I thought of my mother and my brother Robbie. Nick. 'I want him to break the familiar bonds,' I said, 'and I want him to leave me and my kin by blood or law alone. I'll keep the demon mark and settle up later.'
Algaliarept brought his foot up and propped his ankle atop a bent knee. 'Clever, clever witch,' he agreed. 'If she breaks her word, she forfeits her soul.'
Ceri's eyes went serious. 'Rachel, if you teach anyone how to hold line energy, your soul belongs to Algaliarept. He can pull you into the ever-after at his will and you are his. Do you understand?'
I nodded, believing for the first time that I might see the sunrise again. 'What happens if he breaks his word?'
'If he harms you or your kin—by his own volition—Newt will put Algaliarept in a bottle and you have a genie. It's standard boilerplate, but I'm glad you asked.'
My eyes widened. I looked from Al to her. 'No shit?'
She smiled at me, her hair floating as she tucked it behind an ear. 'No shit.'
Al harrumphed, and we jerked our attentions back to him. 'What about you?' he said, clearly annoyed. 'What do you want for keeping your mouth shut?'
The satisfaction of getting something back from her former captor and tormentor was in Ceri's eyes. 'You will take back the stain on my soul that I took in your stead, and you will not seek reprisal against me or my kin in body or law from now until the two worlds collide.'
'I'm not taking back a thousand years of curse imbalance,' Al said indignantly. 'That's why you were my damn familiar.' He put both feet on the floor and leaned forward. 'But I won't have it said I'm not agreeable. You keep the smut, but I'll let you teach one person how to hold line energy.' A smile, contriving and satisfied, filled his unholy eyes. 'One child. A girl child. Your daughter. And if she tells anyone, her soul is forfeit to me. Immediately.'
Ceri paled, and I didn't understand. 'She can tell one of her daughters, and so on,' she countered, and Al smiled.
'Done.' He stood. The glow of ever-after energy hovered about him like a shadow. Lacing his fingers together, he cracked his knuckles. 'Oh, this is grand. This is good.'
I looked at Ceri in wonder. 'I thought he'd be upset,' I said softly.
She shook her head, clearly worried. 'He still has a hold on you. And he's counting on one of my kin to forget the seriousness of the arrangement and make a mistake.'
'The familiar bonds,' I insisted, glancing at the dark window. 'He breaks them now?'
'The time of dissolution was never stated,' Al said. He was touching the things he had brought into my kitchen, making them disappear in a smear of ever-after.
Ceri drew herself up. 'It was tacitly implied. Break your hold, Algaliarept.'
He looked over his glasses at her, smiling when he put a hand before and behind him and made a mocking bow. 'It is a small thing, Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate. But you can't think less of me for trying.'
Humming, he adjusted his frock. A bowl cluttered with bottles and silver implements appeared on the island counter. There was a book atop it all, small with a handwritten title, the script elegant and looping. 'Why is he so happy?' I whispered.
Ceri shook her head, the tips of her hair moving after her head stopped. 'I've only seen him like this when he discovers a secret. I'm sorry, Rachel. You know something that makes him very happy.'
Swell.
Holding the book at reading height, he rifled through it, a scholarly air about him. 'I can break a familiar bond as easy as snapping your neck. You, though, will have to do it the hard way; I'm not going to waste a stored curse on you. And since I'll not have you knowing how to break familiar bonds, we will add a little something…. Here it is. Lilac wine. Itstarts with lilac wine.' His eyes met mine over the book. 'For you.'
A flash of cold went through me as he beckoned me out of the circle, a small, smoky purple bottle appearing behind his long fingers.
I took a quick breath. 'You'll break the bonds and leave?' I said. 'Nothing extra?'
'Rachel Mariana Morgan,' he admonished. 'Do you think so little of me?'
I glanced at Ceri, and she nodded for me to go. Trusting her, not Al, I stepped forward. She broke the circle as I did, setting it in place immediately behind me.
He uncorked the bottle, pouring out a glimmering drop of amethyst into a tiny cut crystal cup the size of my thumb. Putting a gloved finger to his thin lips, he extending it. Grimacing, I took it. My heart pounded. I had no choice.
Coming close with an eagerness I didn't trust, he showed me the open book. It was in Latin, and he pointed at a handwritten set of instructions. 'See this word?' he said.
I took a breath. 'Umb—'
'Not yet!' Al shouted, making me start, heart pounding. 'Not until the wine coats your tongue, stupid. My god, you think you'd never twisted a curse before!'
'I'm not a ley line witch!' I exclaimed, my voice harsher than it probably should be.
Al's eyebrows rose. 'You could be.' His eyes went to the glass in my grip. 'Drink it.'
I glanced at Ceri. At her encouragement, I let the tiny amount pass my lips. It was sweet, making my tongue tingle. I could feel it seeping into me, relaxing my muscles. Al tapped the book, and I looked down. 'Umbra,' I said, holding the drop on my tongue.
The wild sweetness went sour. 'Auck,' I said, leaning forward to spit it out.
'Swallow…' Al warned softly, and I started when he clamped a hand under my chin and tilted my head back so I couldn't open my mouth.
Eyes tearing, I swallowed. My pounding heart echoed in my ears. Al leaned closer, his eyes going black as he loosened his grip on me and my head drooped. My muscles went loose and watery, and when he let go of me, I fell to the floor.
He didn't even try to catch me, and I landed in a pained crumple. My head hit the floor and I took a quick breath. Closing my eyes, I gathered myself, wedging my palms under me and sitting up. 'Thanks a hell of a lot for the warning,' I said angrily, looking up and not finding him.
Confused, I stood to find Ceri sitting at the table with her head in her hands and her bare feet tucked under her. The fluorescent light was off, and a single white candle sent a soft glow into the gloom of a cloudy dawn. I stared at the window. The sun was up? I must have passed out. 'Where is he?' I breathed, blanching when I saw it was almost eight.
She pulled her head up, shocking me with how weary she seemed. 'You don't remember?'
My stomach rumbled, and there was an uneasy lightness to it. 'No. He's gone?'
She turned to face me squarely. 'He took back his aura. You took back yours. You broke the bond with him. You cried and called him a son of a bitch and told him to leave. He did—after he struck you so hard you lost consciousness.'
I felt my jaw, then the back of my head. It felt about the same: really, really bad. I was damp and cold, and I got up, clasping my arms around me. 'Okay.' I felt my ribs, deciding nothing was broken. 'Anything else I ought to know?'
'You drank an entire carafe of coffee in about twenty minutes.'
That might explain the shakes. It had to be that. Outsmarting demons was becoming old hat. I sat beside Ceri, exhaling in a long breath. Ivy would be home soon. 'You like lasagna?'
A smile blossomed over her. 'Oh, yes, please.'
Twenty-four
My sneakers were silent on the flat carpet of Trent's back hallways. Both Quen and Jonathan were with me, leaving me trying to decide if they were escort or prison guard. We had already woven through the Sunday-silent public areas of his offices and conference rooms that Trent hid his illegal activities behind. Publicly, Trent controlled a good portion of the transportation that ran through Cincinnati, coming in from all directions and leaving the same: railways, roadways, and even a small municipal airport.
