He didn’t need to ask who I meant. “If you ever saw Dad again, what would you do?”

I turned my head again, frowning in the direction of his face. That wasn’t the response I’d been expecting. “I moved across the country so I wouldn’t have to see him.”

“Me too.” Justin cleared his throat. “I’ve been meaning to tell you … I know this is a stupid time, but since we weren’t talking before …”

“Just spit it out already.”

“Dad is in hospice care. Liver failure. He has two to four months left, they expect.”

I stared at the darkness, a strange feeling buzzing in my chest. I couldn’t define it. It was neither happiness nor grief, relief nor regret. It was like a weird sort of emptiness.

Maybe it was the feeling of not caring when you were probably supposed to care.

“Do you want to see him?” Justin asked softly.

“No. Do you?”

“No. I only know because Aunt Leila called me.”

“Did she ask for money while she had you on the phone?”

He sighed. “Yes.”

“Did you give her any?”

“No.”

“Good. She extorted enough from me when I lived with her.” I fiddled with the curly cord of my earpiece. “Justin … why do you think Mom never came back?”

When he said nothing, I squinted toward his unseen face. When he still said nothing, I untucked an arm and reached out. My searching hand found his shoulder.

“Justin?”

He exhaled harshly. “We should be quiet in case the homeowner returns—”

“Justin.”

His shoulder twitched in a rigid sort of quiver. He exhaled again, the breath even rougher than his last. “Mom … she did come back. Just before Christmas. You’d already left town for your holiday trip.”

The plywood heaved under me—or was it my understanding of the world that was heaving?

“Why—” My voice cracked, and I swallowed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

His shoulder moved and he caught my hand. When he wrapped his fingers tightly around mine, the world rocked again. Suddenly, I didn’t want to hear what he was about to tell me.

“Mom didn’t come back for us. She came for her own closure. All she wanted was to make sure we were all good so she could let us go.”

Now I felt like I was falling instead of quaking. “I don’t understand.”

“She didn’t want to worry about us or feel guilty anymore. She wanted to … to get on with her new life.”

“Her … new life?”

His hand tightened around mine. “She moved on, Tori. Remarried … started a new family.” A tremor shook his voice. “She left a card for you. I have it … if you want it. I wasn’t sure you’d want it.”

“But doesn’t she want to see me?”

“She asked … but you don’t want to see her, Tori. Please trust me on this. Seeing her … it was … it was worse than the night she left.” The tremor was back in his voice, his hoarse whisper deepened by pain. “She could hardly look at me, and tearfully telling me how happy she was to see me while inching toward the door—”

He broke off with a curse. His hand crushed mine, but I didn’t complain that it hurt.

“You don’t need that,” he said huskily. “We don’t both need to suffer that.”

I closed my eyes tightly, fighting back the sting of tears. The news of my father’s impending death had triggered an unpleasant emptiness, but my mother’s rejection was straight-up agony. How much harder for Justin had it been to face her and see that rejection firsthand?

“Keep her card for me,” I whispered. “I’ll read it … someday.”

Exhaling slowly, Justin loosened his grip on my hand. “After her visit, I realized I had to do better for you. For us. I spent my whole Netherlands trip thinking about how to fix things between us, and as soon as I got back, I arranged to go on leave so I could—”

My eyes popped open. “You’re on leave? For how long?”

“For however long it takes. You’re my family, Tor. You and me. I’ll do anything to be a family again.”

Two tears spilled down my cheeks. I drew in a deep, steadying breath—and got a lungful of dust. Violent coughing overtook me, which just stirred up more dust. Justin awkwardly patted my back as I hacked.

“Ugh,” I gasped as the fit abated. “Right. Okay. So I guess I’ll start with the basics.”

“Basics? What basics?”

“Mythics 101. Are you ready?”

“Oh. Yes, absolutely. Hit me with everything.”

I grinned into the darkness. “‘Everything’ is a lot. Let’s see how you do with the mythic ABCs first.” I pillowed my head on my arms again, getting as comfortable as possible. “There are five classes of magic, and the acronym is SPADE, so remember that. S is for Spiritalis, which includes …”

As my whispered crash course filled the musty attic, afternoon trickled into evening. How strange to be lying in a dark room beside my brother, explaining magic while we waited for a mythic cult to convene in the room below so we could spy on them together. I just hoped Justin’s crash course didn’t turn into a practical exam before the night was over.

The worst-case scenario I’d described to Justin lurked in my thoughts. The summoner who’d turned Ezra into a demon mage was dead, but there was still a chance, however slim, that if we continued this investigation, we might encounter the deadliest of all mythics.

And Ezra, who was both our friend and—under normal circumstances—well in control of his demon, was frightening enough when he let his demonic side come out to play.

Chapter Twelve

- EZRA -

Leaning on the wall in the stairwell, I closed my eyes against the exhausted burn behind my eyelids.

I hadn’t slept last night. Weariness dragged at me, magnified by the Carapace of Valdurna’s draining power and the fatigue I hadn’t been able to shake since Tori had thrown the artifact over me less than a week ago. I needed to keep up my strength, both physical and mental. I knew that.

I still hadn’t been able to sleep.

You have to sleep eventually.

Be quiet.

On my left, stairs led down to the empty pub; Cooper wouldn’t show up for another hour, assuming he arrived on time. On my right, another staircase led to the guild’s third level, and between them was the doorway to the second-floor workroom.

If I continued up the stairs, I could force my way into Darius’s office, where he was currently working, and again ask him to fulfill his promise to me. I didn’t expect his answer to have changed since last night, but I would try anyway.

Apparently, his much newer promise to Tori took precedence over the one he’d made to me the day he had inducted me into his guild.

My hands curled into fists, sickness coiling in my gut—a betrayed fury, my broken trust in Darius compounding the agony of Tori’s deception.

He refuses to act because he knows there’s a chance.

Be quiet.

I still couldn’t believe what Tori had done. Couldn’t believe she had hidden this for so long. She knew how much Aaron and Kai meant to me. She knew I couldn’t bear it if they were hurt or killed because of me. She knew my worst fear was losing control … didn’t she?

Flashes from last night ripped at me. Tori lying. Tori revealing the truth. Tori shouting, face screwed up with anguish and tears in her eyes, demanding to know why I was so determined to die.

I didn’t want to die, but I was going to die anyway, and she was too stubborn to accept it. She was risking herself, Aaron, and Kai in a futile attempt to save me—me, a demon-infected killer doomed to madness.

You are the stubborn fool, not her.

Be quiet.

This was why I’d tried so hard to resist. This was why I hadn’t said a word while Aaron had been dating her. Why I hadn’t said a word after they’d broken up. Why I’d never, ever intended to suggest I felt anything more than friendship.

I let out a harsh breath and slid my hand into my pocket. Pulling out my phone, I unlocked the screen. My messaging app was already open, Tori’s unanswered texts on display. How many times had I read them now?

My thumb drifted toward the reply icon, then I angrily swiped the app off the screen. Rage and despair rolled through me like a hot and cold tide. She was always leading with her heart and her passion. That was the only reason she’d fallen for Eterran’s manipulations—she’d let hope override her reason and given him countless new opportunities to hurt her, Aaron, and Kai.

I’m trying to save us.

Be quiet!

Sleek, icy darkness roiled through my mind, bursts of anger and vicious hate spiking across my synapses. I pressed my back against the wall as I barricaded my thoughts against the contagious savagery. The surrounding air chilled my skin.

Will you die merely to spite me? Or will you die in a pathetic bid to atone for the deaths you’ve caused?

“Be quiet,” I whispered, needing to give the words the extra strength that came with sound.

She asked why you won’t fight for your life. Can you answer that, Ezra?

Teeth gritted, I returned my attention to my phone. Flipping to my inbox, I pondered the email I’d received on Sunday night, sent by Zora, then glanced through the doorway into the workroom. A young woman sat at a table with her back to the exit, tapping on her laptop touchpad in a frustrated way.

How much did I care about Zora’s message? Considering the rest of my life could be measured in weeks, possibly days, it didn’t matter.

Robin Page knows about the amulet.

My eyes widened. I looked away from the workroom and leaned against the wall again, jaw set. I wouldn’t ask. Wouldn’t listen. Wouldn’t make the mistake of trusting the demon again.

You don’t need to believe me if you believe in Tori.

Images flickered in my mind’s eye. Tori’s face. Her intense hazel eyes, guarded but desperate, as she told Eterran how Robin Page, the Crow and Hammer’s new contractor, was searching for information about the demonic amulet.