Page 103 of Hexbound
"If you kill them all," she pointed out dryly, "then we don't have anyone to vouch for us when we take over the Ascension. Do you know how long it's taken Tremayne and me to cultivate them?"
"Who said anything about killing?" it asked. "Kill your tools and you can never use them again."
Morgana swallowed a mouthful of bitter saliva at the thought. It was something she might have said, but hearing it from a demon's mouth....
He has you on a string, after all.Just how long would it be until she was no longer useful?
"So what's the problem?" she asked. There was nothing she could do about its hold over her. At the moment.
"Your son is listening to me, but last night I felt another presence in there with him."
Morgana nearly dropped her cheroot. "How the hell did anything get into that cellar—"
"Not physically."
Psychically. She felt ill. There was only one person she knew who had the strength or the inclination to do so. "Drake." Turning around, she sucked down on her cheroot, resting her hand on the marble balustrade as she saw red, just for a moment. All her life Drake had tried to take what was hers from her. And although Sebastian had been forged purely as a weapon against him, a part of her hated that her son leaned toward his father more than he ever had to her. "What are we going to do?"
"We need to isolate him," the demon mused. "Sebastian is beginning to listen to me and might come around to the plan, but he won't consider it if he thinks there's another option."
"Drake's offering to help him?"
"I barely dared listen in, but I caught enough of it. He's trying to get Sebastian to listen to him, and offering to help him escape."
"And we can't have that," she said bitterly. Her son might be her most perfect weapon against her ex-husband, but he was also the dog that bit the hand that fed it. Dangerous. Unpredictable.Untrusting.Her thoughts coalesced as she blew out a perfect ring of smoke. Yes. That was it. "What else did they speak of?"
"Drake promised to return tomorrow. He has the girl at his side." A twist of the demon's mouth showed some small hint of displeasure. It didn't like Cleo—or her gifts. Perhaps it was even scared of them. "It gives him a benefit in swaying your son's mind, and I need Sebastian for my plans."
"Our plans," she corrected, though a part of her wondered. The demon had promised her the position of Prime during the Ascension in two days. It said it merely wanted Drake's head on a platter—which suited her perfectly—but she wondered.
Drake was the greater threat at the moment, however. Morgana turned in a swirl of flounced skirts and paced along the balcony, staring through the greenery. "Sebastian might want his father to rescue him, but I doubt he truly believes Drake will come. All we have to do is feed that doubt. Make him feel abandoned. Alone. Actually, this might work in our favor." She turned, gesturing with her cheroot. "There was never any guarantee that Sebastian would fall for your lies in time, but if he thinks his father reached out to him, then abandoned him...."
The demon cocked its head. "Yes," it said. "He wants his father's love. That much is clear. But he does not believe in it. Not deep inside. It might push him into my hands."
"Can we stop Drake from contacting him again?"
Those eyes narrowed. "I can ward the house. Stop him from getting through. Then the boy will think himself abandoned."
"Do it then." She didn't particularly care whether Sebastian broke or not. He'd betrayed her, his actions crushing her spine and costing her everything. All he was to her right now was simply a tool to be used.
The demon narrowed its eyes. "The other problem to consider is this: Could Drake use his link with Sebastian to find us?"
Morgana breathed out a gust of smoke as panic lit along her nerves. "We have to move."
"Yes. As soon as the guests depart."
Morgana peered impatiently inside then crushed the cheroot beneath her heel. "I'll get rid of them. You see to Sebastian."
The demon watched her go.
Patience, it told itself, peering out over the gardens and drumming its fingers on the balustrade, imagining her throat beneath its hands instead. Little pits formed in the marble beneath its fingertips. The demon stopped. As much as it wanted to snuff her life from her veins, Morgana's arrogance and determination to thwart her ex-husband played directly into its hands.
As soon as Drake was his, then he could remind her of the consequences when a sorcerer tried to dabble with a demon and control it. In fact, it would take great pleasure in doing so.
"No,"said Noah, swimming up inside him."You promised—no more killing if I helped you."
The demon made its body blink. It quite liked being alive. This plane of existence had so many possibilities."Be quiet,"it said, and crushed Noah back inside the little dark box imprisoning him."Or you'll never be free of me."
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