Zak was referring to that terrifying battle to save Nadine last summer. Aaron’s sword flashing downward. Ezra falling. He’d fought until the very end, and only collapsed from blood loss after it was all over.

I hugged myself. “Ezra is doomed anyway, so I have to try. But I can’t just give him the amulet, not without knowing what will happen.” Especially since Eterran wanted it so badly. The demon’s desire for it had triggered all my alarm bells.

“I’ll see what I can dig up on demonic amulets, but I don’t think it will be much. What about demon mage contracts? What do you know about them?”

“Me? Uh …”

“Have you done any research? If you want to save Ezra, you should be learning everything you can about demon mages.”

Déjà vu jolted through me. Darius’s somber gray eyes, his chilling instruction: Ask Ezra to teach you everything he knows about demon mages.

“Aaron and Kai already researched—” I began.

“Them,” Zak interrupted with a dismissive scoff. “Maybe Kai would’ve tapped into illicit sources, but his experience is with crime—the black market, smuggling, forgeries, embezzlement, blackmail, racketeering. Neither mage has a clue how deep the webs of dark magic run.”

A hint of energy revived his green eyes as he sat forward. “Real summoners are like druids. They don’t write how-to books or do interviews with scholars or volunteer as MPD consultants. All their knowledge is passed from master to apprentice, and they jealously, violently protect it.”

“So how am I supposed to learn about it, then?”

“The hard way.” He tapped my knee in emphasis. “The guidebooks MagiPol created are the beginner’s version of Demonica. You need an expert level education in it if you want any chance of figuring out the amulet and saving Ezra.”

Didn’t that just sound impossible. “Will you help me?”

“I pay my debts.” He pushed to his feet. “But it’ll have to wait. I have something I need to do first.”

Feeling oddly nervous, I scrambled up too. “What’s that?”

Flat, frigid hatred flared in his eyes as his gaze swept from the barn to the house. “I’m going to kill the bitch who did this.”

I was still gaping as he stalked away. “Wait. You know who did this?”

“She might as well have carved her name in Morgan’s body.”

“Morgan—”

Without breaking stride, Zak whistled softly. A few paces away, the air shimmered and a fae appeared—an albino panther with yellow eyes and two tails, their furred tips glowing with faint power.

Zak crouched, his hand extended toward the feline. “Niari.”

The panther slunk to him, head low and tails drooping. It pushed its forehead into his chest and he stroked its thick fur.

A ping in my memory—that panther poised over me, fangs bared, while the blond and bossy witch Morgan stood nearby. Tori, meet Niari, my familiar.

“I would’ve guessed who did this even without a witness, but Varvara wasn’t as thorough as she could’ve been.” He rubbed Niari’s ears, then added in a whisper, “Morgan died quickly.”

“Is … is she here? Should we …” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“MPD agents took her body.”

So Shane wasn’t the only one who’d found the valley after Zak’s farm had been destroyed. “Varvara did this?”

I wasn’t surprised. The dark sorceress was a hell of a piece of work. Between kidnapping her enemies’ daughter to raise as an apprentice, almost killing Kai and Aaron when we’d tried to save Nadine from her clutches, and sending her minions after Zak and forcing him into hiding, Varvara was one of my least favorite people on the planet.

With a final caress for the panther, Zak rose. “She wants one of two things—for me to disappear forever, never to trouble her again, or for me to reveal myself in a blind fury, making it nice and easy to get rid of me for good.”

“Well, the first one definitely isn’t an option,” I said warily. “But neither is the second.”

“The second is exactly what I intend to do.”

“But—”

He looked over his shoulder, his rage burning deep. “Her mistake is thinking she can kill me. I ran from her once. This time, I’ll destroy her.”

My throat bobbed in a failed attempt to swallow. He continued walking, and it took me a moment to get my numb legs moving. I pulled my jacket sleeves over my frozen hands.

“Okay …” I trotted to his side. “What next?”

“Next, I figure out what she and those MPD bastards didn’t steal.” His jaw tightened. “I left things here. I thought they would be safe …”

He trailed off, then extended his stride until I needed to jog to keep up.

First, he checked the former alchemy garden. All that remained was burnt earth and a few charred fenceposts. A hole in the ground revealed a metal case, empty except for dirt and snow. Zak gazed at the uncovered cache, then turned away and kept walking.

“What was in there?” I asked worriedly.

“Dangerous artifacts I didn’t have time to get rid of. And Harry.”

“Harry? The talking skull?” My eyes widened. “What if Varvara or the MPD got him, and he told them you’re a di-mythic?”

“He wouldn’t betray my secrets. We have an agreement.” He frowned. “I’ll have to recover him at some point.”

“You sure he didn’t betray you?” I persisted as we headed toward the house. “He wouldn’t have been happy about being buried for months.”

Zak kicked the porch steps to ensure they were sturdy before stepping onto them. “I have a different idea of where the MPD’s anonymous tip came from.”

“Aaron, Kai, and Ezra didn’t blow your secret,” I said angrily. “They would never do that, especially since you know about Ezra. Why would they take that chance?”

“I know.”

“Then who do you think tipped off the MPD?” I demanded. When he continued into the house without explaining, I muttered under my breath, “Fine, be mysterious.”

Going through the house was depressing. Everything was burnt beyond recognition and it smelled like rot and mold. What had survived had been searched, either by Varvara or the MPD, and their efforts had left a trail of disturbed debris and missing objects.

Including my shoes, wherever those had ended up before Shane got his mitts on them. I was surprised they hadn’t been thrown out months ago, but maybe Morgan had been planning to clean them and add them to the farm’s stash of spare clothing. Waste not, want not.

Zak had to jump a collapsed section of stairs to reach the second level. I wasn’t the complete wuss I’d been before, but I didn’t trust my newfound athleticism that much. I waited at the bottom.

He returned a few minutes later, shaking his head. “I didn’t leave much up there, but it’s all gone.”

We exited the wreckage. Zak surveyed the valley, all death and soot except for one meandering strip of summer greenery where the white stag with golden antlers had walked, then headed toward the line of winter-bare trees and snow-covered evergreens at the far edge of the meadow.

With a flash of dark wings, Lallakai swept out of the sky in her eagle form. Clutched in her talons was a black bundle, and as she dove, she dropped it for Zak to catch. Shadows swirling out from her wings, the eagle transformed midway through her landing and touched down on light human feet, her hair sweeping out behind her.

Straightening, she turned her bright eyes on me—and loathing was written all over her face. I gave her a catty smile, because why not? Her full red lips thinned.

Zak knelt to set the bundle on the ground. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in heavy black plastic and thoroughly duct-taped. Dirt coated most of it, as though it had been buried.

“My druid,” Lallakai purred. “This is all that remains of your hidden caches in the farther reaches of the valley.”

“Did you dig that up all by yourself?” I asked, pretending to be impressed.

She shot me an ice-beam glare.

Hmm. Maybe I shouldn’t antagonize the scary darkfae?

Zak ripped the tape off, pulled out a backpack, and unzipped it. As he dug around inside, the telltale clink of glass suggested alchemic contents. He fished out a bundle of leather and unrolled it to reveal a long black coat. He slid his bare arms into the sleeves, then withdrew a handful of colorful crystals on long ties and dropped them over his head, the artifacts resting on his chest.

Lastly, he lifted out a belt. That went around his waist, the sides lined with potion vials. He clipped several fist-sized bottles with leather holders onto the belt as well, then zipped his bag and slung it over one shoulder.

He looked almost like himself again, just less groomed than usual. With a pleased smile, Lallakai reached for his shoulders. Her hands fogged into dark mist and sank into him.

He stepped backward, and her hands reappeared, misty with shadow.

“Not now, Lallakai,” he said, turning away. “I don’t want you in my head right now.”

She dropped her arms, her hands solidifying. An expression twisted her face, one I easily recognized: the jilted, furious humiliation of a rejected woman. Except she wasn’t really a woman—she was a fae.

A fae with a temper who’d just noticed I was watching her.

The emotion melted off her face. She sauntered toward me, hips swaying. I thrust out my jaw, unwilling to let her intimidate me. I wasn’t scared. Nope. No way. But I really wished I had at least one artifact with me. Too bad my dumbass self had stored them all in Kai’s backpack, then left said backpack on the recliner in Aaron’s living room.

She stopped so close I could taste sweetness in the air. Her cool fingers stroked my cheek as she whispered softly, “Do you think you can win him from me, pathetic girl?”

“Weren’t you the one telling me how I had such a special bond with him?” I retorted. That’d been back when she wanted something from me, and I wasn’t all that surprised her attitude had changed with Zak’s return.