Morning hadn’t brought me any answers, but it’d brought distractions. I’d had an early-morning appointment with Healer Austin to take my “just to be safe” shifter-infection test. I hated tests, but this one had been easy. She’d pricked my finger, added a smidge of my blood to a potion, said a little chant, and voilà. Negative result. Phew.
The healer had also officially discharged Sin, allowing her to wander between the academy and manor, though she had to return to the infirmary by nine p.m. Tomorrow night was the full moon and our unalterable deadline. By then, Sin would be either exorcised or doomed to become a mutant shifter.
As soon as Aaron, Kai, and Ezra arrived, we would set out to hunt the elusive black wolf. I was already dressed in combat gear: my leather pants, sturdy jacket, spell/alchemy belt, and steel-toed hiking boots. Any minute now, I’d have to face Ezra—and the demon inside him. I still didn’t know what the hell to do.
“Are you looking forward to the party tomorrow?” Sin asked, breaking into my panicked thoughts.
“Uh, yeah,” I muttered vaguely, though with Sin’s exorcism hanging over us, I wasn’t sure anyone would enjoy it. “Are you?”
“Well,” she replied dryly, “when I was picking out my dress, I wasn’t imagining these exact circumstances.”
“Your dress is gorgeous, so at least you’ve got that going for you.”
“Your dress is amazing.” She gave me an arch look. “I bet Ezra will take major notice.”
I snorted as though amused, but her words sent an extra shot of nerves through me. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about. “There’s nothing going on between me and Ezra.”
“Uh-huh.” Sin strolled away from the academy doors and onto the tree-dotted lawn beside it. “You’ve almost convinced yourself it’s just a bad case of lust, but deep down, you know.”
I bit my tongue. Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask. “Know what?”
Sin smiled mysteriously and lengthened her stride. Gritting my teeth, I followed her. She stopped beside a tree with twisty branches and laid her hand on the craggy bark.
“Cherry,” she observed. “These trees will be so beautiful when they bloom in the spring. Though …” She rubbed the scarred bark, rent with jagged lines that exposed the pale wood beneath. “These have been damaged. Did students do this?” She shook her head as though scratching a tree were a despicable crime. “Hey, look. They’re here.”
Aaron, Kai, and Ezra had appeared at the top of the steps that rose up the hillside from the manor. At the sight of Ezra, my heart crawled into my throat and attempted to choke off my air. Sin peered at me worriedly.
As the three mages joined us, I assessed Ezra’s expression. He looked better than he had since we’d gotten here; his bronze complexion had regained its vivid warmth and the circles under his eyes weren’t as dark. Eterran must’ve allowed him to sleep through the night, as agreed.
“Tori? Before we start, can I talk to you?” Aaron asked.
“Huh?” I jerked my stare from Ezra to the pyromage, who was watching me with the grimmest expression I’d ever seen. Did he know about Eterran’s new trick? But how could he? “Sure, no problem.”
Aaron led me away from the other three. We walked alongside the academy building, Aaron’s jaw working as he sorted through whatever had him in knots.
“Tori,” he began, sounding outright tortured. “About yesterday. My head wasn’t in the right place and my behavior was completely—”
“Oh!” I exclaimed, cluing in. He looked grim because he was apologizing, not because he knew about Eterran. Relief flooded me. “Don’t worry about it, Aaron.”
He frowned. “But I was—"
“You were an ass,” I interrupted, “and you feel bad for being an ass. Apologies are awkward so we should skip that part.”
He walked silently, then mumbled, “I don’t deserve to be let off the hook.”
“I’m sparing myself as much as you.” Turning in mid-step, I walked backward so I could smile at him. “You can just owe me a favor. How’s that?”
His wariness was instant. “An open-ended favor for you sounds dangerous.”
“It’ll be fine,” I cooed innocently.
He wasn’t buying it.
Whirling around to walk normally, I checked that we were alone. “Before we go back, I need to ask about something else from yesterday. After Ezra toasted those werewolves, he said …”
“‘Eterran was feeling generous,’” Aaron quoted.
I shuddered at the demon’s name. “Does he normally talk about his demon like that?”
It wasn’t the most pressing question on my list, but I wasn’t ready to blurt out anything about last night.
“Occasionally.” Aaron rubbed a hand through his hair. “He and his demon have a strange relationship. They hate each other for obvious reasons, but Ezra needs Eterran’s cooperation to use demon magic, especially new attacks.”
I absorbed that in silence. Six weeks ago, Darius had told me to learn everything I could about Ezra’s demon magic, but by the time we’d returned to a normal routine, Ezra’s insomnia had set in and I’d barely seen him.
“So Eterran cooperates because he needs Ezra to survive,” I ventured. “If Ezra dies, so does Eterran.”
“Exactly.” Aaron sighed. “It’s messed up.”
Compounded by the fact Eterran was an evil bastard. “So Eterran and Ezra cooperate whenever he—they use demon magic in a fight? Doesn’t that blur the line of who’s in control?”
Aaron nodded. “For that reason, Ezra only uses it as a last resort.”
“How much influence does Eterran have over Ezra otherwise?”
He slowed to a stop and jammed his hands in his pockets. “We’re not sure. Ezra and the demon …”
He held his breath, then released it. Whatever he’d planned to say, he couldn’t get the words out.
“Can Ezra and Eterran communicate with each other?” I asked instead.
“I think so, but I’m not sure how much. Ezra doesn’t talk about it.” Aaron grimaced. “Why the sudden interest in his demon?”
Now was my chance to tell Aaron what had happened last night. He loved Ezra like a brother. He would help me figure out what to do—or he might tell Ezra. Or Kai. Or Darius.
My jaw clenched, my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth, and I knew I wouldn’t say a word. I couldn’t gamble Ezra’s life. Eterran had agreed to leave Ezra alone for a month. I had four weeks to come up with a plan before I told them. If there was a chance, however slim, I could save Ezra with the amulet, I had to explore the option.
“Just weirded out by Ezra’s comment yesterday,” I said, concealing my guilt. “Should we get Ezra and Kai? We have a shifter to hunt and only one day to—”
A shape moved in the trees to our right. We both turned as the shadow passed silently behind a thick-boughed spruce tree, then emerged from the woods.
The black wolf paced fifteen feet across the manicured lawn and fixed its milky eyes on us. Muscles rippled beneath its shaggy coat, its canine body too large for my brain to comprehend. Not quite dire-wolf-sized, but pretty damn close.