Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(60)

“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly confused. “Kar Yee said she was keeping a secret for you.”

Jupe cringed. “Uh . . . that was nothing. Barely even a secret. Don’t ask her about it, though.”

While Jupe hedged, the strange noise became clearer. No wonder I couldn’t pinpoint the source: it was coming from inside in my head. And when it repeated, louder, I realized what was going on.

May I show myself?

“No!” Hell no. Not here, in front of everyone. “Hold on!”

Jupe frowned. “What?”

“Not you,” I said, handing him the computer as I scrambled off the couch. “Be right back.” I jogged to the back of the house, to a place that was the farthest distance from the living room—and, hopefully, far enough away that the clairaudient Earthbound in the house couldn’t hear me—and pressed my finger into the security lock on Lon’s library door

“Okay. Now,” I commanded, standing in front of the unlit library fireplace, pulse pounding. Polished wood built-in shelves stretched from floor to ceiling, all of them filled with hundreds and hundreds of occult tomes: grimoires and goetic tomes, spellbooks and hand-painted illuminated bibles, all carefully arranged and cataloged according to Lon’s exacting standards.

The air shuddered as a black line of light appeared in the middle of my palm. A mass of crackling white light whooshed a few yards in front of me. When it flashed, Priya flew out of it.

Black wings brushed over book spines, knocking several grimoires off the shelves.

He just took up so much space with those wings. It was one thing out on Kar Yee’s rooftop, but quite another in this room. Startling, really. He began to fly forward, but his black-haired head clunked against a dangling pendant light. He made a very human face, while gritting a pair of very non-human silver pointy teeth, and said, “Oww.”

“Come down and land, for the love of Pete,” I said nervously. “Stop flying. Whatever. Just quit wrecking the place. Lon’s going to be furious!”

He rubbed a hand over his injured forehead and lowered to the carpet, landing awkwardly as he folded up his wings behind his back. His grimace turned to a smile. “Hello, mistress,” he said, bowing his head briefly. The swinging pendant light above cast a moving shadow over his silvery gray chest.

“Thank God,” I murmured. “I was worried something had happened to you.”

His mouth tilted up. Black hole eyes softened as the corners crinkled. “You were worried about me?”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t want you getting killed.” I paused. “Again. And you were gone for so long.”

“I’m sorry to have disappointed you,” he said, hanging his head. “It was a longer journey than I expected, and I can’t travel as fast in this body.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

He brightened. “As am I. You look lovely,” he said, looking at me with unabashed interest.

New Priya was easily distracted. No wonder it took him so long. “Can you tell me what you’ve learned?”

His shoulders straightened. “Of course. But I fear you will not like what I have to say.”

“Oh, God.”

“Enola Duval is still alive.”

I closed my eyes as a dark disappointment weighed down my bones. I suppose I’d known it all along, since that first vision of her on the beach at Merrimoth’s house. I just didn’t want to believe it.

“I did not see her personally,” he continued. “But I spoke with many who have. I know of her general whereabouts on the demon plane. She has taken control of a citadel in a remote region that is on the brink of war. Rumors are spreading about her. The demons under her snare are threatening another group of demons—a strong legion under the command of a Grand Duke.”

My pulse went haywire. Surely there were many, many Grand Dukes in the Æthyr. But I had to know. “His name isn’t Chora, by chance?”

Priya was surprised. “You know of him?”

“You can’t be serious. It’s Duke Chora?”

“Yes.”

“Sh-h-hit.”

“What is wrong, mistress?”

“This Duke almost killed someone I love a couple of months ago.”

“Your demon child?”

“What?”

Priya pointed to my palm. “The one bound to you.”

“He’s not my child. I mean, I didn’t give birth to him. Anyway, I was talking about someone else.”

The door to the library swung open. “She’s talking about me.” Lon burst inside the room, all fiery halo and spiraling horns, eyes narrowed to slits.

Priya rushed in front of me and snapped his wings open. “Stay back, Kerub.”

Lon balked at the reference to his demonic heritage—or perhaps at the fact that Priya was protecting me against him.

“Priya, calm down,” I said. “This is Lon. He’s, uh . . . well, he’s the father of the demon boy under my protection.” I couldn’t think straight. I was still reeling from Priya’s news about my mom. “This is his home.”

Priya’s wings fluttered and drooped. He stepped aside and lowered his head, black halo trailing. “Forgive me.” I couldn’t tell if he was hurt or angry, but his mouth was drawn in a tight, straight line, and he was unwilling to take his eyes off Lon.