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I fled to the library after taking a few token sips of tea, but erto be suht off the top of eement I had with Rhyzkahl So perhaps Szerain had a summoner of his own at one ti about the demonic lords except for Rhyzkahl, and I didn’t exactly knohole lot about him either--even if we did have crazy hot sex every time I summoned him

But if so to be summoned simply because I was able to do sowell, that would most assuredly be a fatalwas considered a deep and terrible insult to a lord, a slight to their honor that could not go unanswered, else they risked losing yetthe pope out of his chair and setting him to clean your bathroo repercussions Honor was the bedrock of the demons’ society

There were twelve levels of demons: froher level deth than the lower, but the demonic lords were above all of those They were denizens of an alternate plane of existence, and I had the ability to open a portal between this world and theirs and sue for a suitable offering While it was an affront for any de their kind through knowledge gained in this sphere or the artifacts and offerings the sue for the de were set--the offering and required service agreed upon--the dereed upon task to the best of its ability, just as that same honor coreement The demonic code of honor was a su would demand more power than one human could conceivably draw on his or her own, since it would be necessary to bind and enslave the demon and force it to the summoner’s will And, then, of course, that suht break its bindings and free itself I had little doubt that the su been taught that it was ih I kne that there were exceptions to this And if I have an arrangement with a demonic lord, who’s to say there aren’t other summoners who do as well?

I could feel the subtle brush of the protections pass overon the edge of my awareness The arcane wards in the house and the library were now back to their previous strength, though when they were "installed" this time around I made sure that I had complete access I’d received a rude surprise when Tessa was in the hospital and I’d found that her library and suainst th that I later discovered had been placed shortly after my first encounter with Rhyzkahl It was an understatement to say that I’d felt terribly betrayed I’d been unable to fatho to me, and even now I still didn’t have a clear answer as to herit

I checked that the portal in the corner arded It wasn’t an actual portal that a deh--more like a weak spot in the fabric between our world and the demon sphere Or perhaps some sort of arcane pressure valve I wasn’t quite sure, to be honest What I did knoas that when I removed the wards in the library, soh--or, in at least one case, were pushed through from the other side--and had caused quite a bit of trouble I had a feeling that portal was the reason she’d warded everything against me--and, I assumed, Rhyzkahl--but that precaution had backfired since I’d been forced to have all the protections removed after Tessa had been incapacitated

I’d braced myself for a protest from Tessa when I had the wards restored to normal, but she’d stayed silent on the subject It was yet another shift of power that rown child who suddenly had the care of an elderly parent, though that was a weak analogy in a lot of ways Tessa was only in her late forties and far froe fragility to her now that had never been there before

And she was out of her body for weeks, I chidedunrealistic to expect her to bounce back to fully normal in the course of a couple of months

Still, I didn’t feel like lingering in the library, especially while Tessa was elsewhere in the house The scattered books had been stacked in semi-neat piles, with as much system as there’d been before the incident with the portal Or so it seemed to me, since I wasn’t convinced that there’d ever been a systeed to find a nuuely related to arcane constructs and gole I knew this without looking because I’d actually assigned Ryan a ringtone of his own Not thatso often that it was necessary Pretty ot were from Tessa, Ryan, Jill, or the dispatcher My social life--a pathetic thing indeed

"You awake yet?" he asked

"Not only awake, but I’ve had a shower, coffee, and a up at my aunt’s library So there"

I heard him chuckle "In other words, you’ve solved the o speak to Lida"

"Well, I wouldn’t want to take all the fun out of it," I said "I suppose we can still go through the motions"

"If you’re still at your aunt’s house, I’m only a few blocks away Want me to pick you up?"

"Works for me Meet you out front"

I disconnected, then ducked out of the house, calling out a"bye" to Tessa before she could challengefroe me I didn’t want to face the possibility that she wouldn’t even ask