I could still fix this.
And yet even as I thought those words, I knew that something had broken inside of me that couldnotbe fixed.
I’d let my guard down with Kaden, and he’d played me. He’d let me see what I’d wanted to see, and what was worse, I’d fallen for it. Fallen forhim.
I still didn’t know why he and the other demons had tracked me to Julian’s shop, but it hardly mattered. He’d used the stone to conceal his demon half — to hide what he was so that he could use me to get the cipher.
I had no doubt he had other plans for my so-called powers. He’d told me as much after Caladwyn’s party. He was no better than Silas, but I’d been so blinded by my feelings that I’d ignored what was right in front of me.
A harsh sob burst out of me, but I kept on walking, heedless of the monsters that lurked in the shadows of the Quarter.
Let them come for me, I thought as tears trailed down my cheeks. I’d already faced a real monster tonight.
Worse, I’d crawled into his bed and let him into my heart.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Judgmental emerald eyes blinked lazily at me as I sat on the floor of Imogen’s apartment and stared down at the cipher. Anemic morning sunlight poured in through the streaky windows, bathing the rug in golden warmth.
Mankara’s manuscript lay open in front of me, with Goose watching from his usual hiding place beneath the end table.
Every so often, he flicked his tail back and forth, scowling up at me with that squashed gray face. I had the feeling I was occupying his favorite sunning spot and that he resented me for it.
“Any bright ideas?” I asked in a deadpan voice, rubbing my temples in frustration.
I’d been through the entire book with a magnifying glass and a very strong light, but I hadn’t found anything related to a cipher. Admittedly, the runes were easier for me to read than the faded spidery text, but none of them were jumping out at me.
The cipher was even less helpful.
If I concentrated, I could sense the same magic that had drawn me to the book emanating from the cipher, but no matter how I tried to harness that power and channel it into something stronger, I couldn’t make anything happen.
Turning the crank along the side did nothing. The golden wheels seemed permanently fixed in their current positions, though I couldn’t find any obstruction that prevented them from moving.
“I’ll bet Kaden was right,” I muttered, shutting the book and causing Goose to puff up in a defensive posture. “Caladwyn probably never actually figured out how to use this stupid thing.”
I was starting to feel like chucking it out the window. I hadn’t slept apart from my nap at Kaden’s, and I’d been scouring the old book for hours while trying to get the contraption to work.
I hefted the cipher in my palm, fantasizing about breaking it into a thousand little pieces, when an engraving near the bottom caught my eye.
It wasn’t words but rather runes: two nesting triangles with smaller symbols beneath them and a pattern of curved lines that sloped downward.
The first symbol’s meaning rose in my consciousness without any great effort:Blood. But the second . . .
I squinted at the rune, rubbing the pad of my finger over the engraving as if that might somehow make it clearer.
Root.Origin.Source.
None of those words seemed to fit the meaning precisely, but I knew I was on the right track.
I tried putting the two together.Blood of the root.Blood of the source.Blood of the . . .
I let out a huff, going back to Mankara’s book and flipping through the pages.
It took me several minutes to locate anything that even vaguely resembled the engraving. The cipher was old — older than Mankara’s text — and the engravings were more rudimentary than those recorded in the book. Still, I was certain that I’d found the correct rune.
Squinting at the faded line of text beneath the drawing, I could just make out four distinct words.
