Page 75 of Of Flames and Crows

They told him then. About the councils that governed the world of magic. About the prophecy concerning Mae. About the clashes she and the others had already had with the Dark Council and the Sorcerer King and their most recent encounter with Barquiel’s devils in the crypt.

“You’re the son of the Sorcerer King?” Roman asked Nikolai, aghast.

Nikolai grimaced. “I prefer to call myself the son of Gabriela Stanisic.”

Julius flashed him an approving look.

Roman turned to Vlad, his face ashen. “I can’t believe you’re the son of Katarina and Ilmon.”

Vlad froze. Tarang’s ears pricked forward and backward.

CHAPTER31

Nikolai stared.Ilmon?

“What did you just say?!” Vlad rasped.

The name Roman had mentioned seemed to mean something to Brimstone. The fox turned to Mae.

Her eyes widened as she took part in an exchange only she and the familiar could hear. “Oh!”

Vlad’s gaze snapped to her. “What?”

“Ilmon is the first incubus and the King of Incubi and Succubi,” Mae said in a stunned voice. “Brim remembers him!”

Roman swallowed, his expression growing dazed as he stared at Vlad. “Katarina only mentioned that he was an important figure in the Underworld.”

The color had drained from Vlad’s face. Tarang whimpered worriedly and pressed against his leg.

“Eleanora never mentioned Katarina had told her the name of the incubus who sired a child with her,” Budimir muttered.

An awkward look danced across Roman’s face.

“Katarina had written that part down herself,” he confessed reluctantly. “She masked that line with a spell only a powerful Fire Magic user could undo.”

Ludmila rapped her cane sharply on the floor. “So, the one who seduced my daughter was the King of Incubi?!”

Roman’s cheeks reddened a little. “She didn’t exactly go into the details.” He hesitated before fixing Vlad with a resolute stare. “She told Eleanora that she wanted whoever inherited her journal to be friends with her child.” He faltered and glanced at Mae. “I’m not too sure how I feel about that now.”

“What?” Vlad said in a dangerous voice.

Nikolai narrowed his eyes. The way Roman had looked at Mae didn’t sit well with him either, for some reason.

“Can you tell us what happened after you were kidnapped?” Mae interjected hastily.

Budimir’s face grew stormy when Roman described what Barquiel had done to him. Tension sparked the air as he related the conversation he’d overheard between Oscar and Dietrich when they’d thought he wasn’t listening and the exchange Barquiel and Oscar had had outside his cell yesterday.

Vlad narrowed his eyes. “Hellfire Magic?”

“That’s what they’re after?” Mae said dazedly. “They need Hellfire Magic to unlock theBook of Shadows?!”

Dread tightened Nikolai’s chest. “Does that mean they’ve already found it?”

He met Mae’s gaze, his fear reflected in her eyes.

“I don’t know.” Roman watched them worriedly. “What’s theBook of Shadows?”

Mae told him what they’d learned of theBook of Lightand theBook of Shadowsfollowing their encounter with the Dark Council in Philadelphia.

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