Anger surges through me. I know what he is about. I know why this fiend has come here.

One of my Cavaliers chatters urgently in my ear.

We tried to stop him, mistress, but he used his demon spirits to bar our way.

I force myself to sound strong. “How dare you come into my home! I will never give you what you want, surely you realize that.”

Stricklend sighs. “I am aware it will be difficult for you, Morningstar. May I call you that? I feel we can converse more honestly as witches, don’t you?”

“You have no right to call yourself witch, sorcerer. And I have no wish to converse with you at all. Leave my home at once!”

“Alas, I cannot.” He begins to move toward us. Bram tightens his grip on me. I hold my ground. “The Sentinels have waited long centuries to regain what was taken from us. What is rightfully ours. The decision was made that we would wait no longer. The time has come to restore the Elixir to its rightful masters. And that time has come because of me.”

“Many Sentinels have existed before you, Stricklend,” I tell him, “and I have no doubt many of them thought themselves up to the task you have set yourself. There are accounts of attempts to uncover the Great Secret. Every Lazarus witch learns of them during their instruction. None of these misguided efforts to steal the Elixir from us was successful. They all failed. As will you!”

“I will not leave without what I have come for, make no mistake about that.”

Beside me Bram shakes his head. “You are quite mad.”

“Really?” Stricklend is unimpressed. “If you consider me so, then I can only wonder what you think of the accomplished necromancer you now have in your embrace. She raised her own brother from his coffin, did she tell you that? I must say I admire your broad-mindedness, Mr. Cardale. Perhaps it is your … artistic nature that allows you to view your beloved’s darker habits so charitably.”

I am about to reply and I can feel Bram clench his fist, but before either of us can respond we are thrown to the ground. The force of Stricklend’s spell is astonishing, and it catches us both off guard. I am still fighting for breath as I stagger to my feet. What I see next freezes me to the spot with fear. Stricklend has used his strong magic to fling Bram up into the air and now has him suspended, helpless, twenty feet above the roof garden. In an instant he has conveyed him farther away from me, so that now he is beyond the balcony wall. If he were to drop now, if Stricklend were to let him drop, he would plummet ten floors to the street behind the apartment building.

“Bram, keep still!” I shout at him. He listens to me and ceases his futile, dangerous struggling.