She scoffed. “Like demons can forgive.”
“If forgiveness is warranted, we can and do.”
I couldn’t tell you why Ember’s assessment of demons irked me so much, but I snapped back, “They aren’t all mindless monsters like the ones you’ve fought. They can be intelligent and even nice sometimes.”
“I wouldn’t go as far as nice.”
Ember blinked twice before she replied. “I don’t know what lines he’s been feeding you, but he is a demon. A creature from Hell.”
I narrowed my eyes. “A prince.”
“Even worse.”
My nostrils flared. “Chaos has done nothing but help us. If not for him, we’d still have no idea about the curse or what happened to Cinder.”
She bristled. “If you’d read her journal first instead of tattooing yourself with a demonic sigil, we sure would.”
“We’d still need him. We can’t break the curse without him.” I crossed my arms and inclined my chin.
Ember laughed dryly. “You sound like you’re glad you possessed yourself.”
“Maybe I am. Getting to know him has opened my mind. Not all demons are bad.”
“By your standards, yes, we are.”
She shook her head. “I’m going to write this off as shock from your burns. Get your head straight and figure out this map. I’m going to work.”
Ember turned on her heel and marched out the door, and I fought the urge to crumple the map in my hands. She didn’t know Chaos like I did. Once I got him out of my head and into his physical form, she’d see.
“I think our bond is affecting you. I’m going to pull inward and go quiet for a while.”
“Oh? You’re not going to offer to destroy her like you did with Shade?”
“She’s your blood. Family is sacred.”
“Whatever.” I slid the map into my satchel and carried it downstairs.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A giant mug of coffee sat steaming on my desk as I scowled over the cryptic map. Ginger womaned the front of the shop today, so I had hours to focus until Ember came home. Plenty of time to figure this out, yet I couldn’t concentrate.
After seeing the Boston coven’s incredible library, I couldn’t stand to look at mine. I wanted to fix it. To organize it and make it grand. But I had much more pressing matters to deal with.
I sipped my coffee and fired up my laptop. The public library had an entire room filled with books and articles on Salem’s history. Sadly, none of it was digitized, so I’d have to take a trip to the town archives. Maybe getting away from my own would help me focus.
“You’re frustrated.” Chaos’s voice startled me, and I nearly spilled my coffee on the map.
“That’s a word for it.” I set my mug aside and pressed my fingers to my temples. “I can’t focus. The secrets are stacking up, and I’m horrible at keeping them. I feel bad for snapping at Ember… Why did I snap at her? I can’t even remember what set me off.”
“She made a generalization about my kind, and you felt it as an insult. You defended me.”
I slid down in my chair and leaned my head back. “She doesn’t know you.”
“Neither do you. Have you forgotten why your sister and parents are missing? Why you’re cursed? My brothers and I felt no remorse for making the deal with the witch Isabel. It’s what we do.”
He had a point. Whatever fondness I was beginning to feel for him, I needed to squash it like a cockroach. He was the reason for all this trouble. For everything. My forearm heated, and I pulled up my sleeve to see his sigil glowing red.
“It’s our bond. As long as it exists, you’ll feel a kinship with me, as I feel with you.”
Well, that was good news. All I had to do was get him out of my head, and then I’d be able to think straight. Step one: go to the library and find a map of sixteen hundreds Salem.
“What’s this?” Shade grabbed the map and squinted at it. I’d been so caught up in my head, I hadn’t heard him or Miles come in.
“Is that a map?” Miles peered over his shoulder. “That’s the old church in Hingham, isn’t it?” He pointed to the cross.
“How do you know that?” If only I could ask him for help. I jerked my sleeve down. “Is it still there?”
He shrugged. “I’m interested in cartography. Yeah, it’s still there. It’s the oldest in Massachusetts. Where did you get this?”
I yanked the map from Shade’s hands and shoved it into my bag. “From a friend. It’s a history project I’m working on. What do you want?”
“Ember didn’t text you?” Shade picked up my coffee and took a sip. “This tastes like tar.”
I ground my teeth and pulled out my phone. No messages, but that was no surprise. She was pissed at me, as she should have been. I was out of line defending a demon. “What do you want?” I asked again.
“Wow.” He set my mug down and clicked his tongue. “The sister of the acting High Priestess doesn’t even know what’s going on. How sad.”
“My offer with him still stands.”
