chapter 85

“Five years ago,” I finish for him, though I’m sure Jonah already got there. “Invoking the Right of Accord is what put the binding on us?”“Not necessarily.” Jonah reaches into his back pocket. Xiao makes a move toward him as he does so, and he puts his hands out. “Easy. It’s an iPhone, not an IED.” He slowly retrieves the phone, shakes it a little, then turns back to us. He scrolls his finger across the screen. “Your kind is familiar with runes, right?”

“Of course,” Nathan answers for both of us.

Personally, I slept through that class in school.

“The spell on the queen uses runes from Tyr’s aett; you’re familiar with Tyr?” Jonah pauses to check.

“The Norse god of war. He sacrificed his arm to trap Fenrir,” Nathan says.

“That,” I agree quietly.

“Well, Tyr’s aett is all over her.” Jonah points his finger at Nathan. “And you are bound with etheric chains.”

Nathan shakes his head. “I’m unfamiliar with the term.”

“I think I can get it from context.” I lift up my stump and gaze at it in hor