I held out hope as Madame Montespan led us through the halls of the palace. When she stopped before the door, I steeled myself. Once Monsieur Renard realized I had demon magic, he would want to investigate. I would have to be on my toes for the moment he tried to infiltrate my mind.
Louise and I would only get a few chances to silence him before he drew attention. And then we’d have to find the king’s mistress so Eva could undergo the same test.
Madame Montespan opened the library door. “If you don’t mind, I’ll wait out here. Monsieur Renard and I do not see eye to eye, but he will not mind you introducing yourselves. He’s always in the chair in the far back right corner,always.”
La Voisin nodded and led the way through the palace library. It was a grand room, and yet, if one could look past all the gold decor and garish cherubs, the library was still just a library. It reeked of old books, and had a calming, erudite air about it.
Monsieur Renard was in the exact spot Madame Montespan had said he would be, with his nose stuck in a book. He barely glanced up as we approached, and only gave us his attention a full ten seconds after we’d stopped before him.
“Yes, mesdames and mademoiselles?” His voice was pompous, exactly how one would describe a stereotypical snooty French voice.
“Good day, Monsieur Renard,” La Voisin said. “We have a few questions for you.”
I readied myself. La Voisin had promised she would get to the point. The quicker we worked, the faster we could leave the palace.
“And what would they be?” he asked dully as his eyes dropped back to his book.
“We are wondering what exactly you can do with that demon stone in your pocket.” La Voisin pointed to his right pocket.
The man’s head snapped up from the page he’d been reading. The poisoner witch had hit a nerve.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said coolly.
But my skin had already begun to prickle as Monsieur Renard called his power to him. He was going to try to read my mind, all our minds.
Knowing I needed him to attempt this only on me, I stepped forward.
“She knows, because you made it obvious,” I sneered as if he couldn’t disgust me more. “Gallivanting around court, giving His Majesty exactly what he wants before he even wants it. You might have bound yourself to a dark royal, but you weren’t careful about it. Your rise to power was too sudden. I wonder what the king would say if we told him of our suspicions?”
The man shot up and pointed at me. “Who are you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I raised a palm and allowed a few inky black tendrils of demon magic show.
Monsieur Renard’s hand flew to his mouth. “Who—” He decided against asking, and acted exactly as we’d predicted.
A presence enveloped my head, oily and sticky. Monsieur Renard was trying to break in. I allowed him to get a good grip, to believe that he would succeed, even to see who I was. Once he pulled up one of my memories of the future, I called Louise to heel.
Get him out,I commanded.
The mind witch yawned.
We have an agreement,I yelled.Get him out, or you’ll be going back to the spirit world!
There was a heavy sigh from the ghost.I can see this is going to be a lot more work than I believed.
I was about to tell her she had no flipping idea how much work it would be, when Louise flew into action, and the oily, sticky sensation of Monsieur Renard trying to infiltrate my head ceased to exist.
“How dare you expel me!” he cried and crashed backward into his chair with wild eyes. “I shall call the guards—!”
La Voisin grabbed Monsieur Renard by the back of the neck, and tipped a vial into his open mouth.
The man collapsed back into the chair and began snoring.
“Wow,” Eva whispered. “Did you do it?”
I nodded. “Once Louise got off her ass, it was easy. I asked her to kick him out, and she did. But before that, I felt his influence in my head. Of course, it will probably be harder with Ishtar, but still, it was so . . . easy.”
La Voisin chuckled. “Do you think I went through all that work of seeking a spirit worker for nothing?”
