After a horrific time with their first case together, it was understandable that Lucifer and Stefan wanted to take some down time and get to learn more about each other. But on their first day officially back at work, with Monty and Darwin's new anchor division this time, an ex-friend of Lucifer's turns up and things quickly go from bad to worse for the fated pair.

Borrowed magic, hateful hexes, and even a bomb all quickly culminate to strain Lucifer's and Stefan's relationship, especially when Lucifer defaults to his typical arrogant behavior. It doesn't help that Stefan knows Lucifer is hiding something from him, but he's not sure if it's to do with their issues around them or something more personal.

When Gaston visits his dreamscape, telling him to get out of bed, Stefan has yet something else to deal with he wasn't sure would ever happen to him—a new familiar. Maybe Creed can help Stefan and Lucifer decide if the problems they are having are a direct attack on Lucifer, or more efforts by the Brethren to stop them promoting the rights of anchors.

This story takes place over the space of a week from the Epilogue of Illuminate. It is not a standalone—you will need to listen to Illuminate to understand the impact of where Stefan was born, the Technic case, Lucifer's issues with the twins and the importance of anchors to high magic users.

This is the second book in the Magic Users of Greenford Trilogy and unlike most of my books, this story follows the two main characters across all three titles.