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She ed another sht Thank you for thinking to help”

Tilly pursed her lips, then thought to add so “Mistress, perhaps you could at least visit a spiritist Such a woht be able to contact your husband for you There be a woman of such ability down there I believe those wizards consult her in their work”

“And what good could it really do to visit such a woman?”

“Perhaps you could at least speak with her and ask her to help provide the answers that would let you be at peace hat First Wizard Baraccus did Sheyou his words from beyond the veil, and put your heart at peace”

Magda didn’t see how her heart could ever again be at peace

“You may need help, Mistress,” Tilly added “Maybe First Wizard Baraccus could still somehow help to protect you”

Magda frowned at the woman across the small room “Help to protect me? What do you mean?”

Tilly took a“People are cruel, Mistress Especially to one not born noble As the beautiful wife of the First Wizard, you are widely respected, despite being so er than hida “Your long hair is aYou have used your position of power to speak before the council for those in the Midlands who have no voice You alone give them voice You are widely known and respected for that, not just because you were the wife of the First Wizard

“But with Master Baraccus gone you have no one to protect you, to give you standing before the council or anywhere else for that matter You may find that the world is an unfriendly place to aof a powerful ifted and was not born noble”

Magda had already considered all of that, but it was not going to be a problem she would live to face

“Perhaps the spiritist could bring you valuable advice frorave Perhaps your departed husband could at least explain his reasons and ease your pain as well”

Magda nodded “Thank you, Tilly I will think on it”

Her gaze again sank to the silver box of ine why Baraccus had done what he had done, or that he would be able to explain it frorave If he had wanted to explain his reasons, he’d had ample opportunities to do so He would have at least left a letter waiting for her upon her return

She knew, too, that there was nothing Baraccus could do fro But that didn’t really matter

A faint glow of candlelight fell across the floor as Tilly opened the door on the far side of the room

“Mistress”

Magda looked back over her shoulder to see Tilly standing at the open door, lever in hand

Men, their faces in shadow, their hands clasped, stood out in the hallway

“There arevisitors come to see you, Mistress”

Magda turned back to the table and carefully closed the silver box of treasured memories “Please let them in, Tilly”

Magda had known that sooner or later they would come It appeared that it was to be sooner rather than later She had planned to be finished with it all before they had a chance to show up That, too, it seemed, was not to be

Her spirits would have sunk lower, but they could go no lower What did it h be ended

“Would you like me to stay, Mistress?”

Magda touched her fingers to the long, thick, freshly brushed hair lying over the front of her shoulder

She had to be strong Baraccus would want her to be strong

“No, Tilly,” she said after getting a firht Please let theo on to your work”

Tilly bowed deeply from the waist and backed away a little as she held the door open wider for the lided into the roo the door behind her

Chapter 2

Magda slid the ornately engraved silver box to the side of the table, placing it beside a well-used collection of exquisitetools, semiprecious stones in divided trays, and sed to her husband She let her hand rest for a moment on the table where his hands had been when he had soht, crafting items like the extraordinary aun

When she had asked its purpose, he had said that it was an ever-present re co He said that it represented a izard’s prime directive: to cut the attacker down, to cut them down to their very soul The ruby red stone in the center of the intricate lines represented the blood of the enemy

He said that the amulet represented the dance with death

He had worn it every day since he’dwith his singular black and gold outfit, a izard’s outfit, a izard’s battle armor, before he had stepped off the side of the Wizard’s Keep and dropped several thousand feet to his death

Magda lifted her long brown hair back over her shoulder as she turned to the seven nized the familiar faces of six members of the council Each face was fixed with a stony expression She suspected that the expressions were a mask for a bit of shame they likely felt at what they had come to see done

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sp; She had known they would coht that they would have paid her the grace of a bit more time

There was another man with them, his face shadowed by the hood of his loose brown habit As they ca in around the closed shutters, the seventh man pushed the cowl back to rest on his rounded shoulders

The man’s black eyes were fixed on her, the way a vulture’s steady gaze fixed on a suffering animal Men often stared at her, but not in this way

He had a short, wide, bull neck The top of his head was covered in closely cropped, wiry black hair Stubble darkened the lower half of his face A high hairline er The lines and folds of his face for thehis expression a pinched, pushed-in look All his coarse features looked firm and densely packed, as if every part of the man was as hard as his reputation

He wasn’t ugly, really, ave hi air of authority

There was nothat it was the head prosecutor hi authority and the renown to ular features, punctuated by those black eyes, da didn’t knohat such aout the formality of a miserable little task It seemed beneath his time

Lothain’s gri his leathery face, did not look as if it htest bit of pity, as did the expressions of the others Magda didn’t think the man was capable of uneasiness, much less shame, and certainly not pity The hard lines of his face bore testimony to the fact that this was a man ent about his ith relentless, iron determination