My foot hurt. I had to hop a little bit on my good leg when my balance wavered. "Great," I muttered. "What is it you want?"

"You," Mab said, folding her hands primly in front of her. "My offer of Knighthood yet stands open to you."

"What's wrong with the new guy?" I asked, "that you'd dump him for me?"

Mab showed me her teeth again. "I have not yet replaced my current Knight, treacher though he is," she purred.

"He's still alive?" I asked.

"I suppose," Mab said. "Though he very much wishes that he were not. I have taken the time to explain to him at length the error of his ways."

Torture. She'd been torturing him in vengeance for his treachery for more than three years.

I felt a little sick to my stomach.

"If you like, you might consider it an act of mercy," she said. "Accept my offer, and I will forgive your debt to me and answer all your questions freely."

I shuddered. Mab's last Knight had been an abusive, psychotic, drug-addicted, murdering rapist. I was never clear on whether he got the job because of those qualities or whether they had been instilled in him on the job. Either way, the title of Winter Knight was a permanent gig. If I accepted Mab's offer, I'd be doing it for life—though there would, of course, be no promises as to how long that life would be.

"I told you once before," I said, "that I'm not interested."

"Things have changed, wizard," Mab said. "You know the kind of power you face in Kemmler's heirs. As the Winter Knight, you would have strength far outweighing even your own considerable gifts. You would have the wherewithal to face your foes, rather than slinking through the night gathering up whispers to use against them."

"No." I paused and then said, "And no means no."

Mab shrugged one shoulder, a liquid motion that drew my eyes toward the curves of her breasts within the silken gown. "You disappoint me, child. But I can wait. I can wait until the sun burns cold."

Thunder rumbled over the lake. Off in the southwest, lightning leapt from cloud to cloud.

Mab turned her head to watch. "Interesting."

"Uh. What's interesting?"

"Powers at work, preparing the way."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"That you have little time," Mab said. She turned to face me again. "I must do what I might to preserve your life. Know this, mortal: Should Kemmler's heirs acquire the knowledge bound within the Word, they will be in a position to gather up such power as the world has not seen in many thousands of years."

"What? How?"