“I . . . swear,” Malden said as the pain radiated outward, toward his extremities. Red blood stained his vision. “It was wholly . . . my own . . . notion . . . I—”

“It was Croy!” Cythera shouted. “Croy paid him to help me!”

The pain left Malden as quickly as it had come. He dropped to the marble floor, still writhing with the memory of it.

Hazoth turned to face Cythera. “Truly? I suppose I can believe that.” Hazoth looked almost disappointed. “I had thought I might discover the name of my fellow schemer. Hmm. But yes—yes, Croy would be foolish enough. Very well.”

He shrugged and came over to where Malden had curled up on the floor.

“So. We have reached the end of our experiment. The subject has failed to justify the hypothesis. There remains nothing to say,” Hazoth said. “And there are other matters that require my attention. There is a knight errant on my lawn, brawling with the hired help. I think I need to go boil him in his own blood.”

“Croy,” Cythera said, one hand to her mouth. “No—you can’t . . .”

Hazoth looked over at her. “You know perfectly well that I can,” he said. “And now, by telling me he was behind this intrusion, you’ve given me every reason to do so immediately.”

She went pale beneath her tattoos. “I meant—I meant to say—you may not,” she said. “I won’t allow it, Father.”

Malden’s eyes went wide.

“Father?” he said aloud. “He’s your—”

“I did not say you could speak!” Hazoth screamed, and Malden’s voice was lost.

It didn’t matter. His own thoughts were louder than anything he might have said.

The demon is his child, she had said. It is not his first.

He had assumed she meant he’d sired other demons.

Not all of his protections are magical, she had said.

He’d assumed that meant the very human retainers he kept to guard his gate. But perhaps she’d meant, instead, that he had a hold on her that was more complex than a mere contract of employment. She had betrayed him, Malden, and now he knew why.

In truth, he had never trusted her completely. Even when he’d kissed her, he half expected her to destroy him with her stockpile of curses. He had made sure she only knew half of his scheme. Now he understood that he could not expect her aid any longer. That she was not going to rescue him at the last minute.

He had, in a way, expected this.

It still hurt. It still cut him to the core.