Horatio and his halfwit cousin were nearly thirty minutes late. One of the baron’s greatest irritations was the lack of respect by his men and recently, Horatio had been the most disrespectful of all in his employ. He wasn’t sure why the knight’s absence surprised him. Granted, Gregory had asked the two simpletons to check on his daughter before coming to the meeting, but they still should have been here by now. Unless…No! He wouldn’t even entertain such notions. The damnable creature that had haunted him in these last few months was beginning to plague his every thought. He was seeing the Djinn in every shadow. In every flicker from the corner of his eye. And this had led to a nagging sense of dread—dread of the Djinn’s next attack. An unreasonable fear that the creature would get to him at his weakest point. It’s what he would do if roles were reversed. He would go after the one thing his enemy treasured most. In Gregory’s case, that would be Isabella. It was bad enough the demon had absconded with Solomon’s Seal…an object of immense importance to his plans.
