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demanding as ever.” This last was said with a twist of a smile. “Come up off the floor. Is that carpet following you?”
    “No,” she lied, because she liked the carpet. Her mother raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, recognizing the obvious lie without needing any of her telepathy.
    She wiped her remnant tears, rose, and sat in a chair across from her mother’s desk. Future spiritual leaders of world didn’t wallow … much. It took a while for her mother to speak, as if she was formulating her thoughts, but Theo hoped it was more in an attempt to gain some emotional equilibrium, rather than time spent calculating her upcoming manipulation of the truth.
    “I know someone took you. Someone powerful enough to open doors in unbreakable wards, or at least wield the borrowed magic in order to do so. Someone powerful enough to hold you, and thwart my every ability to find you. Then someone trained you, as is obvious by your physique, and either turned you against me or compromised your mind, because you then, after being missing for ten years, led an assault against this castle, three days ago. Granted, I came to Hollyburn early this year, so perhaps the goal wasn’t the forfeit of my life, but still …” Her mother trailed off, as if consumed by her own thoughts. Theo itched to prompt her narrative, but managed to stay quiet. “Your fellow assassins, if that’s what they were, must have fled, for we found no trace of them in the tunnel. Though, perhaps I am leaping to conclusions. Perhaps you came alone. The castle is defended by intricate wards that predate me by hundreds of years.”
    “And there’s a demon in the basement.”
    Her mother turned to look at her, surprised but not surprised. “You saw him?”
    “He thought about eating me, but settled for slurping up all the blood.”
    This seemed to unsettle her mother for a moment, as if she now had to readjust her perception of the events. “I see. That explains the lack of … trace evidence. He came with the castle, and, ah, decided he’d like to stay when I asked him to leave. I am pleased he didn’t make you a snack, even as I must admit to being pleased he provided an extra defense, intentionally or not. His loyalty is not mine. It is disturbing that he consumed your blood.” Rhea started to wander over to a warded book shelf. “I should consult with Jamin.”
    “Then what happened?” Theo prompted quickly, so she didn’t lose her mother’s focus.
    “Ah. Yes, well … then you triggered a spell. A spell I had painstakingly constructed for you, a spell to bring you back to me, just in case this had been his plan all along.”
    “His plan?”
    “Dougal.” Dougal? She’d only ever met him once … that she could remember, the evening before her sixteenth birthday. Her mother had barely spoken to him all through the meal, though he was seated at Rhea’s right, a spot formally reserved for Chancellor Madoc, who hadn’t been in attendance at dinner that evening. Lord Dougal Rudan, Chief of the Cascadian Guards, Chancellor of the Midlands. Her mother’s brother. Her uncle. “The only man, the only person of whom I know could take you, and keep you from me all these years. He was actually here by invitation. I had thought to use the opportunity to mend some old wounds.”
    “But if you knew he had me …”
    “I could never prove it.”
    “And the spell? It’s the backlash that’s caused the memory loss?”
    “Or, if he had you under spell to keep you with him, it’s interference. My spell was powerful enough to overcome his, perhaps.”
    “But not without consequences.”
    “Yes. It seems. I am sorry.”
    “Why do you think it’s your brother? Does he want to be Apex?”
    Her mother laughed harshly, and very unspiritualy. “No. He doesn’t think we should be governed by Spirit. He believes magic is a tool, not a way of life.”
    “And, because of my prophecy …”
    “Yes, his interpretation of your prophecy was always