Chapter Six
ARCHIE SLEPT BETTER that night than he had in days.
He hadn’t even realized how poor his sleep had become until he woke, refreshed, early enough that the maid, Grace, was still setting out breakfast. He was starved too, stomach growling as he heaped his plate.
He couldn’t remember being this hungry for years, since he had hit his growth spurt.
“Have you an engagement this morning?” asked his mother when she arrived to see him already slathering butter on his third slice of toasted bread. She looked ready to be pleasantly surprised, and Archie found himself in a rare enough good mood to indulge her.
“I thought I might catch up on my correspondence today. Most of the fellows aren’t at the club as much since getting married so I thought I’d see if it would be more convenient to call on them.
” And see if any of their wives had available friends was the unspoken part that Archie knew his mother would assume, even if he had no intention of doing so.
She smiled tentatively at him. “That sounds very sensible of you, dear.”
It didn’t take long for Archie to dash off a few notes lamenting about the pass of time and suggesting that he might be free to call, which left him with most of the morning left for his actual intended errand.
He’d never been to the palace library before, so when he passed the grand wooden doors thrice his height he peered around curiously.
It was much bigger than he imagined, almost as large as the throne room with bookshelves lining every wall and neatly in rows across the middle.
The air was cold, unusual in the palace where the servants diligently kept the rooms warm, and though there were several other visitors, everyone murmured in hushed tones as if they were at worship.
The librarian, a woman of middling age in a long shapeless dress, pointed out the right section when Archie inquired as to how he might learn more on the demon treaty the king had made.
“The treatises are all there,” she said, with gentle emphasis.
That was his first clue that there might be more to read up on than he expected.
“Is there perhaps some… introductory texts to what we know about demons?” He asked, helplessly looking at the entire bookcase that she had indicated to.
“Certainly, there are several commissioned for use by the university’s magisterium course. Let me show you,” she said, beckoning him to follow. “I would recommend Wyndham’s Learnings From The Firste Possession or All Known Factes About The Demonic by Beckley.”
The only academic texts Archie had ever read had been assigned by his tutor, his preferred reading these days skewing towards populist novels, but he sought the two books eagerly.
The Beckley was a series of essays sorted by known aspects of demons, an intimidatingly large tome, whereas Wyndham’s account was a series of observations and recollections from his own period of possession, perhaps meant more as warning to anyone considering making a deal with a demon.
He kept the image of the tower firmly up in his mind as he started reading.
Archie wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, only that he knew he had gotten himself into a situation he was woefully underprepared for.
He took comfort in that Wyndham, whoever he was, had evidently made a much worse deal than he, bargaining his body and soul in return for wealth and the hand of the woman he loved.
The demon had presented him with the woman’s amputated hand and taken control of his body until Wyndham was able to drive him out with loopholes and further bargaining.
Before he knew it, Archie was engrossed in the book as if it were any other adventure tale up until Damaris’s presence pressed on the back of his mind.
Up until now, the demon had been quiet, sleeping or scheming or whatever else demons did in the corner of people’s mind – and Archie would have to remember to ask – but he suddenly got the impression of Damaris unfurling out and looking over Archie’s shoulder.
‘What is it?’ asked Archie.
Another demon. Damaris subsided until his presence in Archie’s mind was barely there.
Voices extended from around the corner, jovial though quiet, and entirely human sounding. When the party turned into the same aisle as he, Archie gasped and jumped to his feet. “Your Highness.”
Archie swept into a low bow, thankful that years of etiquette training held true no matter how infrequently he visited court.
Even though he’d never seen him in person before, anyone could recognize one of the demon princes on sight.
The king had three sons, one his human offspring with the queen, and two half-demon, proof of his alliances with two of the most powerful demon clans.
The three princes kept each other in check – Prince Jasper, fully human with no magic ability, was the heir and the only one eligible to inherit the crown, and Princes Ceronzar and Ixthan, the only two demonblood with free access to the human world, who came from queens of two rival demon clans who would happily ensure that the other demon queen was never able to claw more of a foothold into the king than the other.
“Well hello. Rise.” The voice was rich, with the body of honey mead.
Archie was reasonably sure this one was Prince Ixthan, known for his eerily striking amber eyes with vertical slits.
As Archie stood and raised his gaze again, those eyes were fixed on him like a cat on a mouse.
No, that wasn’t it. He was looking through Archie, past his eyes through to Damaris.
His eyes narrowed for a long moment and Archie waited, frozen.
“Ix? What is it?” That was one of Prince Ixthan’s friends. Eric, Archie recalled vaguely.
“Oh, just an acquaintance I wasn’t expecting to see here,” said Ixthan airily, the slightest of curl to the lip. He turned to Archie. “You must let me know how you’ve been. Why don’t you come to my winter party next week?”
There was a nudge from Damaris, a silent request to take over and Archie let him.
It felt like sliding underwater in his own body.
Archie could still see everything, hear everything, but it felt distanced and he was now the one looking over Damaris’s shoulder.
Was this what it felt like for Damaris always?
When his limbs moved, it felt different to how Archie would do it and he instinctively understood that Damaris was used to a differently shaped body.
“I would be delighted, Your Highness, though I don’t mean to impose.” The words sounded glib, in the way that his brother Charlie sounded sometimes. The consonants came out crisp, the way that Damaris sounded in his mind even though the timbre was Archie’s voice.
“Not at all, arrive early so you can catch me up on how you’ve been.
” A sly order for them to speak in private.
Damaris was looking straight at Ixthan, but Archie could see out of his peripheral view the prince’s friends looking at him openly, trying to figure out how they were supposed to know him.
For some reason, letting Damaris move his hands and speak through him had only felt slightly odd, but being unable to move even his own eyeballs sent a sudden spike of fear through him.
A distracted questioning tone came from Damaris’s mind and Archie didn’t know how to reply.
It would be fine. It had to be. Damaris had already expressed his disinterest in keeping Archie’s body.
It was just the fresh knowledge of that book on the table, knowing that the author Wyndham had been trapped inside his body for twelve whole years.
“Instead of reading those books, why don’t you come ask me if you want to know anything about demons.
” This time, when Ixthan looked into his eyes, Archie could tell he was looking past Damaris and to Archie now.
Archie thought desperately hard about being small and unobtrusive and having a really big enormous protective tower surrounding him.
Strong, impenetrable stone with no cracks.
“I could not possibly bother his Highness with such petty questions as I have, but your humble servant appreciates his Highness’s generosity,” said Damaris unctuously. Archie was so preoccupied trying to figure out the hidden meanings between their words that he almost missed it.
“Then I will see you next week. It is good to see you look so… well,” said Ixthan with an exaggerated drag of his eyes up and down Archie’s body before taking his leave with a bow.
His friends followed suit, skeptical but unwilling to offend someone the prince would bow for.
Archie was almost glad he didn’t have control; no doubt he would have blushed horrendously at such a remark.
Damaris waited until the prince had left the library completely before he rescinded control of Archie’s body, and Archie felt a lurch as if he’d stumbled backwards into his own limbs.
He shook his fingers out, but they felt the same as they ever had.
He rolled his eyes experimentally, glancing towards the window, the ceiling, the door. All his to control again.
What was that? asked Archie weakly. His hands were shaking so hard he had to clasp them together.
He could feel the ache in his jaw where his teeth threatened to chatter to.
Now Damaris wasn’t in control of his body, his heart pounded erratically, a painful thump against his breastbone. How did he know you were here?
We demons can sense each other’s magic, like a smell. I am not much grown into my power yet, so his ability must be great.
This is you not yet much grown? asked Archie, recalling the ease with which Damaris took him to his knees.
Even though Archie had only let him in for a day so far, he was quickly realizing how little he knew about demons though he had known of their existence his whole life.
Wait, please don’t answer that, I don’t – I’m not ready to think on that yet.
Will the prince report us, do you think?
I doubt it. Only humans think there are no demons who live among them.
Damaris sounded entirely unconcerned, an unexpected calming effect on Archie.
Contact with the demonic was only allowed under supervision of the university mages, primarily for the king’s mages to contract their powers, and there were strict penalties for unauthorized demonic activity.
But then, surely Ixthan would be alerting the guards and not inviting him to a private audience if that were the case.
Do you really know Prince Ixthan? I thought the demon princes had to reside in the human world as part of the treaty.
Don’t believe everything a demon tells you, said Damaris with a pointed thought at the Wyndham book. Archie closed the book for now. The author’s traumatic experience of possession was too much for him to consider right now. He wanted to be outside in the sunshine, using his own limbs.
It wasn’t until later that Archie realized that Damaris had successfully avoided answering the question.