“Is there anything else?”
She swallowed, the words thick in her mouth with guilt. “I’m sorry that I did this. Again.”
Damien stared at her a moment longer, his arcana caressing her throat, reaching out tendrils inside her, warm yet odd. She wanted instead to be wrapped up in them from the outside, her whole body heating up at the thought, her skin beneath his actual touch prickling with something more than magic.
Then it all dissolved, the arcana pulled out of her too quickly, and Damien’s touch gone. She was alarmed at how urgently she longed for it to return, the places left behind hollow, and she took a deep breath to try and fill them again. It wasn’t enough.
The raven moved under her fingers. He swiveled his head from one of them to the other, and there was a flash of something white against his chest, a single feather hidden within the black, but it was lost in the rest of them as it turned itself on the railing, clicked its beak, and shot off with a flap of iridescent wings to disappear into the night.
Alone then, the two stood on the tiny balcony, the damp chill of the wind brushing over their skin, buffeting the warmth of the fire from inside the tower. Amma’s heartbeat was pounding, and she felt like she’d been running for miles. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” she said breathlessly. “That wasn’t infernal?”
“Ah, no, not entirely,” he said tipping his head. “I picked up the spell when I received a message once, something I believe was accidental, but the origin of the spell I’ve twisted to use on Corben is actually divine, believe it or not.”
She absolutely believed it.
They were inches apart, and Amma’s body screamed at her to do…something. Anything.Just make him yours, she silently urged herself, the selfishness of those words not lost on her but meaning them all the same.If he’s yours, he won’t want to hurt anything anymore.
Damien turned from her then and pushed back into the parlor. Gods, was she really so stupid? She had almost the exact same thought once before about a man, and it had been the worst endeavor of her life.
There was a low rumble of thunder out over the wastes, and Amma shivered, going inside herself and closing the doors on the cold.
“The raven will return to us if Laurel sends a message back, though it will be days, weeks maybe—we’re very far from your home.”
“Thank you, Damien.” Amma rubbed warmth back into her arms, feeling lonely even in the room with him.
Damien gave her a weak nod and collected the parchment full of Chthonic translations he had taken from the study. “Remember to take the book with you to bed,” he said, not looking at her as he went for his chamber.
Amma grabbed the Lux Codex from where she had abandoned it on the couch. Hugging it to her chest, she felt as though it were her only friend now, and the stupid thing couldn’t even talk. “Whatisthe plan?” she asked sharply. “The one for Eirengaard and your father?”
Damien paused on his stride away from her, staring at the ground. “The talisman,” he said, voice flat, “you are aware how it can control the actions of another. It was meant for Archibald. Only your king has the power to unbind my father from the crystal he’s trapped within. I would use it to command him to release Zagadoth the Tempestuous, and then my father will extract his revenge on Archibald and the realm of Eiren.”
Amma stared at the back of him for a long moment, saying nothing. What was there to say? Damien had just told her so plainly, no attempt to even make it more palatable to hear.
“And now Birzuma the Blasphemed as well,” he added, voice taut. “Another demon, another devastation.”
Amma was gripping the Lux Codex so tightly her fingers ached. “And you want to do this?” she asked, voice small.
Damien’s head snapped up, but he didn’t look at her. “I must.” And then he swept through to his chamber and shut the door.
CHAPTER 5
MISOGYNY AND THE MISGUIDEDNESS OF IMPS
Storms continued each day, heavy and dark, a persistent cloud hanging over the tower, but the rain was a soothing backdrop by which to study and transcribe, and the three fell into a routine of reading and discovering what the Lux Codex held. A week passed with no sign of a return raven, but Damien told Amma not to worry—it was a very long way across the entirety of the realm and Corben was only so big.
That was about all he said to her, though, outside of the study. While the three of them were together working, he was friendly enough, though not quite as friendly as that first day, and that friendliness even extended to Xander on occasion if still punctuated with sniping and passive aggressive comments. But when they were alone, Damien was reserved and contemplative, unlike how he had been even when they first met. Then he had been cranky and bordering on cruel, but at least he talked to her. Now with each day he grew more reclusive as he sank further into himself.
One evening, Damien had shut himself up in his room, but came storming out, a wicked snarl on his face, muttering, “Damn you, Soren!”
Amma had been sitting in the parlor, hoping he would join her, but not like this. “What’s wrong? Who’s Soren?”
“Soren bloody Darkmore!” He stalked to the fireplace and threw something into the flames.
“Soren Bloody Darkmore? That’s got to be another blood mage,” she said, twisting to look into the fire.
“No, it’s just Soren Darkmore,” he grumbled, turning to stomp back to his chamber. “A blood mage wouldn’t bind up all of his fucking research into a journal just to tear the concluding pages out.” With that, he went back into his room and slammed the door.
Amma sighed. “Actually, that sounds exactly like what a blood mage would do.” She grabbed the fireplace poker and fished out the book he’d thrown in, finding that it was that exceedingly boring one he’d got from that alchemist’s tower in the swamp. The flames had eaten up the dry parchment quickly, only a few lines of the slanted writing still legible. “Oh, Maribel,” she’d said to herself, recalling the earth mage’s name from the reading Damien had done to her on their travels through Eiren what felt like ages ago, “I hope it was worth it.”
