Icy waters rushed beneath the glib rejoinder, beneath his frail mask of unconcern. Malatriant. The Tyrant Queen. Crawling beneath the skin of a woman who might just have been his friend.

“Time was, I’d have had you flayed for your discourtesy.”

“I bet.”

“Revekah’s still here.” Lips parted in a sly smile. “Would you like to talk to her?”

“I want you to let her go.”

“Then you aren’t truly her friend.”

“So you could let her go?”

Halvor returned to tracing in the dust. “All her life, she longed to be part of something greater. That’s what you all yearn for. To return to the Dark. To be one in the Dark. No fear. No strife. Just peace. The same peace that has always been my gift.”

“What do you want?”

“To see my legacy restored.”

Kurkas shuddered, a hundred tales of cruelty vying for his thoughts. The Tyrant Queen sought a legacy? She had one already. Its bleak shadow warped history centuries on.

“Doesn’t sound like anything I’ll much enjoy.”

“You will. Once you come to the Dark.”

Shadows shifted. Anastacia drew into the light. [[This is a waste of time.]]

“I want Halvor freed.”

“And I told you that she is already free.”

For a heartbeat, Kurkas allowed himself to believe that she spoke the truth. But only for a heartbeat. “I wasn’t talking to you. Can you do it?”

[[Yes.]]

Anastacia strode across the cellar. Shadows retreated, the shards of sunlight flowing across the cellar like molten gold.

“Leave her be!” Panic crept into Halvor’s dark eyes. She scrambled backwards on heels and hands, only to be trapped between Anastacia and the whitewashed wall.

Anastacia embraced her. The cellar blazed like fire, the stink of dust seared away by summer days. Kurkas twisted away, hand shielding his eye. An afterimage lingered, of outspread wings dark against fire. Then the light faded, and there was only an old woman, clutched tight in a doll’s porcelain arms.

Halvor’s eyes flickered open, the black supplanted by hazel and bloodshot white. The spidery lines ebbed from cheek and brow but didn’t fade entirely. She blinked and pushed unsteadily away.

“Kurkas? I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop her . . .”

“Doesn’t matter.” How he wished that were true. But if Anastacia could drive Malatriant out of one, maybe she could do the same for others. How that was to be managed with a whole town, he wasn’t sure. But something was always better than nothing. “You’re free now.”

Downcast eyes narrowed. Her chest fluttered. “No. She’s still with me. I can . . . hear her thoughts – burrowing like worms beneath my own.”

So much for hope . . . Kurkas glared at Anastacia. “You said you could free her.”