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"So that’s why the legends say Niic"

"Yes, but it was I, in Niladly--but it was Viviane who took the did he withhold: the location of his son Whenever I mentioned the child, Myrddin would ree frouises, but it didn’t work He refused to divulge that secret"

"But he taught you the spell you needed?"

"He did, and I used it" Again, her eyes looked into the past "One night, Myrddin slept in his forest under a yew tree I sent an avatar of Nimuë into his drea body and wove the binding spell When the spell was too far advanced to resist, I woke hi eternity in happy dreams of Ni spell, knew I’d trapped hian to absorb hiled, but I told him it was no use I told hihed at me then, said I’d never find the boy Just before the tree took him, his arm shot out fro forward so he could speak And Myrddin cursed me"

I shuddered "What was the curse?"

"That I’d remember No matter how many lives I lived, I’d remember that one, as vividly as when each e, he wanted to be sure I knehy"

It was a terrible curse To experience that trau Even if he never returned, Myrddin had taken his revenge

"I never did find Pryce," Mab said "Not in that lifetih I searched far and wide Myrddin had fostered the boy with a human family After several years and many rumors, I discovered the family’s name But when I traveled to them, I learned that Pryce had murdered them all and run away The boy wasn’t yet ten years old And so it went fortrail of death and destruction, but I was always a step or two behind hiet so lucky to have him in our lives?"

"Eventually, he found me He came to Maenllyd, called me ‘auntie,’ and toldI love--and finally me"

I WANTED TO LET MAB REST, BUT SHE INSISTED SHE HAD ive th I kno you can kill Myrddin"

I sat up and paid attention at that After what he’d done to Mab, I wanted to kill him three times over--a triple death for real this tiht as well be, the way he can zip in and out of the deht as well be’ when it comes to immortality" She rubbed the withered flesh of her arht, child How did Myrddin react when you shot him?"

"He shifted to his demon form"

"Yes Why did he not simply exit to the demon plane and return, as he did when he fooled Colith the triple death?"

I pictured last night’s scene I re fro "Because the bullets were bronze?"

"Precisely The bronze prevented Myrddin fro the demon plane in his human form to heal Before he could slip away into that plane, he had to take on his demon form Only in that state could he exit to the demon plane and heal his wounds there"

"Why?"

"I believe it’s because of the way he ed those two forms: demon within the human and human within the demon It’s made his human form vulnerable to bronze in a way other deend of the triple death None of those fake deaths--falling, i--had involved any bronze ie to his demon form"

"And then you can kill the demon, just as you did with Pryce With his demon half dead, Myrddin will be as mortal as any human"

I stood up "I’ll need the Sword of Saint Michael" Saint Michael was the ene his name, a weapon my family had owned for centuries, would shimmer with celestial flame in battle It was the surest way to kill a powerful demon And I couldn’t wait to for Myrddin Wyllt to feel its bite

29

I WANTED TO DO A TRIAL RUN, SLIPPING OUT OF DEADTOWN and getting into position at Boylston Street, before we had to do it for real The sun had set on Deadtown an hour ago, so the containment order was now in force We still had several hours left before curfeas the tile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>