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Figured. Nerys was never one for rote belief, but still, it was a bit disconcerting to be told that what she had believed was a lie. And a curse… Well, that was someone else’s problem. She would forget the Living Gods and focus instead on the very real nightmares hunting her.

“Can…can what I saw hurt me?”

“Yes,” Qiana said.

Nerys paled. “Qiana,” Idris said, “you’re scaring her.”

“She needs to be scared,” Qiana said, tucking her night robe around her.

“Now that she can see them, they will notice. Instead of being haunted by bad dreams or illness, she could die. She needs to be prepared. She faces much more danger now than the ignorant.” Qiana gave her a reassuring nod.

“People who can see beings from other planes are just more interesting to them, more likely to attract their attention. Who would you rather be around—the one who can and will talk to you, or someone who can’t tell you’ re there? ” 104

This kept getting better and better.

Nerys wrung her hands and forced her breath steady.

“Look,” Qiana said, leaning forward, “yes, they can hurt you, like a bear in the woods can hurt a hunter. But will they? 105 That’s another matter.”

“You aren’t going to tell me they’re scared of me.”

“What sort of bears have you been around?” Fina muttered, and quieted when Idris glared.

“No.” Qiana chuckled, ignoring Fina. “They definitely are not. But a lot of them look worse than they are—appearances are not indicative of danger, where the other side is concerned. And most of them can choose their appearance. 106 The short answer is this—most of what you will see are too weak to hurt you, at least right away. You’d be able to get help and banish them before they cause any real damage.

And then the ones that can reach across the veil and affect you, the ones that can cause harm directly and immediately, you’re beneath most of their notice. ”

“Most? That’s not comforting.”

Qiana smiled sadly. “No. I imagine not. Especially since they will go out of their way to get your attention. Some may decide that you’re worth eating.”

“Eating?”

Qiana frowned. “Do you know nothing of demons?”

Nerys thought. “Some people in the village believed in them,” she said slowly. “I didn’t.” 107

“Why not?”

“Why would I believe that something exists purely to cause harm? Nothing else in nature does. 108 And there were so many other rumors of things that they couldn’t all possibly be true.”

Qiana pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “Spirits are more complicated than that. You’re right. But as far as you’re concerned, they can be dangerous. They can and will—if given the opportunity—consume souls.”

“Is that what would’ve happened to me, if I had touched my blood to the manacle, as… it asked me to?” Nerys felt like she had swallowed a rock. How close had she come to dying? And this…this was like what the R?ll was trying to summon, wasn’t it?

“Possibly,” Qiana said, in a tone that meant yes . “But that’s enough on demons for now. We’ll have time on the way to court to talk more. But in the meantime, I want you to use your sight as much as possible.”

“Why?” Idris asked. “She isn’t going to be an acknowledged Sight Bearer. She won’t be calling anything.” Nerys vigorously nodded in agreement. Calling…demons? That wasn’t going to happen.

“She needs to practice, because” ?Qiana tucked her night robe even tighter? “she needs to hide that she can see. We don’t need that distraction, should the other courtiers find out.

And due to the volume of creatures at court, it’s going to be much harder for her to hide her gift.

No, I’d rather she get her screaming done while we are in a carriage and far away from nosy ears. ”

“I’m never going to be able to sleep again,” Nerys muttered. While Nerys may have been more than willing to hunt down Cefin though it meant certain death, dealing with nightmares incarnate—that could be anywhere at any time—was another matter.

Qiana gave a little nod. “You will. Sprinkle salt across your windows and doorways.”

“Spirits can’t cross it?”

“No. And they’re bound to the basic laws of our world—they can’t walk through walls. 109 I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you don’t need to worry about most of the riff raff.”

Riff raff. Whatever Sitri, was, he did not seem like “riff raff.”

“Who did I see?” Nerys asked. “Why was he cuffed? And what did you mean by ‘calling’?”

“What did you think, Nerys,” Fina said, “that Ca’mailians use their magic to just admire the other side?”

Nerys bit her lip, while Idris shook his head in frustration. She had heard stories of what Sight Bearers did…but they really did it? They su mmoned that ?

For Qiana’s part, she smiled sadly. “I’m afraid your world is about to get a bit more complicated.”

More complicated.

As if assassinations, spectral creatures, and tea lessons weren’t complicated enough. Nerys looked around the sitting room. Was this all a bad dream? None of this could be real. If demons appeared out of thin air, why not wine? She needed more than one drink—she needed the whole fucking barrel.

“How much do you know about Ca’mailian summoning?” Qiana asked Nerys, inspecting her new “ward.” A ward who probably ended up being more complicated than she expected.

“Assume she knows nothing,” Fina said. “That’s what we have been doing this entire time, and we’ve usually been right.” Nerys glared but didn’t contradict her. She couldn’t. It was true.

“All right.” Qiana took a heavy breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she said, “We don’t just see the creatures. They see us. 110 And we can…use them.” Damn, she was really pretending Nerys knew nothing.

“Use them?” Nerys asked. “Like to scare courtiers?” Please let it be something innocent, that she didn’t just gain entrance to a society of demon summoners. She had enough problems.

Qiana let out a short laugh. “No. What we can do is more complex than that. Most creatures we ignore, maybe talk to them if we feel like it. Watch them if the fancy takes us.”

“Love them a little too much,” mumbled Fina. Idris really glared at her this time. Nerys decided to save that one for later. 111

“But some” ?Qiana raised her voice over Fina’s? “we bind to us. They work magic for us. Carry out tasks. This is our real power.”

“I thought that they couldn’t cross over into our world,” Nerys said.

“Let me explain clearly. The ones that you can see, they are already in our world. The ones who are not, who are in the Underworld, are trapped there, under normal circumstances. It’s the ones who are in our world, but have difficulty interacting with our material plane, who are able to affect it in various, sometimes insidious ways. ”

“How so?”

Qiana met her gaze. “Have you ever been around someone with a wasting sickness? Are you so sure it was disease, and not a spirit consuming their soul?”

Nerys suddenly got an image of the peeling horned man slurping at her like licking an ice treat on a hot summer’s day. That was not an enjoyable image. 112

“So, all illnesses are caused by demons?”

“No, definitely not. But some are the result of demons and other malicious spirits, 113 and that’s a ‘some’ you can’t afford to ignore.”

“And…the man in the library?”

Qiana paused for a moment. “That ‘man,’ is a demon named Sitri, and he is one who can affect this plane. He is mine, bound to me and my will. And I promise—he will not be bothering you again.”

Doubtful.

“How do you not know any of this?” Fina asked Nerys. “I know you’re dense, but this is your kingdom’s magic.”

“It’s not entirely her fault, Fina,” Qiana said, giving the princess a gentle reprimand.

“Anyone with any skill is brought to court—and we purposely don’t talk much about summonings outside of certain circles.

They are myths and rumors, and no more, mixed with a thousand other half-truths.

The last thing we need is the rural peasantry afraid that we’re going to send demons or worse after them. ”

“Don’t forget the Dahlk, Fina,” Idris said. “They have more influence here than in Cerdoran, and I doubt they want to remind people that the ‘gift’ can be, and is, used to summon demons—the enemies of the Living Gods.”

“And no one asks why the Sight Bearers don’t call on the Living Gods or their angels to save them?” Fina asked, smirking.

“It would be heresy, to presume to summon a god or an angel,” Nerys said.

“Exactly,” Qiana said.

Any pleasure Nerys would’ve felt at being right was whisked away by Qiana hinting that there were worse things than demons. It got worse ?

“What do Sight Bearers do at court?” Nerys asked. “Are they all demon summoners?”

“No,” Qiana said, brushing a hair out of her face.

“Some have neither the inclination, nor the stomach. Some study the other planes, and some form something like friendships and work with the spirits.” Oh, was that all?

Nerys merely nodded. She was having a hard enough time comprehending demons, much less everything else.

“Do you have just the one now, Qiana?” Idris asked. “Nerys said she saw a second, and it didn’t sound like an imp or other lesser creature.”

Qiana frowned. “Only Sitri. Managing any more is more than I want to deal with now.” Qiana cocked her head.

“Another probably followed me back from court. It happens and I’ll look into it.

Don’t worry, Nerys. the salt will keep anything from your room, and I’ll take care of everything before we leave. ”

“Thank you.”

Qiana nodded, though Nerys wasn’t relieved.

That second creature…was there any chance that it was the shadow that had been haunting her?

It was too much of a coincidence to expect that it just happened to glide in now, poised on Qiana’s carriage.

No, what she had seen tonight was the shadow made flesh.

All dozen or so pieces of it. 114 It had to be.