Nico looked away. “I had to. Josef—”
“Josef can’t say this because he’s not a wizard,” Eli said. “What you did back there was as bad as any Enslavement, if not worse. At least in Enslavement there’s a battle of wills the spirit could maybe win, but no spirit can win against you. Demon fear is simply too strong. I’m being serious, Nico. Don’t do it again, all right?”
Nico clenched her fists. On her wrists, her manacles began to shake softly, but Eli held on to her coat until, at last, she nodded.
“Promise?”
Nico nodded again, and he released her sleeve. Josef was waiting for them on the other side of the door, arms crossed over his chest. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” Eli said and smiled. “Let’s get moving.”
Josef gave him a skeptical glare, but he nodded and let Eli lead the way out of the cellars. Nico trailed behind, her face hidden by the long hood of her coat.
The wine cellar was at the bottom of a warren of cellars that ran under the keep. Fortunately, the warren let out into the kitchen yard, which was where they made their escape, blending in with the mass of kitchen workers and other menials who were all gathered at the edge of the keep, presumably to watch the excitement. Whistles were blowing everywhere now, and hordes of conscript patrols were racing through the streets and toward the citadel. In all the confusion, no one noticed three more scruffy, dirty people, and they were able to duck down a less-fashionable side street without trouble. Once they were a block from the castle, Eli changed direction, guiding them through the winding streets seemingly at random until he came to a stop in front of a modest building that, if the sign outside was correct, housed a trading company.
“Wait here,” Eli said. “I’ll be right back.”
He flashed them a knowing smile and vanished around the back of the building. Josef, fed up with arguing, slumped back against the wall while Nico took her time brushing the dust off her coat. A few minutes later, Eli emerged from the front door carrying an enormous ledger and grinning like a maniac.
“Powers,” Josef said. “How much did you have to bribe a clerk for that bit of work?”
“Nothing,” Eli said. “Things are too hot for bribery right now, so I nicked it. I am the greatest thief in the world, you know.”
Josef rolled his eyes.
“Not like there was anything to it,” Eli said, flipping through the book as he walked. “I could have stolen the whole office for all the clerks cared. They were all pressed against the windows like it was going to be revolution in the streets. Gaol must be a boring place if this is all it takes to make the town go crazy.”
Eli flipped the pages back and forth and then stopped, tapping his finger on an entry toward the end of the book. “Here we go,” he said. “Fennelle Richton, masonry expert and antiques appraiser under contract with the Duke of Gaol for ornamental stonework, currently residing at the Greenwood Hotel. That’s by the docks, I think.”
Josef looked at the entry, which was one of hundreds that ran down the page. “How do you know this is our man?”
“Fennelle and Richton are the main characters in The Tragedy of the Scarlet Knight. It’s his favorite opera.”
“His?” Josef said. “His who?”
“You’ll see soon enough.” Eli turned on his heel and set off for the docks, Nico and Josef close behind them. In the distance, voices grew louder as the northern corner of the duke’s famous fortress collapsed in on itself in a great shower of rubble.
CHAPTER 14
The citadel shook and rumbled as bits of it collapsed. Edward, Duke of Gaol, ignored the stones clattering to the floor around him, staring instead at the smooth surface of the closed iron door to his treasury. He’d heard of Monpress’s demon, of course, but dismissed it as another rumor, one up there with tales of Monpress’s ability to turn invisible. That said, to see it in action himself, in his fortress, was a well-deserved lesson in making assumptions.
Even now, minutes after the initial wave, the demon panic was still flooding through the air. The shouts of people outside echoed down the shaking halls, tiny and distant under the rumbling of the terrified stone. The duke ignored them. He simply waited, patiently, with his hands crossed behind his back. The moment the demon panic began to ebb, he opened his spirit.
At once, every stone was still. The duke’s will filled the castle, crushing all resistance, stomping down on fear. He laid his hands firmly on the wall beside him, feeling every stone in the castle as they lay subservient before him. Only then, when he was certain he had every pebble in the citadel’s full attention, did he give his command.