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stronger with each feeding.
    So did the vessel.
    The Isen Demon had been defeated in the past, so long ago when it dared to attempt to gain power. Of course, Fynnian hadn't been there to guide and care for the demon, more than a thousand years ago. The vessel it had possessed had been killed before the demon could build sufficient power. That wouldn't happen this time. Fynnian would see to that.
    Some men might be afraid to share such close quarters with an animal such as Ciro had become, but Fynnian had everything under control. Ciro loved Rayne, and Fynnian controlled his daughter. That alone would be enough to keep the future emperor in line for a while longer.
    Ciro didn't have to know that the love he felt for the beautiful Rayne was the product of an enchantment, any more than he needed to know that it had been Fynnian who'd offered the boy's soul to the Isen Demon.

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Chapter Three

     
    After an almost sleepless night, Sian felt oddly energized. He ran up the winding steps, the snap of his boot heels clacking and echoing off the stone walls. His mission made sense in a way it had not before. His grandfather had sent him here not simply to deliver the prophesy to Emperor Arik, but to discover the very foundation of the new enemy. This palace was the source of the evil that threatened the world.
This
was where the seed of darkness had taken hold.
    A faint, breathless voice reached him. "I cannot fun any longer," Ariana called. "If you are determined to run all the way to Level One, please proceed. I'll meet you there."
    Sian turned to wait for his pupil. True, she was a woman and as such was not accustomed to physical exertion. Her legs were shorter than his, and her cumbersome gown was not fashioned for moving with ease. He frowned as he watched her climb slowly. When the time came, Ariana would not fight only with her magic. She would face monsters in a very real physical battle, and she could not do so wearing fine palace fashions.
    She needed more than magical tutoring. Her physical stamina was not sufficient for what awaited her.
    "You were the one who suggested Level One as the location to begin searching for a seed of darkness."
    "True, but I did not say that I wished to race you to the top of the palace." Her face was flushed, her hair in disarray. That wild disarray seemed to be a usual condition for her, thanks to all the curls that wound this way and that. She'd made an attempt to restrain the curls, pulling them back and pinning them down, but they would not stay in place. She was composed in the face of her new calling, and she dressed in an austere manner. But her hair hinted at another aspect to her personality.
    Sian shook off the odd thoughts. It was just hair. Why did he allow his imagination to run wild where this woman was concerned? Perhaps he was trying to avoid the more obvious challenges. He could strengthen her magic; he could teach her a few new tricks. But how on earth would he prepare her for the physical tests to come?
    They continued the climb side by side, and at a slower pace. "My mother always said this was an evil place," Ariana said, her eyes focused on the steps ahead. "Emperor Sebestyen was horribly wicked, she said, and his last empress Liane… We don't talk about her much. She was my father's sister."
    A shiver of pure surprise danced through Sian. "Truly? I did not know."
    "Few people do. She and her baby fled after the palace fell in the final battle of the War of the Beckyts, after Sebestyen died. They were killed by thieves."
    "I know the story," Sian responded. "It's quite tragic."
    "So tragic my parents refuse to so much as discuss Liane or the baby. They did tell me that this palace was Liane's ruination. She was captured at a young age, and made a concubine against her wishes. Her circumstances changed her. This palace and the people in it destroyed her soul and her heart."
    "Your parents think of this palace as evil, they swear it destroyed your aunt, and yet they