Jessa Slade: Forged of Shadows

Jonah rammed the shims under the frame, all crooked, and walked away.

Archer, who had arrived with Liam, stood to block him until Liam gave a small shake of his head. The blond talya shouldered past Archer into the hall, the crack of his boots on the linoleum louder than any demon worth its repenting would ever allow.

Sera winced. “So who got the discretion? Nobody here obviously. He’s still hurting.”

“The teshuva healed the wound,” Archer said.

Jilly shook her head. “But he is still alone.”

In silence, Liam adjusted the shims while Archer fixed the window in place.

They stood back to survey their work. The plaster was broken in raw chunks and the metal fins of the window frame stuck out, but the spring sun blazed in riotous color across the floor.

“Pretty,” Sera announced at the same time Archer said, “Last one.” They leaned into each other with matching smiles.

Liam gathered Jilly even closer. “You got Dory settled in with the others?”

“That’s why I couldn’t come to bed. I know we’re back on the hunt tonight, but I saw Jonah couldn’t handle the window by himself, and . . .” She leaned her head against his chest, taking comfort in the steady thud of his heart. “And there were just so many. I don’t know how Nanette will cope, even if she says she has other angelic possessed willing to work with Lau- lau’s dowsing technique.”

He smoothed his hand over her hair, then lifted her chin to meet her gaze. “Maybe they can extract all the solvo, but there’s no guarantee all the pieces of her lost soul will find her again.”

“And no promise the soul can take up residence in the body—I know. Nanette explained.”

He brushed a tear from her cheek with the edge of his thumb. “Still, there’s a chance, so there’s hope.”

“That’s what the mated-talyan bond gives us,” Sera said, her tone pensive.

“A piece of our soul back?” Archer asked. “Since apparently discretion is nontransferable.”

But Jilly understood. It was all she’d ever wanted to give the kids she’d worked with, all she’d wanted for herself. “A chance at hope.” She traced one finger down the lead solder in the stained glass, the dull metal holding such beauty together.

“Is that what Corvus learned from us?” Liam mused. “Where there’s love, there is hope?”

Archer snorted. “What does evil hope for?” When Sera frowned thoughtfully and took a breath to answer, he ran the tip of one finger over her lip. “Never mind. I’m sure we’ll find out. Later.”

Sera nipped at him, then sighed. “Still so much we can’t answer.”

“Together,” Liam said simply, “we will.”

Jilly pulled her hand back from the window when her thumbnail dented the soft lead, gray as the demon realm. The tenebraeternum wouldn’t be so easily mastered. But if anyone could do it . . . She gave her man, her mate, a brash smile and pulled him down for a kiss. “Evil doesn’t stand a chance.”

ascendant:The rise of a demon within a possessed human; refers to the initial incident of possession and subsequent risings.

birnenston:Also known as brimstone. A sulfuric compound leached from some demonic emanations interacting with the human realm.

desolator numinis:“Soul cleaver”; a demonic weapon.

djinni:djinn (pl.) Upper echelon of demonkind; fallen angels who are content to stay fallen.

djinn-man:A human possessed by a djinni.

ether:The elemental energy of spiritual and demonic emanations.

feralis:ferales (pl.) Lesser demonic emanation encased in a physical shell of mutated human-realm material. Physically strong but not so impressive in the brains department.

ichor:A physical by-product of demonic emanations not compatible with the human realm.

league:Isolated clusters of possessed fighters assigned to high-density human population areas with the mission of reducing demonic activity.

legion-tenebrae:Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also tenebrae .

malice:Incorporeal lesser emanation from the demon realm, typically small and animalistic in shape with protohuman intelligence.

mated-talyan bond:The synergistic combination of male and female possessed powers.

reven:The permanent visible epidermal mark left by an ascended demon.

salambe:Highly emanating demonic form from the same subspecies as malice.

solvo:A chemical version of the desolator numinis ; produces opiatelike effects in humans while splitting off the soul.

talya:talyan (pl.) 1. Sacrificial lamb, a young man, Aramaic. 2. A human, typically male, possessed by a repentant demon.

tenebrae:Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also legion-tenebrae .

tenebraeternum:The demon realm, separated from the human realm by the Veil.

teshuva:A repentant demon seeking to return to a state of grace.

Veil:An etheric barrier between the human and demon realms composed of captured souls.