Page 2 of Soulbound

Cleo paced in front of the board, rubbing at her mouth. Her eyes kept settling on the black queen. Just what was he planning with that piece? Who was the black queen meant to represent? The face remained blank, but the woman's dress was low-cut and vaguely obscene. The last time they'd played, the black queen wore the face of Sebastian's mother, but there had to be a reason it was blank now. Could he change the importance of players?

"I traded you a player," the demon said. "Drake for Verity. Which do you think is the more powerful piece?"

Drake. Cleo swallowed, and considered the board. He was trying to draw her attention to the black king, but every itch of her Premonition said that the queen was the dangerous one.

"Make your move, Cassandra."

She flinched at her old title, and then waved her hand slowly over the board, trying to "feel" which piece to play. The second she reached the black queen, an image sprang into her mind; a mirror with a hooded figure lifting its hands to the cloak it wore, as if to reveal itself—

"I don't think so," said the demon, shattering the swift pulse of vision before the black queen could be revealed. "Not yet, at any stage."

Instinct shivered as Cleo paused over the white king.

Sebastian.

But he was gone from her side, trying to recover from the loss of his father, and the part he had played in it. Drake had sacrificed himself for Sebastian, and her husband had taken the blow hard.

Or at least, she presumed he had. All her letters remained unreturned, and he'd shut down the mental link they shared, until she could barely feel him anymore.

"Wake up," she whispered to herself. "Cleo, wake up."

You need to escape this nightmare.

Her hand reached inexorably toward the white king, just as something began sucking at her. Vision hammered through her. A book sat unopened on her bed, and as she looked at it, the book jerked open, its pages rifling in an unseen wind....

What did it mean?

The world swirled around her as she blinked back to reality. The skin on her arm seemed to waver, her skirts shivering in some nonexistent breeze. "I choose Sebastian."

"So be it," said the dark entity opposite her, and Cleo shivered as she heard the amusement in its voice as if she'd just stepped into its trap. It reached out a pale hand and set the black queen into play. "White king meets black queen. I wonder who shall win? Sebastian? Or—"

"Wake up!" some part of her screamed.

And Cleo sat up in bed with a gasping breath as her opponent's laugh echoed in her ears.

Chapter 1

When the red comet rules the skies, the Prime shall fall. A new Prime shall ascend to the head of the Order. Three sons. Three relics. Three sacrifices. Only then can the Prime be torn down.

—Prophecy as spoken by the Order's previous Cassandra

* * *

THE PROBLEM WITH being able to see the future was what happened when you no longer owned those abilities.

Cleo Sinclair, no, Montcalm—she had to keep reminding herself she was married—stepped inside the Black Horse Pub and gently tugged her gloves off. The scent of the place almost made her eyes water; stale beer, hints of vomit, and the pall of malignant sorcery that coated her tongue like something metallic.

"I really don't think we should be here, ma'am," said her nervous footman, a sorcerer named Jeremy Prior, who was serving his apprenticeship with the Order of the Dawn Star. "This is Balthazar's Labyrinth." His eyes showed their whites as he looked around. "Our sort don't come here. This is where black magic lurks, and those as have been cast out of the Order scurry about. You can find anything occult here—but the price you pay isn't in coin. Or so they say."

"Precisely." You can find anything. She was tired of sitting on her thumbs and waiting for word from her reluctant husband. She had a demon to find, and without her visions.... Well, a girl had to do something. She'd been dreaming of a mirror of late, and it had hounded her nights long enough. She needed to find it, and her dreams had brought her here. She didn't know if they meant anything... but then she'd never seen that mirror before in her life. All she knew was she needed it. It had to be a sign of her divination gifts trying to send her a message. "Come along then, and step lively. The sooner I find what I'm looking for, the sooner we can leave."

"But the Prime—"

"Is busy," Cleo interrupted. "We don't need to disturb Lady Rathbourne, and if successful here, then hopefully I shall be able to aid her current cause."

She couldn't simply sit at home anymore, trying to avoid the nightmares that woke her. Cleo needed to do something to stay them.

She was the only one who had caught a glimpse of the demon's plans.