The guard surged forward to defend his liege lady, but Pendragon shouted, "Back off!" and the guy stepped backward, obeying the voice of command. Sloane looked outraged, but she didn't flinch when Pendragon leaned over her threateningly. "If his parents want to ground him and take away his Xbox, I don't care. But if you get into his head, I'll take that as a personal affront. And then you'll see how much damage one lone Pendragon can do."

"You won't be alone, Riley," Jax promised.

The big blond vassal, A.J., put in his two cents. "Evangeline says she owes this kid. That's good enough for me."

"We'll know if you mess with him," Thomas Donovan added. He slung an arm around Dorian's neck and pulled him close, sniffing his head.

His sister did the same, taking her turn sniffing Dorian-which was weird but not unpleasant-then whispered into his ear. "I'll get you the name of the guy who fixed Jax. Tell him Tegan sent you."

Dorian looked up at Sloane through eyes filled with tears. He could tell she was furious, and he was pretty sure the blurry shape coming down the sidewalk was Mom. Dorian was in deep, deep, deep trouble, but his cousin Jax was proud of him, and his family's enemies were poised to defend him.

He felt brave.

Mom got hold of his ear, but she couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

37.

JAX SLUMPED IN EXHAUSTION against the rear bumper of the Land Rover, watching Aunt Marian drag Dorian home in disgrace and Sloane stalk back to her devoted vassals. Evangeline was safe; they had Billy back, and they could leave.

Riley made no move to get into the car, though. He waited for Sheila Morgan, who was striding toward them from the Dulac building, her bootheels clicking briskly on the sidewalk. She had her phone out and was flicking through screens. Her expression was grim.

"Thank you for coming, Sheila," Riley said. "If you hadn't been there as a witness, Sloane Dulac would've ordered us all shot at 12:01-with tranquilizers, if she was feeling generous. And they would never have let Jax go, especially with the talent he has."

"I bet Sloane's sorry she invoked me as a witness now. It won't be quite as easy to snatch him back from you after I declared him a branch-off." Sheila put her hands on her hips and looked up at Riley. "But I didn't come here entirely for your sake. I thought Ursula having an Emrys heir in her clutches was a bad idea."

"You were right," Jax piped up. "Wait until you hear what she was planning to do with them."

Sheila scrutinized Jax with narrowed eyes. "Young man, between your talent for pulling a rabbit out of a hat and your unfortunate family ties, I suspect you're a font of information. I look forward to hearing everything you can tell me about the Dulacs, but it'll have to wait for a less critical moment." She looked at her phone again.

"What do you know about the Llyrs?" Riley asked.

"They've disappeared, gone into hiding." Sheila frowned, swiping her finger across the screen. She seemed to be scanning incoming texts. "We have multiple teams searching the area, dispatched as soon as we heard what was happening at the Dulac building. We still missed them." She looked up. "But they have to be close. They can't have gotten far before the eighth day ended. We'll track them down by their vehicles if nothing else."

"They've got Evangeline's sister with them," Riley told her. "They took her from the Dulacs."

"That's an unfortunate development." Sheila Morgan seemed to have a gift for understatement. Unfortunate hardly covered the danger Addie could be in. Not only was she in the hands of Kin who could raise lightning and tornadoes, they probably wanted to use her to counter the Eighth-Day Spell. Jax remembered how Myrddin Wylit had threatened and tortured Evangeline, trying to force her to destroy the seven-day timeline. "Did the Llyrs kill Ursula?" Sheila asked. "Her vassals wouldn't say."

Riley ran a hand through his hair. "No, Ursula was killed by a wyvern delivered to her building by a horde of brownies." Sheila narrowed her eyes and looked at Jax, who nodded vigorously. "And as bizarre as that sounds," Riley went on, "what's even stranger is this happened at the same time the Llyrs attacked. I can't believe Llyrs are using brownies as a weapon-that seems beneath them-but it's too big a coincidence."

"Maybe it's not a coincidence." Jax remembered what Dr. Morder had said about accidentally meeting Evangeline in the brownie tunnel. Events are being manipulated by a force greater than any of us. "It's the Morrigan," he blurted out. "She's arranging things to happen the way she wants them, for maximum destruction. I saw her, right when the wyvern arrived, which must have been when the Llyrs showed up too."

Everyone stared at him. Riley turned to Tegan. "Are you sure his head is fixed?"

"Maybe not," Tegan admitted.

Jax looked at Sheila Morgan. "You believe me, don't you? Deidre said her men saw the Morrigan in Mexico."

Sheila hesitated. "It doesn't matter what I believe," she said after a moment. "The Llyrs are the people I need to find. Which is what I should be working on right now." She turned to leave, and Riley held out a hand to stop her.

"About Deidre-" Sheila shot Riley an angry look, but he finished anyway. "She broke off the engagement. I would have kept my word."

"I think my daughter wanted more from you than just your word," Sheila replied tersely.

"Our families have been allies a long time," Riley pressed.

"But you're the only member of your family left." Sheila looked him up and down. "Deidre says you're claiming your seat at the Table. Let's see if you can fill your father's shoes. Then I'll consider whether our alliance is worth continuing." She walked away briskly, and everyone got out of her way-A.J. and Billy and the Donovan twins. Mrs. Crandall, leaning out of the Land Rover, watched her leave with a worried expression.

Jax, however, was watching Riley's face and could see that the idea of filling his father's shoes intimidated him more than the wyvern had. "Just be yourself," Jax said impulsively. "You can do it."

"You didn't know him," Riley replied.

"At least your dad was someone to look up to." Jax's dad had made a living at selling secrets and spent half his life hiding from his relatives. And even though Jax knew why now, he had a hundred more questions he wanted to ask his dad-and couldn't.

"Don't sell your father short. He must've done something right." Riley slung an arm around Jax's shoulders and steered him toward the Land Rover. "Look how you turned out."

The Donovans insisted on being left in the park where Mr. Crandall stopped to pick up Riley's motorcycle. Mrs. Crandall didn't approve. "We can take you all the way home. We have to drive Billy anyway. I have no idea where your father's gone, and I don't want to leave you here."

Tegan shrugged. "We can take care of ourselves."

"We'll hire a limo to take us home when we're ready," said Thomas, handing a wad of cash to his sister. "Do you think there's any pawn shops open all night?" He pulled jewelry out of his pants pockets-pearls and diamonds and gold bracelets. Obviously Ursula's safe had been the last thing Thomas tackled, after he was finished ransacking the rest of the Dulac penthouse.

Mrs. Crandall sucked in her breath, then clamped her lips shut and got back in the car. There was no doubt in Jax's mind that the twins would've been in a world of trouble if Mrs. Crandall had her way with them.

Jax faced Tegan awkwardly. Her help had been invaluable. But she was also a big pain in the rear end. Not knowing what else to do, he stuck his hand out, offering to shake.

Tegan looked at his hand. "Well, I suppose you deserve a cut." She peeled a couple fifties off the wad of bills and stuffed them into his palm.

"Gee, thanks." He felt a little insulted. Tegan gave him a fleeting grin, then dashed off into Central Park. Jax had no idea why Thomas winked at him before disappearing after her.

Riley let Billy ride on the back of his motorcycle, following the Land Rover to a motel outside the city. Billy looked like he was having the time of his life, which made Jax feel a little sick because he was pretty sure what was going to happen next. His suspicions were confirmed when Billy walked into the motel room behind Riley, bouncing on his toes, and neither Riley nor A.J. would look at Billy or meet his eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Crandall, who had the adjoining room, came to the door with grim faces.

Riley addressed Jax quietly while A.J. opened up a bucket of fried chicken from KFC. "You know what I have to do, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"It's for his own good. Things are going to get dangerous from here on out."

"I said I know, Riley. Just . . ." Jax glanced at his friend, who was happily stuffing his mouth with chicken. "Explain it to him."

"He won't remember afterward."

"He deserves an explanation anyway."

Riley nodded solemnly. "Hey, Billy-come here a minute."

He sat Billy down and explained it all: the importance of Evangeline and her sister for keeping the Eighth-Day Spell in place, and the fact that a group of dangerous Kin now had a way to interfere with the spell. Then he bluntly described how his own family had died-and Jax's dad too-although he didn't know what Balin had said about Jax's father deliberately driving into the river, and Jax didn't correct him. That was something Jax couldn't deal with right now.

Billy's face grew pale. "But who would come after me? I don't know anything important."

"You know us," Riley said. "That was enough to get you kidnapped in the first place. You don't want your family in danger, do you?"

"No." Billy swallowed. "But you just said the whole world's in danger from these Kin lords."

"You're a security risk," Mr. Crandall put in. "It's nothing personal, boy."

Billy looked up at Riley. "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to order you to forget everything that happened this week. Some commands I make wear off in time, but if I order you to forget something, that memory is gone for good. And I can't make up new stuff for you to believe, like the Dulacs can. You're going to be dropped off at home with injuries and a big hole in your memory-and there's probably going to be a big stink about it and maybe the police, and I'm sorry about that."

"But"-Billy looked at Jax-"what good does that do, if-"

"I'm going to order you to forget you were ever friends with Jax," Riley went on. "You might remember him from school, but not anything personal about him. You'll forget what you know about the Donovans. And Jax is never going to contact you again." He shot a look at Jax. "Which is what I told him in the first place, and if he'd listened, maybe you wouldn't have been involved at all."

"But this is the best thing that ever happened to me!" Billy's eyes were getting glassy. "I've never done anything like this before-nothing important-nothing-"

"Heroic," Riley finished for him. "I know. And you did tonight. You were a hero. You saved the life of a man who came close to shooting you. You're the kind of person I'd like to have at my back."

"I'm not going to remember it, though." Billy leaned over and stared at the floor.

Jax looked around. Mr. Crandall was stone faced, but Mrs. Crandall shifted her weight uncomfortably. A.J. tossed an uneaten chicken leg back in the bucket like he'd lost his appetite. Jax appealed to Riley. "Is there no other way?" Hijacking Billy's memory would make them no better than Dulacs.

"He's a security risk," Mr. Crandall repeated. "It's the correct thing to do."

The correct thing to do. Those were the words Mrs. Crandall had used when talking about sending Jax back to Delaware. How come the correct thing always sucks? Jax turned to Riley and asked in an undertone, "Are you going to wipe my memory when you dump me back with Naomi? Is that the correct thing too?"

Riley looked startled. "What makes you think I'm gonna to do that?" Jax tilted his head toward Mrs. Crandall. Riley followed the gesture and put two and two together. "Jax, I have to do what I can to help track down the Llyrs-and Evangeline's sister. I don't know where I'll be going in the next few weeks or months. And you're going to need a safe place to stay and go to school in the fall. But dumping you is out of the question. You're stuck with me as your guardian till you're eighteen." His eyes bounced back and forth between Jax and Billy a few times. Then he grinned, as if he'd just had an idea. "Okay, Billy," he said, "you leave me no choice."

"I understand," Billy mumbled.

"I'm gonna have to make you my vassal."

Billy's head came up. "What?"

"If you're my vassal, you and everyone in your household are entitled to my protection. It doesn't guarantee my enemies won't bother you, but at least it ought to make them think twice before starting a war with the Pendragon clan." Riley drew his blade. "C'mere. And kneel down."

Billy gaped at Jax, who grinned and waved Billy to go ahead. Jax realized that Riley was killing two birds with one stone-protecting Billy and setting up a safe place where Jax could live while attending school. Mr. Crandall groaned loudly, but his wife smacked his arm, and A.J. said, "Chill out, Dad."

"I'll lend you Excalibur." Riley offered it hilt first across his forearm when Billy sank to his knees on the motel carpet.

"Is it really?" Billy handled the blade like it might break into pieces. "It belonged to King Arthur? The real King Arthur?"

"Yeah, it did." Riley showed him how to balance the dagger on his palm. "Repeat after me: I, Billy Ramirez, swear on my bloodline-"

"I, Guillermo Ramirez Junior, swear on my bloodline and on the blade of King Arthur," Billy blurted out, interrupting him, "my loyalty to Riley Pendragon and his entire clan as his vassal and servant."

Riley looked a little startled. "Well, okay then." He put a hand on Billy's forehead. "I accept you. I take you into my protection, and I order and require your loyalty."

Mr. Crandall huffed in the corner. "Is a vassal bond with a Normal even valid?" he asked his wife. "The boy has no magic to bind him to that oath. It's meaningless."

Jax didn't know what other Transitioners would say, but he thought Mr. Crandall was wrong. Riley had the power of command, and that oath wasn't meaningless to Billy.

Grinning from ear to ear, Billy turned Excalibur over and over in his hands before offering it, with proper form, back to his liege lord. "This is so cool."

Acknowledgments.

IT TAKES A TEAM of people to create a book, and I'm lucky to have such an awesome group of people who played their part in the creation of The Inquisitor's Mark. I want to thank my agent, Sara Crowe, who saw potential in my eighth-day world right from the start; my amazing editors, Alexandra Cooper and Alyssa Miele; and the design department at HarperCollins, who did such a beautiful job on both books.

I can't forget my family, Bob, Gabbey, and Gina, who supported me along the way-whether that meant creating a diagram with silverware on a restaurant table so I could choreograph a wyvern battle or taking a day trip to New York City. We may be the only family ever visiting the Central Park Zoo more interested in photographing the roof of the observation pavilion than the beautiful snow leopards.

My wonderful critique partners, Krystalyn Drown and Marcy Hatch, each contributed to the development of this story, as did my beta readers, Lenny Lee, Katie Mills, Susan Kaye Quinn, Melissa Sarno, Mary Waibel, and Maria Ann Witt; my coworkers, Tina Bennett, Kelley Crist, and Matt Krykew; and three former students who gave me feedback, Laura, Javi, and Brayden.

Finally, I can't forget the amazing students in my 20132014 reading classes, the best cheerleaders a writer could ever have: Nik, Edson, Evelyn, Julian, Ava, Jasmine, Annie, Jack C., Kimberly, Omar, Brisa, Brandon, Belinda, Yareli, Aidan, Michael, Dylan, Jenny S., Tori, Liliana, Jenny B., Jacqui, Kate, Emma, Reece, Marley, Max, Jacob, J.J., Jimmy, Ethan, Rachel, Michelle, Erik, Chloe, Jackie, Lucy, Lauren, Sophia, Maggie, Matt, Joey, Caleb, Victoria, Ricky, Caitlyn, and Jack T.

About the Author.

Photo by Catchlight Photography.

DIANNE K. SALERNI attended the University of Delaware, where she earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education, and then went on to earn a master's in language arts education at the University of Pennsylvania. She was an elementary school teacher for over twenty years and has also written several books, including We Hear the Dead and The Caged Graves. The Inquisitor's Mark is the second book in the Eighth Day series. Although Dianne knows there's not really such a thing as a secret Eighth Day, discovering one would explain all the food that disappears in her house. Until then, she'll continue to blame her husband, Bob, her two teenage daughters, Gabrielle and Gina, and her dog, Sorcia. Dianne lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania. You can visit her online at www.diannesalerni.com.

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The Eighth Day.

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