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conclusion that Laghairt is a who and not a place .”
    “The Lizard is a person?” I gripped The Hand as the aether rippled around me. Magical currents tickled my nerves.
    “Cora?”
    I couldn't speak as voices whispered in my ear. My palm burned where The Hand touched my skin, and my vision was obscured by bright white light. I tried to make sense of the words, but the volume continued to increase until I cried out in pain as they threatened to burst my eardrums.
    “Cora!'
    I flinched at the sting of a slap against my cheek. My vision cleared and the voices died, first to a whisper and then to silence. As my vision focused I looked into the blue eyes in front of me. Icarus had grown pale, and he held me gently, his fingers rubbing over the stinging in my cheek.
    “You slapped me.” I accused.
    “What happened?”
    “You slapped me?”
    His mouth tightened. “Cora.”
    “The aether.” I said begrudgingly. “When you mentioned the Lizard it caused a ripple that brought voices and light. I couldn't see or hear anything but the light and the voices.”
    “What the hell, Ic?” Archie sounded angry as he moved to stand beside me, his human hand on my shoulder.
    “She's fine.” Icarus' hand was tender as he clutched mine. “The aether is drawn to her. It was trying to tell her something.”
    “She could have been killed.” Archie appeared worried as I looked up at him.
    “No, Icarus is right, Archie. The aether wasn't trying to hurt me.” I patted his hand as he finally moved back to his chair. Icarus remained kneeling on the floor at my feet.
    “What did you hear?”
    “I had a hard time making it out. It got so loud.” I winced at the memory of the increase in the sound. I rubbed the skin below my ear, expecting to feel blood. Icarus' hand tightened on mine. I was so unused to him being so solicitous of me that I had to fight the warmth that bloomed in my stomach.
    “Do you know what 'Bay-own-dello' means?”
    Icarus' eyebrows went up. “Baiandelio?”
    I nodded. “Yes. The voices repeated it, over and over, and Laghairt. Do you know what it means?”
    Icarus looked at Archie, who had a thunderous expression on his face. His eyes were narrowed as he pulled back his lips in a feral snarl. I shrank back from the violence in his voice. “Baiandelio, that bastard. I'm not surprised he's involved.”
    “Who is he?” I asked, grabbing Icarus' hands as he tried to pull away.
    He didn't take his eyes off of Archie as he answered. “He's the wizard who left Archimedes to die in that alley where I found him.”
    I knew some of Archie's story, but as he recounted the whole of it I was horrified by his ordeal.
    “I grew up poor and as the poor are wont to do I ended up in East End working for a few of the dark wizards.”
    He noticed my shock and smiled at me.
    “I was young and my knowledge of magic was little. I fetched and carried and as I grew I became the one who collected debts.”
    “I can't imagine why.” Icarus said wryly. He stood, but just as I expected him to move away he took a seat on the table next to me, keeping my hand in his.
    “Baiandelio was a wizard with a small territory near the river. His trade was mostly hexes and the like, but I'd known him to work a dark spell or two that required blood. Usually he'd pay a woman to bleed for him and send her on her way.”
    “How horrible!” I said, though we all knew that more terrible things than that had happened in London under the rule of the dark wizards before Icarus came to town.
    Archie ran his human hand through his hair, the ticking from beneath his coat agitated.
    “One night I was called to Indulgence, Baiandelio's club. I expected to find another poor bastard unable to pay his debt, but something had gone terribly wrong with the wizard's spell.”
    “I understand that the carnage was gruesome.” Icarus absently rubbed my fingers with his thumb, and my entire arm tingled from the contact. As much as I hungered for attention from