I must discover what is happening to him. I am so disturbed, so frightened, that it is hard for me to still my feverish mind sufficiently to call a spirit. I know many are close. I call to an old friend, a spirit who has helped me locate Bram more than once before.

I am here, Daughter of the Night.

Tell me please … is he hurt? What do you see? What can you hear?

I see him very still. His eyes are closed.

Does he breathe? Does he live?

Yes, he breathes. He lives.

I find I have been holding my own breath and now I gulp air once more. He is alive! Wounded, it appears, but alive. Perhaps that wound will be enough to bring him home. Oh, the thought of it moves me so! How have I endured all this dark, empty time without him? I know he loves me, or at least, he did love me. Will he still feel the same way after I let him down so badly? After I abandoned him? Will he still want me? Is there a chance, after all, that we can be together? If a witch and a non-witch together is folly, then we will only be one small jot of madness in all the murder and muddle that this war has brought. Surely love is what matters? Love is what matters.

Fine sentiments, sister.

I know at once who is there.

Iago lets out a hiss of terror and arches his back, ears flat, teeth bared. He continues to growl, staring into the corner of the room. I jump to my feet. I am already shaken by what has happened to Bram, so that it takes me a moment to compose myself sufficiently to face Willoughby’s spirit. As I do so, to my amazement, he begins to take shape in front of me.

“How dare you!” I speak to him aloud, feeling that it somehow puts distance between us and helps me believe that he is not present in my mind. If he wishes to appear, then I will talk to him as if he still treads the earth. “You are not invited and not wanted,” I remind him. “Your masters have failed in their attempts to take what is not theirs, what will never be theirs. Your persistence is as pointless as it is unwelcome.”

Do you think they will give up so easily, after centuries of waiting for the right moment? If they draw back it is only to regroup. To choose a moment that suits them best before redoubling their efforts. You cannot fight them off forever, Morningstar.