Page 36 of Bedeviled

I press my fingers to the page. “Translate into English.”

A small cloud of my magic spreads across the paper. Then, beneath my hand, the letters on the page jiggle and morph. In seconds they’ve rearranged themselves into English.

…In the 186th year of the reign of King Sable the Patient, he did cast out his third borne daughter, who thought to usurp the good king from his throne. Though the coup was thwarted and all the traitors slain, the good king did restrain his hand and spare his daughter’s life, so fair and noble of heart was he.

By magical decree she was to be forever lost to our realm.

And forevermore, naught were allowed to speak of the wicked deeds of Eislyn the Ill Content. She was banished from all the fae lands and made to live out her punishment in the bleak mortal world where she might languish all the rest of her years.

Maiden, Mother, Crone.

Eislyn was not just a princess but a murderous one—which, honestly, tracks. Scheming since she was a baby, and against her family, no less. What a dick.

It’s news to me that naughty fairies could be banished to Earth. We have enough issues here without dealing with the Otherworld’s criminals.

I glance back at the page.

A dwelling made of fine Aventine stone was built for her, and outfitted with luxuries fit for a princess, for the king’s heart was fair and good, so good⁠—

Ugh, whoever wrote this was such a kiss-ass.

—that even after such betrayal, he would not let his wicked daughter go without. And so Eislyn was left to the mortal realm, and perhaps she lingers there still, if she lingers at all.

I’m about to close the book when I reread the last few lines all over again. The fae king had built a fancy house for her. On Earth.

Holy shit. The Khuno River palace.

I leave the library, my head spinning.

It makes so much sense. The Otherworldly architecture, the fact that Memnon had been buried there and that a ley line ran right through it—it was all because it was made by a fairy and given over to one.

I push my hair back as I cross campus, hardly registering that Nero has broken away from me to go harass some forest creatures, hopefully Kane among them.

The Khuno River palace is in proximity to the Moche Empire, an empire Memnon’s father ruled. It’s not a great leap to guess that at some point Eislyn left the palace and discovered, then infiltrated the ranks of Moche nobles, eventually earning herself the ear of their rulers.

From what I remember, Eislyn had been following Memnon’s lineage for several generations. But then, once Memnon’s father died, she left Peru for Sarmatia. For Memnon.

But why?

Why the interest in a single family? And if it was this lineage of sorcerers she was interested in, why, out of all of sorcerers born, did she focus on Memnon? Memnon whom she traveled continents for, Memnon whom she advised only to then betray.

He will sleep for a hundred years, she said, until all he knows and loves has passed on. When he wakes, all that will be left is me.

She had something else planned for him. Something she was waiting generations for. Something I foiled when I placed my own curse on Memnon and made the rest of the world forget his existence.

But, of course, that curse is no more. Whatever fate she had in store for Memnon, she remembers it now.

CHAPTER 8

Est amage, are you coming home?

My breath hitches at the unexpected sound of Memnon’s voice, and my stomach flutters. I grab the mug of tea I was steeping in my house’s dining hall and head back up to my room, where my notes from the library lay scattered across my bed. I’d only just gotten back from the library and hadn’t had time to think about where I was going to stay tonight. But it’s late, and I’m tired, and for the first time in over a week I can actually stay the night in my room without worrying that I’ll be murdered or kidnapped in my sleep.

Not tonight.

In the past I would’ve gloated over every little rejection I could fling at the sorcerer, including this one. Right now, however? I don’t enjoy this. In fact, I feel inexplicably torn. Wanting to be there and here. In my room and with Memnon.

Enjoy the respite, he says. I will make up for it when I see you next.