Six bezoars remained on the table, identical in every way but their colors.

“What do you intend to do with them?” I asked.

“I would think it obvious, considering my experiment with the taurvi. This is a bezoar retrieved from the head of an hawklike daeva called the indar.” She picked up a bezoar the color of sapphires; up close, it resembled a fossilized ostrich’s egg. “See how it glitters so? It can detect truth from the lies its holder tells.” She moved down the line, touching each piece as she went. “This emerald stone was taken from a nanghait and can make anything grow on barren soil, exempting only runeberries. This peach-colored bezoar once belonged to a zarich; it can ease hunger and give back strength. Mix the bezoar of a savul into any metal and it will be impenetrable to most weapons. An aeshma’s bezoar is said to heal even mortal wounds. And I’m sure this will be familiar; it is from the same taurvi Lady Mykaela once slew.” The yellow stone glinted its venom at me, promising malice.

“And this is my greatest achievement.” She held up a large stone, plain and milky white. “The strongest of the daeva, one who can transport you from one place to another faster than even the wind. Its bezoar protects against all runes but the Dark. Such is the power of the azi.

“Do you want to know what I intend to do with them all? I have seen the toll these creatures have taken on Lady Mykaela through the years. I have seen the deaths they cause, the grief they bring. Whenever a Dark asha raises one from the dead and banishes them to the grave, they only give the land a few years’ peace. They only delay the inevitable. It is a matter of time before there will be too few Dark asha to carry out these tasks. This is what the enemy wants, but few people are willing to change such traditions.” She stepped back to survey her collection.

“After all,” she mused, “who would deliberately break all eight kingdoms only to save the lives of Dark asha?”