Chapter Five
Five
Even with my friends’ help, I failed to banish Daziel.
“We could go to Madame Hadar,” Jelan suggested after three hours of trying. Well, Jelan, Leah, and I had tried—Gilli had gotten distracted when Daziel asked her to show him how to crochet. Admittedly, teaching someone to crochet looked more fun than trying to banish them.
We’d removed all the mirrors from my rooms. We’d tried capturing Daziel via incantation bowl. I threw a thrift market ring at him, based on lore that rings could capture demons. He caught it and slid it on, smiling. I even spat at him, which was a horrible experience for everyone involved.
“It’s fine,” I said wearily. We were in my living room. Leah, Jelan, and I were exhausted, while Gilli and Daziel chattered about crochet hooks. “I can go to a professor or a rabbi tomorrow. I think if I get something written up, it’ll dissolve the supposed betrothal.”
“You can sleep in my room tonight,” Leah offered.
“Thanks,” I said. “Give me a minute to get my stuff, and I’ll come over.”
After the girls left, Daziel shot me an extremely miffed look. Which was unfair, given I should be miffed by his continued presence. I ignored him, stuffing items into my tote.
A minute later, someone knocked. I went to the door, expecting one of my floormates had forgotten something. When I opened it, élodie and Birra stood there.
My heart sank. I didn’t have the energy to deal with them now, not after a day as long as a week.
“Hi,” I said warily, opening the door a scant sliver.
Which didn’t prevent Daziel from popping up behind me. “Hello.”
Sighing, I opened the door wider and waited for the girls to make up an excuse about why they’d come. They didn’t bother. élodie nudged Birra, who gaped at Daziel.
“We wanted to introduce ourselves properly,” élodie said, ignoring me in favor of Daziel. “And welcome you to Testylier House.”
He’s leaving, I wanted to say, but I swallowed the words.
Birra managed a polite greeting too, though it clearly pained her. Then, unable to resist, she shot out, “You’re not allowed to have boys in your rooms after visiting hours.”
My eyes narrowed. Feeling petty and knowing this was a bad idea, I said, “If you’re affianced, you are.”
“True.” élodie widened her eyes with false innocence. “Where’s your ring?”
Daziel held up his hand, surprising all of us. The ring I’d thrown at him earlier—a cheap band set with colored glass—circled his middle finger, looking wildly out of place next to the signet ring on his pointer finger. The massive stone there definitely wasn’t glass.
“That doesn’t look like an engagement ring,” Birra said accusingly when Daziel pointed to mine.
“It’s the ring my beloved gave me,” Daziel said. “And thus I treasure it.”
Now the girls looked at me like I gave horrible gifts. I glared at Daziel. I hadn’t been trying to give him the ring, I’d been trying to banish him.
Birra looked at my hand. “You’re not wearing a ring.”
“We made a formal verbal affirmation,” Daziel said. “Then we exchanged gifts symbolizing our love, upon the acceptance of which the betrothal is confirmed. The ring came from Naomi. My gift was different.”
“What, like pearls?” élodie frowned thoughtfully. “Or a pomegranate?”
I’d forgotten about the blasted pomegranate.
I wanted to curse. I even knew, sort of, that pomegranates were associated with love and fertility, but like a secondary definition. Mostly I thought of them as symbols of righteous order.
“Yes.” Daziel bared his teeth. “Precisely.”
“If you guys don’t mind,” I said tightly, trying to keep my seething under the surface, “Daziel and I have to talk.”
Birra scowled. “Did you tell Madame Hadar? Even if you are betrothed, you have to clear things with her. And fill out a form.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Hmph,” she said, and I had no doubt she’d be on her way to Madame Hadar’s momentarily.
I closed the door, then pulled Daziel by his arm into my bedroom as a safeguard against eavesdroppers. Closing my door, I whirled on Daziel. “You tricked me.”
“I’m honored you’ve invited me into your chamber.” His gaze landed on a bra lying on the floor. His mouth twitched, making me very aware he was a teenage boy.
I shoved the bra in a drawer, my cheeks hot. “You knew I didn’t know what the pomegranate meant.”
His black gaze snapped back to mine. “You shouldn’t have accepted it, then.”
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me, you’re the one who tricked me into it!”
He arched his brows. “Is it a trick if I asked and you accepted?”
I glared at him. He was infuriating. “Yes. It is.”
I stomped out of my rooms, grabbing A Household Guide to Demons on the way. Daziel certainly didn’t need it, except for a laugh.
“Good night,” he said behind me, sounding peeved. As though he thought I was being rude and wanted to make a point of his own good manners.
I refused to let him think he had better manners than me. “Good night,” I snapped back. Unfortunately, slamming the door as I left probably undermined my attempt to be polite.
Leah made me up a bed on the sofa, since our own were too small to share unless you were as in love as Jelan and Gilli.
After she went to bed, I flipped through the book my mother had given me, rereading sections as though they’d offer more help the second time around.
I paged through the chapter on rings, my gaze catching on a footnote I’d skimmed over before: In Levin’s A Case for the Augmentative Power of Artifacts, he argues a ring’s ability to affect a demon is directly linked to the quality and craftsmanship of the ring itself, refracted and amplified by material and maker’s skill…
I considered this. I’d never heard of any such thing, but I’d only been at the Lyceum a month. Perhaps a fancier ring would do a better job at banishing Daziel?
The memory of Daziel holding up his hand flashed in my mind. Next to my cheap band had been a heavy signet ring.
It wouldn’t be easy to obtain the ring, then carve it with any sort of spell. But Daziel might be asleep right now; Leah definitely was, from her tragically loud snores. If there was ever a moment to slip off someone’s ring, it would be when they were unconscious.
Taking a deep breath, I padded to Leah’s door, opening it slowly so the hinges wouldn’t creak. I slipped across the hall, pausing outside my own door. No light spilled from beneath, and when I pressed my ear close, I heard only silence.
Okay. Here went nothing.
Slowly, pulse pounding in my ears and anxiety turning my hands sweaty, I slid my key into the lock and pulled the door open with the carefulness of a surgeon.
The living room was dark, and I closed the door quickly, breathing as quietly as possible as my eyes adjusted. Moonlight spilled in, soft and silver.
Daziel lay curled up in a nest of blankets on the floor. Smoke rings floated up from his nostrils, carrying the scent of scorched dust.
I crept to his side, my fearful nerves growing as I crouched low. He breathed slowly, slower than a human. Paz rested on his chest, rising and falling.
His hand with the ring lay flung out to his side. His fingers, long and talon-tipped, curled up slightly in sleep.
I twisted the ring, ever so slowly, trying to slide it with the least amount of friction up to his knuckle. It stuck there, and my racing heart felt like it might explode. I wasn’t cut out for this. My gaze flicked to his to make sure he was still asleep.
Daziel stared back at me unblinking.
I yelped and stumbled back. Surprise and sharp dismay burned through me. He was, after all, a demon, and I didn’t know how he would react.
He sat up in one sinuous twist. “If you’re so desperate for a ring from me, yonati, you have only to ask.”
“I—no,” I said, my mortification edged with fear. While Daziel during the day was friendly and wide-eyed, Daziel angry was the deepest shadows of night.
He pulled the ring off his finger and offered it to me in one smooth movement.
His eyes were almost more red than black, his voice low and hard, and I remembered demons were creatures of fire and ash.
“Put it on if you want it so badly. We can say the vows right here. I’m sure there’s no other reason you’d attempt to take my seal from my hand. ”
Something crackled through me, making my hairs stand straight.
I recognized embarrassment and discomfort and maybe a hint of alarm, but something else too, a distinct awareness of how intensely he’d focused on me.
In the soft moonlight he looked unnervingly beautiful, and a hot and heady current swirled through my body.
I swallowed and straightened, stuttering slightly.
“N-no. I don’t want that. I just don’t know how to make you leave! ”
At my outburst, he nodded and leaned back a bit, putting more space between us as he slid his ring back on.
Then he tossed a ball of light into the air, which increased in brightness until it illuminated the room as well as any lamp.
For a minute we regarded each other in a troubled détente, him in his rumpled nightshirt and with an unruly mess of curls, me in an overlarge sweater, my hair unbraided.
Finally, Daziel spoke, much calmer than before, though he managed to sound both wounded and offended.
Not unlike my sister Adina when I’d told her she had to do the same number of chores as everyone else.
“I don’t know why you’re so set on banishment.
You’ve been telling everyone about me for weeks, but now that I’m here, you’re mad. ”
I couldn’t believe I had to explain this. “You’re not supposed to exist. The idea of you existing made my life easier. You actually existing doesn’t.”
He frowned. “How did the idea of me make your life easier?”
My head fell back against the sofa. I felt exhausted now, the rush of fear and heat draining away. “Government School boys kept asking me out, hoping to meet my aunt. A fake betrothed stopped them.”
“A real betrothed will be even more effective, then.”