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Prologue

Gray Waters Lunatic Asylum, London Fall 1872

Whenever you have a sorcerer betwixt your thighs, your powers tend to disappear," Sabine told her sister as she scanned the faces of the frenzied, caged humans "It's merely a fact of life"

"Maybe in the past," Lanthe said as she dropped the unconscious guard she'd been toting by his belt "Things are going to be different with this one" She busily tied thehis arms, which had the same result and didn't waste rope "You still haven't seen her?"

Her-the sorceress they careed to convey her powers to Lanthe in exchange for her freedom

Sabine slinked down the darkened corridor "I can't tell when they huddle like this" She plucked a cell door off its hinges and tossed it away, her heels clicking as she entered the cage Up close, she could tell the inhab­itants all looked verymortal

Naturally, they cowered froarments and face paint

As though she'd donned a mask, her eyes were kohled black in a swath from the sides of her nose to her temples

Her clothes were constructed more of strips of leather and chain metal than of cloth and thread She wore a th of her ar her hair's riotous braids was her elaborate headdress

Typical garb of the Sorceri feh more than the wearer, then one was underdressed

By the ti the next cell down, Lanthe had finished with the knots "Any luck?"

Sabine tore free yet another cage door, peered at pale faces, then shook her head

"Do I have time to check the smaller cells in the basement?" Lanthe asked

"If we're back at the portal in twenty ht" Their portal back to their hoh dank London streets

Lanthe blew a jet-black plait frouard and keep the freed inmates inside this hall quiet"

Sabine's gaze flitted over the unconscious male sprawled on the squalid floor, and her lip curled in dis­gust She could read the minds of humans, even when they were blacked out, and the contents of this one's were giving even Sabine pause

"Very well But hurry with the transfer," Sabine said "Else we'll attract our foe"

Lanthe's blue eyes gazed upward out of habit "They could be here at any second" She hastened to the stair­well once more

Their lives had beco cycle: Steal a neer, flee ene Sorceri male, steal a neerSabine allowed it to continue