The wind howled, high and whistling, accompanied by the cracking of ice and tree branches. They were sounds Taniel should have been long used to, given he'd dealt with them all his years in the monastery, but as ever, sleep would not come.

Sighing, he rolled out of bed and pulled on a heavy fur-trimmed robe before shuffling over to the fireplace. He settled in his chair, an old, threadbare thing left to be forgotten in a room used for storage. As a mage-in-residence, Taniel was entitled to his own room, something he'd never had before. He'd slept with his siblings as a child and youth, then with the other monks. He'd just assumed it would be the same here, but Bedros had issued him a room without even batting an eye.

Taniel certainly wasn't going to complain.

Though he had to admit it did get a little lonely sometimes. He liked people, being around them, interacting—being the center of attention. He really hadn't been a good monk at all, so it was for the best that chapter of his life was closed.

He missed the brotherhood of it, though. Castle Rehm was great, and home now, but he was still considered Kohar's brother before anything else. Just like always. Little brother. The adopted brother. The best part of the monastery was that he'd been seen as him, not the auxiliary of someone else.

Of course, Vosgi had preyed on that. Taniel cringed every time he thought about it, how quickly and easily he'd fallen for Vosgi, how certain he'd been they were the sort of love that would last a lifetime. He really should have known better. Nothing lasted a lifetime. Look at his family. One plague and they were gone. Another decade or two, nobody but him and Kohar would even remember them.

Argh, he hated when he couldn't sleep. All it did was turn him maudlin and whiny. Maybe he should just give up and get some work done.

Heaving a sigh, he threw back his cozy blanket and climbed to his feet, pulling his hair out of its loose sleep braid and braiding and wrapping it properly as he crossed the room to the portion of it dedicated to work, with a massive desk, racks of inks, bookshelves, a worktable for making his inks and other things, and far more besides. It was as fine as the workrooms he'd shared back at the monastery, and even better because he didn't have to share it.

He'd only just sat down and lit his lamps, though, when a knock came at his door. Who in the world would be knocking on his door at… He glanced at a nearby clock. Half past two in the morning. Taniel went to open it and stared a moment in surprise.

Lieutenant Corsair. Handsome. Dashing. Elegant and refined. A deeply admired and adored local, and Nerek's protégé. Taniel would love to do any number of things to him, from sweet to 'how does a monk know how to do that.' But he wasn't going to mess up this latest chance at having a home, building a life, by adding stupid things like sex and romance to the pile. He'd learned his lesson with Vosgi, who was really just the last and greatest mistake in a long string of attempts at One True Love.

Some people were made for such things. Like Kohar. Others weren't. It was long past time Taniel accepted he was one of those.

Still, a small part of him couldn't help but hope that Corsair had shown up in the dark of night offering to help him sleep.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Corsair said, immediately dashing that tiny, feeble hope, "but I may have a problem in the village. I saw some strange marks while on patrol. I was deliberating on whether to wake you or Kohar when I saw you moving around. I don't suppose you'd come tell me if it's something to worry about?"

"Of course. Let me get dressed. Come on in, this hallway is miserably cold."

"Thanks." Corsair stepped into the room and closed the door as Taniel went to get dressed, heading over to the fireplace and immediately stripping off his gloves to better warm his hands. He looked good bathed in firelight, but also tired and wrung out.

Unlike Taniel, who looked sickly pale all the time thanks to white skin and a place that spent most of the year buried in snow. Corsair had warm brown skin with yellow undertones and curly brown hair with just the faintest hint of red to it. His eyes were a dark amber, though they warmed and brightened when he was happy or amused. Taniel would love to know what they looked like when—

Nope. Cutting that thought off right there.

He discarded his soft, warm robe and shivered as he hastily pulled clothes from his wardrobe and yanked them on. Hose, tunic, a winter robe that fastened versus the summer style that was meant to drape open, and fur-lined boots and fur-trimmed cloak. He grabbed the satchel that held the tools and spells he needed for most problems, and finally joined Corsair by the fire. "All set."

"My horse is waiting, if you don't mind riding with me, though I can wake the stable hands to get you a horse of your own if you prefer."

"I can ride yo—with you," Taniel replied, hoping desperately Corsair hadn't noticed his stupid slip.

Outside, it was even more miserable than the drafty castle, the wind so sharp that breathing hurt. Corsair swung up easily into the saddle, then offered a hand to help Taniel up, and a moment later they were off, riding steadily but carefully through the dark night and endless drifts of snow. The frequent traffic between castle and village had worn a path through the mess, but that did nothing to lessen the danger of ice, especially the kind that wasn't even visible.

They traveled in silence, Corsair's attention taken up wholly by the treacherous going. All around them the wind made the trees crackle and crunch, and every now and then he could hear an owl's cry, the rustle of nocturnal animals foraging through the snowy underbrush for whatever meals they could find.

High above, the stars glittered wherever the clouds broke up enough to see them. To judge by the clouds, though, there'd be more snow come morning, and there was no such thing as a light dusting at Castle Rehm. Spring was theoretically close, but winter always went out with a bitter fight.

Everything was dark and quiet when they arrived. There were a few lamps lit, at the healer's house and the outpost the guards worked from when assigned a village rotation. Otherwise, there was only limited moonlight to see by and the torch that Corsair lit once he'd dismounted. "This way." He patted the horse and then crunched off through the snow, following a path less tramped out than the one they'd taken into the village.

They went past a couple of homes, then around and behind one to a large shed behind it, the kind used for storing foodstuffs and other supplies for winter.

Behind it, drawn onto the back wall, were marks that made Taniel's blood run colder than anything the frigid weather could do. Please let him be wrong. "Bring that torch closer. I need to see it as clearly as possible." He strode across the cracking snow and dropped to his knees, close enough to examine the mark but carefully not touching it. Corsair came up behind him and held the torch so it cast a perfect amount of light across the spell.

Taniel swore.

"That bad?"

"Worse," Taniel said grimly, pulling his satchel from his shoulders. First he yanked out the case that held his special rune spectacles and slid them into place. They were a fancier version of his brother's costly rune monocle, allowing him to see magic at a level of detail that had given him a headache for months until he'd grown accustomed. Writing spells was hard enough, but when ancient, forbidden magic was brought into the picture… a monocle wasn't enough. His glasses had two different lenses—the standard rune glass used in monocles on the left side; the right lens was darker, meant to see special inks and spells that the first lens wasn't powerful enough to. Combined, there was very little the spectacles could not see.

Only twenty monks, out of hundreds, had ever been approved and fitted for rune spectacles. When he'd been cast out, they'd wanted to destroy his, but they belonged rightfully and wholly to Taniel, and he hadn't been banned from magic, just from the monastery and their collection of esoteric magic.

Right now, Taniel almost wished he wasn't one of those twenty, because seeing the spell in full detail only drove home how horrific it was. Drawing out paper and pen next, he sketched out the spell as best he could and filled two more pages with notes and theories, heedless of the snow rapidly freezing him to death.

"Can you destroy it?" Corsair asked when he paused. "Whatever it is, clearly it needs to go."

"It's a demon summon, way worse than the succubus he used before. That was child's play compared to this. Worse, this is just one part. If I'm right, there are six more of these around the village, or will be soon. I don't know how far he's gotten." Taniel chewed on his thumbnail. "Making just one would take several hours. A bare minimum of five, and honestly it should be closer to eight."

"There's no way we would have missed him on our patrols. We've been beyond diligent ever since the royal army attacked, and before that because of the succubus. Captain has had us on constant, overlapping shifts. We would have noticed a strange figure in the village."

"Not if he was using magic to make sure he went unnoticed," Taniel replied, anger and fear churning in his stomach. "It's dangerous, costly magic, but well within Vosgi's range."

"So you do think it's him?"

"Who else would it be? I just wish he'd find something better to do with his time. I never should have come here; it's just encouraging him to keep hurting everyone here."

"If he wasn't hurting and killing us, he'd be hurting and killing elsewhere. There's nothing you can do about that, so don't blame yourself."

Taniel nodded, somewhat comforted that Corsair was trying to help, even if the words themselves did nothing. It was his fault. He'd fancied himself in love, and he'd used that love to justify letting things get too far. By the time he'd spoken up, it was too late—and turning Vosgi in had just compounded the problem, adding anger and a vindictive need for revenge on top of Vosgi's obsession with magic and power.

He stood, putting his papers and pen away, and removing the glasses, tucking them into his hair atop his head. He was exhausted already, and the work hadn't even begun.

"So you can't destroy it or whatever?"

"I can, but not right now. I only brought my basics along, thinking we'd missed something done by royal soldiers or spies. I wasn't expecting one seventh of a summoning spell for a class four demon."

Corsair stared at him blankly. "Class four is obviously bad, but I'm not familiar. How bad are we talking?"

"The concubus he summoned last year was a class one. Summoning a demon at all, without piles upon piles of permission and enough paperwork to fill the castle, results in being barred from using magic and usually a long, if not lifelong, prison sentence. Anything above a class two is grounds for execution, often immediate." Taniel shook his head. " ven for Vosgi, a class four seems far too dangerous and risky. I don't know what the hells he's thinking, doing something this… this… frankly 'fucking stupid' doesn't begin to do it justice. This is beyond comprehension."

"We'd better get back and inform the others."

"Go ahead. I'm going to stay and look for the other parts of the spell. Kohar will know what to bring me."

"I'm not leaving you alone out here, not with that utter bastard roaming around."

Taniel snorted. "I'm the safest person in Rehm, Lieutenant. He won't kill me until I've suffered enough for my betrayal. Until he feels I have finally been adequately punished. Go get the others—and be careful. You're in far more danger than me."

"Fine, but have a care, all right?"

"I will. Trust me, I learned my lesson a long time ago."

Corsair thrust the torch into a pile of hardened snow and with a last admonishing look, strode off.

After he'd ridden off, and Taniel could no longer hear any hint of him, he reached into his satchel and withdrew a bottle of ink and a long, thin wooden box. Inside was a special pen for writing magic, the tip made of bone. Human bone, freely donated by a monk before he'd passed away, but edging close to illegal all the same. With the pen easy to access, he removed his gloves, drew the knife on his belt, and slit his left palm, cupping his hand so it pooled. Into the blood he carefully added a few small drops of ink, mixing it with the tip of the pen before drawing enough to write with.

He started at the top, the north point, and worked slowly down and around in a circle slightly larger than the demon summon. When he reached the bottom, he returned to the top and worked his way back down, until the eastern and western halves joined up at the south point.

By the time he finished, he was exhausted, and his hand was not remotely happy with him. Grimacing, he cleaned it off as best he could with snow and a clean kerchief, then wrapped it in a temporary bandage he'd be able to easily remove later before putting his gloves back on.

Tucking away the rest of his supplies, save the pen, he crouched one more time and drew the final, activating rune. The spell came to life with a lurid red shine and settled into a dull, dying-embers glow.

Now he just had to find and cage the rest of them. That wouldn't stop Vosgi, but it would slow the bastard down as he wouldn't be able to break the binding without fresh blood from Taniel. He really hoped Vosgi took that option, and their inevitable reunion came that much sooner—but he wasn't holding his breath. Vosgi was clever and skilled and ruthless, and that last one was the deadliest. There was very little magic couldn't do, or help with, when the mage wasn't held back by things like 'murder is wrong.'

Reaching into his bag again, he retrieved his sketchbook and flipped to a rough sketch of the village he'd done a few weeks ago. One of several, actually, as sketches of his surroundings always proved to be damned useful, especially regarding magic. He marked off the first circle they'd found, though if he was correct, it was actually the fourth in the set of seven.

With that marked, it was simple enough to make educated guesses at a couple of potential spots for the next mark, and once he had two marked, the rest would come easy.

If only getting rid of Vosgi was as easy as locking up his work.

Taniel walked as quickly as he could, eager to find as many of the summon circles as possible before Corsair returned with an extremely irate Kohar, who would know damn good and well there was no way to simply destroy a summon like this. Level four demons were illegal in part because they required a maximum blood sacrifice—the life of a living creature, a large one, like a wolf or deer. Or human.

Destroying them was far more difficult and costly than that. Demons were easy to summon, near impossible to be rid of, at least at level three and beyond. All things considered, they'd gotten off pretty lightly with the concubus.

If he didn't get to Vosgi in time, they wouldn't be so lucky this time around. Especially since he still didn't know what kind of demon exactly Vosgi had chosen. That it was a class four narrowed the possibilities some, but still left entirely too many options, and one spell circle wasn't enough to settle the matter. He'd need to see at least four of the seven, if not more.

He'd just found the second circle, tucked away behind some old barrels and crates behind the baker's shop, when the snap and crackle of the night was drowned out by a furious bellow. "Tani! Get your ass out here right fucking now!"

Groaning, putting away the knife he'd just drawn to reopen the wound in his hand, Taniel heaved back to his feet and went to go deal with his brother.

He'd only just reached the street when Kohar spotted him. "You!"

"Me," Taniel said. "What are you yelling about?"

"What are you doing mucking about with demons all alone! You're smarter than this!"

Taniel gave him a withering look. "Yes, I am, and the very last thing I want is innocent people dead if something goes wrong. Anyway, I was fine, exactly as I knew it would be."

Corsair looked at him with an expression so frosty the snow around them was warm by comparison. "So you just sent me after Kohar to get me out of the way?"

"It wasn't like that," Taniel said. "I really do need stuff that only Kohar could bring me. I also wanted to get started on solving this problem. It's grisly, dangerous work, and the fewer people around, the better. So thanks, Kohar, for waking up the entire damned village with your melodramatic screaming."

Kohar narrowed his eyes in a way that did not bode well for Taniel's continued existence. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Taniel was long used to that look. Nobody was less impressed with a person than their siblings.

"Great, now that everybody is pissed off with me, did you bring what I need?" Taniel asked. "Yelling at me can wait. Demons cannot."

"You'll be lucky if yelling is all I do," Kohar replied, even as he swung his satchel off his shoulder and set it on a nearby barrel. "Does the monastery know you have some of those books in your room?"

Taniel groaned. "Oh, my gods you're worse than Mom ever was." He snatched the book Kohar held out and flipped through it, looking for anything that matched what he'd so far seen. "I didn't steal anything, fuck you. All those copies were mine. I paid for the supplies; I paid the monastery for the time I spent copying them. Good to know your high opinion of me." He started to turn yet another page, then stopped. "Bring that torch closer."

Corsair did so, and Taniel swore. "Come on, I need to take a look at two circles I've found so far." He strode off back to the second one, barely noticing as Corsair and Kohar followed him.

It was, unfortunately, right where he'd left it. As they drew close, Kohar pulled out his monocle and affixed it in place. "I've never actually come across a spell so complicated parts of it were hidden from me."

Taniel didn't reply, too focused on the circle and his book. He drew a pencil from his bag and ripped a page from his sketchbook. Sitting down, heedless of the snow that quickly sank through his layers, he drew out the circle in front of him. When he was done, it exactly matched the one right below where he'd been drawing. He could have traced it, even though he hadn't. "Fuck." He stood and raced off back to the first circle, ignoring the swearing and cursing behind him, and repeated the whole thing there.

With the same grim results.

Kohar snatched the book out of his hand, scowling at the circles he'd drawn, comparing them to the page they matched with. "This is way beyond me. It's a demon, I can tell that much, but only that much."

"It doesn't say?" Corsair asked.

"No," Kohar and Taniel said together, and Taniel added, "It's to mitigate people doing stupid shit like this. We learn and memorize the various runes and other markings, and they can only be cast with the special inks I have, inks that even someone of Kohar's skill couldn't easily make or obtain. Normally the system works well, but there's always…" He sighed. "There's always dumbasses like me and Vosgi around, who know far too much and yet somehow still not enough. I still need to see the other circles, as the two so far aren't enough to narrow the demon down precisely, but they're already pointing toward violence. Destruction, blood, something like that."

Corsair's eyes widened. "What in the world does a demon of blood do?"

"Drink it," Taniel said grimly. "Until there's not a single drop left in the whole village. Every kill makes it stronger, increasingly difficult to stop. Turns its victims into walking corpses that devour the living."

"That sounds…" Corsair didn't finish, but he looked dangerously close to screaming or puking or both.

Taniel turned away. "I need to cage the second circle, and then we need to find the rest."

"You're caging them? Damn it, Tani, I'm going to—"

"To what?" Taniel asked, half-turning to face him. "Stop me? You can't, and we both know it. That aside, what other choice do I have? I can't just throw together the kind of sacrifice necessary to break this kind of spell. All I can do right now is slow him down and hopefully force him into the open, so I can put the bastard down once and for all. If you have a better idea, by all means say, but until then, let me do the only thing I'm good for."

He stormed off back through the tracks they'd made in the snow to the second circle. Pulling out his tools, he re-opened the wound in his hand and set to work.

By the time he was done, he was ready to go back to bed and stay there, but he was only two down, five to go. He was frozen clear through to the bone, probably from sitting in the snow like a dumbass, but that was also a problem for later.

He trudged onward, hand aching, head hurting, exhausted and cold and sick at heart, looking carefully until he found the third circle. His head felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly by the time he was done with that one.

"Are you all right?" Corsair asked.

"Fine," Taniel said. "I'm going to need some sleep when I'm done, but I'm fine."

Kohar muttered, but thankfully didn't press the matter, though he must know the severity of what Taniel was doing. There wasn't anyone else to do it, though. For better or worse, Taniel knew—and was damned good at—arcane magic. The more forbidden, the better. He genuinely loved it. He'd stupidly thought Vosgi loved it too. Loved him.

Vosgi, however, just loved the power and violence. Loved the way it made people afraid of him.

Taniel he'd never cared about at all. Not until his faithful, gullible lackey had betrayed him, anyway.

Thankfully, with three circles down, the remaining four were increasingly easy to find, though each one was exhausting in its own right to cage, and his poor hand felt like it was on fire. He'd be lucky if he was able to use it at all in the next week, if not two. Normally he'd take it from his arm, fill a bowl, but walking around in the snow it was easier to just slit his hand and use that as an improvised bowl.

Well, nothing healing spells and rest wouldn't fix eventually. It was the least he deserved, really.

By the time he finally finished caging all seven circles, sealing away the summon until Vosgi managed to kidnap him, or whatever he did, Taniel's vision was swimming. He sat down in the snow again, barely noticing Kohar yelling at him. From there, it seemed so easy, and like such a good idea, to just go ahead and lie down. The snow was so cool, and he was so hot…

*~*~*

He woke to a dire need to piss and a stomach growling for food. The first matter was easily addressed, at least after he unearthed himself from what seemed to be roughly five hundred blankets. Who was trying to smother him with blankets?

Well, that was a stupid question. His worrywart brother of course. He really was as bad as their mother had been. Funny that Taniel hadn't noticed until now.

Once he'd pissed, cleaned up, and dressed, he went in search of food.

Instead, he found Corsair, sitting right outside his door reading a book and sipping tea. He looked up at the same time Taniel asked, "What in the world are you doing there?"

"Kohar wanted you watched," Corsair replied. "I volunteered. He wanted me inside your room, but that seemed unnecessary. Too high up to go through the window, especially with everything iced over."

Taniel sighed. "Everyone's faith in me is truly astounding. How long have I been asleep?"

"Not quite twelve hours. How's your hand?"

"Oh, uh…" Taniel looked down at it, but Kohar had clearly done impeccable work as usual, because there was nothing left but a scar. "It's fine. Better than it should be, really, but Kohar knows what he's doing."

Corsair closed his book and rose. "My impression so far is that as good as he is, you leave him well behind."

Taniel froze, stared in surprise. It was true, no ego or delusions required, but growing up no one had really acknowledged that he was at least as promising a mage as Kohar. He'd just been the little brother—the little orphan boy—copying Kohar. Even though he loved magic wholly in his own right. He'd never needed anyone to give him his love of magic. Kohar had just happened to love the same thing, and he was older, and not a sad little orphan, and so it must be that Taniel was copying him.

"It's not a contest," he finally said. "It's true I study things more esoteric and dangerous, things I'm lucky not to have been arrested for. I've said that a hundred times already, though. Can I go in search of food, or does my brother think he's grounded me?"

"If your brother wanted you to stay in your room, I'm pretty sure manacles and curses would be involved."

Taniel rolled his eyes because that was true. "Come on, then, we'll get me food and you your freedom. I'm sorry you've been stuck in this hallway while I slept."

"Like I said, I volunteered," Corsair replied. "It beats being stuck out in the snow on patrol or breaking up drunks or finding the drunks who wandered into the woods." He sighed. "I was gone nearly ten years, and when I finally came back, this place hadn't changed at all. It's comforting and confounding all at once."

Corsair had never said so much to him, just him, since Taniel's arrival. He tried not to assume that meant something, especially since the last time they'd spoken Corsair had been angry with him. "That sounds nice, honestly. I traveled back to the city a couple of times while still with the monastery, and it wasn't the same at all. I don't think I could ever live there again, not after… everything."

"What do you mean?" Corsair asked with a frown.

Taniel stopped abruptly, staring at him in surprise. "Did Kohar never say?"

"He honestly doesn't talk much about himself, not really, except maybe to Nerek."

"I see," Taniel said with a sigh, because that did sound like Kohar. "Our family—immediate, extended, all of them—died in the plague, minus a couple who'd died before the plague struck. We were the only two left, other than a smattering of very distant relatives we didn't really associate with. He came here. I went to the monastery."

"Gods above," Corsair said, and then stunned Taniel a second time by abruptly stepping in and hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I'd do if such a thing happened to me. You have my deepest sympathies."

"Th-thank you," Taniel replied, hugging him back tentatively. It wasn't something people really did with him anymore. His family had been extremely tactile, but Kohar had become less so since that horrible fucking time. Then he stepped back and cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to turn the conversation so depressing. I should have guessed Kohar would be all hush hush. That's how he is, for all that he can run his mouth endlessly."

Corsair laughed. "I would never dare suggest or even hint at such a thing about Mage-in-Residence Kohar. Unless he wasn't actually in residence at the moment."

Taniel's laughter joined Corsair's as they resumed walking, bound for the great hall, the smell of food getting ever stronger. Roast duck, by the scent, and the skin would be all crispy and covered in herbs and butter with a blood sauce to accompany, a thick chowder with vegetables and chicken… the dark, nutty bread he loved so much, with butter and jams and more to accompany it. Pies made from dinner leftovers, stuffed with boar and venison and thick gravy, cheese, roasted pumpkin and squash, dried fruit soaked in liquor, beer and mead and wine…

If there was one thing he'd missed about life beyond the monastery, it was the variety of food. The monastery food was good, but it was limited and on a strict, unbending schedule. The castle had something of a schedule, but mostly worked with what was available each day.

As ever, the hall was bustling, people coming and going as they went about their chores and errands for the day. In one corner several women worked on sewing, from simple repairs to elaborate embroidery. There were people cleaning the floor, replacing rushes where necessary, others dealing with the dirty dishes or bringing in fresh platters and bowls of food.

In the center of it all, dealing with various the problems brought to him, was Warren, which meant Bedros must be out riding the perimeter today, or putting out a proverbial fire somewhere. Bedros had been the duke of the castle for several years now, but Warren had arrived only recently—first to save the castle and village from being slaughtered, and then to remain permanently. Whatever complicated history he and Bedros had, they'd put it behind them for a happier future.

Why couldn't Vosgi have chosen him over magic? But that presumed Vosgi had ever considered him a choice, rather than a means to an end and the occasional bedwarmer. Gods, every time he thought about it, he just felt stupider and more depressed.

Shoving the miserable thoughts away, he double checked the hall for Kohar and then, when the coast seemed clear, headed straight for the table where the food was laid out and loaded as much as he could onto two plates. Setting them at the nearest available seat, he went to fetch a cup and then sat down, filling the cup with beer from a nearby pitcher, one of several scattered across each table, and then tucked in.

Corsair sat down across from him with a slightly smaller amount of food, chuckling as he poured himself a cup of mulled wine. "Everyone makes jokes about how much soldiers eat, but I swear mages leave us in the cold."

Taniel laughed. "I won't argue. I assume, since you haven't brought it up, that my cages are still working and nothing else has happened in the past twelve hours?"

"If it has, no one has told me," Corsair replied, and paused to take a large bite of roasted duck. "Kohar has been in the village keeping an eye on things, and Nerek has sent out additional patrols. He's riding perimeter with Bedros, I believe. I saw them leave a couple of hours ago. Sadly, I don't see why searching will produce anything this time when it's never worked before, but even Kohar doesn't know how to find this slimy bastard trying to murder us all." He forked up more duck and a few bites of carrot and squash. "You never did get a chance to say what kind of demon we're dealing with. Kohar thinks that blood demon thing you mentioned, but he wasn't sure."

"He's right," Taniel said quietly. He'd been desperately avoiding thinking about it since waking up, focusing only on immediate needs, but as his stomach settled down, it was hard to ignore the enormous problem hanging over their heads. Vosgi was trying to summon a demon of blood, one of the nastiest, meanest types, and nearly impossible to kill or banish. "Do you know when everyone will be back?"

"Probably not until around sunset, if not after."

Taniel nodded. "That'll give me time to compile more information. Thankfully, with the cages successfully cast, Vosgi's only choices are to find me to break them or start over completely with his summon circles. Which is not really viable, not with all the time and energy and blood he's already invested."

"Why would he need you to break the cages?"

"It's my blood that made them, and so it's only my blood that can break them. The one benefit of being an orphan is that no one can use Kohar's blood instead. There's only me."

"I see," Corsair said quietly. "It sounds like you've had a horrible life."

"No, no." Taniel set his spoon down. "I wouldn't want anyone to think that. My birth parents, whoever the hells they were, threw me out to die on the street. I was taken in by a big, warm, loving family. I got to live, and got to shape that life, with nothing forced upon me. I lost that family, yes. I doubt Kohar and I will ever entirely recover, no matter how much we've learned to cope in the day to day. We didn't even get to put them on pyres; they were just thrown into a mass grave." He shook his head before the memories got the better of him. "I got to study the kind of magic I always wanted, master the kind of magic I always wanted. That came with problems too, but I brought those problems on myself. I'm very fortunate with the life I've led. Everybody hits rough moments—some small, some large. I just wish the problem of my ex-lover had not spread to this entire damned village." He picked up his spoon and stabbed at a piece of potato in his bowl of chowder. "I've forced his hand now, though, the infuriating bastard. He'll have to come for me if he wants his precious demon, and when he does, I'll take care of him once and for all."

When they'd finished eating and had dropped off their dishes, he fixed a large mug of tea and took it with him as he headed off back to his room—with Corsair still at his side. "You don't have to keep watching me. I'm not going to do anything untoward."

"I don't believe you," Corsair replied. "One, just because you have no plans right now doesn't mean that won't become an option later. Two, I'm under orders to watch you until further notice."

"Fine, fine," Taniel replied. If only Corsair was tagging along because he wanted to spend time with Taniel. Whatever. He had more important matters to deal with right now. "You've been warned, though. Have fun not nodding off while I read through a stack of dry, dusty tomes."

Corsair chuckled. "Try standing night watch in the dead of winter."

"Try sitting through it chanting the whole time," Taniel replied with a grin.

That got him an actual laugh. "All right, monk. Fair enough. Why do you have to sit around chanting all night?"

"I actually liked that part. It had a lot of purposes. Discipline, focus, becoming closer to your brothers and the gods… It's also just plain beautiful. One of the few things I miss."

"It does sound beautiful, the few times I've heard you doing it, in the castle's temple and when you climb to the roof."

Taniel hoped the dim-lit halls hid his flush. "I didn't realize I'd drawn attention."

"We don't really have a lot of monks lying around the place," Corsair said with one of his adorable crooked smiles. "Just a priest who worships wine and beer and cider as much as the rest of the village." He opened the door to Taniel's room as they reached it and bowed slightly as Taniel walked by him.

"Quit that," Taniel said, flustered for no good reason.

Corsair just gave a sly little grin and followed him inside, taking a seat at the table in the corner where Taniel had arranged a mini library for his hard-won collection of twenty-three books. They'd had to travel behind him, along with the rest of his meager belongings, minus the two he simply hadn't been willing to trust to the haulers he'd hired.

Setting down his mug, Taniel went to the shelves and pulled down the books he needed. "So how did you come to be named Corsair?"

Sighing long and loud, Corsair replied, "My mother loves fanciful tales, and her favorites were those about pirates. The ones she heard, though, were told by a man who thought 'corsair' was a name, not a term, and she was my mother's favorite pirate in those tales, so that's my name."

Taniel laughed. "That's utterly charming."

"Not always," Corsair muttered. "My whole time through training and assignment in the city, I was only ever called 'Pirate.' It got old fast."

Taniel just laughed some more. "Oh, gods, I can imagine the jokes. Did you shiver many timbers, Lieutenant? Plunder many a chest? Dive—"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Corsair said, torn between laughing and groaning, covering his face with his hands. "You're as bad as the rest of them."

"I was the youngest of quite the hoard, I'm worse than most." Sitting down, Taniel sipped at his tea before sliding on his spectacles as he opened the first of his books, his levity falling by the wayside as he plunged into studies of demons.

Someone, likely Kohar, had left his notes on the table and hung his satchel on its hook. Taniel pulled out the drawings of the circles he'd done, studying them intently as he compared them to the charts in his book. Having full light to work by, instead of battling snow and wind while working by lantern light, it was even more painfully apparent what they were dealing with.

"A demon of blood for certain," he said. "If Vosgi summons him successfully… this village won't survive, and neither will any of the surrounding, because the only people who could stop a demon like this are weeks, if not months, away. They'd arrive too fucking late."

"You caged the summon, though, right?"

"Yes. As long as Vosgi doesn't get me before I get him, all will be well."

"What should we do if he does get you."

"Kill him if you can. If you can't, kill me. Dead blood is useless."

Corsair frowned—glowered, really. "No, fuck that. I'm not killing you. Have you lost your gods-damned mind?"

"No, I haven't," Taniel said flatly. "I know Vosgi better than anyone, all that he is capable of and will gladly do. You don't understand. This demon will be invisible. Intangible. It will sneak into homes like a breeze or a shadow. It will sink its fangs into the neck of its victim and drain every drop of blood from their body. The person will seem dead. Until a few hours later ,when they rise and walk again, a rotting shell of what they once were, with an insatiable craving for the flesh of the living. The numbers of dead-walkers will grow and grow, spreading out like a plague, passing it on to anyone they attack that doesn't become a meal. By the time help arrives, there will be nothing left, save thousands upon thousands of monsters that were once people, who will have to be eradicated like vermin, and there will never be any guarantee they got them all."

Corsair's skin had lost all its color.

"I am all that is keeping that from happening right now," Taniel continued. "So yes, if the choice is kill me or let a demon commit mass murder, then there isn't really much of a choice at all."

"Your brother…"

"Would never forgive me, but he'd also understand," Taniel said with a sigh. "Hopefully it won't come to that. My plan is to kill Vosgi. I'm only giving you the last resort."

"It's been noted," Corsair said. "Now tell me what I hope to gods is a far more effective and less depressing plan."

Taniel spread his hands. "I wish I could give you one, but if it was possible to find Vosgi, we'd have done so by now. All I can do is wait for him to come after me. In the meantime, I am learning all I can about the demon itself, the requirements to banish it, and practicing every nasty trick I can think of to deal with Vosgi."

Corsair hesitated, then asked, "It is true you two were… close? I've heard your offhand comments, bits of conversation, but it's hard to believe you'd… tolerate someone like Vosgi, let alone be…"

"His lover?" Taniel laughed sourly. "Vosgi didn't start out a monster. At least, he didn't seem like one for a long time. Maybe he just hid it well, or maybe I was blind. Probably I was blind. Anyway, he was always cocky, reckless… but he was, is, smart, beautiful, and captivating. He seemed to know every last one of my weak points, and he exploited them ruthlessly. I didn't see it at first, and then I resisted seeing it… and then it was too late. I turned us in, and now we're here. I thought he loved me, but all he wanted was a biddable assistant."

"I know the type," Corsair said quietly. "Met several of them in the army. Most often they were brass. What could a cretin like that ever offer you, though?"

Taniel shook his head. The shame, the humiliation, the stupid happiness he'd believed was real for far too long, burned through them, roiled in his stomach like spoiled food. "It doesn't matter. Stupid, foolish things. I should have realized he never saw me as anything but an easy target."

"That's not how it works. I've seen it more times than I care to count. The only one to blame for any of this is Vosgi. We'll get the bastard. I'm sorry he used you. No one should ever be treated that way."

"No, but I'm not innocent either. I enjoyed the thrill of learning forbidden magic as much as he did. I just never wanted to hurt anyone. It doesn't matter. Whining doesn't solve problems."

"Wounds need lancing before they can heal, though."

Taniel smiled weakly and went back to his reading, not really certain what to say. Really he just wanted to crawl into bed and smother himself with a pillow. Anything but sit there tolerating Corsair's pity. He was tired of pity.

The books, sadly, couldn't tell him much that he didn't already know. What it could tell him, however, was useful: when the demon was best summoned and how to banish it.

Banishing was useless. Demons of this level required exactly the blood sacrifice he'd feared: a human being. He'd thought something like a deer or other large animal would work, but he'd been wrong.

Of far more interest was the summoning time: three days from now, when the sky was moonless and the stars were in the 'winter diamond' alignment.

The knowledge brought a troubling realization, of course.

"What's wrong? Corsair asked. "You look like you've… well, seen a demon."

"This type of demon is best cast under very particular conditions. Those conditions happen in three days, and they only occur once every ten years. Either Vosgi has been planning this for a very long time, or he saw a chance when he was deciding what demon to summon. If it's the first…"

"There's no telling what he's really up to, what else he's already done," Corsair finished. "Mercy of the gods, this man is terrifying. Every time I think he can't possibly get worse, he proves me horrifically wrong."

Taniel flinched. His fault. This was all his fault. He'd supported a monster and then betrayed him, and made Vosgi a thousand times worse than he might have otherwise been. At the very least, he'd sped up the process. Gods, if only he hadn't been so fucking weak and gullible.

"Hey." It was the soft touch to his hand, more than the gentle tone, that drew Taniel's gaze up. "It's not your fault. I know that's hard to believe, no matter how many times you hear it, but Vosgi is the only one responsible for his actions. He chose to do illegal things; he chose to lash out when you did the right thing. He chose to come here and murder people. Nobody else. If it hadn't been you to piss him off, it would have been someone or something else. He was always looking for an excuse. Trust me, I can tell you about several officers with the same damn tendencies. They walked in every day looking, damn near begging for a reason to punish someone. They're impossible to deal with, and they excel especially at making everyone around them feel bad, feel like they deserve the abuse. Don't let him get to you."

Taniel smiled. "Thank you. You're right: it's hard to believe. I'll always feel horrible about the way I helped him, and that it was my decision, my actions, that drove him here to enact his terrible plans. But I'll try."

"Good. So are there any other conditions that need to be met to summon the demon? Something we can prevent, destroy, whatever?"

Taniel pursed his lips as he read over the notes again. Much like the summon circles themselves, the book was careful never to plainly state which notes referred to which demons, but someone with the proper knowledge would have no trouble puzzling out the encrypted identifiers at the head of each section. "Not really. He's already drawn the circles in the most ideal arrangement. He's doing it on blood-soaked ground. No wonder he was helping the royal army." He sighed. "I don't think circumstances could have come together any better for him if he'd tried. Everything from the weather to the recent fighting to the stars is perfect for him."

"So you're really not kidding when you say that all that stands between success and failure is him kidnapping you."

"I'm really not."

"Then we have to find a way to protect you."

"You have to find an effective way to use me as bait," Taniel replied.

Corsair's mouth pinched. "Even if I was willing to go that route, which I'm not, there's no way Kohar would ever permit it."

"Kohar isn't the boss of me, whatever he and everyone else thinks," Taniel snapped. "I'm not a pathetic little orphan boy anymore. I knew what I was doing when I caged those circles. This was never going to end any way except with me facing Vosgi. Nor does it matter what you're 'willing' to do. The simple fact is that he has no choice but to come for me. It's going to happen, no matter what any of us wants or doesn't want. We may as well use that fact against him."

Brows rising sharply, Corsair said, "I thought you and Kohar were close. Why does it always sound like you resent him?"

Taniel turned away, sighing and dragging a hand through his hair. "I don't resent him. I resent I'm never seen as anything but the pitiful little orphan thrown out like so much garbage and lucky to be taken in by such a perfect family, and isn't it cute how he copies Kohar's interest in magic?"

"Ah," Corsair said. "My youngest sister feels that way often, or at least similarly, since she was never an orphan. I am sorry. I'm the eldest, so it's not exactly a problem I can commiserate with, but I know how much it hurts her to always feels like she's in the shadow of the rest of us. It's been better since she got engaged and spends more time out on her betrothed's farm. He was one of the injured in the fight against the royal army, but thankfully a few more weeks rest and he'll be fine."

"That's good to hear," Taniel said. "I hate so many people were killed and wounded, and it's why I'm not going to let anyone tell me I can't do this. I'm the only one who can, and I will."

Corsair sighed, head falling back briefly before he lifted it again and said, "All right, then. I'll help as best I can. But I don't like it, and I reserve the right to alter whatever crazy plan we come up with should a better solution present itself."

"Fair enough."

"So do you have a plan yet?"

"Vosgi is going to snatch me, that's a fact. What we need is a way to track me that he won't be able to find and destroy, since that's the first thing he'll look for. But every magic trick I know, he knows how to break."

"Mages," Corsair said with a laugh. His chair scraped the floor as he pushed away from the table and stood. Circling around, he reached up around his neck and undid what proved to be a leather cord with metal clasps. "Up."

Taniel obeyed, unable to not notice how nice Corsair smelled, like sweat and smoke and leather, the beautiful hints of red in his dark hair, how badly he wanted to twine his fingers through those springy curls. If only, if only.

It was only when Corsair finished fastening the necklace around Taniel's neck and stepped back that Taniel could breathe properly again, though he'd gladly give up breathing to keep Corsair close just a few minutes more. Ah, well.

He focused on the necklace, which proved to be a tiny glass vial with a cork stopper, filled with a gleaming oil that smelled of cinnamon, cloves, and other things he couldn't name. "What is this?"

"A finder, we call them," Corsair said. "It's a local thing. Every family has hunting dogs trained to follow the unique scents of their family. Any outsiders ask, we call them perfumers, since it doesn't hurt they smell nice, after all. You don't always need magic, mage-in-residence, to solve a problem. I doubt Vosgi will pay it any mind, if he notices at all."

Taniel smiled, excitement running through as an idea caught fire. "Especially if we do use some magical means. He'll find them all, break them, and be so smugly pleased with himself he definitely won't pay attention to a silly little vial of perfume."

"I like it!" Corsair grinned. "I don't think the captain and your brother will be as enthused, but we'll get them to come around. What sort of spells were you thinking? The only one of that type Kohar uses is a charm we can put on dangerous animals when we find them, so we can keep tracking them if they get away from us, but it doesn't usually come to that."

"They're all pretty similar, just more elaborate," Taniel replied. "Let me get the right book, and I'll show you."

It was stupid to feel so excited, but he couldn't help it. There was never anybody who wanted to see his work, his ideas. Even Kohar, for all he was genuinely interested, just didn't care about the same esoteric things that Taniel did.

Tracking and finding spells weren't esoteric, but it was still something. Better than writing in his own blood in the dead of night while everyone stared on silently horrified, wishing they were anywhere else.

He combed through his books, pulled out the few he wanted, and carried them to the table. Spreading them out, he flipped to the pages he needed in each and then gestured to them all. "These are what I'm going to use. At least four, up to seven depending on time and resources. By the time he finds them all, he'll be certain he's got them and won't look further for anything else."

"So what do you need for all of these?"

"Inks that I thankfully already possess. One I need to make. Items to hold the spells—tokens, coins, even a button will work. The more varied, the better, but it will have to be stuff I wear all the time, so I don't accidentally leave one behind."

"What if he grabs you while you're asleep?"

"Some bits of jewelry will cover that, a bracelet and earring maybe. I'm sure I've got something suitable around here." Taniel walked off again, this time to his wardrobe, where he pulled out the heavy jewelry case he'd inherited when… well, there was no one left but him and Kohar. He'd gotten their father's, and Taniel their mother's.

Carrying it over to the table, he set it between a couple of the books and flipped it open. Over the years, some pieces he'd given away as gifts or sold to help fund his studies, but he'd kept all the important pieces and acquired a few as well.

He rifled delicately through the mess, which had been organized and tidy once but not suffered hard, fast travel well, and he'd yet to feel like sitting down and fixing it. Eventually, he turned up what he was looking for: an old pair of silver hoops, each threaded with a tiny emerald bead, and a leather bracelet woven with beads of bone and metal. It had been left behind by a visitor who'd never returned to reclaim it, so Taniel had taken it after their one-year waiting period.

He'd hate to lose it, but it was perfect for this plan. The earrings were a pair his mother had always hated but had come from a relative, so she hadn't been able to get rid of them either. She'd be pleased they were being put to such a use, even if she'd also beat his ass for all the stupid choices that had led to this moment.

"Everything all right?"

"Huh?" Taniel looked up. "Oh, yes, it's fine. This box and most of its contents belonged to my mother. Hard not to think about her. I think these will do for two of the spells. Five to go." He went to retrieve his cloak and removed the cloak pin. "Three." He added it to the little pile on the table.

"What about your knife?" Corsair asked, nodding at the knife Taniel always carried for magic and general survival should he get lost out in the woods or some such. "A little obvious, but practical."

"Good idea." Taniel added it to the pile. He sat down to warm a bit by the nearby fire, and his eyes landed on his boots, which had metal buckles to further secure the laces. One of those would work exceedingly well. He removed his boots and added one to the pile, then went to fetch slippers so his toes wouldn't freeze. "Up to five now, just need—" He broke off with a cry as his slipper caught on a rough patch in the floor and sent him stumbling right out of them.

To land awkwardly in Corsair's lap like a wench at a bar. "Oh, good grief! I'm so sorry!" Face burning, he squirmed up and away, then gathered up his backstabbing slippers and went to throw them in the back of the wardrobe where they now belonged. In their place, he pulled out the ugly shoes he'd once worn at the monastery, kept for days when he needed a pair of shoes he didn't care about ruining.

Wishing vainly that he was dead, he dragged himself back over to the table. "Sorry again for being such a clumsy fool."

Corsair laughed and smiled at him. "Clumsy is how often your brother falls down the stairs he uses every single day. That aside, I've never had complaints when pretty men or women fall into my lap."

"I'm fairly certain it was less fall and more crash, but I'm glad you're not traumatized by the event," he replied, not stupid enough to get his hopes up that Corsair's reply had been intentionally flirty. He was just trying to make Taniel feel better.

Corsair's smile turned mischievous. "Only disappointed it ended too soon."

All right, that was definitely flirting. Taniel didn't remotely trust his good luck. "Since when do you flirt with me?"

"Since you accidentally offered to ride me this morning," Corsair replied. "You always seemed hung up on your ex, even if he is a bastard. Also, you're Kohar's brother, which is a death sentence if I screw up."

Taniel deflated. "Yes, always Kohar's brother."

"I didn't mean it like that," Corsair replied, rolling to his feet like a cat and crossing the room to him. He tilted Taniel's chin up with one finger. "I mean that if I hurt you, I also hurt your family. Goes both ways, you know. Think my five siblings and twenty-seven cousins and god knows how many half cousins thrice removed would come for your head if you did something to hurt me?"

"I do know a bit about large families and their vendettas, yes," Taniel drawled. "I'm the poor little orphan boy. What do you think happened when anybody picked on me? Allowances were spent on bail, that's what."

Corsair snickered and slowly withdrew his finger. "If you can ever bear to talk more about them, I'd love to hear your stories. They sound like they would have gotten along well with my family. Probably too well." He stepped back slightly, which was disappointing, but probably reasonable, even if Taniel couldn't come up with why.

"Also, given what we're doing, it's not really the right time to be flirting. We've a killer to hunt, and I can't imagine how difficult it is for you, given how much you cared about him."

Taniel laughed bitterly and walked past him to the table to get back to work. "I stopped caring about Vosgi the moment he looked me in the eye and said he'd put what remained of my family down in the ground with the rest of them. He said he loved me, and then he said that." He didn't start crying, but it was a near thing, remembering the hate in Vosgi's face, the venom in his eyes, the ice-cold certainty of his vow. It had been like staring at a stranger, until Taniel realized—admitted—the stranger had been the man pretending to love him. This Vosgi was the real one.

He startled slightly as arms wrapped around him from behind, and the tears did spill then, abruptly and wholly without permission. He'd thought he was handling everything so well, but maybe it was more difficult than he'd been admitting. "Thank you."

Corsair squeezed him even tighter for a moment, then let go and returned to his chair. "I know a bit about feeling all alone in the world, even when people who know me are right there. So what should we use for the last two—"

A pounding at the door drowned out the rest of his words, and Taniel rolled his eyes as Corsair went to answer it.

To no one's surprised, Kohar spilled inside, his long, long hair a tangled, windswept mess around him, snow still covering it and nearly all the rest of him. "You're finally awake."

"Despite my best efforts," Taniel replied. "Why do you look like someone pushed you into the snow."

In the doorway, dismissing a couple of soldiers who'd come with them, Nerek snorted. "He pushed himself, as is his tendency."

"Oh, shut up," Kohar grumbled as he stripped off his sodden outer layers and went to stand by the fire. "It's not my fault the snow was hiding a giant ass rock."

Nerek chuckled and sat down in the seat nearest Corsair. "So what have you two been up to?"

Taniel laid out the plan they'd come up with, stopping only when a servant arrived with food and drink. Though he'd just eaten not long ago, he was more than happy to eat again as he finished his explanation.

"Should weave a charm into your hair," Kohar said. "At the nape, where it's not easily seen. He'll be really pleased with himself for finding that one, and it's another piece you'll have on you at all times." He didn't wait for Taniel's reply, simply started rifling through the jewelry case himself, muttering and laughing occasionally. "Did you sell those ugly frogs?"

"Of course I did. Those things were terrifying. Let someone else suffer them."

Kohar snickered again, and then finally came up with a small hair charm in the shape of a rose, carved from wood and gleaming in the flickering light. "Perfect." He added it to the pile. "One more. It's a really good plan, Tani, even if I hate the idea of you being bait. Hopefully it won't take us long to get to you."

Taniel's brows rose into his hairline. "I thought you'd yell at me some more."

Kohar's gaze flicked ever so briefly to Nerek, then back to Taniel. "Yelling just seems to go in one ear and out the other with you. There's no denying you know Vosgi best, anyway. Just seriously: don't get dead. I'll never forgive you."

"I know. I'll be careful. I don't want to die, you know. Quite the opposite."

"Then let's find number seven and get to work."

It was Nerek who said, "Your belt buckle."

"Perfect!" Taniel said, and added his belt to the pile. "Now comes the hard part."

Kohar rolled his eyes. "Hard. Please. This is light work for you. Do you need/want help, or shall I leave you to it?"

"Help would be nice," Taniel said with a smile. "I like when we work on magic together."

Kohar smiled back and scooped up the chosen tokens to carry them across the room to Taniel's work station. "All right. Let me go to my room and get what I need, and I'll be back shortly." He departed, Nerek right behind him.

"Shortly my ass," Taniel said. "Only if Nerek gets called away."

Corsair snickered. "I wasn't going to say it, but I was definitely thinking it. So what does putting magic in these items entail?"

"We'll have to write out the spells on special paper, then wrap the objects in them, one piece to each object. After that, we finish the spells and hope it takes. Some items are more resistant than others to being spelled, and one slip in the writing can cause all kinds of disasters."

"Kohar was right though, wasn't he? This is light work for you."

Taniel shrugged. "All magic is hard work, unless you're a cocky asshole bent on murder. But yes, relatively speaking, charming tokens isn't the hardest work I've done."

"You're so cocky at times, and so modest at others," Corsair replied with a laugh. "Why not just admit you're leagues ahead of Kohar? It's not like he'd be angry or deny it. Even before you arrived, he mentioned you were way better than him."

"I don't know." Taniel shrugged. "It's weird when you're the little orphan boy who copies your whole life. Fine. Yes." He lifted his head and jutted his chin out. "I'm leagues better than Kohar. He's a sad, pale imitation of me, so there."

Corsair's sly grin returned. "Not very convincing. I've seen you cockier."

"Maybe I'm not in the mood." Maybe he didn't want to start sounding like Vosgi. What if he hadn't turned them in? Would he have just kept going? Would he have turned into Vosgi at some point? Gone gleefully along with his real plans, whatever they had been? Whatever they might still be? Taniel liked to think no, he'd never do such a thing, but he hadn't thought he'd fall into infatuation with a lying, murderous cretin either.

"I'm cocky enough for six anyway," Corsair replied. He closed the distance between them and chucked Taniel's chin playfully. "I have to get some sleep and see what Nerek needs from me, but if I were to drop by in the dead hours of the morning again…"

"Drop by and find out."

"Looking forward to it." Grinning, Corsair rested a hand ever so briefly against his cheek, letting it fall away slowly, and then headed off, leaving Taniel alone.

Sighing, tired and overexcited all at once, Taniel put his attention and energy to work setting up his stations for the hours of work ahead of him.

Thankfully, he had the vast majority of the inks. There was only one he'd need to make. He'd start with that, because it would need time to set, which he could use to write out the other spells.

Puttering around the work area, he got everything into his little table cauldron and gently simmering. Keeping a careful eye on it, he drew up a stool and set to work thoroughly cleaning each of the talismans.

The door opened as he was finishing the earrings and moving on to the bracelet. "Sooner than I expected. Thought for sure Nerek would take longer."

"Shut up," Kohar said cheerfully. "Don't think I haven't noticed how you've been eying his second-in-command."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Taniel retorted, the back of his neck burning. "Stop running your mouth and get to work."

Kohar rolled his eyes but did so, setting out his own inks and other supplies on the opposite side of the large table where Taniel did most of his work.

He hadn't expected a position when he'd arrived at Castle Rehm. He'd expected a whole lot of people to rightfully hate and blame him. He'd expected Kohar to be kind, but to eventually send him on his way.

Instead, he got a room of his own, a job he genuinely liked and was good at, and a big, loud, active castle to enjoy. So much like their old life back in the city, but just different enough not to be a constant, painful reminder of everything they'd lost.

As he finished cleaning all the tokens, he set each one on a clean piece of cloth. Rough homespun, but clean and unmarred, so they'd stay that way until the casting. Even just a smidge of dirt could throw everything off, and gods forbid something like blood got in the way.

By the time he was done arranging them, his ink had reached the next stage. He added carefully measured amounts from his bottles of powders and liquids, each one prepared at great effort or acquired at significant cost.

When it had turned a rich, vibrant blue, he fanned the flames to get it hotter, until the mixture was a rolling boil. After that he had to watch it closely, until it just barely started to turn green. Then he promptly removed it from the flames, added a sprig of lavender, and carried it to a window to sit in the freezing cold to set.

"Well done," Kohar said as he returned. "That's not one I have to make often, and I invariably screw up the timing at least once. Mom and Dad would brag about you constantly if they were still around."

For no good reason at all, Taniel suddenly wanted to cry again. He managed to laugh instead, though it came about a bit wobbly. "I think they'd just say it's nice that I've taken after you so well."

Kohar frowned but didn't say anything, though Taniel had a feeling it was only a matter of time. He'd have to make Kohar forget about the stupid comment. What was wrong with him lately? He was usually much better about keeping his stupid thoughts to himself.

Hopefully everything would get better once he finally dealt with Vosgi.

With that in mind, he pulled up his stool again, sat down, and began to write out the first of the spells. Across from him, Kohar did the same, the two of them working together in congenial silence broken only by the wind outside and the crackling of the fire.

*~*~*

Several hours later, they at last finished. "I don't think I've ever done so much work in one session," Taniel said around a yawn, slumping over his worktable and letting his eyes fall closed for just a few minutes. "Let's never do that again."

"Agreed," Kohar said from where he was sprawled on a nearby settee. "Wake me up when it's time to look them over."

Taniel just grunted and forced himself to his feet. Stumbling over to his bed, he discarded his shoes and most of his clothes, then burrowed beneath the blankets and promptly fell asleep.

He woke a few hours later, to judge by the lack of light as he dragged his eyes open, to the smell of roasted meat and spiced wine, the soft rattle and clink of someone arranging the meal. Yawning, he reluctantly shoved back his warm blankets and sat up—and froze in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Corsair laughed. "You told me to 'find out,' didn't you? What I found was you dead asleep. Figured food wouldn't hurt. Didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," Taniel replied. "Thank you for the food."

"How did the spell work go?" Corsair asked, pouring them both wine before taking a seat nearby, leaving the laden table entirely to Taniel. "I saw Kohar briefly on his way to his room, and last I heard he was still dead asleep. I almost didn't think you'd wake until morning."

Taniel shrugged. "I don't usually need as much rest as most seem to, though my comparison was usually a bunch of old, crotchety monks who hated having to do anything that wasn't illuminating or bundling herbs."

"Well, you recover faster than Kohar." Corsair winked. "To judge by how much he sleeps when he's done… working… anyway."

Taniel nearly spat out his wine, then nearly spilled it as he tried to set it down. "I'm going to use that as blackmail later."

Corsair's grin was slow and full of mischief. "That's not nice. What if I paid generously for you not to do that?"

Gods above, Corsair flirting so brazenly was going to destroy what little brain Taniel possessed. "That would depend on how generous."

"Come find out."

Though Taniel had only taken a few bites of his dinner, all thoughts of food had completely fled his mind. Pushing back his chair, he rose and took the few steps to where Corsair was sitting closer to the fire. Thank goodness he hadn't bothered to put all his discarded clothes back on; all he'd retained was his hose and under robe, which already felt like too much.

Corsair spread his legs and reached out as Taniel stood between them, running his hands along his thighs and around to cup his ass. "Feels as delightful as it's always looked."

"Where did you learn to flirt? A tavern?"

"The army," Corsair replied with a laugh, and tugged gently, urging Taniel to lean down, which he was more than happy to do. He slid his fingers into Corsair's soft, beautiful hair and tilted his head up, so they met halfway, sighing whisper soft as he finally got a taste of that mouth he'd been spinning fantasies about for so long.

Corsair kissed playfully at first, flirting touches and flicks of his tongue, the barest tease of teeth, before he finally kissed in earnest, tongue pushing into Taniel's mouth to explore and conquer, sharing the flavor of mulled wine and the thrill of a new lover.

Tearing away, licking his lips, Taniel said, "Maybe we should try this in a more comfortable arrangement."

Eyes shining, Corsair nudged him back enough to stand, then ushered Taniel over to the bed. Taniel hit the edge of it and sat, and this time it was his turn to have Corsair between his thighs. He liked that lots and lots. "You're wearing entirely too many clothes."

"Then get them off," Corsair replied, and started the process by removing his belt and stripping off his outer tunic. After that went his under tunic, followed by him sitting down next to Taniel to remove his boots and hose.

Discarding his own minimal clothes, Taniel climbed further into the bed and sprawled out. As Corsair turned, Taniel reached out and dragged him close, not quite moaning as he finally got Corsair right where he'd always wanted him. "You're beautiful." He smoothed his hands along Corsair's shoulders, down his chest to playfully grip at the trim hips. "I didn't think you even noticed me."

"A dead man would notice you, Taniel," Corsair replied, and pushed him down into the bedding before pressing all that lovely weight against him and kissing him breathless, cock rubbing against his skin, leaving damp trails and hinting at all the delights still to come. "I really hope you meant it about riding me, because I haven't been able to get the image out of my head."

"Oh, I meant it."

Corsair whimpered then and kissed him wet and messy before tearing away and setting to work mapping Taniel's body with mouth and hands. Taniel tried to get in some touching of his own, but mostly he was reduced to digging his nails into Corsair's skin, enjoying the softness of it, the ripple of muscles, as Corsair took him apart one incendiary touch at a time.

"Please, damn it," he finally howled. "If you want me to ride you, let me do it."

Chuckling in a way that did nothing whatsoever to calm Taniel down, Corsair grabbed hold and reversed their positions. Taniel groaned and moved away long enough to get the lubricant he needed, then returned and set to work prepping himself, enjoying the groans and curses that got him. Using what remained on his slick hands, he stroked Corsair's cock thoroughly before rising up and lining everything up. The hands on his hips were almost painfully tight, but the look in Corsair's eyes as he watched was vastly more captivating.

Taniel moaned as he finally sank down. "You feel even better than I imagined."

"Was going to say the same thing," Corsair said with a strained laugh. "Let's go, mage. Show me what you can do."

Grinning, Taniel did as told, rising up and shoving back down, taking Corsair as deep as he possibly could. The hands on his hips were tighter than ever, and sweat dripped down his face, stinging his eyes, as he worked Corsair's cock in earnest, moving up and down, hips rolling, panting breaths filling the air. Firelight glowed on Corsair's skin and flickered in his hungry eyes as he urged Taniel on, keeping pace with his movements.

As Corsair finally got a hand around his cock and stroked it firm and quick, Taniel came apart with a cry. Corsair gripped his hips again, rolled them over, and fucked him with a last few, hard thrusts before spilling inside him, moans muffled in the hollow of Taniel's throat.

Panting heavily, Corsair rolled off him and moved to sprawl on the bed, head on a borrowed pillow. Taniel stretched out next to him, savoring the burn of well-used muscles and the stickiness between his thighs that proved how much Corsair had enjoyed the ride.

"Am I free of the blackmail, then?" Corsair asked.

Taniel laughed into his pillow and turned his head to say, "I'm pretty sure blackmail is all about seeing how much I can get out of you for as long as possible."

"Oh, I see how it is." He laughed. "Brat. Go finish your meal, and afterward I'll provide the next payment."

"See? The blackmail is working splendidly for me already."

Corsair grinned evilly and didn't otherwise reply.

Skin prickling with anticipation, Taniel dug a robe out of his wardrobe and went to finish his food, which thankfully was still delicious cold.

He'd nearly finished when a loud, terrifying clanging sound filled the air. Before he could ask what in the name of the gods the racket was about, Corsair had thrown himself out of bed and was gathering up his clothes. "That's the fire alarm for the village! I've got to go; I'll see you there." He yanked his boots on, grabbed his belt, and bolted from the room.

Taniel stood so quickly his chair fell over and bolted for his wardrobe. Yanking on clothes, pulling on his boots and lacing them as quickly as possible, he then fetched all his equipment, buckling and strapping everything into place as he headed out.

In the courtyard, a horse waited for him, along with a trio of guards. All around him, people were working frantically, gearing up and heading out in waves. Off in the distance, an eerie orange light bled across the night sky.

He had a sinking feeling he knew who was responsible for a massive fire in the dead of winter. Thankfully, he'd grabbed his newly-spelled items, along with everything else. Buckling the last of his equipment into place and securing the charm that went in his hair, right at the nape of his neck as Kohar had suggested, Taniel left his room and headed through the castle

Out in the yard, he mounted his horse and turned it to the gate. "Where's Kohar?"

"Already headed out with the captain," one of the guards said. "Captain said we're to stay with you, keep you safe, as he suspects the worst about the fire."

Taniel didn't bother to reply, just gave his horse the signal and rode off into the night, bound for the village as quickly as he dared in the ice and snow.

They arrived to a nightmare: flames, smoke, screaming and wailing. The smell was horrendous, and the heat unbearable. Taniel set to work anyway, pulling out potions and charms, incantations that only needed the last couple of words before they flared to life.

He swore at one point he could hear Kohar's voice, and he caught the barest glimpse of Corsair before everything was lost once again to a haze of casting spells and helping people. Somewhere in the mess, he lost his bodyguards, though that wasn't their fault. He hoped Nerek didn't blame them later.

People walked in a shambling line toward the castle, guided by Bedros, Warren, and most of the staff of the castle. Everyone else was fighting the fire; thankfully, they seemed to be turning the tide.

Taniel braced himself against the wall of a stone shed that was far enough from the conflagration to escape destruction, and fumbled out a few more slips of unfinished spells, rubbing at his eyes as they blurred. Shoving his spectacles back into place, he wrote out the missing bits of spell, then balled the bits of paper up, activated, and threw.

More fires went out, or at least dampened, allowing others to move in and put them out for good.

Taniel moved on to the next. And the next. Until his eyes wouldn't cooperate, and he couldn't seem to find more flames anyway.

Someone called his name, and Taniel turned, trying to find the source of the voice—and slipped on a patch of ice that somehow had survived all the fire around them, going down hard, landing in the cold and wet. He tried to stand up, especially when the voice came more frantically, but suddenly it was all just too much effort.

He really needed to not make a habit of collapsing dramatically in the snow, but it was so cold, and he was so hot…

*~*~*

Taniel woke with a start and groaned as a stabbing pain in his head immediately made itself known. Everything smelled of smoke, which wasn't helping. Swearing, he fumbled away the blankets covering him, sitting up and forcing his eyes open all at once.

Not the castle. A house that was singed but not too severely damaged. So still in the village. That was good. It meant the village was still somewhat standing and that Vosgi hadn't taken him yet… Which seemed strange, because the fire must have been set to get him out in the open where Vosgi could snatch him.

Well, he wouldn't get answers to his questions by sitting around. His whole body ached, especially his stupid head, but he'd rest later. Heaving to his feet, stomach roiling in time with his throbbing head, Taniel set off.

Outside, the village was bursting with activity. Cleaning, tending wounded, cooking… right in the middle of the fray, keeping everything running smoothly, was Bedros, with Warren nearby.

Taniel fought tears as he looked over the ruin. His fault. This was all his fault. If Vosgi wasn't mad at him, he'd never have come here to hurt and kill people. Destroy their homes. Leave them living in fear of what would happen next.

He never should have come. It was long past time for him to go. The minute Vosgi was dead, that was exactly what he was going to do.

That still left the question of why Vosgi hadn't grabbed him while he'd had the chance. Maybe the fire had worked too well, and Vosgi hadn't been able to find him in the mayhem. Which meant he may be skulking about right now.

Well, nothing he could do except be on guard. He was so wrung out from helping with the fire, he wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. At least their plan was in place.

He looked around again, this time for a familiar face he could interrupt without causing problems. As he stepped further into the street, however, and people noticed him, everyone seemed to falter, some even stop, and a murmur swept through the crowd that Taniel didn't like remotely. The tone was angry, scared.

"I'm sorry," he said to no one in particular. He needed to find his brother or Nerek.

He went right, which seemed as good a direction as any, but hadn't gotten more than perhaps ten steps when someone shouted, "You!"

Taniel turned, and before he could get a word out, a large, burly man who looked a lot like Corsair punched him, then grabbed him and slammed him into the wall of the nearest house, sending ashes and lingering smoke up in a cloud around them. Taniel coughed and wheezed, choking out, "What?

"You! Nothing but trouble, and now Cori's gone because of you!"

"Cori? Corsair? Let me—" Taniel cried out in pain as the man slammed him into the wall again, and threw up as he was dropped to the ground like a sack of flour. "I don't understand— Stop!" He shouted as someone else, maybe two someones, kicked and hit him. "Stop! Please! I don't know what's going on. Explain the problem to me before you beat me to death." He scrabbled at the wall, managed to heave himself to his feet, but only because a handful of people had come up and dragged the bigger man back. The two who'd joined in to help him withdrew as well, but clearly they were ready for any excuse whatsoever to resume the beating. "What's going on?" Gods he really needed his head to stop hurting.

A tall, handsome woman with gray hair and Corsair's eyes joined the group, and Taniel had the miserable, sinking feeling he knew what was going on. Before he could ask, the woman said, "He took Corsair. That stupid, evil bastard you brought here took my son! He was supposed to take you!"

Taniel flinched. "I'm sorry, I don't know—it was supposed to be me, I don't know why Vosgi would take Corsair instead. I'll find him and bring him back, I promise."

The woman scoffed. "You've been vowing to stop that bastard for months now, and look where that's got us. I can tell you this: if my son dies, you'll die worse. Let's go, we've got work to do."

Slowly, the men who'd assaulted him followed the woman—mother and brothers? Cousins? Mix of both?—down the street and out of sight, and the rest of the crowd trickled back to their own various tasks.

Taniel swallowed, scrubbed at his eyes, and resumed his attempts to find Kohar. If he hadn't been certain leaving was the right thing before, he knew it was now.

Thankfully, he heard Kohar after a bit and followed his familiar shouting to the south edge of the village, where he was ranting at length about… something… Taniel didn't have the energy to sort out the particulars. "Kohar! Enough! Your yelling isn't helping anybody. Do you even know what you're yelling about anymore? Knock it off."

Kohar whipped around, and his sooty, scratched, and bloody face filled with relief. "Taniel! You're awake!" He rushed over and hugged him tightly. "How are you feeling?"

"Been better, been worse. What's this about Vosgi taking Corsair?"

"I see you've already heard," Kohar said, mouth flattening. "He found you lying on the ground, out cold. Brought you to safety and went to get help and… that's it. He never reached anyone to ask for help, never went back to you. No one has seen him, and there's no hint anywhere of where he could be. So we've assumed the worst."

Taniel's eyes stung and blurred. "He was supposed to take me."

"We don't know that's what happened, though on that note, be careful, because his family is understandably upset and liable to lash out at the first person they can find to blame."

Sniffling, Taniel wiped his eyes and said, "Yeah, they already introduced me to a wall and issued a death threat. It's fine," he added when Kohar bristled like a cat. "You'd do the same thing in their position, don't try to say otherwise. I'm going to go look for clues, because if Vosgi did take him, he'll have left something behind that only I would understand or be able to see."

Kohar looked desperately like he wanted to argue, from the many expressions that flickered across his face as he struggled to come up with a sound argument, but at last sighed, shoulders slumping. "Fine. The minute you figure something out though, come back here so we can form a plan, all right?"

"Fine," Taniel echoed.

Giving him a look their mother would have been proud of, Kohar said, "Promise."

"I promise."

"Get to work, then."

Taniel nodded, hugged him briefly one last time, and then headed back to the cabin where he'd been recovering to get his things. Thankfully, they were in fact there, since it hadn't occurred to him until the last moment that they could have been put somewhere else. He slung the satchel across his chest and headed for the door—and then stopped.

One by one he removed all the charms he and Kohar had worked so hard on. Nobody else was going to be put at risk. Not anymore. They'd suffered enough. They should never have suffered at all.

Dumping them on the bed, he restored his outer wear and satchel and finally headed out. His headache had lessened slightly, but his stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since he'd last eaten and all the energy he'd expended with his magic.

Food and a strong cup of tea would do him a world of good. Looking around, though, all he saw was a sea of suspicious and hostile glares. He didn't dare ask where he could get something to eat. Even if they were willing to help him, did he really deserve it?

The rations he always kept in his bag would have to suffice, though it was just jerky and water, which didn't amount to much. Better than nothing.

Shoulders hunched, he slid his spectacles into place and set to searching carefully through the ruined village.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find what he was looking for. On the back of a shed that had just barely escaped the inferno, painted in a combination of blood and spell ink to make it invisible to the naked eye, was a crude map. Northwest, further into the mountains, to what looked like a small valley, or maybe a gulch, hard to say. Drawing out paper and pencil, he copied the map down as quickly as he could without sacrificing accuracy. This would be a lot easier if he could ask a local for help, but he didn't feel like getting his nose broken.

He also didn't want to risk anyone insisting on coming with him or ratting him out to Kohar.

This was his fault, and he would fix it. Stowing everything but the map, bundling his cloak tightly around him, Taniel headed off into the woods, the sounds of the village rapidly fading. Soon, his only company was the howling wind and the biting snow it kicked up in his face. Thankfully, that same wind was making quick work of erasing his tracks, so even when Kohar realized Taniel was a promise-breaking liar, he wouldn't be able to follow.

Morning turned to afternoon as he pressed on, stopping only when he needed rest or his head simply hurt too much to keep going. He really wished he'd been able to get some food; the small bundle of emergency jerky he kept in his bag just wasn't sufficient.

Stupid Vosgi. All the trouble they'd gone to, and he'd thwarted them by simply kidnapping a completely different person.

He sat down on a large boulder to catch his breath and go over the map. Dead ahead was the large tree noted on the map as a landmark. He was nearly there. A couple more hours of hiking through this stupid snow and he'd be there.

If only he had any idea about what he'd be facing, other than Vosgi at his nastiest and meanest. What if he'd already hurt Corsair? Or already…

Taniel couldn't even bear to think it.

Ugh, his head. He was not in fighting shape. Maybe he should have risked the broken nose after all. Or just had Kohar get the food for him, that would have been smart. Oh, well. Too late now. He wolfed down more jerky, tucked the remainder away, and heaved to his feet.

Snow was falling gently now, the wind having quieted some for the moment. This far up, they weren't likely to stumble across his tracks, so he was well and truly alone. He was so tired of being alone. For all he sometimes felt overlooked, he'd still never doubted his family loved him, had never considered him anything but a real member of the family. Ever since they'd died…

Vosgi really had seen a weakness and preyed upon it ruthlessly. Taniel had been a gullible fool desperate for any scraps of love and affection, that sense of belonging the plague had taken from him. Now, because of his own weakness and stupidity, he was going to be alone again.

Assuming, of course, he survived.

Would it be better for everyone if he didn't? No, Kohar would be distraught, even if no one else would miss him. Corsair? Maybe a little bit, before he'd been kidnapped because of Taniel. How did Vosgi even know about him and Corsair? They hadn't done anything where Vosgi would see—they'd barely done anything at all. He didn't even think he could say Corsair was his lover. Certainly not now.

Not that it mattered, since the moment Corsair was safely back with his family, Taniel was leaving.

The next landmark was a cluster of boulders that narrowed the path so he'd be walking right along the cliffside. Was Vosgi's plan for him to either exhaust himself to death or fall to his demise? No, neither of those was mean enough to satisfy Vosgi.

For that matter, how had Vosgi gotten up here hauling someone who was either unconscious or hostile? Didn't matter. All that mattered was finding them, killing Vosgi, and getting Corsair home safe.

His stomach growled, and Taniel sighed.

The boulders came into sight, jutting into the path he was walking exactly as the map had indicated, leaving him creeping slowly and carefully, snow crunching, tumbling over the edge in threat and promise of what a single wrong move would cost him.

By the time he cleared the boulders and stumbled onto a safer, wider, well away from the edge path, Taniel was ready to throw up. He'd spent his fair share of time in the mountains, but the monks weren't stupid enough to trek across such dangerous pathways. If it couldn't be done safely, it couldn't be done. If only he'd had more respect for that rule from the start.

Nearly there. The boulder was the final landmark before the destination, which was almost a straight shot from here, just on the other side of the scraggly little stretch of trees and down into the valley or gulch or whatever it was.

When he drew close to the copse, he stopped to sit and rest one more time, tucking down amongst the trees to avoid the worst of the frigid wind that had returned with a vengeance. Pulling out his jerky, he wolfed down the last of it, chasing it with the remaining water in his skin. A last search through his satchel also turned up a small tin of sweets he'd forgotten about, peppermint drops he often sucked on when working. He ate all those too, even if it was still woefully inadequate for whatever he was about to face.

He slid his spectacles back into place, affixing the band that would keep them firmly in place on his head no matter what happened. Though he kept careful watch, looking, looking again, looking thrice, he spied no magical markers, no hints of traps or other nasty surprises.

Odd, to say the least. Also ominous. It meant Vosgi was saving all his nastiness for one big, ugly blow. No help for it. Taniel pushed on through the scraggly copse of trees, keeping alert all the while, increasingly anxious as all he found was nothing.

Shoving through a particularly nasty tangle of young trees and thorny shrubs, he stumbled into the clearing—and stopped as he saw the figure waiting for him just a few paces away. Taniel licked his lips, dry and chapped from the cold. "Vosgi."

"Taniel."

The stupid bastard was still so heartbreakingly beautiful, like a statue of one of the various demigods had been brought to life, all flawless dark brown skin and long, heavy, dark auburn hair, and those eyes as green as grass and sharp as glass. It had been so pathetically easy to believe this man loved him. The shame of it would haunt Taniel the rest of his life.

"Did you finally grow bored of tormenting and killing all these innocent people?"

Vosgi just chuckled, low and mean. "Is that all you have to ask me?"

"What do you want me to ask? Why are you doing this? Because you're an egotistical bastard who can't handle he was told 'no' for once in his life, and instead of moving on with your life you decided the appropriate reaction is to torture and murder people who never did a single fucking thing wrong to you. What are you really up to? You wouldn't tell me, but it probably involves increasing your power and knowledge and doing something that will get still more people killed. Why did you kidnap Corsair when you could have just kidnapped me and saved all of us a great deal of time and trouble?'"

The mean chuckle turned into an outright laugh, as cutting as stepping on shards of glass with bare feet. "I actually meant to just pick one of the children. They're always running amuck, and no one pays nearly as much attention to them as they should, even in the midst of their homes burning down. Then they have the nerve to get upset when one goes missing." He laughed again. "Then I saw your lovely little collapse, Taniel, and the way that soldier shouted your name, carried you so gently, like he doesn't know your pretty face hides a craven backstabber."

"Your spell was going to get people killed!" Taniel snarled. "I couldn't do that. Everything else, fine. You know I loved the magic, but I wasn't okay with killing people. I'm sorry that offends you, except I'm not really. So where is Corsair and what do you want? Are those the questions you wanted me to ask?"

Vosgi just laughed again. Taniel hated that laugh, as much as he'd once thought it wild and free and delightful. He'd been a fucking fool. "I don't have your stupid soldier. Is his name really Corsair? How embarrassing for him. Anyway, all I did was put him to sleep, dump him in a barn, and cover him with hay. He'll wake up sometime tomorrow, stumble into what's left of that sad little village, and be perfectly fine. No, I just wanted you to think I had him, so you'd save me the trouble of having to drag you all the way up here. As usual, Taniel my darling, you're easy to anticipate."

Easy to manipulate, but Vosgi didn't need to say that: it was pathetically obvious. Taniel wanted to cry. Such a stupid, obvious trick, and he'd fallen for it without hesitation. Damn it, he'd even wondered how Vosgi had managed to get Corsair up here and never followed the thought to its logical conclusion. Gods above, how could he be so stupid? He knew Vosgi better than anyone, but that didn't really seem to matter when Vosgi knew him far better.

Sighing, Taniel finally replied, "Fine, then, let's focus on the only question that really matters: what do you want?"

Vosgi smiled in that slow, incendiary way of his that had first been Taniel's undoing. The only thing he'd liked more than Vosgi's burning ember smiles were his scorching kisses. Thinking about them now just made him nauseous. "The same thing I've always wanted, Taniel darling: You. Just you."

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" Taniel asked. Never mind it was a fucking lie. He'd been here all along, he'd been back at the fucking monastery, even easier for the taking than he was here. Vosgi had never wanted him. "I'm not special. I was just a good assistant."

"Now, now, you were also a good fuck. I'm sure your little pirate-soldier would agree. Throw me your satchel."

Taniel did so, but only because there was nothing in there that would help him, not that he could get to and use fast enough, anyway. "Stop being tiresome and evasive. It's not like you. What suddenly makes me so special?"

"Come find out," Vosgi said with a purr before he stooped, grabbed the satchel, and threw it back toward the cave several paces behind him.

Taniel rolled his eyes. "Yes, because that doesn't scream 'trap.' Come off it, Vosgi."

Vosgi laughed—and laughed and laughed.

Horrified realization struck Taniel then, but as always, he was just a step behind Vosgi. Those deceptively beautiful eyes flashed just as Taniel took a step backward—too late, too late, he was always too fucking late.

The trap activated, confining him to a circle of earth just clear of the tree line. Taniel screamed, pain like knives shooting through him, because his poor body hadn't endured enough already. He dropped to his knees, focusing on his breathing. "What is the point of this? If you want to break my stupid seals to free your damned demon, this is the worst possible way to go about it."

That smug laugh washed over him as Vosgi crouched in front of him, close but well clear of the circle—not that Taniel could have reached beyond it to punch him in his stupid face anyway. "The demon is just something to pass the time. It'll keep. Do you really think your silly little seals would stop me for long if I wanted them gone? Please. I've still got one or two vials of your blood left."

"One or two…" Suddenly all the nights he got extremely tired after working or rolling in the sheets made a lot more sense. He'd just chalked it up to hard work and hard play, but clearly he would never truly appreciate the depths of his own gullibility. "You stole my blood? To what purpose? You hardly need my…"

Anger flashed in Vosgi's eyes.

"Oh, my gods, you do," Taniel said, bottom dropping out of his stomach. "You're not more powerful than me. You've been stealing from me, and that's why you want me ba…"

One after another, the realizations kept coming.

The spell that had torn them apart, the one that had been the final straw for Taniel, had been a power draw. Vosgi had never said who he was going to steal power from, and Taniel had never asked because he'd just assumed it would be one of the Brothers that Vosgi really hated, or someone from the village where they did most of their trading. He'd been more afraid that if it worked, Vosgi would never stop.

Vosgi had been after him all along, right from the start. "I really never meant anything to you at all, did I? You were going to kill me from day one."

"You've always been precious to me, Taniel darling. Like the prize cow at the county fair. Unlike the cows all these farmers molest, though, you were also a good lay. We had fun, until you betrayed me. I would have made it painless for you, but I'm afraid that's not an option anymore. Like always, you brought this on yourself."

"Whatever," Taniel replied. "Can we just get it over with, or am I going to have to listen to you yammer for another hour?"

Vosgi laughed as he rose. "Your mouth, Taniel. It's your best and worst quality. If you kept it shut more often, somebody would find you perfect."

Nobody would ever find him perfect. Near as he could tell, nobody even found him tolerable, except the sibling who'd known him all Taniel's life, and even Kohar would probably be better off with Taniel gone again.

Damn it, he wasn't going to cry.

Thankfully, Vosgi had vanished into the cave across the small field. Taniel bowed his head, tears dripping into the snow. Maybe this was what he deserved for once helping Vosgi. For making so many stupid mistakes. Clearly his birth parents had known he wasn't going to be worth the trouble. Too bad for everyone else they hadn't figured out the same thing.

Everyone else…

Sniffling, wiping his face, Taniel studied the circle he was strapped in. However worthless he might be, he had power enough that Vosgi wanted to steal it—and Vosgi with a permanent increase in power, instead of just using Taniel's blood for temporary bursts, would be a living nightmare.

He'd have to feel sorry for himself later, because if he just rolled over and gave up now, even more people were going to die. No more innocents were going to die because he was weak and stupid and pathetic.

Think. He had to think. He was trapped in a circle. He couldn't break out of it. He couldn't alter it.

He could make his own, though. Taniel glanced toward the cave entrance, but all was still. Vosgi must be preparing the final components. That didn't give him much time, especially since he'd wasted some of it whining, but he still had some.

No satchel, though, which meant none of his spell inks. Blood had always worked fine in a pinch, though. Hopefully he hadn't lost too much dealing with the fire in the village. At least he'd eaten all that jerky and candy, though the combination of dried, salty meat and sweet peppermint wasn't leaving his stomach very happy.

All right. So what could he do? Something small, that Vosgi wouldn't notice beneath all his own work, but it had to be effective. It had to have punch.

It had to work, even if it took Taniel too.

Which really made the solution pretty obvious.

Moving to the edge of the circle, as close as he could possibly get, Taniel cleared away the snow until he had smooth, hard ground to work with. Next, he bit down hard on his left hand, until tears streamed down his face and blood pooled in his palm and dripped down the side. Using the middle finger of his right hand, he started by drawing a circle to contain his own spell. The circle he was trapped in shivered, stung, but Vosgi had only spelled it to prevent tampering. There was nothing the spell could do about the ring of enclosure he'd cast on this side of it.

Vosgi had made a mistake, and Taniel was going to make him regret it.

When the casting circle was set, he reopened the wound on his hand and set to work on the spell itself, casting his eyes frequently to the cave.

Thankfully, he finished it without incident before the frozen ground absorbed his blood. All that remained was the very last little piece to bring it to life.

Hopefully this stupid little trick would work. Taniel shoved all the snow back into place, roaming the circle he was trapped in to muss everything up, like he'd been looking for weaknesses, a way out, so Vosgi would miss the only thing that mattered.

He'd just sat down again, knees pulled to his chest in the sulkiest pose he could think of, when Vosgi finally returned, the wind sending his beautiful hair flying up around him, a slash of dark against the snow.

"Thank you for waiting," Vosgi said as he reached the edge of the circle and set down the crude wooden tray he carried, arrayed with an assortment of bottles, bowls, and other tools. Back in the monastery, those tools had been glass and crystal and delicate porcelain. They'd made the inks together, mixed in with all their other projects, easily missed by the rest of the Brothers. It had been so much stupid fun, having their secrets right beneath everyone's nose. Sneaking off to enjoy forbidden kisses and forbidden magic.

Gods he was stupid.

Everything on the tray was ominously familiar for another reason: these were all the components of the spell that Vosgi had been so desperately eager to try. The one that had been a step too far for Taniel. He'd just never realized, fool that he was, that he was the intended victim.

Well, the first victim, which was what had really driven home that he needed to turn them in. Vosgi was never going to be happy killing one person to gain more power. There would always be a reason, an excuse, to go after another. And another.

"Shall we get started?" Vosgi asked, and from the assortment of items lifted, a single small, glass vial, the kind they'd used to transport medicine to surrounding villages, where they could easily pass it out by doses, instead of forcing everyone to come up one by one to receive it from a larger batch.

Instead of a healing tincture, however, this one contained blood. It was slightly discolored from the spell and herbs that kept it fresh, but clearly blood. Taniel wanted to throw up—and very nearly did when Vosgi unstoppered the vial and threw the contents back like a shot of farmer's homebrew.

His blood. Every time they'd been together had just been another chance to leech away his blood.

Tossing the empty vile aside, lips still red, Vosgi smiled coldly. "Brace yourself, darling, because this next bit is going to hurt." He used a knife to draw quickly and neatly in the hard earth, then tipped ink into the hollowed out letters.

Light flared as the first of Vosgi's spells came to life, and though he'd tried to brace himself for it, Taniel still screamed in agony as the pain overtook him. Because that was all the spell was: pain. Not the paralysis spell he would have expected, frequently used by healers when a patient wouldn't or couldn't hold still.

Just pain. Which meant Vosgi needed his body limber, but also needed him unable to move. Taniel had been depending on that, but it didn't make the pain more bearable. He'd held on to the feeble hope that Vosgi would just render him extremely sleepy but hadn't really believed it.

By the time it came to an end, he was sobbing from the agony. His body felt like he'd been thrown down a mountain and then pounded with additional rocks once he'd reached the bottom. Every time he moved, even just breathed, the pain increased, sharp and sudden, leaving him struggling to breath for a moment.

"Step one complete," Vosgi said.

"Fuck you," Taniel gasped out, and with every last scrap of strength remaining in his body, turned onto his side in a way he'd be able to access the very last part of his spell, where he just needed to add one last stroke.

Another small bonus was that in his agonized writhing, he'd torn open the hand he'd bitten into again, probably on a rock or something, which spared him having to figure out how to do that.

He stared up through blurry eyes as Vosgi loomed over him, grabbed his right arm, clearly to spread him out. Now or never.

Fighting back the bile burning in his throat, Taniel heaved up, drew the last curving slash of his spell with the blood dripping down one finger, and cast it.

Flames erupted all around them, scorching hot, adding still more pain to that already induced by Vosgi. Taniel grabbed at Vosgi's robes, his grip feeble, but enough combined with heat and panic to send Vosgi toppling. Taniel dragged himself up, over, pinning Vosgi down with his sheer weight as the flames took them both.

He hoped Kohar would forgive him someday. Corsair and his family. He'd never wanted anyone else to suffer for his mistakes.

Taniel passed out.

*~*~*

He jerked awake sobbing, screaming. Pain, there was so much fucking pain. Everything hurt. Burned. Why was he so hot?

Something was wrong. What?

Vosgi. Where was Vosgi?

Movement caught the corner of his eye, but he couldn't move, only wait as the movement came close enough to make out. Kohar. He looked tired. Bruised. His mouth was pulled into an angry scowl that was Kohar's way of showing he was worried.

"Go back to sleep, you gigantic pain in my ass," Kohar said, even as he gently placed a hand, soft and cool, on Taniel's scorching forehead.

Taniel tried to reply, but as abruptly as he'd woken, sleep took him again, taking all the lingering pain and misery with it.

*~*~*

He woke less jarringly the second time. Third? Who knew.

Still in pain, but it was far less severe. His body felt weird. Stretched too tight, sore at edges where edges shouldn't be.

He still couldn't move much, but he wasn't sure he'd have the strength to anyway. Taniel settled for looking around. The room was dark, but it was definitely his room. In Castle Rehm. He'd been on top of the mountain. How the hells had they found him, let alone gotten him back home?

For that matter, how was he even alive?

The sound of movement caught his attention, and he flicked his eyes toward it, chest giving a painful, twisting lurch as Corsair came into view. He looked well, if tired, and some of the tension and misery bled out of Taniel. That was one thing that had gone right. Hadn't he seen Kohar earlier too? Or had that been a dream?

"You're awake," Corsair said, sitting on the edge of the bed so he faced Taniel. "Kohar said it was the magic and medicines keeping you asleep and you were fine, that you'd woken a couple of times already, but still… I'm glad you're healing up. When we found you…" He shook his head. "Sorry, I shouldn't be dumping all that on you right now."

He reached out and lightly touched Taniel's hand, which felt bandaged. Made sense. He should be little more than ash and charcoal right now. How in the world had he survived? It took a ridiculous amount of effort to lick his dry lips and ask, "How?"

"Worry about that later, you stubborn brat. Right now, focus on healing. Everyone has been worried sick about you. They'll be thrilled to hear you not just woke up, but said a few words. That's great progress."

Taniel was fairly certain one barely coughed out 'how' wasn't the same as 'a few words,' but he wasn't exactly fit to argue. "Water?" he rasped out.

"Of course, and I'll get your latest dose of tonic too." He vanished from view, but returned after only seconds, carrying a cup and a bottle of dark blue glass.

Setting them aside out of view, Corsair then went to the opposite side of the bed and climbed in. Taniel's eyes teared, with pain and relief and a fragile happiness, when Corsair gently lifted his head up to prop it on Corsair's thigh. "Here, tonic first." He tipped the bottle slightly, just enough for a measure of the contents to trickle into Taniel's mouth. It was bitter and salty, but he'd had this tonic, or one very like it, before. If not for it, he'd be in a great deal more pain.

Corsair took the bottle away and replaced it with the cup, giving Taniel tiny sips between generous pauses. He clearly had experience at helping invalids. His thigh was firm and warm beneath Taniel's head, infinitely better than the pillow.

He tried to talk some more, but exhaustion and the pain-dulling tonic were getting the better of him, and he only managed a softly sighed, "Sta…" before he was out again.

*~*~*

The next time he woke, at least the next time he woke long enough to remember it, Taniel almost felt human again. Sore, achy, and full on pain if he moved too quickly, but definitely better.

His room was empty, but judging by the still-steaming food on the table by the fire, the open book by it, someone had only recently been called away. Further good sign that he was on the mend.

With all sorts of questions spinning through his mind. Mostly, how in the world had he managed to live? That fire should have killed him and Vosgi. Hopefully it had half succeeded.

He wouldn't know until he found someone to ask, though. There was sunshine coming in through the cracks between tapestry and window, so it shouldn't be hard to find people. Assuming whoever was watching him didn't return soon.

Moving slowly, wincing at the way every moment pulled at his skin, which felt tight and raw, Taniel eventually made it out of bed. He walked stiffly over to the window and pulled back the tapestry covering it to look outside. The inner yard below was bustling with its usual activity, and he could see smoking chimneys and movement in the village in the distance. Good signs. Hopefully arranging shelter for all the people who'd lost their homes was going well, and they'd be comfortable until spring came and the rebuilding could begin.

Spells for protection whirled through his mind, but Taniel tamped them down. Nobody wanted his help—nobody wanted him, period. Corsair's relatives had made that very clear. Once he was really and truly healed up, they'd probably help him pack.

Letting the tapestry fall back into place, he headed across the room to the table, wholly intent on stealing the abandoned meal.

He'd just sat down and pulled the food close when the door creaked open. Taniel jerked around and stared as Corsair stepped into the room. His eyes widened when he realized the bed was empty. "What—" He turned, and the tension bled from his shoulders as he took in Taniel by the fire. "You shouldn't be up!"

"I'm fine." Taniel held up a hand when Corsair started to argue. "Fine enough. I promise."

Corsair crossed the room and swept him up into a hug that made everything hurt, but also made everything better. "You stubborn ass, we all thought you were dead. We didn't know if you'd make it for days, and even then, we weren't sure how you'd be when you woke up." He drew back, let Taniel go, and cupped his face. "Your promises aren't worth shit."

Taniel laughed-cried. "I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of me. Please tell me Vosgi is dead at least."

"There's nothing left of him except some ashes and bits of bone that didn't burn." Corsair slowly withdrew his hands but took hold of one of Taniel's. "You shouldn't have gone up there alone. We nearly didn't get to you in time. If not for—" He broke off and hugged Taniel again. "I'm going to kill you myself. There was so much blood, and you were burned everywhere."

Though he really wanted to stay right where he was, Taniel drew back enough to say, "Tell me what happened. After I… well, after I took care of Vosgi, I remember nothing."

"Sit and eat," Corsair replied, practically shoving Taniel into his vacated seat. He took the opposite seat and sipped at the cup of ale set with the meal. "I woke up in the Macram's barn covered in hay and stumbled my way back to town. Everyone freaked out." His face turned into a thundercloud. "That's when I found out how my family had treated you when they thought you were to 'blame' for my being taken."

Taniel flinched and looked down at the food, stomach queasy now. "They had every right—"

"They had no right!" Corsair said, slamming a fist on the table. "They're better than that, or should be! They certainly raised me to be better than that. Nobody is to blame for any of this except that piece of shit monk. The one you fought, that you faced alone, that you nearly died killing! If they want to act like cretins, then that's how they'll be treated."

Taniel wanted to cry. "Corsair, you and your family are so close. I never meant to cause a rift. They were understandably scared and angry."

"You were hurt, and exhausted from fighting the fire, and just as scared and worried as them, but I didn't see you going around hitting people on the barest excuse. If my family really cares, they'll learn their damn lesson and come apologize. They know how I feel and that I want there to be something between us. So fuck them."

"I want there to be something too," Taniel said, tears finally breaking free. "It feels like I've been nothing but a burden since I arrived. Whatever you and Kohar say, it is my fault Vosgi came here and murdered so many people."

Corsair stood, stepped around the table, and pulled Taniel back into his arms. "It's not your fault, Taniel. He would have simply gone to a different village, killed different—"

"No! You don't understand! It was me he wanted the whole time!"

"Kohar figured as much, judging by what was left of the spell he had you trapped in, the implements that were laid out. That still doesn't make it your fault. You're as much a victim as anyone—moreso, in some ways, since none of us ever was tricked into thinking he cared about us. Just stop, all right? I know it's not that easy, but… none of this is your fault. Tell yourself that until you start to believe it."

Taniel sniffled and nodded.

"Promise?" Corsair asked with a faint smile.

"Promise. For real, this time. I'm really tired of lying. So finish telling me what happened."

Instead, Corsair kissed him, soft and sweet, before finally drawing back. "Eat, brat."

"All right, all right." Taniel sat back down, picked up the fork by the plate, and slowly ate.

"After I got back, and the general chaos that resulted from that was sorted, we realized nobody knew where you were. Kohar immediately set to tearing the place apart, but it was the dogs who found you in the end."

"The dogs?"

Corsair laughed. "You never took off the amulet I gave you. It worked exactly as intended. When we reached you, we found you and Vosgi on fire. Something I never want to see again. He was long dead, but you were hanging on and not nearly as severely burned as him. None of us knows why or how. We assume it must be something to do with the spells he laid on you, but we managed to pull you out and put out the fire. There were supplies aplenty stowed in that cave nearby, which allowed Kohar to stabilize you long enough to get off the mountain.

"Since then, you've been healing here. Been about a week. You've been in and out of consciousness, but your fever broke yesterday, so Kohar said you'd likely wake up soon. He was finally dragged off to sleep. He's supposed to relieve me in a few more hours. I'm supposed to get him the moment you wake." He smiled softly. "Wouldn't mind a few stolen minutes first, though, mean as it makes me."

"Kohar probably needs the rest badly, anyway. When our family… When everyone started falling sick, Kohar was the one who stayed by their bedsides, doing everything he could. I tried to keep things running, and when I couldn't, got work wherever I could. Gave me some distance and distraction that he didn't have."

"I'm surprised you two parted ways when it was all over."

"I think we needed to breathe, and we had different ways of doing that. We knew we'd find our way back to each other someday." Taniel blinked away fresh tears. "I just wish it hadn't been because of still more death."

"Come on, if you're not going to eat, you should get more rest," Corsair said, and pulled him from his seat and over to the bed. "Thinking like that won't help anything. Focus on how much worse off we'd be if you hadn't stood up to him, if you hadn't done the right thing, if you hadn't come here as quickly as you could to help. Stop punishing yourself. You've suffered enough, and you did more than most would to fix everything. I certainly would draw the line at setting myself on fire, you dumbass."

"It made sense at the time, I swear," Taniel muttered, and clung to Corsair as he was settled into bed. "I don't suppose you'd stay for a bit?"

"Of course." Corsair sat on the edge of the bed, removed his boots, then stood and stripped down to his leggings before climbing into bed. "Just let me know if I hurt you."

Taniel nodded and cuddled close as Corsair pulled him in. He didn't care about pain right then; all of it was minor anyway. Even if it was severe, it would be well worth it to sleep right there curled up against Corsair, finally feeling sane and not so miserably alone.

*~*~*

"—both of you!"

"Sorry, Kohar, I meant to come get you once he fell asleep, I swear—"

Taniel sat up with a groan, pressing one hand to his aching head. "Kohar, shut up, you're giving me a headache already." He peeled his eyes open, lowered his hand—and whatever he was going to say was forgotten. "Kohar?"

"You're such a stupid fucking bastard," Kohar said as he pulled Taniel into a hug so tight it threatened his breathing.

"Can't breathe."

Kohar eased up slightly. "Do you know how it felt to see you like that! You're the only family I have left! Mom and Dad would kill me if I let you get your stupid self dead, you complete and utter dumbass."

"I love you too, and I'm sorry, I really really am," Taniel said, and hugged him tightly. "I just didn't want anyone else getting hurt."

Sitting back, Kohar wiped his face, scowling throughout. "Whatever. I'm going to be mad at you for the next six months, and if you so much as leave the castle without telling me—"

"All right, all right, all right, Mom. Gods above, I hope you never have children."

Kohar wrinkled his nose. "Forget that. Stop distracting me. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, especially considering I should be, um, well-cooked."

"Watch it," Kohar said, eyes narrowing.

"Look, I'm going to keep making jokes; you're going to have to get used to it."

"You're going to have to get used to my fist in your face."

"You couldn't throw a punch to save your life," Taniel retorted, "and your soldier boy isn't going to do it for you."

"No punching!" Corsair said. "Honestly, you two."

Kohar gave him a look. "You are not the slightest bit better with your siblings."

Corsair's face darkened. "That's not true; I actually punched them. My asshole cousin and everyone who defended him."

"I recall," Kohar replied dryly. "I was the one who patched you up when the tussle was over."

"Oh, my gods," Taniel said with a groan, burying his face in his hands. "Your family is never going to like me now." He was pretty sure there'd never been any chance of that, but it was definitely set in stone now.

"They will if they have any sense in their heads," Corsair replied.

"Precisely," Kohar added icily.

Taniel rolled his eyes. "Knock it off, both of you. Can we eat? I'm starving. I also want to get out of this room."

Kohar moved so he could climb out of bed. "Only if you tell me everything that happened from the time you broke your promise to the moment I found you almost burned to death."

"Never living that down," Taniel muttered as he quickly pulled on clean clothes. He'd really need a proper bath later, but for the moment, all he wanted was food.

Kohar frowned at him in that 'fretful mother' way of his, so much like their actual mother had once given them. Hilarious that Kohar was the one who didn't want children when he'd be so good at parenting.

That was all right. Taniel had every intention someday of forcing him into being an uncle.

"Are you certain—"

"Yes, Kohar. Stop fretting. Come on, I want real food and to see something beyond these four walls."

"You've barely been awake long enough to see these walls."

"Shut up."

Kohar heaved a sigh but followed along beside him, Corsair on the opposite side, leaving Taniel feeling very much like he was being escorted—watched. Not that he could blame them.

Downstairs, his stomach growled loudly as the smell of food struck him. Dragon stew night, perfect. He was going to eat six bowls, and every last slice of bread he could find, and to finish—

He slammed into Corsair's back, though when Corsair had stepped in front of him, Taniel had no idea.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Corsair asked in the coldest tones Taniel had ever heard from him. "Did you need another ass kicking?"

A garbled voice said, "No, one was more than enough, jackass. I came to talk—to apologize. We all did."

Taniel finally stepped around Corsair and stared at the group several paces away. Corsair's mom, the three who'd beaten him up, and a couple of others. They all looked shamefaced as they spied him.

"I don't hear any apologizing," Corsair snapped.

His mother huffed and pushed through the others to stand in front. "Master Taniel, what my sons and nephews did, what I allowed them to do, was unacceptable. We were afraid for Corsair, but that didn't give us leave to blame and hurt you. We apologize for acting the way we did and beg your forgiveness."

One by one, the others shuffled forward to give variations of her words. Around them, the hall had gone silent. Even Bedros and Warren watched intently.

"I can't say I enjoyed being beaten, and it still makes me a little wary to get too close to any of you, but I understand why you acted as you did. Corsair is safe, and Vosgi is dead exactly as I said he would be, so we'll just call it over and done with. I don't want to be the wedge between you and Corsair."

"You're too nice," Corsair said.

"Enough," Taniel said, poking him in the side. "Stop being stubborn and let's go eat."

Corsair scowled at his family a bit longer, then dropped his folded arms and turned away. "Fine. Everyone come eat. But one word—"

"Enough!" Taniel said, exasperated and amused all at once. He grabbed hold of Corsair's arm and dragged him away to their usual table, where a couple of the kitchen workers brought platters and bowls and plates to them, along with pitchers of beer that smelled faintly of strawberries. He hadn't thought that one would be ready for a couple more weeks.

He pulled a bowl of stew close and dug in, eating it faster than he could remember eating anything in a long time. Around him people laughed, but Taniel ignored it, entirely focused on the food.

When he'd finally eaten enough to slow down and actually enjoy it, he looked at the rest of the table, gaze landing on Corsair's brother or cousin or whatever he was. "Why hasn't anyone fixed your face?"

"Madame Karen refused to," the man grumbled.

"I see," Taniel said. "That seems unnecessarily vindictive."

Beside him, Corsair scowled. "No, it doesn't. Maybe this will get through your log-head that you need to watch that temper of yours."

"I get it, Corsair, all right?" the man said. "Back off, good grief."

"Enough, boys," the mom said. "I'm Petra by the way, and this is Tarmin." She pointed to the others. "Alex, Ray, and Verren."

"Tarmin and Alex are my useless brothers, and Ray and Verren are my useless cousins."

"Shut up, flounced-off-to-the-city boy," Ray said with a grin.

"Nice to meet you," Taniel said. "I really am sorry for all the trouble Vosgi caused."

"Rumor has it you set him on fire," Tarmin said.

Taniel shrugged. "Yes. Not an experience I want to repeat. Now let's have it: stories about little Corsair. I want them, and you were mean to me, so you can't refuse."

Corsair groaned as his relatives grinned evilly and started talking.

CASTLE REHM TRILOGY FIN