“Is that true?” Dyad asks Rogan.
“Yes, she tethered me, not the other way around, a Soul Witch will be happy to confirm it for you,” he growls at them, but all the demons turn to the orb in front of Cozen, and when it glows white, they nod their head like that’s all the proof they need.
The room is quiet for a beat, like no one knows what to do with this unexpected twist, and then all at once the High Demons start to argue with each other, and Botis starts to pace in his cage. His orange eyes bounce from the High Priestess to the High Demons, rage frothing at his full lips as he worries the floor with his feet.
I try to hear what they’re arguing about, but it’s all a jumble of whispers, and I can’t identify any words or sentences. I work hard to rein in my fervent hope and see how Sorrel could try to counter this. I try to see the loopholes in the facts like I know she’s doing right now.
My hands are shaky with adrenaline, and when I look over at Rogan, I see that he’s staring at his mother with so much hate and vehemence it makes the hair on my arms rise in warning, but what really pisses me off is that she’s staring right back at him, and I can practically see the declaration in her kelly-green eyes that no matter what happens, he belongs to her.
Botis snarls menacingly, and it snaps Sorrel out of her staring contest. She says something to the demon—I don’t catch it—but it was something condescending by the look on her face, and Botis redirects all the creepy obsession and silent promises of pain that he was aiming at me, and focuses it all on the High Priestess.
The High Demons stop discussing amongst themselves, and I hold my breath as I wait to see what they’ll say. Silence fills the marble boneyard, and all I can hear is the boom of my pulse in my ears. Out of nowhere, I blink and the glass case all around me disappears.
I gasp, and more adrenaline fires through me when I look up and once again find that the High Demon Gremory has a gavel in his hand.
“This High Demon Council finds the contract between Count Botis the Murk and the High Council of Witches...invalid,” Gremory announces, his rumbling earthquake tone forcing me to not only hear his words but feel them as they move through the room. “As such,” he continues, “Botis is found guilty of violating the Accords.”
My head snaps in the direction of Jamie’s demon as he bellows out his objection. “You fucking cunt, you did this, you slippery viper. If you think you’re safe, you have another thing coming! I own your soul, you stupid whore,” he snarls at the High Priestess as he attacks the front of his cage with nothing but pure rage and fury. “I was tricked! I demand the contract be reviewed!” Botis screams, but the gavel is already slamming down against the wood of the lectern.
Botis’s furious threats and demands morph into visceral feral screams as blue flames erupt inside his glass cage. He attacks the glass barrier with renewed ferocity, and I can feel the ground shaking with each hit against the barrier separating his madness from us.
“I’m going to rip you all to pieces and bathe in your innards. I am Count Botis the Murk, you cannot sentence me to death,” he rages as the flames grow taller. He screams and snarls as the shadows coating him fade away against the flames. He starts to attack every wall of his enclosure, and then the blue fire is so high that it’s all I can see anymore.
I breathe through the panic that crashes through me. It’s the justice he deserves, but his visceral keening as he dies takes me back to the church, and I feel achy with terror as the memories breathe threateningly down my neck. Strong arms wrap around me, pulling me in tightly, and Rogan presses my face to his chest as he discreetly covers my ears to help block the sound.
“You did it, Lennox. You won. He’s gone and he’s never coming back,” Rogan chants quietly to me to help drown out the noise of my brutal memories. I’m surprised to hear such confidence in his voice, like he always knew this would be the case, he never even doubted I might not pull it off.
I shake my head, reeling and in shock over what just happened. It all feels so surreal. I thought for sure it was over, and then it wasn’t.
Did I really just figure out how to climb out of that trap?
I know in the long run, this win doesn’t mean shit. Sorrel is just going to keep coming for us until we find some way to beat her, but we’ll at least live to see another day, have more time to plan for the next attack, and we’ll be together. I hug Rogan so hard he grunts from the impact. I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head, and I vow that as soon as we get home, I’m reactivating this tether no matter what. Not being able to reach him was the worst fucking feeling, and I will never let it happen again.
The screams stop, but I can hear the flames still crackling as they finish the rest of Botis off. Out of nowhere, a flash of familiar icy pain moves through me. My gasp is hidden in Rogan’s chest, and as he feels my muscles tighten and strain from the sudden assault, he holds me protectively closer.
“What’s wrong, Lennox? What just happened?” he asks distraughtly, and I can feel him scanning the room for the source of this attack. I shake my head against his chest, but it’s all I can do until the icy clutches of agony start to abate.
Deep breaths, Lennox, this is not your first rodeo, it’ll be over soon. Just breathe.
Dyad stands behind the lectern, his crown of horns making him appear regal and superior. I want to punch him for it. His black eyes take in everyone in the room, and he lifts his chin haughtily. “I officially call the trial of Count Botis the Murk to an end,” he announces, and I look up through the pain to see the High Council members all together again and glaring up at the demons. “I warn the other parties present, specifically the three High Council members, that they are facing future charges for their role in today’s events. I also warn that Botis’s next in line will inherit all open contracts, and that their legal bargains with him are still active contracts.”
I watch the three High Council members’ reactions to Dyad’s declaration. I expect to find fear or apprehension or at the least a slight bit of concern, but Sorrel once again looks smug, like she knows something the rest of us don’t, and it makes my stomach churn with vicious anxiety.
The pain in my body starts to recede, and I relax in Rogan’s arms. He breathes out a sigh of relief and drops his lips to my ear so no one else can hear.
“What just happened, are you okay?”
I nod against his chest and whisper back, “It was a transference of power,” I explain, confusion percolating through me, because I thought Elon and I were the only Osteomancers left, and Elon can’t transfer power to me because he can’t die.
And then it dawns on me.
I look down at my feet, parts of them still stinging from the power I just absorbed. Shock makes me freeze, and my eyes widen as a new shot of adrenaline courses through me. I stare dumbfoundedly at the demon marks now decorating my skin. I trace the lacey circles with my eyes, identifying a mark with the letterAin it, one with aK, and the last one contains aB. Unlike my vow mark with Rogan, the demon marks are black, and I know without a shadow of doubt what just happened.
Holy moon shits.
That wasn’t a transference of magic from an Osteomancer, that was a transference from the fucking demon, Botis.
Which means…
