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"Mattheill be with Benja for Baldwin or Janet to agree "Where are you, Mr Knox?"

"Dr Bishop" Knox aiting for me when I rounded the corner "Co this place, and it may be your last chance to enjoy the comforts of a warm room--until you conceive Benjamin’s child, that is"

Behind me I slammed down an impenetrable wall of fire and water so that no one could follow

Then I threw up another behind Knox, boxing us into a small section of the corridor

"Nicely done Your spell-casting talents have eed, I see," said Knox

"You will find ic aiting insideto fly But I kept it under control, and the power obeyed me I felt it there, still and watchful

"Where have you been?" Knox asked

"Lots of places London Prague France" I felt the tingle of ertips "You’ve been to France, too"

"I went looking for your husband and his son I found a letter, you see In Prague" Knox’s eyes glea upon E yourto distract eria to bind your parents Perhaps that was E the silent questions his words engendered

"I should never have let Satu do the honors where you were concerned, my dear I’ve always suspected that you were different," Knox said "Had I opened you up last October, as I did your o, you could have been spared so much heartache"

But there had been more in the past fourteen months than heartache There had been unexpected joy, too I clung to that now, anchoring ic

"You’re very quiet, Dr Bishop Have you nothing to say?"

"Not really I prefer actions to words these days They save tihtly within me The net I’d h with strands of white, silver, and gold It spread out in wings fro me of the absent Corra, whose power, as she proun" My netlike wings spread wider

"Very impressive bit of illusory work, Dr Bishop" Knox’s tone was patronizing "A si spell will--"

"With knot of two, the spell be true" The silver and gold threads in ht powers that ics

"It’s too bad Eotten ibberish I found when I stole her thoughts at Sept-Tours"

"With knot of three, the spell is free" The giant wings beat once, sending a soft eddy of air through the ently separated froher until they hovered over Knox He cast a look upward, then resumed

"Your mother babbled to Emily about chaos and creativity and repeated the words of that charlatan Ursula Shipton’s prophecy: Old worlds die and new be born That’s all I got out of Rebecca in Nigeria, too Being with your father weakened her abilities She needed a husband who could challenge her"

"With knot of four, the power is stored" A dark, potent spiral slowly unwound at the spot where the tings met

"Shall we open you up and see if you are more like your esture, and I felt hispath across my chest

"With knot of five, this spell will thrive" The purple threads in the net tightened around the spiral

"With knot of six, this spell I fix" The gold threads gleamed A casual brush of my hand sealed the wound in my chest

"Benjamin was quite interested in what I told him about your mother and father He has plans for you, Diana You will carry Benjamin’s children, and they will beco-lived There will be noin the shadows for us then We will rule over the other warmbloods, as we should"

"With knot of seven, the spell aken" A low keening filled the air, reminiscent of the sound made in the Bodleian Then it had been a cry of terror and pain Now it sounded like a call for vengeance

For the first time, Knox looked worried

"You cannot escape from Benjamin, any more than Emily could escape from me at Sept-Tours She tried, of course, but I prevailed All I wanted was the witch’s spell book Benjalint "When I possess it, I will have the upper hand over the vampires, too Even Gerbert will bow to ht, the spell ait" I pulled the net into the twisted shape that signified infinity As I manipulated the threads, my father’s shadowy form appeared

"Stephen" Knox licked his lips "This is an illusion, too"

My father ignored hi at me sharply "You ready to finish this, peanut?"

"I am, Dad"

"You don’t have the power to finish me," Knox snarled "E knowledge of the lost book of spells I took her thoughts and stopped her heart

Had she only cooperated--"

"With knot of nine, the spell isrose into a shriek as all the chaos contained in and all the creative energy that bound the creatures together in one place burst froulfed Peter Knox My father’s hands were arasp hi vortex of power that would eat him alive

Knox cried out in terror as the spell drained his life away He unraveled before my eyes as the spirits of all the weavers who had co my father, deliberately unpicked the threads thatKnox to a lifeless shell

I knew that one day I would pay a price for what I’d done to a felloitch But I had avenged Emily, whose life had been taken for no other reason than a dreaed h to die for her

I drew the goddess’s arrow from my spine A bow crafted froold appeared in eance had been oddess’s justice

I turned to my father, a question in my eyes