Page 17 of Light Magic

What? There was another one?

“About ten years ago, our parents opened the hall again,” Abbie told me. “It wasn’t well known. They wanted to start slow, test the waters, help a few people here and there … but six years ago, a higher demon came in. He pretended to be a half demon who had lost his family and was losing his magic.” She shook her head. “The higher demon was Molraz.”

I gasped and glanced at Levi and Lacey. Both of them looked down at their plates, but they weren’t eating.

“He wanted a powerful artifact that was being kept safe in one of the most secure rooms in the hall,” Maggie said. “The Scarlet Hex Dagger.”

I almost choked on the piece of steak I was chewing. “What?”

I looked at the siblings again. Levi had brought his whiskey glass to his lips, and Lacey gave me a dreadful look.

“He brought in hundreds of demons,” Gwen said, her voice low. “We weren’t prepared.”

“It was a horrible battle,” Belinda said. “My son and his wife lost their lives, and I’m afraid that if a powerful higher demon hadn’t come to help us, we all would have died.” She stared straight at Levi. He emptied his whisky glass, set it down, and the amber liquid filled the glass again.

My jaw fell to the floor.

Levi had come to help the Grand Eternity Hall when his father attacked it?

“That’s why Levi is an honored guest,” I muttered.

Abbie nodded. “We owe him a lot.”

“Molraz still escaped with the dagger,” Levi said bitterly.

“But you saved my life,” Abbie said.

“And mine,” Trent said.

“Everyone’s, really,” Gwen added.

I frowned and had to hold my tongue from asking why. Why would a twenty-two-year-old higher demon help strangers and fight against his father? I knew he didn’t like his father, but I doubted he had jumped in all of his father’s battles.

It had to be because of the dagger.

He hadn’t come for a noble cause. He had come for the dagger, and he had still lost it.

I glanced at him, seeing through his mask. Right now, he pretended to be a civilized, humane demon, but I knew the truth. Under all of that charm was cunning and malice. All he knew was how to use others for his gain.

He met my gaze for three seconds, then went for his whiskey again.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that the Scarlet Hex Blade had been here for a long time before surfacing with Molraz. Rhodes must have known about the dagger and sent Molraz to retrieve it.

Not a few months later, I had taken the dagger from Molraz.

Maybe, just maybe, I could return it to the hall. It was probably more secure than where I had it hidden now. But it had been taken once already.

It could be taken again.

I frowned. “Does it happen often? Having artifacts stolen? I mean, probably not now since the hall is closed again.”

“The hall isn’t closed,” Abbie answered. “Well, we closed for about a month while we grieved and made some changes, but we didn’t want one attack to stop us. We’re certainly open, but it’s not widely known.”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“You didn’t answer her question,” Trent whispered.

Abbie nodded. “Right. No, it’s not common. In fact, in our eight-thousand-year history, we've had only eleven artifacts and books stolen.”