Sinners' Kingdom #1: The Book of Lust (Complete)

29

"Imprison?" I repeated sharply. "So I was right? We're trapped. Sarina tricked us."

"No, no. You misunderstand." Lust traced the knuckle of his forefinger against my jaw with an indulgent smile, as if petting a cat. I hated it... yet the caress of his heat along my skin calmed my heart that had just lurched into a feverish pounding. The spark of panic evaporated. "These are just the outer talismans that stabilize the trap, like weighted stones around the edge of a net. You would find that if you try to leave this place carrying one of these, it will slip out your hands and remain here. These talismans are bound to this site, but harmless to us. Rather, it means... that something else has been caught. I would guess that the true center of the prison is actually far below our feet."

He looked down, and so did I. We stared at the unassuming floor for a moment.

"A prison below our feet," I said slowly. "Okay... and would Sarina know this? That something's trapped inside it, wherever it is?"

"Without a doubt. She is the Grand Master, after all. It would be difficult to conceal something of that magnitude from a lord of the estate. She lives right here on the fringes of it, after all."

"My mom never mentioned any of that."

"Then perhaps it's not her work entirely. Other witches could have come and gone. Or perhaps the Grand Master herself is scheming something. Functionally, she's the same as any Coven Grand Witch, with magic of her own even if it looks dissimilar to the kind you know. With the right tools and knowledge, along with skill and talent, she could do something like this."

"Okay. Fine." I glanced back at the entrance. We were far enough from it that I doubted anyone could hear us from the hallway if they eavesdropped, but I lowered my voice a little more anyway. "So this prison. How do we know what's inside it? Is there a way to tell?"

"No. Well... we could guess. The talismans like this one should be a hint, the stronger ones closer to the heart of the trap even more so. The strength of the markings would hint how powerful the imprisoned one is. It's Enochian, after all. They grow and change according to resistance. So if these little trinkets on the very outermost fringes" — he tapped my hand, the one closed around the golden talisman — "have grown considerably, then we can infer that the resistance is great. Therefore, the prisoner is strong. But pity. The symbols are Enochian. Even if I weren't weakened now, there's no telling how much of it I could decipher."

"Enochian?" I loosened my fist and inspected the talisman again. As before, the engraved markings shimmered and appeared to move, but now that I looked more closely, there were far more than I'd first noticed. No, wait. Those in the corner... They definitely hadn't been there before. "It's changing right now," I said, urgency creeping into my voice. "Look. This is a new one. Infiltrate. And this one, it just popped up. I saw it form just now. So I wasn't imagining it — they're moving. See? This one appeared just now while I was talking. The symbol for strength."

Lust raised one eyebrow. "You can read them?"

"Yes?"

"What a surprise... and a delight." He uncurled my fingers the rest of the way so the talisman lay flat on my palm. "Tell me, how much of it can you read?"

His especially pleased and intrigued tone made me nervous, especially when he didn't explain himself. Anything that could make him so happy had a moderate chance of meaning bad news for me, if it affected our contract Dominance in any way. But for now, I had no choice but to cooperate. Wasting time demanding more explanations could cost me dearly.

"I can't read all of it," I admitted. "But maybe half? And look. There are more symbols coming out, but these ones look embossed, not engraved. Are these things supposed to change that quickly? Is that what you meant by 'adapting'? I thought magic artifacts were supposed to be stable. The more fluid they are, the weaker they are."