Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
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Nicholas returned to his workroom after supper. His demon-detecting charm still wasn’t working. He also needed to think about what sort of protective charms he could place around the manor. They needed to banish the demon fast.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that Abigail had expected Sadie to sit where Helen had been at supper that evening, though Sadie hadn’t mentioned as much when she warned him of the poisoned wine.
So long as the demon and Abigail were working together, none of his guests were safe, but Sadie was in the most danger of all.
At least she had warning. Keeping the entire matter a secret from everyone else perhaps wasn’t the wisest course. But no one else could sense the demon’s intentions like Sadie could. The inevitable panic could very well outweigh the benefits of forewarning.
There were no good choices when a demon was involved.
He pulled the malfunctioning charm out of his pocket and tossed it onto his workbench. Rather than modifying the glyph, he would start over on a new stone. Before he could even choose which to use, though, the door of his workroom swung open.
Nicholas threw a physical ward between himself and the intruder in a blink. He was still erecting the new ward he had practiced that afternoon to stop demons when he realized it wasn’t Abigail who had followed him into the workroom, but his mother.
He finished the ward against demons, making it invisible and as close to himself as possible, then dropped the obvious ward.
His mother waited for the blue wall to disappear, stepped into the room and closed the door behind herself. “All right, Nicholas, tell me. What has you so jumpy?”
He sighed. His mother not noticing that something was going on really would have required a miracle. Like Beatrice, however, he trusted her not to panic. Plus, she wouldn’t leave until satisfied with his answer.
“I need to do one thing before I tell you. Give me five minutes?”
“Certainly.” She sat on the stool Sadie had used earlier, looking both at ease and out of place in his workroom. Sadie hadn’t looked out of place. She had fit, even when all she was doing was sitting, lost in her own thoughts.
Nicholas grabbed a simple chunk of granite and engraved the glyph that had alerted Sadie to the demon’s possession of Jane.
It would only work if there was a threat, but it was still better than the detection charm he had otherwise.
Because he didn’t need this charm to last for long, he did a single pass of each line of the runes making up the glyph, then set down his tools.
The charm didn’t grow warm in his hand. He pushed it across the table toward his mother, not exactly certain how it would react if the demon was possessing her, but figuring it was his best bet at being sure he was only dealing with his mother.
He kept himself behind the invisible ward the entire time.
“Could you pick that up, please, Mother?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Clearly, there is more going on than just you falling in love with Sadie and her having secrets.”
She held the charm and nothing happened.
Nicholas sighed. “Much more.”
His mother set the stone down and clasped her hands in her lap. “Well, before you ruin my day with whatever ominous tidings you bear, allow me to say first that I am happy for you and Sadie. She’s excellent for you, Nicky, and I think you might be just what she needs, too.”
“Thank you. You might have to tell her that you approve, though. She’s under the impression you only invited her to make everyone else look better. I told her she’s mistaken, but I don’t think she believes me.”
“Spirits, no.” Madeleine laughed, and it wasn’t her usual gentle laugh, but a full-bodied chuckle. “I saw the way you perked up talking to her and invited her for exactly this outcome. It was everyone else who I knew would make her look even better to you.”
“Tell her that.”
“I will. I tried to share how excited I was about you two at supper tonight, but I’m not sure she heard a word I said. I take it she wasn’t just mooning over you at the other end of the table?”
“No. Please don’t ask how, for that is Sadie’s secret to divulge or not as she wishes, but she was monitoring the demon that has joined your guests in the manor.”
It took his mother a full thirty seconds to respond. “A demon?”
Nicholas nodded. “Turns out the forest really was haunted, and not by evil spirits. The demon made some sort of deal with Abigail, it seems, but has also possessed Jane without her knowledge at the very least.”
Madeleine’s brow furrowed. “Can demons brew potions?”
Of course his mother jumped to that question. “I don’t know, but this demon can at the very least mix up poisons with the ingredients in the brewing room.”
“That’s why Sadie is with Jane now, not just because she is a water-witch dying to brew something herself, but to ensure Jane isn’t unsupervised in the brewing room.
And she warned you that Helen’s wine was poisoned, which is why you spilled it.
I take it she’s a telepath? That’s how she communicated with you and monitored the demon?
” His mother held up a hand. “No, don’t tell me.
It is clearly important to Sadie that her powers remain a secret.
I shall pretend I don’t know until she decides to entrust that knowledge with me.
Unless you’d feel better telling her that I figured it out. ”
“Mother, your ability to untangle everything is uncanny.”
She arched a brow. “Don’t pretend you didn’t notice how much Sadie wished she could say she liked brewing potions that first day, too.”
“I noticed, but it took me until yesterday to figure out her magic beyond the water affinity.”
“And I only suspected tonight because she was too concerned with protecting Helen to safeguard her secret as carefully as usual. She has a good heart.”
“She does.” Nicholas pulled out another stone.
“I’ll tell her you know that she is a water-witch.
She admitted as much to Beatrice already, so I don’t think that will be a big deal.
I’ll also encourage her to admit her power to you since you won’t judge and are likely to figure it out given enough time.
She has years of evidence that trusting people with that secret isn’t safe, though. ”
“The poor dear. Telepathy is quite a burden.” His mother leaned forward slightly. “And now, let us move onto this demon. What is your plan to deal with it? What can I do to help?”
Nicholas explained what Beatrice had shared about banishing a demon.
“The problem is making sure no one gets hurt while we find the tear to the demon realm. Sadie will brew a potion to help people resist demon possession as soon as we get the final ingredients, and I’ll make a few charms if I can figure out the best glyphs.
But the instant we tell everyone there is a demon in the manor, we risk inciting panic. ”
“I agree. Keeping it secret until the last moment is probably the best. In the meantime, I can keep Helen and Jane with me more so the demon has less of a chance to target or possess them. You and Sadie will monitor each other and check in on Beatrice, I trust?”
“Yes. Keeping Jane and Helen busy will be helpful, especially since Sadie will need the brewing room.” He nodded at the charm he had carved at the beginning of the conversation.
“I’ll strengthen that charm and get it to you before I retire tonight.
It should grow warm if the demon means harm, though we don’t know exactly what sets it off.
It might react to Sadie using her magic, too, but at least it is something for you to carry. ”
“Excellent. I’ll leave you to your work then and go brainstorm excuses to keep Helen and Jane with me in the coming days.”
Nicholas grinned. “I almost feel sorry for them.”
His mother sniffed as she rose from the stool. “Nicholas Bennett Huxley. What a thing to say to your own mother.”
He raised a brow. “The truth?”
She laughed. “Exactly.”
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The next few days passed in a blur of nerves.
Sadie gathered her ingredients, including the anise Nicholas sent to the city for, and brewed her potion, but didn’t know when or how to administer it to everyone.
Nicholas couldn’t get his demon-detecting charm to work, but since Sadie’s control of her telepathy grew with each passing day as she practiced with the focus charm in her ring, that wasn’t as critical.
For every moment that nothing happened was another moment of worry over what could happen. Madeleine kept Helen and Jane busy; Nicholas etched poison-detecting glyphs in hidden spots on most of the plates and cups in the manor, though the power would fade fast.
And Beatrice discovered that the only way to make a demon leave its host was to entice it to jump to a new one.
The demon and Abigail continued to grumble about hurting or getting rid of everyone, but as far as Sadie could tell, hadn’t attempted to do anything more.
She wanted to believe the charms Nicholas had made for Madeleine and Beatrice, combined with all their efforts to limit opportunities for the demon to cause issues, were working.
She feared it was instead biding its time.
About to retreat to the brewing room for the third day in a row—at the very least Sadie could make sure the manor was prepared with healing potions and common antidotes, if nothing else—Sadie kissed Nicholas in the hall where they’d part ways.
Somehow in the last few days, she had lost all hesitation to these semi-public acts of affection.
They hadn’t actually kissed in front of anyone but Beatrice—and Pippa one time, but that had been an accident.
A few servants had almost certainly seen them, but not Madeleine nor any of the other guests.
Sadie didn’t worry about being caught, though.