“She tried lots of glyphs,” Sadie continued, her voice soft with love for the one person in her childhood who hadn’t shunned her, “but she wasn’t skilled at piecing runes together into new glyphs. It took years before she came across a grimoire with the glyph on my amulet.”
“It was designed to block telepathy?” If it didn’t cut Sadie off from magic entirely, allowing it to flow freely and only preventing the power from transforming into mind-reading, that could be why she hadn’t suffered the same physical effects. It still didn’t sound safe to him for such extended use, though she had clearly survived years with it.
She squeezed her eyes closed, and he knew her answer would increase his fears tenfold.
He waited. He wouldn’t ask again, but trust that she would tell him when she was ready.
After a deep breath, she looked him straight in the eye. “No. The glyph on my amulet is designed to block demons.”
“What?” Nicholas half rose from his seat, then shook his head and forced himself to sit. “Your power isn’t demonic.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Sadie sliced a hand through the air, cutting off his protest. “The origin of the power is immaterial. Either way, telepathy shares similarities with demonic powers. That’s actually what made me think there might really be a demon at Marstede. You said the glyph on the charm you gave me reacts to intangible threats like telepathy, and the glyph on my amulet is the only other one I’ve heard of that affects my power, but that wasn’t what it was designed for.”
“You’re saying your grandmother used a glyph meant for demons to cage your power, and my glyph meant to detect telepaths instead found a demon.”
“Exactly.”
“But you couldn’t hear the demon at supper last night?”
“No. I managed to use my power fairly consistently, focused in on Abigail, but the only thoughts I heard seemed natural.”
“You only listened to her thoughts?”
Sadie nodded. “Focusing on her was the only way I could use my magic almost consistently.” She licked her lips. “I wanted to go a little deeper, too. I didn’t push too far—it was still essentially surface thoughts—I just heard a few that I might not have picked up otherwise.”
“Sadie, we’re dealing with a potential demon. I’m not going to condemn you for reading Abigail’s thoughts. On the contrary, I’m fighting not to ask you to dig through her mind for a solution to getting rid of her, which doesn’t even have anything to do with the demon.”
Sadie laughed, but he was only half joking. Nicholas could handle another two weeks with Jane, Helen, and Beatrice at Marstede, but Abigail had long worn out her welcome.
“Renounce your title?” Sadie suggested.Then you’d be in my reach.
Nicholas was fairly certain she hadn’t meant to share the thought that had accompanied her suggestion. If her lack of control resulted in projecting her own thoughts regularly, it made extra sense why she clung to that amulet. Nicholas understood that his acceptance of her power was not the norm. Hiding her power must be hard enough when she couldn’t react to the thoughts she heard, but it would be impossible if she shared her thoughts with others.
And because her lack of control was still such a tender subject for Sadie, Nicholas decided not to bring attention to the fact that she had shared that coda with him. He pushed down the thought that his title wasn’t a barrier; he wasn’t only within Sadie’s reach, she had already caught him. That was a topic to raise after they dealt with the demon.
But maybe he’d plant the seed now, while Sadie thought they were joking. “Or I could propose to you so she’d realize her chance is gone.”
Sadie snorted. “She wouldn’t give up. Rather, she’d switch her focus to getting rid of me.”
A pointed silence filled the room as they both considered that.
“No,” Nicholas announced before Sadie could make the suggestion. “We are not using you as bait for the demon.”
“But it’s perfect. If Abigail is working with the demon, they won’t be able to resist going after me. And if she is actually innocent of being anything but a social-climbing shrew who is unwittingly hosting a demon, it will still work, because the demon would use her own anger to influence her actions.”
“No.”
“I’ll carry the charm you gave me.”
“You should be carrying that no matter what.”
The corner of Sadie’s mouth twitched. “You’re cute when you scowl.”
“I’m serious, Sadie.”
“So am I.” She grinned. “But you can relax. I have been carrying it. You missed me tucking it away this morning because you were doing up my laces.”
“You were only wearing a chemise and corset at that point, where could you have tucked it away?”
