A fair point, but I suspected there was more to it than that.
“Look, I can’t get in, I can’t rescue El, and I certainly can’t face three dhampirs and that demon wolf by myself.” I threw my hands up in the air and started pacing.
“I have an idea of something that might help,” Foster said slowly. I stopped mid-step and turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. “Something your mother’s got in her back pocket.”
I stared at him, wondering just how much he saw and heard around this place, and if Mother had underestimated him all this time.
The clock on the wall ticked steadily forward, marking the minutes until Arabesque Harrow’s return and my potential doom if I didn’t find a way to fix this catastrophe.
“What do you know?” I demanded.
“The day before she left for Chicago, Arabesque fed a greater demon a soul in exchange for a future favor. It gave her a token to summon it when she’s ready to collect. If you had that… ”
He trailed off, watching my face for a reaction. Even as my stomach turned at the thought of stealing from Mother, a cold, practical voice in my head whispered that it might be my onlyrealoption.
“Yousawit?” I kept my voice steady, betraying none of my inner turmoil. “How is it you’re always watching things you shouldn’t be?”
“It’s what your mother pays me for. To see things. To keep an eye on everything. And everyone.” He shrugged, those massive shoulders rolling beneath his shirt, and the emphasis wasn’t lost on me.
Foster was reminding me that he wasMother’sman, notmine, notEluned’s, a fact my sister often seemed to forget.
“And now you’re suggesting I steal from her.” I tapped my fingers together, thinking. “Use her favor token to break into Evermere.”
“Which wrath would be worse?” His dark eyes held mine. “The one for using her favor or the one for losing your sister?”
My lips pinched together. He was right. Mother’s fury at the loss of the token would be substantial, butnothingcompared to her rage if we lost Eluned. Not because she loved us—I’d long since abandoned such childish notions—but because we were investments. Assets. Resources. Extensions of her power that she had cultivated for specific purposes.
“Fine,” I said at last. “Where did she put it?”
“Her office. In that stuffed raven she keeps on the bookshelf.”
“You’re very observant.”
“It’s what keeps me alive.” He didn’t smile when he said it.
I moved past him, my decision made. Mother’s office was at the back of the house, a room that had once belonged to Serafina’s father before Mother had claimed it as her own. The hallway leading to it felt longer than usual, each step an echo of defiance. Foster followed, his footsteps silent. The door wasn’t locked, and I hesitated just a moment before pushing it open.
The room beyond was immaculate, as always. Dark wood bookshelves lined the walls, filled with ancient tomes on witchcraft, demonology, and ritual sacrifice. Mother’s desk dominated the center of the space, its surface clear except for a single silver letter opener shaped like a serpent and a stack of cream-colored stationery.
I spotted it immediately: A large black raven, wings spread as if in flight, perched atop a human skull. Husband number one’s skull, to be precise. The raven’s glass eyes seemed to follow me as I approached, and I fought the ridiculous urge to turn back. It was just taxidermy, not one of Mother’s enchanted guardians.
At least Ithoughtso.
“In the beak,” Foster said from right behind me, too close for comfort. “I saw her stuff it in there after the demon gave it to her.”
“What will Mother say when she realizes I took it?” I asked myself, but he answered.
“Guess you gotta ask yourself what’s she gonna say if youdon’t.”
“That she should have trained a pair of dogs instead of daughters,” I said dryly, which earned me a snort of amusement.
I reached toward the raven, my hand steadier than I felt. Its beak was slightly open, revealing a glimpse of something dark within. Just as my fingers brushed the cold, polished surface of its head, Foster spoke again.
“You should go to Evermere right away. Today. Before they get her to spill everything she knows.”
My concentration broke, and I shot him an irritated glance over my shoulder.
“Could you perhaps stop talking for thirty seconds while I commit an act of treason against one of the most powerful Dark witches in the country?”
