“Do not pick him up. She’s not going to hurt him.” I didn’t need for Evan to get caught because her puppy wanted attention. “How are you invisible?”
“It’s a charm, but she’s right. It’s not going to work forever, and they’ve taken control of the whole apartment.” Evan’s voice came from somewhere to my right. “They have wards up to keep Fenrir from getting to us, and Eddie can’t get back into the Under at all which means that neither can Trent. Where’s Gray? Did he get away?”
I growled at the thought of my husband leaving at such an inopportune time. “He’s witnessing something. Asshole.”
“Witnessing?” Evan asked, and I could feel her weight on the bed behind me. “Oh, like a prophecy being fulfilled. I wonder what’s happening.”
I didn’t care. I cared about the fact that I was alone with a competent but still fragile princess who Myrddin would use to unlock my sword, but likely only after he shoved a thrall stone in my head and I joined his drooling sycophants. “I only care about what’s happening here. Do you have a charm that might get me out of these bindings?”
“No. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need a serious witch to get you out of those, and we don’t even have Jade,” Evan admitted. “By now Fen’s got to know something’s going wrong, and he’ll stash Jade before he tries to figure out how to get in here.”
“How many witches are we facing?”
“The whole of the Profane are in here, but I suspect there are many more up top. That’s how they’re keeping Eddie out,” she explained. “From what I overheard, they’ve been planning this for a long time. They want to use me to unlock the sword. They aren’t sure the sword will respond to Myrddin, so they want you as a backup. Basically they’ll kill me and then either Myrddin or you will use the angelic power stored from your fight with Jude to close the doors to the Heaven plane. Whatever angels here will be stuck on Earth and vulnerable to the demons. The new gnome has been working with them. That’s how they knew I was here in the Under. I overheard them talking and they faked the whole werewolf attack thing to ensure they could keep Fen and Trent away from the gardens. Either one of them would have been able to smell the secret grove where he grew the belladonna and other forbidden plants.”
“Well, he’s getting his ass evicted.” If I could get out.
“They’re worried about Fen. The witches think if they can find me and get us all out of here before the primals wake up, they’ll be in the clear,” Evan’s voice said. “But Fen will come for us. He’s out there right now, and he’s coming up with some crazy plan to rescue us.”
There was another scenario she wasn’t thinking of. “Or he’s stuck in the records room with Jade trying to find all the information I sent them after. If no one looks for them and tells them what’s happening, he won’t know. I have to hope Rose tells someone who finds him, but I doubt it. Security won’t know where he is, and Eddie can’t bring Trent back. We have to pray the primals wake up.”
I heard a sniffling. “Or I could go with them.”
The last thing I needed was a martyr. “Or you could get me out of these bonds.”
“I can’t. I don’t have any magic, Kelsey. All I’ve got are a bunch of helpful charms. If you were held with actual rope, I could deal with that,” Evan replied, and I could see where she was walking, her weight moving across the carpet. “If Eddie was here, he could probably handle it. Demon servants are excellent with magic, but the new wards will keep him out.”
Eddie couldn’t follow me anywhere because he was an everyday, normal butler who wasn’t forced by contract to do his employer’s bidding. Eddie might call me Mistress, but he wasn’t a bound servant and could leave at any time. That was the way it should be, but it also meant Eddie wasn’t magically bound to me.
Like someone else was.
I couldn’t call out to Gray and expect him to race through time and space to find me, but there was someone else. At least I thought he could as long as I was incubating the heir to the House of Sloane.
“Evan, I need you to find a place to hide and be perfectly still. I’m calling in someone who might be able to help us, but I don’t trust him at all,” I explained.
I didn’t want to call him, but I didn’t see a way around it. Not if I wanted to get out of this apartment before Liv managed to knock me out again. The truth of the matter was my strength meant nothing against these magical bonds of hers. She’d gotten far stronger than she’d ever been when she had a whole soul, and I wasn’t sure I could take her in a fight. I needed to get Evan out of here and regroup. I needed to triple up on charms and wards and talismans because I was going to need them against Liv.
But first I had to get out of here.
“Tix, I need you.” I said the words grudgingly, but there was a thrill that went through me when the well-dressed demon was suddenly standing right there.
He looked down at me, big dark eyes widening, and then to Puff, who was jumping and dancing and trying to get the newcomer’s attention. “Mistress, I am confused. You did not wish for me to track you and now here you are saying my name so nicely. I suppose I shouldn’t have answered, but I am a true and proper servant to my family. You should understand that I did not teach that pup how to tie up his mistress. That must have been the master, and I can’t go against his wishes. Not even to save you.”
He was going to be troublesome. “The dog didn’t tie me up, Tix.”
“Oh, then it was the King of all Vampire’s daughter.” He frowned at the wall. “Don’t think you can hide from me, Princess. What is going on? Are the royals moving on my house? I certainly can take care of that and quickly, young lady.”
“He can see me.” Evan sounded slightly panicked. “I don’t think this charm lasts as long as I hoped. It was for emergency use only.”
“Well, in the charm’s defense, you’re still a bit see-through,” Tix admitted. “But my master will be cross with you if you’ve kidnapped his wife and unborn child. And I must ask, where is Trent? He’s supposed to be guarding you vigilantly while Lord Sloane does his important work. Fenrir should be here as well. I expected more out of those wolves.”
“I wasn’t tied up by the dog or Evan. It was the Profane. They’re here and they want to drag me and the princess to Myrddin, where they intend to force me into his service.”
A hand came up, covering Tix’s heart. If he had one. “Oh, that won’t do. That won’t do at all. Lord Sloane comes down firmly on the side of not allowing demons to take over the Earth plane, and I heartily agree. Do you know what a marketplace looks like in Hell? Well, it’s not as nice as a luxury mall here, and demons like to screw everything up. I like Starbucks the way it is, and if I can’t get a decent Cronut, I get quite cross. Humans can be clever when they’re not being tortured, but honestly, they’re useless once you’ve flayed them open. Can’t get any work out of the buggers at all.”
“Tix.” He was an awfully talky demon. “Magical bonds. Can you get rid of them?”
He tsked and walked around where I could no longer see him. Puff used me as a boost to follow the newcomer.