Seven years ago, Hekatah had tried to gain control of Jaenelle Angelline and eliminate Lucivar Yaslana. Something had gone wrong with her scheme, and the backlash of that confrontation had stripped away her ability to pass as one of the living, had made her look like a decaying, desiccated corpse. For the first couple of years, she had insisted that all she needed was to consume large quantities of fresh blood in order to restore her body. But the demon-dead were, in a sense, spirits that still had too much psychic power to return to the Darkness and were now housed in dead flesh. While the power lasted and could be renewed, the body could be maintained by consuming blood. But nothing was going to restore Hekatah’s looks. The juice had been wrung out of her dead flesh, and the past seven years had been a slow decay of a body that had died 50,000 years ago.

“They’ll believe the High Lord has been responsible for all the perversion in Terreille,” Hekatah said, coming up behind Dorothea close enough for her reflection to be visible in the window’s night-darkened glass. “They want to believe it. He’s a myth, a terrifying story that has been whispered for thousands of years. And anyone who has doubts about him will have no doubts at all about Yaslana and Sadi. The thought of the three of them coming together and having the use of a strong witch as their tool will be enough to unite Terreille against Kaeleer. In the end, it doesn’t matter why they join the fight, only that they fight.”

“We’ve gained one reluctant ally this afternoon—Alexandra Angelline, the Queen of Chaillot.” Dorothea’s lips curled in a vicious smile. “She was shocked to discover that her younger granddaughter has been under the High Lord’s thumb for all these years, thanks to Daemon Sadi.”

Hekatah frowned. “She’s a fool, but she isn’t stupid. If she convinces Jaenelle to help her maintain control of Chaillot…”

Dorothea shook her head. “She doesn’t believe Jaenelle has any power. I could see it in her eyes. I spun her a little story about women who are reservoirs of raw power—she didn’t believe that either. She can accept that Sadi and the High Lord might have wanted Jaenelle for their own twisted reasons, but she’ll continue to believe what she wants to believe about Jaenelle Angelline. Once she gets to Little Terreille, Lord Jorval will be waiting to offer his assistance. He’ll never mention that Jaenelle is the Queen of Ebon Askavi. And I doubt Alexandra will believe anything anyone at the Hall tells her.”

Hekatah laughed gleefully.

“And I imagine that once she actually meets Prince Saetan Daemon SaDiablo, the High Lord of Hell, she’ll be more than happy to send along any information she thinks will be useful to us.”