“How long before you need to make the siphon?”
“We have at least a month before it becomes critical, though I’d rather do it in the next week or so, just to be safe.”
“In that case, I think we have more immediate concerns.”
“Such as?”
Sadie pointed at where Abigail was still trapped behind an invisible ward, alternately banging her fists on it and kicking. “Why can’t we hear her?”
“I added an aural ward when she screamed.”
“Good thinking.”
Nicholas sighed. “Brace yourself.”
The invisible wards around Abigail fell right as she kicked, and she ended up falling over when no barrier stopped her wildly swinging leg.
Sadie bit her lip.You timed it like that on purpose, didn’t you?
Of course. Otherwise she’d have run right at us and attacked you.Nicholas strode forward and looked down at Abigail. He didn’t offer her a hand up. “We know you cooperated with the demon.”
“It used me,” she wailed, still sitting in the dirt. “I’m a victim.”
“We know better, Abigail. You worked with the demon willingly.”
“Is that what she told you?” Abigail pointed at Sadie. “You can’t trust her. She admitted to being a telepath. She’s influencing your thoughts!”
Sadie froze. She would have sworn the demon had been surprised when it tried to possess her and discovered she was a telepath. How did Abigail know?
Nicholas grimaced.Sorry. I almost always use one-way aural shields. I didn’t want to hear Abigail while we dealt with the demon. It didn’t occur to me to make sure she couldn’t hear us.
And Sadie had told the demon she was a telepath aloud, needing all her mental energy to keep it from entering her mind.
“You like bargaining, right, Abigail?” Nicholas crossed his arms. “I’ll make a deal with you. You tell no one that Sadie is a telepath, and we’ll tell no one you cooperated with a demon.”
What?Sadie looked from Abigail to Nicholas, but he wasn’t looking at her.You can’t let her go free just to protect my secret.
Nicholas’s eyes cut over to Sadie for a second before he returned to glaring at Abigail.If she spills your secret, you’ll run off to start fresh somewhere else. That’s not happening, Sadie. Besides, it’s not like we can actually report her to the authorities. To prove she cooperated with a demon, you’d have to share how you knew, and we’d have to admit to locking the demon away after using forbidden demonology texts.
“Do we have a deal?” Nicholas’s voice was cold in a way Sadie had never heard from him before. There was no give, no veneer of gentlemanliness allowing Abigail to believe she could twist him around her finger.
Sadie heard the finality, knew he’d only accept one answer—from Abigail or Sadie.
“I am the granddaughter of the Duke of Kinseran!”
Nicholas didn’t let Abigail finish her rant. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care who your grandfather is. I don’t care who the father of your child is. You tried to kill Sadie. This is the only mercy I will offer you.”
The mention of her child was enough to make Abigail blanch. If Sadie had to guess—and she really didn’t because Abigail’s thoughts were loud—she’d say being called out as pregnant worried the other woman more than the accusation of attempted murder.
Abigail slowly rose to her feet, dusting off her skirt with as much dignity as she could muster. “I will not mention Sadie’s abominable power, and you will not mention my condition and will agree I was a victim of the demon.”
“Deal. You will also head home tomorrow. You are not welcome in Marstede any longer, Miss Candile.”
She tilted her nose up in the air, sniffed, and turned back toward the manor.
Sadie and Nicholas watched her march away until the bend in the path hid her from view.
“I really hate that she will go free, but holding her accountable isn’t worth the consequences,” Nicholas said, slipping an arm around Sadie’s waist and pulling her tight to his side.
