Page 3 (1/2)

I smiled At least Mirri’s mom had accepted her relationship with Ilianna The sah I personally thought they would come round if they actually knew about it But Ilianna refused to even tell the from the back of one of the chairs; then she and the to door

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Mirri "That felt like a deliberate retreat"

Mirri grabbed a couple of tea towels and rose "I told them you and Ilianna need some alone time for a war council when you woke up"

"War council? Sorry, but whatever I do next --"

"You’re not doing alone" Ilianna began setting the table for the three of us "Azriel one, but Tao and I are still here And we’re a part of this now, Risa, whether you like it or not"

I didn’t like Not at all She and Tao had been through enough because of h anything else But I also knew that tone of voice It was no use arguing – not that that ever stoppedI have to do is find the da I want you involved with It’s too dangerous, Ilianna"

"Maybe" Ilianna gave me a somewhat severe look "But the Brindle iscare of a dark sorcerer There aren’t that many in Melbourne, you know, and they’d be aware of all of them"

The Brindle was the hoe, both ancient and new Ilianna’s mom was one of the custodians there, and Ilianna was powerful enough to have beco when she was younger She’d walked away for reasons she refused to discuss, but if the predictions of the head witch, Kiandra, were to be believed, Ilianna would one day not only finish that training, but her daughter would save the Brindle itself

"Yeah," I said, "but given Lucian was probably working with him, he’ll know about rimaced, then added, "I’d bet my ass he’s taken steps to ensure you – and they – can’t find hi like that, and it would create a ‘hot spot’ that could be traced"

Maybe that sort of ruling would apply to Earth-based ic that was Aedh sourced? And even if it did, that stillmore people into the search, and I really didn’t want to do that unless absolutely necessary It was just too daerous

"It’s an option" I sat down "But it wouldn’t be my first"

Ilianna placed the hot bread on the table "Why not? There’s no easier way to find a sorcerer than to trace his ic"

"A nor with an Aedh, ree" Which was another reason to be glad Lucian was dead At least the bastard couldn’t pass anything else on to our ever-elusive sorcerer "Besides, our best option right now is to go through Lucian’s things and see if he left any clues behind"

Mirri snorted as she began dishing out the huge chunks of curried vegetables – which wasn’t norivethe obvious, but you’ve been on a bender for three days That would have given our sorcerer plenty of tis and ditch whatever evidence there h not to leave such infor evidence to be found, then it would be somewhere ultimately safe from everyone but hiray fields They ht be the unseen division betorlds, but they were as filled with life as anyplace in this world And given Lucian had once been an Aedh priest under e, then ates of heaven and hell I had no idea whether they still stood now that the priests had all but disappeared – or if someone like me would even be able to see them – but what better place would there be to secure information? It was doubtful whether the reapers or the Raziq would bother to look through ruins in an effort to find infor Lucian could get onto the fields The ability to attain full Aedh form had apparently been ripped fro his fist intoher apart

Which is exactly how I’d killed hie, but its taste wasn’t as sweet as I’d expected

I sed heavily and added, "The bastard wasthat a basketful of foxes"

Ilianna’s sh in the end"

"No" I tore off a chunk of bread as Mirri slid a plate of curry my way "I’ll search his place first, then I’ll do the sa either there or on the fields?"