She stood peering into the darkness, eyes darting this way and that; a cruel smile touched her lips when she finally spotted Talia huddled against the wall. She moved from the center of the room with an odd, gliding step to stand above Talia, eyes narrowed in pleasure, and nudged her sharply with one dainty shoe.

The pain she caused made Talia gasp and pull in on herself—and her heart leapt into her throat when she realized that the woman was still standing there—real, and no hallucination.

When Talia’s eyes widened with shock and recognition, Hulda smiled. “You remember me? How very touching! I had no hope you’d have any recollection of little Elspeth’s adored nurse.”

She moved a few steps farther away and stood artfully posing in the light that came through the ventilation hole. “And how low the mighty Herald has fallen! You’d have been pleased to see me brought so low, wouldn’t you? But I am not caught so easily, little Herald. Not half so easily.”

“What—what are you?” The words were forced out almost against Talia’s will.

“I? Besides a nurse, you mean?” She laughed. “Well, a magician, I suppose you’d call me. Did you think the Heralds held all the magic there was in the world? Oh, no, little Herald, that is far, far from being the case.”

She laughed again, and swept out of the cell, the door clanging shut behind her.

Talia struggled to think; but—Lord and Lady, this meant there was more, much more at stake here than she’d dreamed.

Hulda—so young-looking, and claiming to be a magician. And she hadn’t any trace of a Gift, Talia knew that for certain. Put that together with the mage who guarded Ancar and kept her from Mindspeaking to other Heralds—gods protect Valdemar! That meant that old magic, real magic, and not just Heraldic Mind-magic, was loose in the world again. And in the hands of Valdemar’s enemies—

And Hulda had been—must have been—playing a deeper game than anyone ever guessed, and for far longer. But to what purpose?

Hulda came again, this time after dark, bringing some kind of witchlight with her. It was an odd, misty ball that gave off a red glare that flickered and pulsated; it floated in behind her and hovered just above her shoulder, bathing the entire cell in an eerie, reddish glow.

This time Talia was more or less ready for her. She was free from delirium for the moment, and feeling light-yet clear-headed. She had managed to put her own emotions and the helplessness of her position in the back of her mind, hoping for some stroke of luck that might bring her a chance to strike back at her tormentors.

She had figured that Hulda was warded, even as the Prince was; she probed anyway, and discovered her guess was correct. So rather than making any other moves, she simply shifted her weight where she sat so that she might be able to get to her feet at a moment’s notice.