“A demon stone!” Elran darted backward. “Say it isn’t so, Gian! Say the darkness is not in your bones.”
Gian raised his hands, and black wisps of smoke began to trail from them. For a split-second, it looked like he might use the demonic magic to attack, but he obviously thought better of it, and the smoke dissipated. “Bones, blood, and heart, my friend.”
Elran shook his head. “Guards, seize him. Use the iron shackles and iron-lined cell.” The prince turned to us and approached Headmistress Wake. “Will you take the stone? We fae are superstitious, and—”
The headmistress approached Gian and scooped the demon stone out of his pocket. “Don’t fret, Prince Elran. I will dispose of it when I return home.”
Prince Elran exhaled. “Thank you. Who knows what chaos Gian might have brought upon my impending nuptials with such a horror in his possession? We are forever in your debt.”
The prince and his soldiers carted Gian off. Only my team and Headmistress Wake remained in the empty hall, and a few seconds had passed before I realized that they were all staring at me.
“So, do you want to explain how you knew about the stone? Because his pocket wasn’t ripped before my mother showed up.” Diana broke the silence, her blue eyes hard.
Good grief, why were my teammates so on top of things?
I bit my lip, unsure what to say. The headmistress knew that my demon mark was sensitive to demons, but she was among the few. If I told Diana, Sam, and Andre the truth, it would increase the chances that other people at Spellcasters would find out. Would that help or harm me? What would others think?
Unsure how to handle the dilemma, I looked to Headmistress Wake.
“I believe,” the headmistress began, her tone careful, “that it is time to let your team, and perhaps others whom you trust completely, in on the quirks of your demon mark, Miss Dane. If the demon stone is any indication, the time for secrets is drawing to a close.” Her gaze leveled on me, and I wondered if she had a hunch that I kept other secrets too.
“However, it would not be ideal to discuss such matters here,” Headmistress Wake added. “The halls of fae courts have ears, but I have taken the proper measures to secure our rooms. You can talk about your mark safely in my chambers.” She held my gaze, waiting for my response.
Inwardly, I debated if this was really what I wanted to do. Was it time to let go a little? To trust that others won’t judge me for the events of the past? My eyes traveled over Andre, Sam, and Diana. Each wore interested and compassionate expressions on their faces.
That’s when it hit me. They weren’t just teammates. They were friends. People who had helped me as I’d helped them. If I couldn’t trust someone like that, who could I trust? Perhaps Headmistress Wake was right and it was time that I became more open to discussing Ishtar and how thoroughly she’d changed my life.
And I would start with the people in front of me.
“Hold up!” Diana raised a hand. “So your demon-touched mark not only connects you to Ishtar, but you can senseotherdemons too?”
I nodded and crossed one of my legs over the other. We were in Headmistress Wake’s chamber at the Snowcap Court, and I’d just revealed one of three major secrets.
“You discovered this during your internship?” Diana asked.
“Yup.”
“Do Eva’s act similarly?” Diana pressed.
I gulped, and shot a glance to the headmistress who gave a small nod of her head. It wasn’t my secret to tell, but Headmistress Wake was right. The time for secrets was drawing to a close. I inhaled a long breath. “Yeah, Eva discovered that her mark works similarly. The succubus who scarred her was pregnant with Lucifer’s child, so his essence was inside the succubus and now in Eva too. There are minor differences in how our marks react, but it might be down to the fact we’re infected by the essence of different royals.”
Sam’s eyes were so wide, I worried that they might pop out of her head, and Andre’s umber skin seemed to have whitened a few shades.
“I assume that is how you discovered the demon stone the fae carried so easily, Miss Dane?” Headmistress Wake prompted. “Because the fae had been using it, and hence taking a royal’s power into himself to perform dark deeds?”
“I think so,” I spoke slowly because I wasn’t sure. “Actually, I have a question on that matter.”
The headmistress nodded, so I went on.
“In my first Grind-year mission, I also found a demon stone. I can’t remember if I touched anyone skin-to-skin, like I did Gian, but if those shifters had been using it for power, wouldn’t I have sensed it?”
Headmistress Wake’s lips curled up slightly. “That all depends on which royal demon enchanted it. If it was not Ishtar, you might not be as sensitive. Royal demon power can be more subtle and nefarious than other demons. They have the ability to smother their power if they wish, unlike greater or lesser demons. I suspect that a demon stone gives its keeper that same power so they can fly under the radar. But if someone like you, who is familiar with the energies of the royals, touches that person, there is no hiding.”
My lips formed an O as a slice of understanding cut through me. “Rita, the shifter alpha who I brought down in my mission, mentioned the Furies. So her stone must have been from them.”
“Then Gian’s could have been from the Furies, Xaphan, or Lucifer,” Diana mused. “Since you didn’t sense it from afar but had to touch him, right?”
“Yup.”
