“I should be free, yes,” Aimon said.
“Are you?” Rose asked.
Aimon didn’t answer.
“Free?” Laird piped up, his voice high.
“He’s in charge of the family now,” Rose said.
“Oh,” Laird replied.
“I spent a long time wondering what your father would do when he was in charge.”
It was hard to look at Rose.
Aimon could imagine the scene. See the binding circles coming to life. He’d had to look away, because looking directly at the demon had been too dangerous.
The demon had cut into the pile of pigs, compulsive, furious.
The sickle cut away the names.
The name had fallen from Aimon’s recollection, piece by piece.
Rose, meanwhile, had done what she could to close the circles.
Whatever else she said, he could imagine all of the different ways that things could have played out. If he’d accepted the possession, if he’d been closer, if they’d happened to love each other at the same time, one of them brave enough to make a move…
Would he have ended up right next to her, sharing in her sheer excitement?
Charles squawked in Rose’s arms.
Aimon looked. He could see his wife looking on, clearly uncomfortable at his proximity to the diabolist.
“It’s been some time since we talked about it,” he said. When we married, we couldn’t meet so easily. “Your goals, your dream.”
“It’s been some time since I gave it serious consideration.”
“You’ve abandoned it then?” he asked.
“No. Most definitely not. Have you?”
He couldn’t answer.
“I’ll ask you outright,” she said. “Will you do to Laird what your father did to you? Impose the same rules and restrictions?”
“Time has a way of changing one’s mind.”
“You can alter time, can’t you? Change your mind.”
He smiled sadly.
“Is that a yes, then?” she asked. “Tradition continues its ceaseless march through the generations?”
He flexed the fingers of his bad hand.
Pain every day, to remind him of the war.
On the other hand… the demon. The monstrosity. Rose, her eyes wide.
She’d done it for a good reason. She’d done it well.
She had embraced diabolism as a way to protect others.
“No,” he said. “No, I think we can take a different road.”
He saw the dawning realization, the smile on her face.
“But,” he said, “I need certain concessions.”
“Concessions?”
“This can’t come back on my family. I swore oaths. To preserve the stores of power my family has amassed over generations. I won’t make Laird swear those same oaths. If he needs to bring about change, he’ll have the power to do so.”
Rose turned appraising eyes on Laird, still bearing his baby fat. She didn’t answer right away.
“Go to your mom,” Aimon said.
Laird let go, then ran, getting away from tombstone and boring adults, arms flailing at his sides in his childish run.
“Will he be up to it?” Rose asked.
“If you want to bring about change, it has to start with the next generation. If we succumb to fear…”
“…We’ll be just as bad as the ones who came before us,” she finished.
“Yes. Another thing. You’ll have to teach Laird.”
“Teach him?”
“Diabolism. Enough to protect himself and the rest of the Behaim family. We can’t move forward if I have to watch my back. Laird either.”
She considered, then seemed to come to a decision. “Yes. I think we can arrange that.”
“Good,” he said.
“It won’t be pretty,” she said.
“No. But did you ever think it would be?”
“When I was young and naive.”
Aimon nodded. “What do you need?”
“Time,” she said. She smiled a bit. “Charles, any children that come after him… I can’t teach them. My grandchildren… I need time, to see them grow up.”
“Costly. To stave off death? That’s something else altogether.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I hate to suggest it, but I’m not sure I can offer much more. I can’t promise protection against Laird the same way you’re promising protection against the diabolism.”
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
He felt a bit of a chill. “I can’t imagine it is. I can do what I can to raise Laird and my other children well, but-”
“Don’t lie. You’ll spoil him rotten. I know you well enough, and you’ll be too generous rather than risk walkng in your father’s footsteps. If conflict is due, then conflict will happen.”
“You’d leave your heirs defenseless?”
“No. No, not at all. Do you remember the Barber’s summoning?”
“I have nightmares about it. Scars. I don’t think I could forget if I tried.”
“Do you remember the boons he can grant?”
“Medical skill, in exchange for leaving a big enough hole for something else to occupy. Extend one’s life…”
He gave Rose a look.
She shook her head. “Considered and decided against it. I trust you more than I trust the texts.”
“Hmm, there were two more. Sharp blades, I can’t imagine a good use for that. To carve out a reflection? I wasn’t so clear on that one.”
“I am. As protection for my heir goes, it’ll serve.”