Page 126 of Soulbound

"From what I can gather from books, and my own personal experiments, I could use the Chalice to burn away my link to the Grave Arts. Instant relief."

"But?"

"But there is always a sacrifice when it comes to extreme acts of sorcery. I will possibly lose half of my power, or my ability to handle a certain amount of power," Bishop replied, and splayed his fingers wide on the billiards table. "And I cannot do that yet. Not until this is done and Cleo is safe."

"If you link with us—"

"Then there's a chance I would start to hear the whisper of the maladroise. Start to hear your heartbeats and the little song they sing to someone like me," Bishop whispered. "And your power.... Hell. All that power whispering along my nerves, like it could be mine for the taking. You'd be wide open to me if I were in control."

Completely vulnerable. He swallowed again. Never. "I thought you lived and breathed control."

"I do." Bishop looked away.

"It scares you," Sebastian said slowly, working his way through his tangled thoughts.

"And it should," Bishop replied. "The second I stop fearing it, is the second you need to send for an executioner."

They both fell silent.

"Then we do this individually," he said in a tired voice, downing the glass of brandy. "Where's that chant I need to learn?"

Chapter 29

What would happen if anyone were to truly pierce the Veil to the Shadow Dimensions, and bring forth that ruinous host in the flesh, so to speak? A demon cannot do it from this side, as they are not truly here. But what if one of their vessels had the power to do so?

—Sidestep Through Time by Quentin Farshaw

* * *

"MALACHI GRAY'S ESTATE," Sebastian said, staring up at the enormous wrought iron gates. "Of course. This is the garden I saw through Cleo's eyes."

"And an incubus is a creature from the Shadow Dimensions." Bishop growled under his breath. "Lascher's probably been here the entire time."

"Plenty of blood and sex to feed it," he agreed, his nerves on edge. He was finally close to getting Cleo back.

Helping Verity down from the carriage, Sebastian surveyed the grounds. They'd have to walk. Who knew what they'd be bringing the horses into? He could feel something in the air, a certain sort of crispness, a waiting....

Eleanor Ross had insisted upon coming, despite her limp, and she stepped down from the second carriage, leaning upon her cane.

He was the reason for her limp, and the slack line of her left jaw. She'd been caught in the edge of an attack he'd thrown at his mother, and barely survived it.

That's enough, he told himself firmly. She wouldn't be alive if you hadn't turned on your mother in that moment.

Her presence had made Bishop uneasy; she wanted Drake back at all costs. Neither of them had the heart to tell her they'd have to kill him if they couldn't save him.

A hooded figure caught his eye as Remington stepped down from the second carriage. Morgana tripped in the snow and fell to her knees, a velvet hood over her face, and her hands bound with Bishop's golden spelled manacles. She'd been the cause of every major pain in his life, but he couldn't look at her for too long.

Not anymore.

The journal had given him the means to break free of Morgana's chains, but it had also had a far more unsettling effect upon him, coupled with the night Cleo sat and held his hand.

"Brush my hair for me?" Morgana whispered, handing him the ivory-handled brush that had once belonged to her mother. It was the only thing she'd ever had of his grandmother's, and it seemed far too big for his little hand.

But he tugged it gently through his mother's hair, enjoying the rare moment of kindness, and not knowing how soon those moments would vanish.

Execution was one thing. Giving her over to the demon, quite another. It would be easier if inconvenient memories didn't keep lodging in his mind. Damn Lady E for giving him that journal.

Taking up the leash around his mother's wrists, Sebastian stared down at her black hood. She was smaller than he remembered, or perhaps hunched over from her recent incarceration. "I wouldn't try anything, if I were you."