She hesitated a second, then pulled the top card, and turned it over, gasping as she pressed into him. “King of spades. That’s ... it’s a card of a man filled with hate. A powerful man.”
“A devil,” Christian said, his gaze on the card.
Minerva shuddered, and Ivo pulled her onto his lap, both arms around her as if he could protect her from the threats of the world. “We’ll go away,” he told her softly in her ear. “We’ll find somewhere safe, and will remain there, away from the world. Away from this man of hate.”
“Not a devil,” Christian corrected himself. “The devil.”
Ivo froze. “Demon lord?”
“I suspect so.” Christian looked at Minerva. “Would your employer have the ability to steal a spell woven by a demon lord?”
“Oh goddess,” she said, her fingers hard where they gripped Ivo’s arm. “Not from the demon lord himself, but he could steal it from someone who possessed it. Are you thinking—”
“Bael,” Christian said.
Ivo felt a protective surge that demanded he do something, anything, to protect his love. “Then we will find this spell and return it.”
“Easier said than done. All my things except the clothes I was wearing yesterday, and my cards, are at the police station. They kept everything in case it was needed as evidence that I tried to abscond with the festival money,” Minerva said, then to Ivo’s dismay, pushed herself off him, and picked up another card, flipping it over. “Clarifying card: eight of clubs. Caution for a danger near at hand.”
All three of them looked at Minerva’s tarot cards sitting benignly next to the playing cards.
“It’s something to do with the cards,” Ivo said, trying to look at them from his peripheral vision.
“What are you doing?” she asked him.
“Ascertaining whether or not there’s a curse on them. I don’t see anything. Christian?”
He turned his head away from the cards, obviously doing the same thing. “No. No sign of a curse. Have you examined the cards themselves?”
“Not in so many words, but I’ve used them consistently for the last couple of days,” Minerva answered, snatching up her cards as if he was about to take them. She fanned them out. “They’re just cards. Nothing different about them. Nothing unusual.”
“And yet, they held a secret so terrifying that your employer was sweating profusely to get out of the room,” Ivo reminded her.
Minerva drew a sixth card from the stack of playing cards. “Clarification as to the threat: two of spades.” She met his gaze, giving him a weak smile. “Destruction.”
“A spell woven by Bael would be likely to be of such dire make,” Christian agreed. “What we must do—”
The door was flung open, a swirl of wind accompanying the gesture sending the cards fluttering to the floor. Finch stood in the doorway, panting a little. He pinned Minerva back with a gaze that had the fine hairs on the back of Ivo’s neck standing on end. “I don’t know what the hell you’ve been doing, but there’s four demons sniffing around the Faire. And in addition to that, a coven of warlocks has shown up claiming that they were summoned here to destroy a threat to the world. They riled up everyone there until they’re all saying it’s their duty to drive out the evil to save the world. Guess who they say is that threat?”
Minerva slumped in her chair. “Oh, goddess.”
“What on earth did you do?” Finch asked, striding into the room.
“She did nothing,” Ivo said, on his feet, filled with a desperate need to protect her. “She is innocent of all wrongdoing.”
“That’s not what the twelve warlocks are saying, and now several others are agreeing with them. I suspect it’s the demons’ influence. What’s going on here? Are you playing cards?”
Christian quickly explained the situation while Ivo paced, his mind sorting through several options, then discarding them almost immediately.
“So you don’t know what this spell is, or where it is, or even what effect it will have if someone finds it and casts it?” Finch asked in a tone with which Ivo took umbrage.
“It is not Minerva’s fault. She did not steal the spell. She has nothing to do with it.”
“Have you examined her cards?” Finch asked, nodding toward them.
“I’ve used them nonstop since Jason and I flew from Paris,” she said wearily. “And both Ivo and Christian said they didn’t see anything amiss with them.”
Ivo wanted to wrap her in his arms and spirit her away to safety.
