Page 2 (1/2)

All he saas the bloodstained sheet

Lucivar swung the pick

Liar

He didn’t see the wall, didn’t see the salt He saw Dae beneath the skin

Silkycourt-trainedliar!

2 / Hell

Andulvar settled one hip on a corner of the large, blackwood desk

Saetan glanced up fro back to your eyrie"

"Changed aze wandered around the private study, finally stopping at the portrait of Cassandra, the Black-Jeweled Queen who had walked the Realo, Saetan had discovered that Cassandra had faked the final death and had become a Guardian in order to wait for the next Witch

And look what had happened to the next Witch, Andulvar thought bleakly Jaenelle Angelline was a powerful, extraordinary child, but still as vulnerable as any other child All that power hadn’t kept her fro overwheluess at, and by Dorothea’s and Hekatah’s vicious schemes to elilehold on the Realm of Terreille He was certain they had been behind the brutality that had made Jaenelle’s spirit flee from her body

Too late to prevent the violation, a friend had taken Jaenelle away froht her to Cassandra’s Altar There, Daeirl out of the psychic abyss long enough to convince her to heal the physical wounds But when the Chaillot Warlords arrived to "rescue" her, she panicked and fled back into the abyss

Her body was slowly healing, but only the Darkness knehere her spirit was--or if she would ever cohts, Andulvar looked at Saetan, took a deep breath, and puffed his cheeks as he let it out "Your letter of resignation froo"

"You had always insisted that it was good to have a few of the de in the Council because they had experience but no personal interest in the decisions"

"Well, my interest in the Council’s decisions is very personal now, isn’t it?" After signing his name with his customary flourish, Saetan slipped the letter into an envelope and sealed it with black wax "Deliver that for me, will you?"

Andulvar reluctantly took the envelope "What if the Dark Council decides to search for her family?"

Saetan leaned back in his chair "There hasn’t been a

Dark Council in Terreille since the last war between the Realms There’s no reason for Kaeleer’s Council to look beyond the Shadow Realisters at Ebon Askavi, they’ll find out she wasn’t originally from Kaeleer"

"As the Keep’s librarian, Geoffrey has already agreed not to find any useful entries that ht lead anyone back to Chaillot Besides, Jaenelle was never listed in the registers--and won’t be until there’s a reason to include an entry for her"

"You’ll be staying at the Keep?"

"Yes"

"For how long?"

Saetan hesitated "For as long as it takes" When Andulvarelse?"

Andulvar stared at the neat masculine script on the front of the envelope "There’s a de room upstairs who has asked for an audience with you He says it’s important"

Saetan pushed his chair away from the desk and reached for his cane "They all say that--when they’re brave enough to come at all Who is he?"

"I’ve never seen him before," Andulvar said Then he added reluctantly, "He’s new to the Dark Realm, and he’s from Hayll"

Saetan limped around the desk "Then what does he ithto do with Hayll for seventeen hundred years"

"He wouldn’t say why he wants to see you" Andulvar paused "I don’t like him"

"Naturally," Saetan replied dryly "He’s Hayllian"