Page 64 of Infernal Bindings

“He fell in love with a human, which God expressly forbade.” Peering up at me, Minerva shuts one of her books, sending a puff of dust into the air. Finally, she pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose, green eyes sparkling in the lamplight. “Rumors say that Salios loved this woman so much, he created a spell that would tether their lives together so they could share his immortality. It came at a high cost, though. Whatever happens to one, happens to both. And while she can’t die of old age or disease, she can still be hurt and killed, which means he can be too.”

“Archdemons can die?” I ask.

Minerva shakes her head. “He can die. As far as I’m aware, he’s the only one who can. But Salios keeps the woman hidden, and there’s no more love between them. She left him after he fell, disgusted by what he’d become.”

It’s been seventeen minutes now.

“And you want to use this tethering spell to kill him?”

Minerva rolls her eyes. “No. If an entire fleet of archangels can’t find the girl, I certainly can’t. I want to replicate the tethering spell for Daemon.”

“But that would make him vulnerable.”

“It would keep him safe,” she counters. “If Daemon’s life were tethered to a human’s, then Salios couldn’t torture him without torturing the human too. That’s illegal. Demons have no jurisdiction over living souls—unless they go to Hell willingly.”

“That’s still delaying the inevitable. Salios could just wait for the human to die, and then torture them both.”

“No, he can’t. Demons don’t have souls, so whenever the human tether dies, they both die for good. No torture, but no afterlife either. It’s a bit of a monkey’s paw.” Minerva chants something in the Infernal tongue, and all her books snap shut at once. Sighing, she rubs her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Even if the spell were real—and who’s to say it is—my family spellbooks won’t contain it. Really, I’m just looking for any solution I might find.”

She’s grasping at straws, then, like I am.

Her gaze drops to the scroll in my hand. “Is there something you found that might help?”

That’s all the permission I need. The explanation comes out of my mouth like word vomit—our half-finished list, the way I found it on the bed, my need to get into the upper floors of the incubus club. Quietly, she listens, never once interrupting. Then, she purses her lips in thought. Rubbing her temples, Minerva rises from the bed and walks to an adjoining bathroom. It’s just as grand as the rest of her house, but my eyes are on the medicine cabinet where a three-paneled mirror opens up at the ends, exposing rows of pill bottles and vials of clear liquid. Ambrosia.

She grabs a bottle of pain reliever and pops it open, handing pills to me before downing two herself. She swallows them dry like a psychopath. “I don’t think you should go back there. It’s dangerous and unlikely to yield results. Daemon has miscalculated by leaving that list for you. You’d be better off dispelling it and helping me search for a solution somewhere else.”

An ancient spell that’s been lost to time isn’t a solution.

I don’t say that, but she must see it in my face.

“If you’re determined to go, you’ll need the ambrosia,” she says. I realize then that she never shut the medicine cabinet. Minerva knew I’d insist. Plucking several vials free, she places them in my hand with the pills. “On the third and fourth floors there are house pets. They’re free use. Do you understand what that means?”

“Anyone can fuck them.”

Minerva nods. “I won’t sugarcoat it. Without Daemon to protect you, you could die.”

In truth, I’d rather die in the club than live knowing he’s being tortured for something I did. I asked him to come to the baptism—both times—and he never even hesitated. So, I won’t hesitate now. I can’t because if I do, it’s the same as accepting that he’s gone for good.

“Will you teach me how to blend in?” I ask, staring at the pain reliever that I so desperately need. That blooming headache has drifted into migraine territory—a deep pulsing behind my eyes. It’s a miracle I haven’t passed out yet. “I’m not sure how to summon a portal either, or maybe I could walk there from Daemon’s room—”

“No. You shouldn’t wander anywhere else in Salios’s realm—it’s too dangerous. I can open a portal that puts you outside the club. It won’t be hard to convince an incubus you’re supposed to be there if you’re willing to act the part.”

She means sexual favors.

The thought repulses me, yet I’m out of time and out of options. “Will Daemon hate me for it? For letting the demons touch me?”

“If he does, he’s an idiot. It’s not as if this is a summer vacation for you.” She closes the medicine cabinet and pads toward an enormous walk-in closet at the far side of the room. “Come on,” Minerva says. “Let’s find you something to wear.”

Again, I stare at the pain reliever, and because I’m clearly a psychopath too, I follow in Minerva’s footsteps and swallow them dry, shuddering at the chalky, acidic taste.

It’s probably the least disgusting thing I’ll do all night. God, that’s not a comforting thought.

31

INFILTRATION

Lying on the couch, I hiss as Minerva stands over me, pipette in hand, dripping a dark and viscous liquid into my eyeballs. That shit burns. I fight the urge to shove her away, blinking furiously as tears blur my vision. By the time my eyes are clear again, she’s screwing the cap onto an emerald green bottle and pocketing it. Minerva looks darker than usual—everything does—like I’m wearing sunglasses indoors.