Page 33 of By Mistake

Breakfast was in a private dining room with Coret, Greivs, and Princess Alina, who listened with a sharp glint in her eye to all they had to tell her, from Shimari all the way to their plans for Kressen, and finally all the people they were concerned about regarding Andrus.

"You do like to keep me busy," Alina said when they'd finished. "Leave the court to me, of course. Anyone thinking of poisoning his soup will be given reason to think twice, and thrice for good measure. What are your plans for containing Kressen?"

If she had any opinions on the fact she was having breakfast with a demon, she gave no sign of them, which Andrus suspected was entirely in keeping with her and part of why she was such a formidable and deeply respected crown princess.

"The safest thing would be to bind him to a pair much like I've been bound to Andrus and Oresti," Shimari said.

"So I assume that would be Lord Whyte and Greivs? As we want to contain this knowledge as much as possible," Alina said.

"What!" Coret said.

Andrus gave him an amused look. "Did you not see that coming?"

"Of course not," Coret replied. "I only found out all of this yesterday, and then only because nobody knew I could see auras. If you'd known that, you probably wouldn't have let me anywhere near you."

"You're a good choice, Lord Whyte," Alina said thoughtfully. "Of all the court, you'd be on my very short list of candidates. I'd prefer we not be mucking about with demons at all. Father is going to have kittens, you realize."

Oresti waved a hand carelessly in the air, as only the son of a king could. "Father is wily. He'll like having two zero demons in his pocket, as it were. Mostly he'll just be glad they're not simply running amuck."

"I'm starting to wonder how many others are just waltzing about," Coret said, glancing at Shimari. "They're not, are they? Would you be able to tell?"

"If they were in proximity, I would know, but if they're off in another country, no, the distance is simply too great.

The last I heard, they'd not been summoned for quite some time, save for Tashka, who was sealed away much like I sealed away Kressen.

I do not know if that is still true, or if he finally returned home, or whatever. "

Coret said, "The last confirmed summoning of Tashka of the Marrow was a little over four hundred years ago, when he was called up by a bloodthirsty general staging a coup and ordered to slaughter thousands.

Afterward, he was never seen again, though rumors circulated at the time that he'd been chained and locked away.

That was in the kingdom of Renest, which after that coup became Sollow, which less than a hundred years later then became two kingdoms, Renest and Katil. Fascinating history, really."

"I will laugh if he's still in chains after all this time," Shimari said, and followed with the promised laughter. "He must be beyond irritated by it. Maybe I'll make a game of trying to find him when everything has quieted down."

Oresti gave him a look. "You are entirely too amused by the idea of all your fellow demons being locked up for centuries at a time."

"It equates to mere days in the grand scheme of things for us. Like being stuck in a jail cell for a night. An annoying inconvenience, but a whole lot of nothing in the end. Time passes differently when you have an endless supply of it."

"Sounds exhausting," Andrus said, "and heartbreaking."

Shimari's mouth quirked. "It's both, but you learn to appreciate the fleeting beauty of things and savor them while you can. Enough, Master, we've other things to discuss for now."

Andrus nodded and returned to his breakfast, though he could not eat all of it, still not used to having so much food for every single meal every single day.

"Tell me when you've got the Kressen matter settled," Alina said.

"I'm going to put subtle protection details on the entire council, particularly the ones we think are most in danger.

You need to get me something I can use to lock Farthing up, even if it's something stupid that will confine him for a few days while we secure what we need to deal with him with finality. "

"That's our goal for today," Oresti replied. "Me, I mean. Much as I would love to stay to be part of the Kressen-fetching shenanigans, I must continue the investigation and find the hard evidence we need to lock Farthing away until his execution."

"All right. Keep me apprised. I'll go tell Father all of this. And the two of you are still expected at the ball," she said, pointing at Oresti and Andrus. "Don't think all this murder and demon binding is getting you out of that."

Oresti retorted, "Never fear, I know what's more terrifying than a demon."

"Good," Alina replied tartly as she rose. "I'll see you when I see you, I suppose. Be careful, all of you. Farthing has made it clear he'll do whatever it takes to achieve his goals."

As the door closed behind her, Coret said, "You cannot be serious about binding Kressen to me."

"And Greivs, if you're both willing, of course," Oresti replied.

"I meant to ask you before we spoke with my sister, but it all kind of collided this morning.

I won't make anyone do something they don't want, especially something so dangerous and illegal.

If not you, we'll have to find other candidates. "

"You barely know me," Coret said.

"We know enough," Andrus replied. "If you weren't to be trusted, you'd have kept the aura reading to yourself. That's an unfathomable advantage over everyone around you."

"Monarchs would literally murder to have that kind of advantage at hand," Oresti said, "and that's not hyperbole. You picked out Shimari like it was nothing. All manner of secrets are yours for the taking. Yet you shared the knowledge freely."

"Not on purpose. I was taken by surprise.

I've never told anyone except my mother.

Not even my siblings or father know. Just her.

My mother drives me crazy on a good day, but she's always been there for me.

" He finished his tea and set the cup down before pushing all his dishes away.

"I'll do it. Not sure what in the world I will do bound to a demon, but I'm willing to find out.

" He glanced at Greivs, then away again almost shyly.

Greives traced the rim of his own teacup, brow drawn down like his thoughts weighed heavy. "Will my being half-dryad matter?"

"It will have to be compensated for in the binding spell, child's play," Shimari replied. "It will actually be to our benefit, a little secret in the weaving that any would-be breakers won't know to account for, dooming their magic from the start."

"Always so crafty, demon," Oresti said, sharing the smirk Shimari cast him.

Andrus rolled his eyes. "I'm never complimenting either of you; you're already full of yourselves."

Shimari shifted his attention to Andrus, red eyes glowing softly. "Merely comfortable in our skins, pet."

"I'm not your pet," Andrus replied uselessly. Pushing away his plate, which he'd determinedly emptied, despite his stomach now feeling like an overstuffed pillow. "So where are we doing this spellwork? My house again?"

"No, you're not leaving the palace until I have Farthing locked up tight," Oresti said grimly. "I know you don't like to be kept under lock and key, but he's getting bolder and nastier. He probably wants your house for the same reason he wants slave labor."

"To figure out how to cast for Kressen. Surely that's a spell he could figure out anywhere."

Shimari looked thoughtful. "Given how Kressen wound up sealed away, he probably thinks your house has either knowledge of where he's stowed, the key to calling him back, or both."

Andrus sighed, because neither of those things was true.

He hadn't even known Kressen had been involved in the mess that had destroyed his family all those years ago.

"All that grief for something we do not possess.

I dread thinking how he would react upon finding that out after working so hard to gain access to my home. "

"Thankfully, we'll never know," Shimari said. "If we cannot deal with him the tedious way, I'll take care of him the simple way. Come along, down to the deep dark secret basement we go. That seems to be a theme of the wealthy."

"Yes, well, deep underground is an easy place to hide things," Oresti said. "I'll escort you, then head out." He offered a hand to Andrus, who took it with a faint smile. "First, we go to the library."

Shimari turned into a cat, making Coret jump, and then vanished from the room.

Oresti sighed. "Of course he already knows where to go. I don't know what I was thinking."

Andrus snickered. They walked hand-in-hand through the halls of the palace, Coret on his other side, Greivs alongside Oresti, dropping back to walk behind them only when the halls narrowed.

In the library, they kept going, Oresti leading them through towering rows of shelves until they came to a locked door at the back.

Beyond that door was a hallway of various rooms. "Special Archives," Oresti said.

"Delicate materials that require special storage so they don't degrade further than they already have, dangerous items that have to be handled a particular way, that sort of thing.

" He walked all the way to the end of the hall, where they ran up against what seemed to be nothing but yet another unremarkable wall.

Except after pressing some of the fancy woodwork in a particular way, there was a soft click, and the wall swung open to reveal a narrow door.

Past that door was a long, spiraling staircase that went on so long, Andrus started to get dizzy. Everything smelled of damp and dust.