This is the last one. The end is in sight.

  Atropa cleared his throat. “This is my estate, Saintess Helian. I regret that I can’t offer you a grander welcome, but I had little time to prepare.”

  I nodded. “I understand. I assume you received word from someone?”

  “Yes, a young woman came to demand my aid not very long ago. Once she informed me of the situation, I departed for the Coroban duchy immediately.”

  That must’ve been Rosa. And if she’d come straight here instead of going to the countess for help, that means someone had warned her in advance to seek out Atropa once things went wrong… and that she’d known to be suspicious of the duchess from the very start. None of the explanations I came up with for all this were pleasant.

  “I’m glad she came to seek your help. I don’t know what would have happened without your assistance.”

  Atropa nodded and rubbed his beard. “Yes, that situation was worse than I expected. If you don’t mind me asking, Lady Saintess, why didn’t you exorcise Coroban earlier?”

  “I didn’t know how to do it.”

  His shock indicated that he hadn’t considered this possibility. “You didn’t know how?”

  “Yes. Thankfully something… happened. It struck me suddenly, just in time for me to exorcise her right before I passed out.”

  “I apologize… I assumed that you would know, since the records on past saintesses suggested you would. I should have given you clear instructions in the moment.”

  This, I did not expect. “There are records on past saintesses?”

  “Yes, Lady Helian. Almost every saintess has left written records for future generations. I have copies of some of those records in my library, if you would like to see them. We should also have a discussion at some point about the Seekers… but I think you’d best get comfortable here first before we move on to difficult topics.”

  “I’d love to see those records, Sir Atropa, thank you.” I paused, a little apprehensive. “I haven’t heard of Seekers before. What are they?”

  “In short, they are demons like Coroban, and they are historically preoccupied with saintesses. I’d be happy to discuss them at length later. Thankfully, I don’t believe we need be concerned about them now that you’re in safe hands.”

  Yet another wrinkle in the story caused by past interference—like the duke’s sudden metamorphosis, which I certainly had not been expecting. Well, I had another thing to deal with now. I supposed I needed to be on the lookout for demons once I left the archmage’s estate.

  “Thank you for the information. This may seem like a strange request, but could I have a pencil and paper? My notes were left behind at the duchess’s castle, so I’ll need to recreate them here.”

  “Of course. Follow me to my office.”

  ------

  Atropa’s office was a massive circular room perhaps four stories tall, with curved bookshelves lining every wall. An ornate desk sat at the very center, with small lab tables flanking it on both sides. Though the tables were overflowing with equipment, it was, like everything else in the room, organized with great intention, because either Atropa or his servants were meticulous and thorough. Atropa searched through the drawers of his desk for a few moments, then found what he was looking for—an expensive leather-bound notebook along with a small fountain pen. He handed both over.

  “Here you are. This notebook should be more than suitable for your purposes. It’s a spare I haven’t had any use for yet. The pen is enchanted, so you won’t run out of ink.”

  “This is a generous gift, Sir Atropa. I can tell that these items are quite valuable.”

  “I couldn’t possibly give a saintess some scraps of ordinary paper. One piece of advice, though: I’d caution against drawing schemas or magic circles inside the notebook. Because the notebook is enchanted, such drawings could activate if you’re not careful.”

  Calling the gift ‘generous’ didn’t suffice; this notebook was extremely expensive. It might not be possible to buy one like this in the first place – it was likely custom-made.

  I bowed politely. “Thank you so much for your time. I’m feeling tired, so I think I’d like to rest.”

  “Of course.” He called for a servant to show me to my quarters.

  ------

  The archmage’s servants and guards were polite but lacked interest in speaking with outsiders. This was at least not a matter of class, so I tried not to take it personally. The eternally frigid north rarely saw visitors, so this was an unfamiliar experience for them.

  The mages who filled the laboratories were a different story. Without exception, every single one was delighted to meet me. They had all manner of questions about magic, demons, saintesses, and the other world. While I was ill-equipped to answer most of them, they humored me and thanked me for the few answers I was able to provide. Every encounter ended with an invite to continue the conversation over dinner or discuss theory with a cup of tea. It reminded me of being in university.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  For his part, the archmage was no different. He seemed eager to treat me as a student, and for a time it was pleasant to simply learn. He was understanding of my deficiencies and explained that I was not the first self-taught mage he had encountered. He praised my successes and kindly set me straight when I erred. I felt my understanding of the world growing with every passing day.

  But I couldn’t stay here forever. Eventually, the time came to move on.

  “Sir Atropa, can I speak with you in your office?”

  He nodded. “Of course, Helian. Follow me.”

  Once we arrived, he sealed the door and erected a magical barrier around the interior. “No one can hear us now. I know you wished to speak to me, but first, we must discuss the Seekers. I postponed this conversation for your comfort, but you seem ready now. Is that alright?”

  I couldn’t let my impatience get the best of me. It was something I needed to know about, anyway. “Alright. Please explain.”

  He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. “What I call ‘the Seekers’ are a class of demon. They all have their roots in a specific place, where they were either born or split from another entity. I have my speculations as to what that might be, though I cannot prove it… for reasons I will explain later. Do you follow so far?”

  I nodded, though I had no idea what he was getting at.

  “What makes these demons unusual is cohabitation. While a particularly strong demon might have the ability to possess a living being, doing so is always a temporary intrusion, which means the demon can be cast out. Was that what you observed when you exorcised Coroban, Helian? Was a demon cast out, leaving a healthy human being behind?”

  No. “It wasn’t, sir. There was barely anything left.”

  He nodded. “Seekers can share a body with their host for an indefinite period. As time passes, the two entities become intertwined to the point that they are indistinguishable. Were you to exorcise the demon at that point, there would be barely anything ‘human’ left over. As we saw with the…” He stopped. “... you said Coroban was a duchess, correct?”

  I raised my eyebrow. “Yes. Are you saying that’s wrong?”

  “No, not at all. Coroban was merely a duke the last time we met, perhaps ten years ago. That she was a duchess at the time you met is not much of a surprise. Such details are minor to demons.”

  I felt a familiar knot begin to form in my stomach. Until this point, no one I’d spoken to had even known of Duke Coroban’s existence. Yet Atropa seemed unperturbed by the fact that a duchess had taken the place of a duke without anyone’s notice. It seemed this was a small demonstration of the demon’s power.

  “In any case, Helian, I apologize – I’ve sidetracked us. The important point is that one need not be demonic to play host to a Seeker. They can latch onto any human. I suspect you’ve encountered a Seeker’s host multiple times by now, though you may not have realized it.”

  This explained why Solana’s behavior had suddenly changed.

  “I call them Seekers because that is what they do: they seek hosts who have tremendous potential or possess great power and use them to achieve their goals. Unlike most demons, Seekers wait patiently for months or years before acting to seize what they want most. During this period, they lie in wait, quietly manipulating their host’s emotions.”

  “What do they want?”

  He looked down from the ceiling at last and met my eyes, holding my gaze. “They want a saintess, I fear. Specifically, they crave a saintess’s vessel to occupy, so they can return to the place of their birth.”

  Atropa had revealed that the duchess inscribed magic circles around the wedding hall. Yes, I could see now how she was certain that we would always be together.

  “The good news is that unlike most demons, Seekers cannot move freely. They need a physical vessel in order to travel and can only possess a human when said human is vulnerable. So even were one to grab you tightly by the wrist, you would be safe as long as you remained spiritually strong.”

  I frowned. “So… if someone were to kill a Seeker’s host, they would be safe, right?”

  XXXXX had killed a Suitor and gotten his blood all over her hands. What if Arsen’s Seeker had chosen that moment to climb inside?

  “I’m not sure who you’re concerned about, Helian, but if they were strong enough to kill a Seeker’s host, they should be perfectly safe. I assume you’ve interacted with them in the time since. Did their behavior or mood seem strange to you? Did their eyes look unusual?”

  Their eyes! Both Arsen and the countess had dull, glassy stares when everything started going wrong. That must have been when the Seeker took hold! Thank goodness, XXXXX’s eyes had remained crystal clear.

  “Your point about the eyes is very helpful, sir. It hadn’t occurred to me until now, but both Rydberg and Lady Solana had clouded, dull eyes when they were most out of control. They must have been in a Seeker’s grip. I think you’ve convinced me that my friend will be fine.”

  “That’s good to hear. Regardless, best if you were both cautious – that your friend is strong enough to kill a Seeker’s host makes them an ideal target. It would take but a single moment of vulnerability for one to climb in, were the physical vessel close. Solana had been investigating a cult that we believe collects vessels on purpose, but this whole mess put that investigation to a halt…” He groaned and furrowed his eyebrows.

  Marigold. I was supposed to shut down her cult before the duke abducted me, but instead, I’d left the countess’s estate early.

  “So, you both should keep careful watch for jewelry, ancient relics, and things of that nature. A vessel suitable for a Seeker is likely made of polished stone or rare metal, often decorated with gems. Thankfully, this sort of object tends to stand out, so it is hard to smuggle. The unfortunate part is that people are often drawn to them and touch them.”

  I needed to put an end to the cult as soon as possible. I had to send word ahead to the countess.

  “Thank you for this explanation, Sir Atropa. A great many things make sense to me now.” I held his gaze pointedly. “Could I ask you one question before you continue?”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  “How do you know you aren’t host to a Seeker at this very moment?”