Chapter 19 Des #2
the low ceiling. The room was full but not untidy, with rows of bookshelves lining the walls, holding more scientific objects
than books. Des noted a small collection of skulls and blinked in surprise.
“As you can see,” Aurelie said, taking a seat on the sofa, “it’s more or less a study. I spend most of my time here when I’m
not in class or working. I’m afraid it’s all rather dull. I read, I take notes, I memorize formulas. I work here at the university
as a handyperson. That takes up a good deal of my time. Occasionally I sleep.” She patted the sofa. “It’s more comfortable
than it looks.”
Daisy walked to a large wooden wardrobe. “May I?” she asked, gesturing to the door.
“Of course.”
Des wasn’t sure what he’d expected when Daisy opened the doors—clothing, perhaps, or more skeletons—but it wasn’t a series of vials and beakers, some filled with unidentifiable objects floating in fluid.
Aurelie was even stranger than he’d given her credit for, but he didn’t see anything that would indicate illegal activity.
Certainly nothing akin to the sketch he’d taken.
Could it simply have been an assignment for one of her classes, some sort of hypothetical exercise?
After all, he had no idea what university students did, and he doubted Commander Yew did, either.
“What do you use all this for?” Daisy asked over her shoulder. She looked as out of place here as Des felt.
“Scientific study,” Aurelie explained, joining them at the wardrobe. “Not novel experiments, of course. Nothing that could
produce demons. But part of learning how things work is observing the processes for ourselves.” She lifted out a small dish
containing a jagged lump of crystals. “I’m growing these to learn about the crystallization process. These were made with
water and alum.”
“And this?” Des asked, pointing to a jar full of cockroaches.
“Food for the amphibians in the zoology department. I catch so many around here that I figured I may as well do something
useful with them.”
Daisy seemed to accept all of Aurelie’s explanations at face value, but Des kept his eyes on Aurelie. There was a bead of
sweat at her temple, though it wasn’t warm down here. If anything, it was quite cold. There was no fireplace. The thought
of her sleeping down here by herself troubled him for some reason. Perhaps he was too used to sleeping in a room with dozens
of other people.
“All right,” Des said, sitting at the desk. “So if you’re not doing anything here to produce demons, what’s your explanation for what we’ve been seeing lately?”
Aurelie shrugged and returned to the sofa, where Daisy sat next to her. “I don’t have an explanation, Des.” She turned to him, eyes suddenly sharp. “I suppose one could ask if there isn’t some other common denominator at these demon sightings.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you. You have also been at every one of these encounters. How do we know you’re not the one attracting the demons?”
Des glanced at Daisy, who shook her head unhelpfully. “Because it hasn’t been happening when you’re not around,” he said,
though he wasn’t sure. Commander Yew said there were more encounters elsewhere in the kingdom. Des had read the reports himself.
Aurelie untied the ribbon at her neck, exposing the pale hollow of her throat, and shook out the remnants of her disheveled
braid, as if she no longer cared to keep up her student persona. And why should she? She was obviously exhausted, and both
Des and Daisy had already seen under the guise of the dean’s perfect niece.
“Tell me one more thing and we’ll let you get some sleep,” Des said.
She sighed and met his eyes again. “What?”
“Who was the tall man who came here to visit you?”
“Everard? He’s a friend of my uncle’s.”
“And yet he came when your uncle was away.”
Aurelie blinked slowly, as if she was fighting sleep. “He wasn’t aware my uncle would be traveling. It was a last-minute trip
to visit a dying friend.”
“And you invited him to stay for dinner?”
“I did. But he wasn’t able to stay long. We had a glass of wine and then he left.”
Fair enough. That did explain why the visit was so short. “What else do you know about him?”
“Very little. I’d never met him before that night.”
“Have you seen him since?”
A small scratching noise from across the room caught Aurelie’s attention. Des followed her gaze to the far corner near the
floorboard.
“Mice,” Aurelie explained with a light laugh. “They’re nearly as bad as the cockroaches.”
“Your uncle’s friend?” Des asked, doing his best to keep his tone curious.
“I haven’t seen him since, no.”
Des rose. “Very well. We have to report tonight’s incident to Commander Yew, of course. But since you’ve shown us that you
have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t expect to hear from us again.”
“Oh.” Aurelie followed Des and Daisy to the door. Did he detect a hint of disappointment in her voice, or was she simply surprised
they were leaving so abruptly? “Would you like me to see you out?”
“There’s no need,” Daisy said, placing her hand on Aurelie’s shoulder for a moment. Physical touch came so easily to her,
something Des had never understood. Then again, she was small and gentle, not a giant like him. A destroyer, as Aurelie had
called him. “You should get some rest.”
“I will,” Aurelie said. “Thank you again for the hot chocolate.”
Des managed a tight smile. “You’re welcome.”
Aurelie shut the door behind them. He heard the scrape of the key in the lock a moment later, and he wondered if she always
locked herself inside. Some part of him hoped she did.
His eyes met Daisy’s. They knew each other well enough now that they could communicate volumes with a single glance.
The guard was waiting for them at the gates. “Thank you for taking care of our Miss Blake,” the man said as he opened the gate for them. “Her uncle has been gone longer than expected, and he’s all she has in this world. If anything were to happen to her . . .”
“She’s fine,” Daisy assured him. “She’s stronger than she looks.”
Des waited until they were halfway down the block before he turned to Daisy. “You saw it too, didn’t you?”
Daisy nodded. “I did.”
“You know we have to turn her in.”
Daisy sighed, a look of genuine sorrow passing over her features. It pained Des to see her so sad. Even on her darkest days,
Daisy could find something to smile about. She genuinely cared about Aurelie. “I do.”
Des clenched his jaw and looked away. “I was right about her, Daisy. You know I was.”
After a long moment, Daisy said, “I know.”
They were silent for the remainder of the walk back to the Iron Fortress. His stomach was in knots, his mind racing with the
knowledge that if Daisy hadn’t also seen it, he might have actually let the whole matter go. Just as he had done with her
sketch, perhaps even knowing on some level that Daisy wouldn’t have the heart to turn the girl in.
Before he met Aurelie, he would never have considered such deception. All he had was his honor, his vows. Before last week,
he believed with his entire being that the only thing worse than a demon was a person who chose to create them.
But that was before he’d held someone in his arms for the first time, had felt their heartbeat against his own.
Before he’d watched a person, the very kind he was sworn to protect, step between him and danger.
Before he’d known that a demon summoner could also be curious and thoughtful and brave.
Before he’d stared at a girl’s mouth and wondered how it would feel against his.
If it was as soft as he feared and hoped it might be. If it would taste as good as it looked.
He curled his hands into fists, his entire body burning with self-loathing.
Whatever Aurelie was up to, he simply couldn’t bring himself to believe she was evil. But she knew who Des and Daisy were. She knew how they’d ended up in the guard. Aciano’s beard, a demon had killed a man only feet from her, in broad daylight!
His body knew what he had to do, even if his mind wouldn’t allow himself to accept it. It had known since the moment he saw
the “mouse” in Aurelie’s laboratory, the one she had tried to gloss over with a nervous laugh.
The one with the pair of glowing red eyes.