“You’re a decent guy, Ced. You didn’t want to be some force of destruction. But you know that the Families are full of mages who are dying to be like that. The more drowthers weeping, the more powerful they’ll feel.”

“I only knew my mother, Stone, and Danny North. None of them were like that.”

“But Stone must have told you about the Families,” said Wad.

“Not much. But you told me about Bexoi. And I saw you and Anonoei. You were both drunk on your own power—and you’re the good guys. I know the danger. I’ll help you. As long as you arrange it so they don’t know I’m the windmage.”

“Seriously?”

“I can’t gate away from assassins, Wad. My best armor is to be a soapmaker and nothing else, as far as anybody knows.”

“Then how can I arrange the demonstrations I need?”

“Bring them near where I’m making soap. I don’t actually have to be watching when I whip up a tight little tornado. The kind that can drive a dart a thousand times faster and harder than an arrow. The wind shows me where it is, where everything is. I can feel it. Trust me, Wad. You can make gates when you’re a thousand miles away, right?”

“More like a few billion miles,” said Wad. “I remade all of Danny North’s gates after he gave them to me.”

“On Earth? From here?”

“I’m really good at what I do,” said Wad. “But so are you. So yes, I’ll bring them into the city. Or maybe we go out in the woods at a time when I’ve arranged for you to be having a picnic or something. As long as you act as scared as everyone else—you don’t even have to be good at acting. These aren’t geniuses we’ll be working with.”

“I know you’re trying to do good things, Wad. I know you’re trying to save the world. I don’t know if it’s true but I believe that you believe it. So yes, I’ll help. After what happened to Anonoei, I know that mages can be evil. And if I had seen that bitch queen set Anonoei on fire, I’d have driven a splinter through her brain in a hot second.”

“I’m glad to know that you’re not a complete pacifist,” said Wad.

“I’m not a pacifist at all. I’m just not an assassin. And besides, you know that Anonoei couldn’t help but make me fall a little bit in love with her and feel real loyalty toward her. My teacher made fun of her as a habitual rapist of the souls of men. Even as I felt it, he made sure I realized it was just her magery. But that didn’t make the feelings go away.”

“It never does,” said Wad.