Chapter 30
Thirty
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Nicholas woke when Sadie slipped out of his arms. “Where are you going?”
“To use the water closet. Then I want breakfast.”
He grumbled and got out of bed after her. If she wanted breakfast, he’d better send down to the kitchen for something. He had no intention of sharing Sadie with anyone else for at least another hour.
He pulled on a loose pair of trousers and made his way to the sitting room in his suite. After gathering up the clothes strewn across the floor and bringing them into the bedroom, he rang for a servant and requested a tray.
After the servant left, he noticed Sadie’s amulet lying on the ground. He scooped up the agate and set it on a side table. He wouldn’t hide it from her, but he hoped he could convince her not to wear it anymore.
Heading back into the bedroom, he found Sadie struggling to pull on her clothes from the day before. He crossed to her side immediately and helped. “Should I have sent a servant to grab you a different dress as well as breakfast?”
She laughed. “I’m not sure which is worse, being seen in last night’s gown with my hair falling around my face or knowing that a servant had to bring me clothes in your rooms.”
“You look lovely.”
“Thank you, but I didn’t mean being seen by you. With my luck, I’ll open the door to sneak back to my room at the exact instant Abigail or your mother walks past.”
He fastened the final buttons on her gown.
“Abigail is already jealous, and I think my mother might surprise you with how unfazed she might be.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and moved to pull on his own clothes.
“If it will make you feel better, though, I can head out first and scout the hallway for you. But not until after breakfast.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan.”
Their food arrived shortly after Nicholas finished buttoning his waistcoat. He accepted the tray while Sadie hid in his bedroom, though she had to know the servants were well aware where she had spent the night.
“Yes, I know,” she confirmed when she joined him at the table next to the window in his sitting room. “But there is an expectation of discretion all the same.”
After he finished his first slice of toast, Nicholas admitted that they needed to discuss a few serious matters before facing the rest of the manor.
“I take it you thought you’d be able to hear the demon with your telepathy?”
Sadie set down her tea. “I’m fairly certain I have heard it.
That’s what had me feeling so off that day in the foyer and when Abigail found us in the forest. Despite my best efforts, I’ve heard a lot of negative private thoughts over the years, angry people wanting others to hurt and whatnot.
But what I heard those days was unique. They weren’t even particularly violent or graphic, yet the tone was …
” She trailed off, her eyes narrowed as she searched for the right word.
“Evil?” Nicholas offered.
“Exactly.”
“What about when you caught Jane brewing poison instead of a potion?”
She reached for her throat, but she hadn’t picked up her amulet from the side table. Her fingers flexed, and she lowered her hand once more. “The power you had added to my charm was still active then.”
Seeing Sadie’s discomfort at not wearing her charm gave Nicholas resolve.
He hated the idea of her bottling her magic, knew that she needed to learn to control it herself, but he understood that she felt vulnerable without it.
“Tell me about the glyph on your amulet. It’s not just a basic ward blocking your magic. ”
“No. Nana tried that first, but I started suffering from horrible headaches and insomnia.”
Nicholas nodded. Such symptoms were known consequences of locking magic inside a witch. It was why witches who broke the law had to be jailed in special cells rather than having their power bound directly. The headaches and inability to sleep were only the start.
“She tried lots of glyphs,” Sadie continued, her voice soft with love for the one person in her childhood who hadn’t shunned her, “but she wasn’t skilled at piecing runes together into new glyphs. It took years before she came across a grimoire with the glyph on my amulet.”
“It was designed to block telepathy?” If it didn’t cut Sadie off from magic entirely, allowing it to flow freely and only preventing the power from transforming into mind-reading, that could be why she hadn’t suffered the same physical effects.
It still didn’t sound safe to him for such extended use, though she had clearly survived years with it.
She squeezed her eyes closed, and he knew her answer would increase his fears tenfold.
He waited. He wouldn’t ask again, but trust that she would tell him when she was ready.
After a deep breath, she looked him straight in the eye. “No. The glyph on my amulet is designed to block demons.”
“What?” Nicholas half rose from his seat, then shook his head and forced himself to sit. “Your power isn’t demonic.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Sadie sliced a hand through the air, cutting off his protest. “The origin of the power is immaterial. Either way, telepathy shares similarities with demonic powers. That’s actually what made me think there might really be a demon at Marstede.
You said the glyph on the charm you gave me reacts to intangible threats like telepathy, and the glyph on my amulet is the only other one I’ve heard of that affects my power, but that wasn’t what it was designed for. ”
“You’re saying your grandmother used a glyph meant for demons to cage your power, and my glyph meant to detect telepaths instead found a demon.”
“Exactly.”
“But you couldn’t hear the demon at supper last night?”
“No. I managed to use my power fairly consistently, focused in on Abigail, but the only thoughts I heard seemed natural.”
“You only listened to her thoughts?”
Sadie nodded. “Focusing on her was the only way I could use my magic almost consistently.” She licked her lips. “I wanted to go a little deeper, too. I didn’t push too far—it was still essentially surface thoughts—I just heard a few that I might not have picked up otherwise.”
“Sadie, we’re dealing with a potential demon. I’m not going to condemn you for reading Abigail’s thoughts. On the contrary, I’m fighting not to ask you to dig through her mind for a solution to getting rid of her, which doesn’t even have anything to do with the demon.”
Sadie laughed, but he was only half joking. Nicholas could handle another two weeks with Jane, Helen, and Beatrice at Marstede, but Abigail had long worn out her welcome.
“Renounce your title?” Sadie suggested. Then you’d be in my reach.
Nicholas was fairly certain she hadn’t meant to share the thought that had accompanied her suggestion.
If her lack of control resulted in projecting her own thoughts regularly, it made extra sense why she clung to that amulet.
Nicholas understood that his acceptance of her power was not the norm.
Hiding her power must be hard enough when she couldn’t react to the thoughts she heard, but it would be impossible if she shared her thoughts with others.
And because her lack of control was still such a tender subject for Sadie, Nicholas decided not to bring attention to the fact that she had shared that coda with him.
He pushed down the thought that his title wasn’t a barrier; he wasn’t only within Sadie’s reach, she had already caught him.
That was a topic to raise after they dealt with the demon.
But maybe he’d plant the seed now, while Sadie thought they were joking. “Or I could propose to you so she’d realize her chance is gone.”
Sadie snorted. “She wouldn’t give up. Rather, she’d switch her focus to getting rid of me.”
A pointed silence filled the room as they both considered that.
“No,” Nicholas announced before Sadie could make the suggestion. “We are not using you as bait for the demon.”
“But it’s perfect. If Abigail is working with the demon, they won’t be able to resist going after me.
And if she is actually innocent of being anything but a social-climbing shrew who is unwittingly hosting a demon, it will still work, because the demon would use her own anger to influence her actions. ”
“No.”
“I’ll carry the charm you gave me.”
“You should be carrying that no matter what.”
The corner of Sadie’s mouth twitched. “You’re cute when you scowl.”
“I’m serious, Sadie.”
“So am I.” She grinned. “But you can relax. I have been carrying it. You missed me tucking it away this morning because you were doing up my laces.”
“You were only wearing a chemise and corset at that point, where could you have tucked it away?”
She raised a brow, then looked down at her cleavage.
Nicholas spluttered. “Really?”
“You’re the one who started it.”
“So I did, but I didn’t expect you to continue it. The answer is still no, though. We are not encouraging a demon to attack you. I have no idea how well the charm can protect you from a demon.”
“We also have my amulet, if you strengthen the glyph.”
“I’ll make a new charm based on that to trap the demon once we find it, but that won’t protect you.”
Sadie crossed her arms. “Finding the demon is the issue, though. I tried last night and didn’t hear so much as a whisper from it.”
“You said you focused on Abigail, though. We know the demon can jump hosts if it was also in Jane in the brewing room. What if it was in someone else throughout supper?”
Sadie made a sound of frustration. “I don’t even know how easily a demon can change hosts. Will it even help if I can hear it, or will it simply move from person to person, always a step ahead of us?”
“We need more information, but I don’t know any demonology experts.”
“What about Beatrice? She was the one who pointed out it would have to be a demon haunting the entirety of the Gloaming Forest rather than a spirit. She may not be an expert, but she probably knows more than either of us.”