Astrid perched on a deep sapphire velvet cushion, her tiny hands delicately adjusting the porcein cup before her. Around the low wooden table sat her honored guests: Sir Bun-Bun, a white rabbit with red eyes that had a darker presence than the other stuffed animals. He wore a red and bck bowtie with a matching top hat. Lady Pudding, the wife of Sir Bun-Bun, had on a lovely green floral dress with brown and green button eyes. And three very peculiar friends who had no need for stuffed bodies—because they were not stuffed at all.

  One demon, Jack, taking the form of a shadowy man with dark, soulless eyes, zily stirred his empty teacup with a cwed finger. Another, Fox, a wispy, smoke-bodied creature that had the body of a fox but the head and size of a great wolf, licked the biscuit on his pte. The third, Nine, sat beside Lady Pudding, stretching his too-long fingers to pinch a sugar cube between thumb and forefinger, watching it dissolve without ever touching the tea.

  Astrid beamed, lifting her cup. “A toast, my loves! To the grandest tea party in all of Elorath!”

  The demons echoed her in strange, warbling voices, and Sir Bun-Bun, being the most dignified of rabbits, nodded solemnly.

  But before Astrid could take a sip, the door burst open with a force that rattled the tiny ptes.

  “Astrid!”

  Her father’s voice was a thundercp in the small pyroom. The demons, startled, exploded into a frenzy of bck feathers and shrieks. The room filled with the sound of beating wings as the creatures folded themselves into the shape of ravens, their eyes still too bright, too knowing, as they darted for the open window. Saul swept forward, his outstretched hands crackling with the st remnants of a banishment spell.

  “Out,” he growled, and the creatures obeyed, their wingbeats swallowed by the wind.

  Astrid huffed, crossing her arms. “Papa! You scared them!”

  Saul exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples before crouching to lift her into his arms. “No, love. They scared me.” He cradled her close, his heartbeat steady but fast, like a war drum in his chest. “You don’t understand what you’re pying with.”

  Astrid pouted, kicking her legs. “But they like me! And they listen. Most of the time.”

  Saul shook his head, carrying her toward the window where the st wisps of shadow had already faded into the sky. “Being a mage now is not what it used to be,” he murmured. “Demons are not our friends, Astrid. Not anymore.”

  She frowned, her small fingers twisting in the fabric of his robe. “But they’re fun.”

  Saul sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You’ll always be my little girl...” He muttered, partly to seal the spell he cast. He kissed her cheek multiple times, winning little giggles from the girl.

  “Papa!”

  Saul smiled. “Come now,” he said as he swayed the girl on his hips. “There will be more time for games tomorrow.”

  Outside, beyond the castle walls, three ravens perched in the highest branches of the old willow tree, watching. Waiting.

  Because the game wasn’t over yet.