Page 120 of Soulbound

Another tender touch against her cheek. "Your father deserved everything he got. I wanted to kill him myself for planting such doubt in your heart, and for thinking to lock away your gifts. The trespass against me could be forgiven. He thought he could summon me to this plane and bind me to his will." It sneered. "I am not some immortal plaything for these puny humans. But you." Its hand softened against her jaw. "What he did to you was a crime."

"I don't want this!"

"Let me help you," the demon said. "Let me show you what you are."

Using the razor to slice the fleshy pad of its index finger, it let the blood well. Power shimmered over its skin, those dark eyes shining with pure energy.

"Bloom, my sweet daughter. Become what you are meant to be." It set its bloody fingertip to her forehead, even as she tried to squirm away, and painted a fiery rune there. Leaning closer, it kissed her cheek in a proud fashion as heat scored her veins. "Come forth, my queen."

Cleo screamed. There was something shifting beneath her skin. She felt like it was crawling up her throat, trying to force its way out. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes went wide, nostrils sucking in air, or trying to....

"Yes," said a dark voice within her. "I've been patient enough."

Blackness overwhelmed her, and there was no way to fight. No way to claw her way through it. An image came to mind, of herself in the Ouroborous mirror, dressed in black. Of her pale face staring malevolently at herself through the mirrors pane.

This thing inside her hated her, wanted to crush her up so very small....

"Rise," whispered the demon. "Take what you are owed, my daughter."

Cleo found herself in a small dark box, with a single light gleaming high above. She slammed her hands against invisible walls, trying to fight her way out. It wasn't enough. She was cold and alone, and her precious link to Sebastian was gone. "No!" she screamed silently, hammering on those walls.

They didn't break. They simply flexed beneath her palms.

"White queen in check," the demon whispered.

Chapter 26

"I NEED YOUR help," Sebastian said, bursting into Lady E's study.

The older woman looked up, and her female secretary moved away from her side abruptly, as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Lady E asked, in the sort of tone he might have cringed at as a child.

"No time," he snapped. "It took Cleo."

And Bishop wasn't home, and Rathbourne Manor was miles away, and this was the closest place he could think of.... Panic rose like a choking tide. He had to find her.

"What took Cleo?" Lady E rose, leaning on her cane. The color drained from her face as her dark eyes flickered over him. "Where have you been? What happened? Where's Adrian?"

"The demon!" he burst out. "The demon took her!" And then the rest of the story was falling from his lips, and he could see it again... the look on her face when the demon hauled her out the door with the razor at her throat. "Please. I can't feel her. I know she's still alive—the soul-bond's still in place—but I can't find her, and I can't.... Everything's muted. She's not there."

It had been the bane of his existence from the first moment he woke after Cleo forced the soul-bond upon him in order to save his life. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to rely upon it. How much it terrified him to come so close to losing it, and her.

"Marie," Lady E said to her secretary, "fetch my scrying tray. You"—she stabbed a finger toward him—"lie down upon my sofa."

"Did you not hear me? The demon has my wife!"

"I heard you," she said firmly, dragging her small card table out of the way, and sweeping cushions off her sofa. "Did you not hear me? Do as you're told."

His hands shook as he made his way toward the sofa. It had been all he could do not to erupt as he summoned a hack and made his way here. She needs me. But he trusted Lady E, and wasn't that a revelation.

"Lie down." Lady E pressed her hand to his forehead as he did, her papery-thin skin soft upon his. "There are several ways one can mute a soul-bond. Husbands and wives in the past have realized they made a momentous mistake only too late, and there are ways to manage it. But the link doesn't vanish, not unless one—or both of them as often happens—dies. It's still there, and we can use the link to find her. Calm your racing heart."

Easy to say.... He dug his nails into his palms and tried to clear his mind the way Bishop had taught him.

"Place it right there," Lady E murmured, and he saw Marie set the tray beside her. Lady E's hand pressed him into the sofa. "Are you even trying?"

"It's not working."