Page 110 of Soulbound

Cleo crunched into her piece of toast. "Best of luck."

"There's no chance you could find the demon?" Bishop asked her.

"I've tried. There is no Veil shielding it. It's simply not there." Cleo glanced down, and Sebastian knew she lied.

He said nothing. There were reasons she might not dare confront the demon, especially considering her recent revelation.

Verity leaned down to kiss her on the cheek, and murmured something in her ear that made Cleo blush.

"What are your plans?" Bishop asked, trying to pretend both ladies weren't discussing something not meant for polite ears.

Cleo set her toast down. "We—"

"Intend to continue reading Farshaw's book," Sebastian cut in, lifting the cup to his mouth and meeting his brother's eyes. "Cleo thinks there's something inside it she needs to know, for when we face the demon."

Bishop shrugged into his coat, and Verity helped brushed him off. "Good. I don't want any surprises when we finally track this demon down. It's going to be a hell of campaign to face it even with the Relics Infernal, let alone anyone else it can drag out of the woodwork."

Verity grimaced. "It has to have gone to ground in either Balthazar's Labyrinth or Seven Dials. They're the only two sorcerous communities in London that don't belong to the Order, and it needs allies with power. It knows we're coming for it."

"Happy hunting," Sebastian said.

"Good luck," Bishop responded curtly, and then he and Verity slipped from the room.

"Why did you lie to him?" Cleo kept her eyes on her plate.

"Because Bishop sometimes believes the best way to make a problem go away is with a very sharp knife."

"You don't trust him."

"I don't trust anybody," he replied. "Present company excluded."

She chased a spoonful of coddled eggs across her plate. "He wouldn't hurt me. He's not like that. He's... kind. Sometimes."

"He's not going to ever have reason to consider it." Sebastian frowned. It was one thing to face his brother in a sparring match. If Bishop ever discovered Cleo's secret, then Sebastian knew he couldn't stop his brother if he decided to bring her before the Prime. Not one-on-one.

They'd never truly gone head-to-head. Every encounter had been a lesson, Bishop restraining himself. And every encounter, his brother defeated him, regardless of his overwhelming strength.

It made him wary enough to keep this a secret.

"But what if it helps to counter the demon?" Cleo bit her lip. "Do you think we ought to mention—"

Verity punched into the room. Cleo's knees hit the table in surprise, and Sebastian's cup rattled on its saucer.

"Bloody hell," he swore, trying to mop up the tea he'd spilled before it dripped into his lap.

"Sorry." Verity stole an apple from the bowl in the middle of the table, looking utterly unrepentant. "I almost forgot it wasn't safe to simply translocate into a room where the two of you were sitting. Not now anyway." She grinned saucily. "Who knows what I could have walked into?"

Now? Sebastian stared at her. "Verity!"

"Don't be a prude." She rolled her eyes. "It's lovely to see the two of you getting along."

Getting along wasn't quite the way he'd describe it.

"Just... don't do anything I wouldn't do." Verity winked at them, and then vanished into thin air.

He made a choking noise in his throat.

"Well, I did suggest we not desecrate the desk in the library," Cleo said, as if it were entirely his fault.