I stepped closer to the circle, knelt, and carefully set the paper towel of cookies on the floor. If that’s your idea of answering a question, I won’t bother asking any more.” “No, you didn’t.” Glaring, I took a deep breath. “Did you just call me stupid?” I clenched my jaw, then relaxed. “Lie,” the demon repeated with certainty. “Your family.” It rolled the last word as though tasting it. Miss your … college,” it enunciated carefully, as though unfamiliar with the word, “true. “Moved here,” the demon repeated in its swirling accent. My skin prickled, instinct warning that a predator’s attention was locked on me.īrow furrowed, I searched for harmless things to say. “ If it’s true that demons don’t lie, why is that?”Ī long pause, but it wasn’t the same silence as before. “What does zhuh-ool … what does that word mean?” “ Ch,” it replied, a sound of cold amusement. “What would you ask?”ĭoubts trickled through me. “A question, hh’ainun?” the demon crooned. Quiet lay upon the room-then a soft, husky laugh. “I answered your question,” I added accusingly. It’s delicious, and I’ll give it to you if you answer a question for me.” “This,” I announced, “is a double-chocolate brownie cookie. I stopped two long steps from the summoning circle, the dome-shape interior filled with inky, impenetrable shadows. I snapped the Demonica guide shut and replaced it under the table, then scooped up my remaining cookies and walked across the hardwood floor.

Pretend I didn’t break the rules.įrom the author of The Guild Codex: Spellbound comes a new series that will plunge an unprepared young woman into the darkest magic of the mythic world. Pretend I didn’t notice the shadowy being trapped inside it. Pretend I didn’t find the summoning circle in the basement. And I’m supposed to act like I don’t know how illegal and dangerous it is.Īll I had to do was keep my nose out of it. He calls creatures of darkness into our world, binds them into service contracts, and sells them to the highest bidder. I was right about the sorcery, but wrong about everything else.

When I arrived at my uncle’s house, I expected my relatives to be like me-outcast sorcerers who don’t practice magic.

Taming demons for beginners