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“Sure,” Pestale scoffed “And when I have killed ye … in dives the Seelie prince” He shook his head “Think I’ll live to fight another day, onirls huddling on the bed together

Royce screamed, and Chance took a moment to compose himself Royce could see that Chance was shocked by Pestale’s act of gratuitous evil He had been steeped in black ic, and it had made him far worse than he had been She was sure of it Pestale would grow ic He had allowed the dark arts to define who he was …

Suddenly Pestale reached into his bedside table drawer and pulled out a s they could not hear, a one

“What the bloody hell!” shouted Chance, stepping towards where Pestale had been “What the bloody hell just went down? Doona tell me we canna follow him—och, doona tell me that!” Chance said to no one in particular He sniffed the air “I can’t get a lead on his scent He didn’t just shift, did he? Nooo Not he—he went off in tiain?”

Trevor frowned as he sniffed the air, but Royce sighed, closed her eyes, and told theht He did not shift to another location—at least, not in the usual sense He used the Dark King’s Tih time” She turned to Trevor “Call on your Orb while we see to the bodies of these poor girls We can’t leave them here in the 1500s They must be returned to their time and the people who loved them Their families must have closure—they must I have to take them somewhere they will be found …”

Trevor called on the Orb of Lugh, but nothing happened

He tried calling for it again, and when it did not appear they all looked at each other and then at the Peckering, who Royce held up and asked, “What is the problem? Why can’t he call the Orb here?”

“Time travel is difficult without … me”

“So then, Peckering, you call the Orb,” Royce told her

“It will not respond toanswered softly “However, I as … perhaps I can locate your Dark Prince in time I could not locate him ere in our time period, nor can I look into the future, but when in a time not our own, I can look into the past”

“Then do so,” Chance nearly shouted

“I cannot work under duress,” returned the Peckering irritably

“Peckering, we are running out of ti women ould have had their whole lives ahead of the that ruined the lives of their families We have to stop him before he kills more innocents Help us, please … and then help me I must deliver

these bodies somewhere they will be immediately found in our time period”

“I will locate him as you ask, and then I will take you as you wish to our time period with … the wo said quietly