Damen eased off.

He stepped back, throwing me a shaky smile, as he touched the chain around his neck.

“Sorry.” And he really was sorry. “But you looked like you were about to jump out of your skin. Literally.”

“I was fine.” I really wasn’t.

“I know you’re excited,” Damen continued, ignoring my statement. “But that’s only one thing. That really doesn’t bring us any closer to finding out where she was taken.”

“Or how she ended up with Eric Richards,” I growled. That was the most important thing—and something she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, tell us. But if we could figure out where she met him and how it happened, then it might give us a clue on how to track him now.

As it were, the man had vanished without a trace.

I’d promised her I’d find him, but I’d been failing. The files were right; I’d even visited the address myself—where Abigail and Jonathan had found her—but there was nothing left except the remains of an abandoned wood-gray two-story house, falling to pieces around the concrete slab on which it was built. The place reeked of filth, squalor, and the very faint, decade-old scent of corruption.

Age had weakened the strength of the scent, and without knowing what to look for, it’d been impossible to pick one man out from the rest.

I thought I’d found hers, and maybe even her room, but I’d really rather not have it be true.

“We’ll find him,” Damen continued to grin good-naturedly, remaining eternally optimistic as he placed his hand on my shoulder. This time, there was no display of power to restrain me, only the comforting presence of a long-held friend. What I wouldn’t give to have his faith.

“How can you be so sure?” My gaze moved to the small path that Julian and Bianca had disappeared down earlier. The soft sounds of splashing water reached my ears.

I’d promised her, and I didn’t know if I’d succeed, but for now, she’d be safe with Julian.

“Because we don’t have any other choice,” Damen responded, his tone pulling me from my thoughts. His fingers had tightened, burning hot through my shirt. His entire bearing changed, allowing, for the first time in a long time, the darkness to consume him.

I held my breath, my internal conflict settling in the awakening of the Demon King.

“You…” We should have known this would happen; Damen, after all, got his powersfromBianca. But it shouldn’t have happened so quickly. I’d thought we had time, or that having a second shikigami would weaken him. Instead, the bond seemed to have the opposite effect.

Did Julian know?

I doubted it, Julian wouldn’t overlook any opportunity to use his abilities on the onmyoji. But at least this explained Damen’s recent mood swings.