The others were reacting to her change of demeanor, asking questions but she didn't listen. Fay spun in place and raced down the stairs before anyone else could move. She blew the door to the kitchen inward with such force that it shattered. The pieces destroyed the one leading out to the back of the manor. She ran through without seeing and then stopped as she entered the yard. The light blinded her after the dimness in the house, though the sky was darkening as clouds gathered overhead, blotting out the sun.

Chapter 17.

When Fay's eyes adjusted to the glare, she looked around. The land behind the manor was dominated by the kitchen gardens on her right and the stables on her left. The scene shocked her into stillness for a moment, despite the urgent need to find her father, as she tried to digest the evidence of her senses. The kitchen gardens were as dead as the fields had been on their approach to Iondis, covered in heaps and mats of dead plants and rotting vegetables. The rows of short, miniature greenhouses her father had built along the side nearest the house had all been smashed, shards of gla.s.s strewn everywhere. Not one of them had survived whatever rampage had gone on in her home, and a part of her heart cried out at their destruction. They had been made for her mother, who had come from the southern edges of the empire and had missed the familiar foods of those lands. In the middle of all the dead gardens, she saw a bloated, rotting corpse. Though she was too far to be sure, she thought it was their cook, from the shreds of white cloth that fluttered in the growing breeze, almost like an ap.r.o.n. She tore her eyes from the scene before she began crying again.

The stables were even worse. One end of the long, low building was mere rubble, burned until the roof had collapsed inward. The rest of it also showed evidence of the fire, but remained standing. The smell that rolled out of it nearly made Fay retch, an ominous reek of old manure left unattended, smoke and decay. She remembered how much she had wanted to show Rain to her father and their groom, Cavil, who had both been pa.s.sionate about well-bred horses. They had tried so hard in her childhood to breed quality stock here. She had known they would love the black stallion from the moment Ganson had shown the horse to her. She couldn't reconcile those memories with this stinking horror. Worse, behind the stench, she could feel a sense of dangerous anger, a beast ready to strike. Was it the vygazza she sensed, or had another monster been brought here by whoever had turned Iondis into this dreadful, alien place?

She heard the others catch up to her as feet crunched on the gravel in the yard but ignored them. Her father was around here, hurt. She had to find him. Nothing else mattered anymore. She dismissed the stables, sure he wouldn't be able to stand the smell any better than she could herself. She scanned the kitchen gardens but decided he couldn't be there either. The only thing to hide behind was the corpse, and though she couldn't smell it from this distance, she was sure it was nearly as ripe as the stables.

Tavis spun her around and his expression was angry and afraid. He said something, but the words didn't quite to reach her. Instead, she heard her father, behind her, his words faint and desperate. She twisted around in Tavis' grasp to look, the swiftness of her movement pulling her shoulder painfully, and he released her. Her eyes searched, knowing where her father would be.

Calder Derrion stood in the opening to the hedge maze that lay beyond the kitchen gardens. She instinctively sharpened her vision and hearing. His words became clear, as did his physical state, and she wanted to weep. He was bent over, one hand out and grasping the wall of the maze for support, as if he could no longer stand straight. He was far more pale than when they had met at her mother's memoria, and the look of illness about him was more profound. His clothes, the same he had worn at their meeting, hung from a body that had shrunk too much in the days since, and they were shredded and bloodstained. The skin of his face was stretched tight, making his cheekbones and jawline stand out in painful ridges. Cuts and bruises abounded on what skin she could see. His hair, which had always been the same honey color as her own except for a few silver strands, had gone completely white.

His words, barely spoken above a whisper, were brought to her ears through her magic. Even his voice sounded old, cracked and rough, nearly gone. She heard his happiness and sorrow as he spoke through clear exhaustion. "Faylanna, you're here. My good girl. For you, all of it."

A small voice inside her warned that it was not the same voice she had heard upstairs, but all that mattered was that he needed her protection. She took two steps toward him, but then froze as she saw movement beside her father. Suddenly time seemed to slow as she watched everything unfold. The inky blackness that had invaded Professor Ganson's study oozed out from the maze beside her father, rising as it approached him. She screamed as it crashed over him like a black wave and continued to sweep across the entrance, disappearing into another pa.s.sage, leaving only the empty path behind.

Arms snaked about Fay's torso, jerking her back as she tried to run. She forgot she could do magic, forgot everything but her father, desperation sapping her reason. She fought and kicked, crying and screaming for her father as another set of hands, smaller, grasped her wrists and held on, trying to keep them from flying around. Still she fought. She had to save him. Words were spoken around her, but she barely noticed. Her eyes never left the spot where her father had been standing.

"Keari, help us. I can barely hold on!"

"I've got her, Mother, but we have to calm her down."

The words were meaningless. She knew she had to get to her father. They would do even worse to him than they already had if she didn't save him. Tears of frustration ran down her face as she continued to scream for her father.

Suddenly a face blocked her view, dark serious eyes focusing on her. Large, slender hands reached up and gently grasped her face over either temple. His eyes held hers like magnets, and she felt a tingle that spread from his hands through her whole head, then through her body. Keari. It was Keari, she realized, using his own magic for the first time she knew of. Calm invaded her, taming her mad need to rush after the blackness that had already killed her mentor and his partner. As the tingling calm spread through her, she stopped struggling, and her wrists were released. Lydia, she thought. It was Lydia who had tried to keep her from striking out at them in her terror. The arms about her body loosened, but they did not release her entirely. Tavis, she thought, and knew he was afraid she might still go rushing in.

"Faylanna?" Keari asked, her name filled with unspoken questions. He kept his hands where they were as his eyes searched hers.

"I'm all right, but we have to save him," she said, and was surprised how hoa.r.s.e her voice sounded, how flat. Strange too that she was still crying, but it all seemed so distant. Only Keari and her father seemed immediate and real. And Tavis, always Tavis and the heat of his touch.

"I need you to tell me about this place, first. What is it?"

"The hedge maze. Father created it himself for Mother, when they first came to live at Iondis. He's been keeping it up all of these years since her death, but I don't think he goes there otherwise."

Her answer to his question was automatic, a reflex that she hadn't thought about. She hadn't intended to tell him about her father not visiting the maze anymore. She felt puzzled.

"The center, what's at the center of the maze, Faylanna?"

She was about to tell him when she felt a pull, a need to not tell him, to keep the center a secret. As she changed her mind about what to say, his question pulled her in the other direction, pressing her to tell all she knew about the maze and its center. For a moment, the competing desires held her in equilibrium and she remained silent. Then the pull of the question grew and became so overpowering that that the magic became apparent to her, the feathery touch that had become like iron buried in the words, compelling her to answer.

"A garden," Fay gasped over the pull to remain silent. She had to answer before the opposing compulsions pulled her apart. "A special garden. A trellis, covered in flowering vines. Marble benches in a circle."

At last his hands released her, and she felt the spellwork dissolve out of her. She heaved a deep breath as Keari straightened and looked over her at Tavis and Lydia. A sense of shock radiated in the air around her, and she realized it was Marcius' reaction to what the prince had done. She felt an echo of it in herself. She'd had no idea he could work something so strong.

"That's where the Mirror must be," Keari said, "In the center of the maze."

She ignored his words, but seized on the sense of Marcius, of his being close. Give him back, give my father back. Let him go. It's me you want, let him go, she screamed.

"But do we even know how to get there, Ki?" Lydia asked.

The response from Marcius was against all expectation. Pleading. I didn't take him, I swear, he's not in my hands. The other, the dark one, it must be him! He hurts people, not me. Please, you have to believe me. Would I ever hurt you that way, my sweet Faylanna?

"Do you know the way? Faylanna, do you know how to get to the center?" Keari asked. She ignored him.

Please, you have to let him go, make the other one let my father go, Fay pleaded back, her voice on the edge of tears even in her mind. You can, I know you can. Enough, you've done enough to him, let him go.

Words buzzed around her, a hand gently shaking her shoulder, all of it senseless. Only his words mattered, only Marcius, who could release her father, held her attention. I never wanted to take him, Faylanna, never. But the others will not let him go. They say they need him still. How could I possibly convince them? I have no power over them.

Marcius, anything you want of me, you'll have it. I'll give myself to you, I will. Please, make them let my father go, take me in his stead. I promise, I will be yours, just let him go!

A strange, alien satisfaction was all that she felt, and she thought it was from him at first. Before she could do more than wonder if she had just sprung a trap, it was as if a hand reached out and down into her, latching onto something there. Not the bond, but a magical tether created by her vow. A strange voice, darker than Marcius' responded. When you are here with us, he shall be released, Faylanna. We await your arrival.

There was something buried in this voice, something in the words that should have worried her. She knew that she should be asking why Marcius hadn't said anything himself, but the image of her father being swallowed by the darkness filled her mind until she could think of nothing else. She knew what she needed to do, where she needed to go, but that alarmed voice within her kept trying to warn that something was waiting here, hiding in the shadows to trap her further, and she hesitated. As if he could read in her hesitation all of her doubts, Marcius' voice caressed her mind, a strained whisper, Come to me, come, my sweet. You have nothing to fear from the darkness, the others, for you will be with us, one of us. You will be with me, where you belong. You're so close, and you've promised. Come to me, beloved.

Still she hesitated, his last word falling oddly on her ears and into her mind. She realized why. She never heard love in his voice, not even now, when he spoke the words of it. Desire, need, hope and a certain amount of caring, but she didn't remember ever hearing the kind of feeling in his voice that Tavis' had when he told her he loved her. Before she could do anything with this realization, her head split with pain as her promise demanded she walk forward. Her words roared in her head, deafening her as her own magic demanded the fulfillment of her vow. Her hands flew to her ears, though they could do no good there, and her knees buckled. She would have collapsed to the ground if not for the arms around her chest that tightened reflexively when she sagged forward. She thought she screamed, but the sound was lost in the agony. A force built up and surged through her, breaking something, a barrier. She remembered and moved all at once, pulling her will and intent in as swiftly as she could and then expelling it all outward around her, laced with magic that amplified the force of her will. They flew from her, these people who tried to hold her back. The arms around her lifted away as their owner was thrown from her. As soon as the arms were no longer holding her in place, she sprinted up the path between the gardens and stable, making straight for the entrance to the maze as fast as she could. They would follow, but she could stay ahead of them. As she ran she felt a heat building in her body and the day around her seemed to grow cold and dark. In her mind, she could feel Marcius' exultation.

Chapter 18.

Fay screamed the moment she stepped through the entrance to the maze. She could feel the wind of the building storm against her skin, but it was nothing compared to the one that suddenly tore at her mind. Her momentum kept her going until she staggered into a side path and fell heavily to the ground, her breath rasping in her chest and her hands clutching her head. The heat beat in her limbs in counterpoint to her heart.

There was no beginning or end to the storm in her mind and she couldn't shut it out. Her thoughts were swirled away into it, breaking off in the violence and she felt her deeper self, the core of who she was, trying to follow. The insistent pull of her promise was the only solid thing in her entire world. Then a hoa.r.s.e screaming, her father's agony, rose up from the maelstrom and she clung to it, seeking some direction. Shoving herself back to her feet, she tried to follow the sound down one pa.s.sage, then another, but she couldn't tell where she was going and then the scream disappeared. Afraid of what it meant for her father, Fay began to run. Left, right, right, she took pa.s.sages at random, desperate to find him before it was too late.

Laughter, dark, human but uncaring, drifted out of the storm, wrapping around her mind as she ran. It was as if the source of the laughter found her struggles amusing, a joke for his own entertainment. She would have sworn at first that she had heard the laughter before, but as it went on it grew louder, deeper and took on an echo that bounced off of the walls of her mind, making it sound ancient and evil. Her hands flew to her ears again as she ran, forgetting that it would do no good to try to block the sound that she wasn't hearing with those ears.

A stone figure of a woman loomed up in front of her as she ran into a dead end and she skidded to a halt, falling to the ground in front of the statue. She looked up at the figure that seemed to dance while holding out hands that cupped a candle and knew she had once known who this woman was but the storm tore the thought away from her. She scrambled to her feet, running back the way she had come, the dark laughter d.o.g.g.i.ng her heels, trying to tear her mind away from her body.

Another voice danced around this laughter, one that didn't try to hide its evil at all. It wasn't human and grated on her mind with every word. You think you can run from me? I am everywhere, little human. Another dead end and she sank to the ground, weeping. She screamed but couldn't hear herself. The dark voice exploded through her head in rage, bellowing until she thought her eyes would explode from the pain. You thought he could protect you from us, you believed him, but we own him! There is no escape from us, child, you will be ours. Like your father, you have bound yourself to us already in your ignorance.

She crawled along the ground, sobbing in relief as the voice fell silent and only the awful laughter remained to torment her. Another voice rose and faded, in and out of the storm, a voice she knew, Marcius. He was calling her name over and over, but his voice wasn't like before. it burbled and laughed and sounded utterly mad. Even as the promise she had made to him pulled her toward his voice, she recoiled from the sound, refusing to believe it was the man who had offered her everything. She shook her head in denial as she continued to crawl forward. Other voices threaded the storm around her, but she hid from them all. They all hurt, they all scared her. She pushed onward, with no idea where to go, only knowing that they would find her if she remained still.

The dark, inhuman voice rose again and her sobs increased as it spoke. You can never escape us, Faylanna, you belong to us. You can never get away. We will have you. Come quickly, of your own accord and you will not be broken to your task. Resist and we will bend you to our purposes. The voice rose again into that angry rage, louder this time, and she was sure it was blood, not tears that flowed down her face now from the force of its bellow. You will always belong with us. We made you what you are and we can unmake you, child. You are one of us, now and always!

She dragged herself into a corner where two paths met and huddled there. The tether of the promise tried to pull her onward and then it shattered like her thoughts in the storm. Nowhere to go, she thought in broken tones, no one to find. Lost, I lost them all. She cried, and laughed and felt something important start to drift away into the darkness when she was snared by a new voice, but not a new voice. She knew this voice, the warmth of it, the way it wrapped around her battered mind and heart like a shelter, the way it tied the broken pieces of her back together. She listened and soft words emerged miraculously from the sound.

Faylanna, you're here, I know you are, I can feel you even if I can't find you. Hear me. I know you can hear me. The faint voice cooled the burning heat in her body that threatened to light her on fire, sliding smoothly through her like cold water on a hot day. She held the quiet words in her mind to hear them better over the storm, and a name filled her. Tavis. Please, Faylanna, I can't find you here. I've tried, but I don't know how. Hear me and follow my voice. Come back to me, my love, my Faylanna, come to me.

The words were familiar. She knew another had said something like them, but in this voice she heard their truth. On the heels of this, she realized that the storm in her mind had become distant. It no longer tore at her reason and she could think again, a little. She was aware of the mind storm, but felt sheltered from its fury. Tavis, she thought again and smiled. His words were there, only the same words repeated, but she still cherished them, held them in her mind. Pushing herself up out of the corner, she followed the words down the pa.s.sage as the wind of the storm in the air tore at her hair and clothes.

Every step she took toward him, every word he gave her brought more calm to her mind and heart, and healed the damage from the voices of the mind storm. The storm itself grew more distant still, unable to touch her even when it snarled and screamed at her. When she saw him at last, leaning against a hedge at an intersection of pa.s.sages, his tanned, lean arms folded across his chest and his eyes on her, she almost cried with relief. He was real, he was there, and she began to run toward him. His broad smile spread across his face as she approached, his green eyes brilliantly sparkling even in the gloom, and he shrugged away from the wall. Everything was right for a moment.

Movement drew her attention down one of the paths of the junction Tavis stood in and she saw the darkness rising up to crash over him from his right. She took the last few steps to place herself between Tavis and the roiling cloud before he could do more than begin to turn. She felt his hands grasp the tops of her shoulders, his grip tightening to pull her away. Before either of them could move, it was nearly on top of her but flinched back as if burned. She felt Tavis' hands loosen but remain where they were as the dark cloud retreated a little then slid to the right. Fay side-stepped to keep Tavis safe.

She could feel the frustration of her tormentors rise in the mind storm as the darkness shifted again and she mirrored it. Tendrils unfurled and drifted forward. She cast a shield around them, and relief flooded through her as the tendrils backed away from even touching it. In the distant storm, she heard the evil inhuman voice begin to snarl in a language she didn't recognize but that made her soul hurt, and the laughter died, replaced by a very human sounding voice cursing fluently. Again, she realized that she knew the voice. Marcius screamed, Step aside, Faylanna, come to me, leave him behind. You were meant to be with me, always with me. We need each other, we belong together. You promised!

She ignored this too, though she felt her vow trying to tug at her. She held her shield firm until finally the darkness let out a piercing shriek and fled back down the pa.s.sage at great speed. In a second, it was around a corner and out of her sight. She held the shield for a little while longer, making sure, before letting it drop. She turned and threw her arms around Tavis' neck. His arms slid around her, holding her close and his head dropped to her shoulder. The pull to go to Marcius broke up again as Tavis held her and she sighed, burying her face in his chest. They stayed that way for several moments.

"I thought I'd lost you," he murmured, and the relief in his voice made her heart sing.

She pulled back a little and he lifted his head just enough for her to see his serious, worried expression. The realization of how close she had come frightened her. Her voice kept giving out as she tried to explain. "You saved me. I- The storm, it was- I was almost gone when I heard you."

His smile resurfaced. "Then I guess we're even, because without you, that thing would have gotten me. That was what you saw in Voleno, wasn't it?"

She nodded and hugged him close again. This time his head stayed up, and he said, "It's not over. I want to take you away from here to a safe place but Ki and Lydia are out there, somewhere in this d.a.m.ned maze. We all ran in after you but somehow I got separated from them. They may have even been separated from each other, I don't know. And whatever is going on here isn't over yet."

She released him, though he caught her hands in his. Looking up at him, she said, "I know. I have to go, to finish this. I- I did something stupid. I promised I would go, and it's not possible to ignore this promise. I don't feel it right now, but I don't think the promise is undone, and Marcius won't forget that I made it. And I would have to go, even without that. I have to go for my father. Whatever he was part of is still in motion. He's in here somewhere too, and I'm sure he's in danger. I heard him screaming before, but I haven't for a while. I- I'm worried. I don't know if I can save him, but I have to try, Tavis." He nodded. "Follow me. I can take us to the center of the maze easily."

He looked dubious. "Really?"

Fay looked around, compared the layout to her memory and led him into the right side pa.s.sage. "Of course. I used to run around this maze all the time as a child. We can find the others after. Ki and Lydia will have to take care of themselves for now. Even if they have been separated, they'll be able to find each other easily, Tavis. I don't think any of that will matter if we don't finish this."

Tavis followed her through the twists and turns of the maze, never letting go of her hand. The mind storm was barely audible to her now and she was grateful for that, as the mounting roar of the winds over the top of the maze was bad enough. But it was too easy and Marcius wasn't trying to pull her to him anymore, which worried her more than anything. When they found the brick wall that curved around the center, they followed along it to the first wide entrance they found. Though Fay knew she should have expected something after what she had seen at the house, her heart still ached when she looked around the gardens that had been her mother and father's special place.

Smoke drifted around the entire circle in wisps and patches with no origin she could see. The smell was awful, like sulfur and burning rocks, though she thought she had smelled it before. A third of the trellis had been blown away, splinters stirring in the eddies of wind that reached down into this open s.p.a.ce. The rest of it was groaning and swaying slightly in the gale. One of the three curved marble benches lay blasted to the side, shattered pieces littering the beds full of dead flowers. One of the other two was overturned and both were covered with dirt and slime of some sort.

The Mirror stood where the destroyed bench had been, facing the entrance where they stood. She shivered at the implication. Its golden frame was at least the width of her hand all the way around and picked up the low light that the sun was managing to push through the dense clouds above, giving off a dull gleam. The frame was ornate, sculpted swirls all around it. The gla.s.s in that frame caused her to clutch at Tavis' hand and he squeezed hers gently. It was like the blackness that had attacked them was trapped behind it, dark clouds that constantly roiled and changed direction and speed but never stopped. Something about it seemed evil to her, yet she felt it trying to hypnotize her at the same time, to draw her to it. Forcing her eyes away from it, she saw a mound of cloth beside the Mirror, and wondered what it was doing there, until she saw it move feebly and recognized her father's clothes.

She tried to lunge forward to him, but Tavis had seen him first and already had an arm around her waist, pinning her to him. His other hand still held hers. "They want you to rush in. That's why they put him there. Don't give them what they want."

The logic of his words pierced her desperation and she stopped struggling. He let his arm drop, but she stayed where she was, feeling her hip brush against his. It disturbed her how easily they were manipulating her. She kept close to Tavis, realizing she'd have to rely on him to stop her from responding because she didn't dare trust herself to do so. She forced herself to finish looking around the circle, feeling in the distant mind storm the frustration of the once-laughing person as this gambit with her father failed too. She saw the darkness swirling, tucked back among the swaying trees that lined one side of the garden. She flinched back from it and felt Tavis turn to follow her gaze. She knew he had seen it when his hand tightened on hers, but she couldn't look away from the inky cloud. What she was seeing stunned her. The black mist swirled around someone, a man, standing in the center. The tendrils that flowed in and out of the cloud reached up to caress him as she watched, before dropping back into the moving darkness. She tried to see who it was, but her eyes kept sliding away from him. She shifted her sight and nothing about the man or the cloud changed, surprising her. She could feel something diverting her, keeping her from peering too close, from even remembering what details she might pick out, but there was no spellwork around him. Before she could shift back, she saw something that made her shudder. Sickly yellow traces moving in every direction around the s.p.a.ce and into the maze beyond. She realized that she could feel it out there, the vygazza, that same feeling that had alerted her to its presence in the forest around Eliar's cottage. She tugged Tavis a step inward and to the side until the wall was at their back and breathed a small sigh of relief that the creature couldn't sneak up on them at least.

Tavis let out his own sigh then as movement across the circle caught her eye. Keari and Lydia were there. His robe was shredded down one side, but Fay could see no sign of blood or injury and his shoulders sagged visibly at the sight of them. She wondered if they had encountered the vygazza. Lydia's eyes were wide but relieved as she saw her son and she leaned a little against Keari. Tavis made no move to join them, though Fay suspected he wanted to.

The winds rose further still and the smoke swirled faster and thicker on the ground, as if the stones themselves were baking. Fay looked back to the Mirror and shock radiated through her. The sigils, which she had barely noticed before, were changing, their golden color dissolving into shining silver. Her father, who had only been moaning to this point, suddenly let out a howling shriek that pierced the storm. He flopped onto his back beside the Mirror as a shaft of darkness lanced out from his chest, connecting him with center of the roiling gla.s.s. Then he fell still and it was the most terrible stillness she could remember.

Fay screamed. She forgot everything. Dropping Tavis' hand, she tried to run forward as the mind storm howled at her louder than ever. A loud gong reverberated through the maze and all of its inhabitants, freezing her after only a single step, her eyes flashing back to the Mirror. A man walked out of the storm-filled gla.s.s, and turned to look at Fay, his ice blue eyes piercing her. The mind storm subsided and she stared at Marcius, seeing him for the first time in the flesh. He smiled at her.

Chapter 19.

The first thing Fay noticed as she stared at Marcius standing in front of the Mirror was that he wasn't quite the same as he'd been in her dreams. His eyes didn't smile when his lips did and instead gleamed with some emotion that she couldn't quite name. This made her think uneasily of the way he had sounded in the mind storm. As he turned his gaze to Tavis, his smile twisted into a sneer, and she saw that his hands, the hands that had run across her skin in her dreams, were clenched into fists. They relaxed as he returned his eyes to Fay.

"It's time, Faylanna," Marcius said, sounding so normal and sane that she began to doubt that the mad laughter in the mind storm had been him. "Time for us to be together as I have told you we should. You were meant to be with me. You were chosen for me, but you have to decide. I don't want to force you to be with me, but I know you'll make the right choice, my love."

The words sounded flat and hollow to her ears, as when he had called her beloved. It was as if he had spoken them because they were expected, the recitation of lines he had memorized. The sincerity she'd heard in Tavis' voice as he'd drawn her from the mind storm was absent from Marcius' words. Taking a step back, she slid her hand into Tavis', her eyes remaining on Marcius as she did it. She saw his own harden as her intention became clear.

"You can't mean to chose the farmer over me, surely. Think about what I offer you. Can't you feel how we belong to each other?"

"No."

The effect of that one word shocked her in its suddenness. Marcius' eyes changed, glittering with the madness she had heard in the storm. The tether of promise, which she'd thought shattered in the mind storm, grasped her whole body and squeezed until she felt the breath rush out of her. Marcius' voice was harsh and angry as he said, "He can't have you. I will not lose you to him. You are mine."

Fay felt like a prisoner in her own body as her hand dropped Tavis'. She ran forward and she felt a shield push out behind her, though she was sure it hadn't come from her. When she reached Marcius' side, he smiled down at her as he wrapped his arms around her. "You will always belong to me, Faylanna Derrion."

She tried to turn away from him, to reach back to Tavis, but her body wouldn't respond to her will. The world went dark around her for a moment and then something that didn't feel like any magic she knew swept through her like flash fire. Even in that burning moment of darkness though, she could still see Marcius and his triumphant sneer. When the darkness lifted, they were no longer in the maze. Marcius unwrapped his arms from her and grasped her by the upper arm. He dragged her toward a camp in the clearing, not bothering to speak to her. Someone else was nearby, but she couldn't seem to find them, could only hear their breathing. As she searched for this other person, she noticed that a carriage was there, ready to go, a trunk on the back that she was sure held supplies.

"Where are we," she asked, surprised at how quiet her voice was when she wanted to yell at him.

Marcius didn't answer her at first. He pulled her to the door of the carriage, which opened at their approach, then shoved her toward it. When he did speak, his words were filled with a dangerous blend of madness and anger. "It doesn't matter. There will be time for all of that later. Get in. Now."

She thought that they couldn't be far from Iondis, as the clouds still hid the sun and the gloom made it hard to see. She hesitated for a moment, trying to see inside the dark carriage, but then lurched forward involuntarily and into one of the seats. I never intended any of this, she thought. I only wanted to save my father, but he's gone now too. She struggled not to cry at the thought.

Marcius sat himself across from her, leaving the door of the carriage open. He leaned forward, and she found herself unable to look away from his intense gaze. "The plan that was set in motion when you were a young girl has proceeded well to this point, and it's time to take the next step. Soon, it will all belong to us. But first, we have to do one thing." His eyes shifted to the s.p.a.ce between them and she felt magic filling that s.p.a.ce. Shifting her perceptions, she saw the spell he was constructing and pressed herself backward, not wanting to even touch the edges of this spellwork. When he was finished, his gaze returned to her, and the glittering intensity had returned. "It's time for the bond, Faylanna. If they didn't teach you how to construct your half, I can. But you must do this now."

She stared into the complex form of thoughts and threads of magic that waited for her. No, she thought, no, this isn't what I want, not with him. She was almost unaware of shaking her head until she heard Marcius snarl in frustration. The ugly sound drew her eyes back to him and she flinched back from the insanity she saw there. The spellwork shattered, causing her to flinch again, as he reached through it and grasped her jaw. Darkness claimed her immediately.

She knew it was later when she woke up but wasn't sure how much time had pa.s.sed. The seat beside her was warm, as if someone had been sitting there quite recently. She put her hand on it, but could discern nothing more than that and a faint, acrid scent. The carriage was empty, and yet she felt a sense that she wasn't alone. A presence lingered nearby, familiar yet unexpected. Before she could turn this idea over and consider it, the door of the carriage was thrown open and Marcius pulled her out. Her sense of that presence dissipated at once. She immediately noticed that they were not in the same place as before, though it was another clearing, this one larger than the last. He pulled her to the fire, already blazing, and pushed her down onto a bedroll laid out beside it. As he sat beside her on it, she realized that someone else was in the camp with them. She was sure it was the same person who had been with them before, when they'd left Iondis, but then Marcius started speaking, a hand on her cheek drawing her gaze to him.

"You must do this, Faylanna. We must bond. You swore you would. There's no cause to wait. Fulfill your promise to me," he said. His words were gentle, but she detected a strained edge to them.

Then the sense of his words came through to her and she laughed. "I never made that promise. You know it and so do I. So does the magic that let you abuse the one I did make. If I had, you could have used it to force me earlier."

She saw him grind his teeth and his thumb moved so that he was gripping her jaw again. "You promised to be mine."

She lifted her chin just out of his grip, feeling her temper rising. She snapped back, "You promised to release my father, and now he lies dead. Who broke their promise?"

"Your father promised you would bond with me, Faylanna," he growled.

Fay forced her anger and grief back, then folded her arms over her chest with deliberate care. Her eyes never left Marcius. "Then see if you can bind me with the vow of another. Go ahead and try it, if you think that will work any better than your broken one."

He simply stared at her for several long moments. Finally, she said to him in a tone of self-condemnation, "You did kill Landra, didn't you? Was anything you said to me true, or was it all a lie?"

He flinched at her question and his expression became sad and haunted. She almost regretted her words, though not quite. His voice was almost inaudible when he answered. "You don't want to know what happened to my Landra. I swear it." Then his voice rose to a more carrying volume. "I will find a way to complete the bond, Faylanna. One way or another, you will be mine. There is no alternative for you."

Soft laughter came from the other side of the fire and Fay tried to look to its source, but her eye kept sliding away from it. She could barely keep registered the fact that a person sat over there, and without the deep voice that whispered a moment later, she would never have known if it was a man or a woman. "You know better than that, Marcius. No one can force the bond. It doesn't work that way. She's not so stupid as to believe you either."