My mouth dropped open. Not only was that an elegant solution, but it took serious power.
The ward glowed briefly and then parted, allowing us entry.
“Over here,” Cara said, striding toward a squat bookcase near the window.
I wished I had a few hours to poke around in this section. The books seemed to call to me, as if urging me to rifle through them.
Cara crouched and ran her fingers over several books, finally pulling out what looked like a small, unassuming, leather-bound journal. She placed it on the table between us and opened it, rifling through the pages until she found what she wanted.
“Check this out.”
I sat and read.
Rowan– mountain ash– witchwood – sorb apple.
The rowan tree has long been known as the portal tree. Before the portals opened, Neo-Druids would place the tree at their gates, demonstrating that visitors were crossing the threshold.
The Norse god Thor was saved from a fast-flowing river by a low-hanging branch of mountain ash.
According to Greek myth, the goddess Hebe protected a chalice of ambrosia, only for it to be stolen by demons. When the gods sent an eagle to retrieve it, the eagle was wounded in the battle. The drops of blood that fell from its wounds sprung up as mountain ash.
European rowan trees have long provided protection against malevolent beings such as demons and are used in charms against black witches and lesser fae. Most importantly, they remain one of the few ways to kill a high demon.
I froze, lifting my head. Cara smiled and pulled something from her pocket, holding it up.
She’d cut the arrow until just the point and a small amount of shaft remained. I got to my feet and held out my hand, staring down at it. “You mentioned that the wood was strange when you first saw this arrow.”
“Yeah. It made no sense, and it made the bolt heavier than it needed to be. I ran a hundred different tests for poison, and I couldn’t find anything, which is why I wanted the black monkshood. Then I got to thinking— what if it was the wood that was important?”
I raised one eyebrow. “You’re a bit of an obsessive, aren’t you?”
“I sure am. Anyway, there’s your answer. It’s not the arrows themselves that kill high demons. It’s wood. From the rowan tree.”
My head spun. This tiny arrow would kill Samael. All I’d have to do was slip it between his ribs when he least expected it and just like Vercan, he’d turn to ash.
My stomach twisted. Cara gave me a sympathetic look.
“Now you know you can kill the guy who looks at you like you’re the only thing he’s ever wanted to look at. What are you going to do about it?”
I slipped the bolt into my pocket. “I have no idea.”
* * *
Samael
Pure, unrelenting rage unfurled its wings inside my chest as I watched the recording on the TV in front of me. The video had been leaked.
On the screen, Danica threw herself in front of me. The brave little witch had thought she was sacrificing her life to protect everyone in this world.
And yet she would be targeted and ridiculed for it.
“I want them dead.”
Sitri untangled himself from the corner of the couch where he’d curled up to watch the recording. Across the room, Lilith raised one eyebrow.
“The power vacuum–”
A knock at the door. Bael poked his head in, his expression somber.
