Page 86 of Demon's Bride

She nods slowly, but there’s a wariness in her eyes. “They have. But not without… difficulty.”

“Um, yeah, I guess,” I say, still a little confused as I remember the sensation of moving through the Veil. It’s strange, definitely not pleasant, but I don’t know if I’d call it difficult. “Anyway, I came back for your help.”

She nods again and gestures to the desk and the chairs sitting in front of it, and I’m happy to have somewhere to sit. Between the lingering effects of the grimoire vision and the off-kilter feeling I always get when I’m back here, I don’t entirely trust my legs at the moment.

When we’re seated, I give her the same rundown I did Joan, again to leaving out any of finer details of my relationship with Eren. When I get to the part about the grimoire, I pull it carefully from my bag.

My mother takes it from me gingerly. When she unwraps it and opens the front cover, my breath catches a bit in my throat, half-expecting her to be pulled into some sort of vision like I was. She doesn’t, though, and when the book’s laying open on her desk, she scans through a few pages, frowning.

“I don’t recognize this language.”

“Do you think anyone here would?”

Flipping through a few more pages, she considers. “Perhaps. If you leave it with me, I can summon a witch from London who might have some insight into it. Someone who studies these kinds of old texts.”

A small pang of annoyance moves through me.Istudy these kinds of old texts.

“Is her magick like mine?”

My mother looks up at me. “No, no, she’s more gifted in ward-work, but she’s taken a great interest in studying arcane magickal texts.”

I slowly shake my head. “I’ll be taking this back to the demon realm with me.”

That seems to catch her off-guard. She opens her mouth and then closes it again, seeming to think better of whatever she was about to say.

Fine. If she wants to guard her thoughts, that doesn’t mean I have to.

“I saw something,” I tell her. “In the grimoire. I can’t read the language, but when I put my hand on it, I had a… vision, I guess. Like what I’ve been able to draw from books before, only about a hundred times more intense.”

That loosens her tongue. “What kind of vision?”

After I’ve described it to her, she’s silent for a long moment. Standing, she crosses the room and looks out the windows, lost in thought. When she doesn’t speak for a minute, then two, I can’t stand the silence. Whatever it is she’s thinking and not telling me, I have no time for it. Not now. Not with so much riding on this.

“Is Emilia here?”

My mother levels a flat gaze at me in response. “She is. She’s resting.”

“Can I speak with her? Whatever I saw in the book, and whatever is happening back in the demon realm, she might have some kind of—”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” I can’t hide my irritation anymore. “She’s been asking to go back, hasn’t she? I’m sure she’d want to do anything she can to help make that possible.”

My mother stares at me for a few more long moments, and then gives a faint nod. “It will be up to her. Wait here, please.”

She leaves the room, and in the silence left behind, I let out a long breath. I have to get a handle on myself. Getting upset isn’t going to help. Having the same old arguments about what I’m capable of and all the things she keeps from me isn’t going to help.

A few minutes later, the door opens again. My mother enters first, followed by Emilia.

She looks terrible.

There’s not really any way around it. Walking slowly into the room wrapped in a thick blue robe over the pajamas she’s wearing, her pale blond hair is hanging limp and dull around her face and there are deep, bruise-dark smudges beneath her eyes. I didn’t know her very well before she became a Tithe bride, but she’s nothing like I remember.

When she sees me, her eyes go wide and she stumbles a little. My mother catches her by the arm and helps her into the chair beside me before taking her own seat behind the desk.

“Allison,” Emilia whispers. “What are you doing back here? Are you… did you…”

She looks me up and down, and her brow furrows when she sees I’m looking as healthy and chipper as ever.

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