She had asked him, a few times, to use the power for which familiars were legendary. He was willing to do so, if she was willing to accept the consequences. Had those consequences been hers to pay, she would have done it with fear, and likely future regret.

But no: he demanded that she sacrifice some of the things she wanted, desperately, to protect. She’d stopped asking, but she’d wondered—as she wondered now—what Sorcerers would sacrifice, or would have, in the past.

Anything, he replied, as she began to sprint toward the door in which Azoria was standing. But it was seldom understood that in order to sacrifice something of value, one must value something other than oneself.

She flinched, turned sideways, sliding as she did between Azoria and the destroyed door. She’d long since perfected the art of fleeing through a crowd.

“Then what did they sacrifice, if you did what they wanted?”

Their limbs, some portion of their personal power, whether that be monetary or magical. To sacrifice, one must highly value the thing one intends to exchange. Love is useful, in that regard.

Had she not been running, she would have been outraged.

Love is not necessary. One can value power without loving it; one can prize currency, without loving it. In time, the marks of the Chosen might serve as a sacrifice—but that time has not yet arrived, for you.

“You already ate one!”

Hope laughed. It was a sound more felt than seen; there was warmth and movement in its almost musical cadence. Yes, that is true. But that was not a sacrifice on your part. Were you a different Chosen, it would have been.

Kaylin leaped down the stairs, two and three at a time, her palm skirting the railing. “Why did you eat it, then?”

Power and sustenance. If you do not fully understand the marks you have received, you utilize them instinctively.

She considered that as she hit the foyer floor and turned toward the gallery from which Mrs. Erickson had so gently extracted the dead. Widening her stride, she sprinted down the hall, thinking about Mandoran’s True Name, and wishing that she actually had it.

What she hadn’t wished for was Terrano’s name. She certainly hadn’t wished for Terrano.

“You’re going for the door in Azoria’s self-portrait.” He appeared at her side, keeping effortless pace with her all-out run.

Kaylin said, in slightly labored syllables, “I’m going for the door I couldn’t see, yes.”

“Sedarias sent me, before you try to get rid of me.”

“I can talk to Severn. Stay upstairs where Azoria is!”