Ezra was silent, and I wiped my eyes, embarrassed that I hadn’t completely stifled the tears.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “For sharing that.”

I nodded, concern welling in me because his blank fa?ade was cracking, and I knew what Zylas would’ve said if he’d been here. He would’ve told me the mage smelled of pain. Great pain.

“I’ll text you tomorrow to set up a time to meet.”

“Okay,” I said softly, knowing there was nothing else I, a virtual stranger, could do for him.

He pushed the door open, and a cold, wet wind blew raindrops across the threshold. He stepped into the downpour, and as he walked to the motorcycle, I hoped he would make that call to Tori.

And I hoped Tori, wherever she’d gone, was ready for it.

Chapter Twenty-One

“What was that all about?”

I ignored Amalia’s question as I slipped through the door and into the apartment, my gaze sweeping the room for Zylas.

“He just went for the shower. Any second—”

With a muffled thunk of the tap and a splash, the shower started up.

Oddly relieved, I toed off my untied shoes and slouched into the kitchen. I opened the fridge, my stomach aching with hunger but my mouth dry and taste buds completely disinterested in food.

“Ezra and Eterran want to know all about the amulet,” I muttered crankily. “Just one more thing on our plate. The only bright side is that they’ll probably help us find it.”

“And if we’re lucky, they won’t steal it,” Amalia added, bracing her elbows on the breakfast bar.

“They’d better not. Myrrine wouldn’t have called the amulet the ‘key to everything’ if all it did was break contracts. It must have a bigger purpose, but I wasn’t going to mention that to them.” I swung the fridge shut and crouched to open the freezer. “Or that we have no clue about the amulet’s magic.”

“Well, you don’t have a clue, maybe.”

One hand gripping the freezer drawer, I frowned up at her. “Meaning what?”

She held her neutral expression for a moment before her grin broke free. “While you were off chasing murderers,” she declared triumphantly, “I was off finding answers.”

“Wait, what?” I plucked a small tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer and stood. “I thought you were working on your secret sewing project.”

“I’ve been doing that too, but only when I couldn’t do anything else.” She tugged a wad of newly purchased black fabric from her shopping bag, then slid a book from its folds. “You’re already translating the grimoire, hunting down those murdering sickos, and fencing with a demon mage. I figured I could handle one job.”

“But … why didn’t you say anything?”

“So you wouldn’t try to help and end up shouldering all the work like you always do.” She flipped the book open, revealing a paper stuck inside—my careful drawing of the amulet and its array. “Check this out.”

She pointed at the array, where unusual shapes and runes filled a pentagram, then gestured at the diagram on the book’s facing page. An almost identical pentagram spanned the shiny paper.

“No way!” I exclaimed. “What kind of Arcana is it?”

She snapped the book shut and angled the cover toward me, revealing the title: Abjuration Theory in the Astral Sphere.

I slapped my palm against my forehead. “Abjuration! Of course!”

“Those sorcerers made me think of it, and it still took forever to find any abjuration arrays that matched the amulet one. But if the amulet is a fancy contract-breaker, then it makes sense, right? Abjuration is the magic for interrupting other magic.”

“It makes perfect sense.” I slid the drawing out and frowned at it. “How much abjuration will we need to learn to figure out this array?”

“Too much, since it’d take years to learn. Luckily, I’ve got us covered there too.” She tapped the ice cream container. “Are we going to eat that, or just let it melt?”

I pulled two bowls out of the cupboard. No point in getting one for Zylas. In his opinion, which he hadn’t been shy about sharing, ice cream was no better than sweet poison. His prejudice against any food served below room temperature was unreasonable. A little cold wouldn’t kill him—unless he was half dead already, but I’d never make that mistake again.

She pried the lid off the container while I got out the scoop.

“So?” I prompted, handing the utensil to her. “How have you got us covered?”

“I paid a visit to Arcana Historia and asked for recommendations on an abjuration expert. The librarian instantly started gushing about this abjuration prodigy who uses their library. She was practically fangirling.”

She plopped an oversized scoop of ice cream into my bowl. “So, long story short, we have a meeting tomorrow at seven with an abjuration sorceress. You and I don’t need to learn a thing.”

“Perfect.” I stuck spoons in our bowls. “And we can ask if she’s ever heard of these sorcerers, too.”

“Good idea.” Grinning, she lifted her bowl like it was a glass of wine. “Cheers, Robin.”

Laughing, I clinked my bowl against hers, then spooned an icy glob into my mouth. “So, we’ve got a lead on the amulet’s magic. It’s something, at least.”

“I mean, we still don’t have the amulet,” Amalia mused. “Plus, Claude’s got psycho sorcerers helping him now.”

“Don’t forget whatever mysterious thing he got from Varvara.” I sighed. “And we’re back to square one on finding them, since Zylas blew their lair to smithereens.”

She sighed too.

“But hey.” I waved my spoon. “We have a scary demon mage on our side now.”

“Do you think Zylas is happy to have more power in our corner, or would he rather not share the spotlight?”

I snorted and ate another bite of ice cream. “I don’t think he knows how to feel about Eterran. They’re enemies, but maybe that doesn’t matter outside the demon world.”

“Which reminds me.” Amalia propped a hip against the counter. “Are you going to tell Ezra and Eterran that you’re trying to send Zylas home?”