The cold silence of the council chamber pressed down on Kate along with the fear and desperation seeking to overpower her soul. She stared toward Morgan's anteroom door but there was no light from the edges of his star, nothing to give her the least bit of hope for a rescue. "Hello?" she whispered. Nothing. She waited then called a bit louder.

A rustle of fabric announced the old man was returning to the chamber. His lisping voice slipped through the darkness followed by the medallions light. "Did you call me?"

Kate forced herself to calm down, mentally repeating the simple poem about resisting fear she had used when she had been repeatedly locked in a small space as a child. The words strengthened her resolve. She was as determined now as she was back then to let this old man know how truly afraid, she was. "I wanted to ask you turn the lights on," Kate said firmly. "I don't like being in the dark."

His shuffling footsteps approached the side of the table. "We won't need them until Corvan arrives. Besides, who needs the light when you carry the master medallion?" The green glow was lifted higher along with a guttural chuckle.

The medallion's light washed over his thinly stretched grin. His veil was gone and as he laughed, a mottled blue tongue twisted about in a mouth lined with black teeth. At the sight of his rotten smile, her stomach churned. The blue-veined eyes that had terrified her on her last trip to the Cor came close and she turned her face away from him.

"If you wanted the medallion so bad," Kate said, working to keep her voice even, "why didn't you just take it from me the last time I was here?"

"Because I need you to bring Corvan to me."

"Why do you need him?" Kate asked calmly, fighting back her fear.

"Because that boy is the only one who can tell me where the hammer and the scepter are hidden. I need him to bring them to me; all three are needed if I am to rule the Cor and create more of the Lifelight for myself."

"Why should Corvan help you?"

"If he were wise, he shouldn't, but he will."

"Why? How will you make him help you?"

The wet chuckle came again. "I actually won't need to do anything to him. He will help me of his own free will."

"Why would he do that?"

"Guilt, loyalty, fear: whatever it is that motivates him." Kate heard the man ease his body onto one of the stools with a soft groan. "Everyone has emotions that can be used against them, and this boy has many powerful ones for he has failed miserably by eating the lumien seeds. He has betrayed his family and friends and has barely escaped becoming Rakash." There was a long pause. "I understand he even abandoned you to run after Tyreth."

Kate did not reply.

"Yes," the man lisped, "that boy is so bound up in guilt, he will do anything to redeem himself." He muttered something else that Kate could not completely catch, something about his own parents and then fell silent.

Although Corvan's choosing to go after Tyreth cut deeply, Kate knew he was not doing it to intentionally hurt her. The old man could try to use that to manipulate Corvan, but she wouldn't be a part of his plan. No matter what Corvan felt for Tyreth or Atiya she would not make him feel guilty for his choice. That thought brought tears to her eyes and an aching void into her heart. Letting Corvan go felt like she was letting go of her only hope for ever finding someone to love her. She too had her hidden worries and ongoing guilt over what had happened in her own family. She still felt it was her fault that her father would never return and that her mother didn't want to be around her anymore.

"What are you thinking about?" The question came quietly and again Kate responded without thinking it through.

"How much it can hurt when you love someone."

"That's always what loving someone does to you. It takes up far too much of your time when you are young and then betrays you as you grow old."

A brief note of longing in his voice caught Kate's attention. "Was there someone who cared for you in your younger days?"

He didn't reply.

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"Did you love her?" Kate asked.

"Love is meaningless," he snapped. "When you grow up and come to your senses you realize there is a base physical attraction that you might think is love but in the end each of us is completely on their own and no amount of what people call love can change that."

"Was there someone in the past who . . . "

"Yes, I had a counterpart, if that's what you are asking, but she is long gone."

"Did you have any children?"

"My son betrayed me and now he is my sworn enemy." He muttered again and Kate caught the mention of his own father.

"Where you close to him?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your own father. You said something about him. Where you close to him."

"No. He ignored me after my mother died and my past-mother took me into her home. She was the only one . . ." His voice trailed off wistfully.

"I never met my grandmother," Kate said, "but I was told she was also a kind person. Do you have any grandchildren?"

Another long pause. "One boy and a girl, but the boy was no good, just like his backstabbing father. Someday he will pay for his crimes against me."

Kate could feel the anger in the room. "And the girl? Your granddaughter? Were you close to her?"

The chamber went silent as the tension dissipated. The man stirred as if he were about to stand up but then he settled back down with a long sigh. "She was the only one who did not abandon me in my time of need." Another chuckle but this one had a note of pleasure to it. "Such an inquisitive child. She was one of the few who like to play with my pet tarks. She was the only one, other than me, that they let get close enough to touched them without biting back. She wouldn't get away with that now that they are much bigger, except maybe Shael, she would remember her I think, at least in her own cruel way."

Kate wasn't sure what he was referring to, but she had learned with her own grandfather to wait patiently for him to gather his thoughts, especially when he was telling her about Kate's mother and the early years, the times when their family had been happy and at peace. She peeked at the old man. His smile appeared genuine, but his eyes were sad.

"My granddaughter had quite the competitive side," the old man said. "I taught her the fighting arts I had been trained in by my past-mother and in time, not even my personal guards could stand against her." He gave a rumbling laugh that was cut off by a hacking cough. He wiped his mouth, leaned in closer and carried happily on. "I assigned her the role of the assassin in a game I set up for her throughout the city. She would get points if she could sneak up on any of my guards and touch them on the head before they knew she was there. The girl never lost and that's why I thought I could send her to . . ." His voice trailed off and he sat back from the table.

The light of the medallion faded as he tucked it back inside his robe. Groaning, he got up from the stool. "This conversation tires me, and you need to rest and wait for Corvan to find you. He can't stay awake all the time and eventually he will come back to the chamber looking for you to give him the answers to his troubles. Thanks to my medallion, this time I will be the one waiting for him."

His labored breathing fell in sync with his footsteps as he shuffled from the room. If the old man believed that love didn't exist. and if he was staying alive only because he was afraid of dying, then he would do anything to make Corvan bring him the hammer and the scepter. He didn't care one bit if she had to die to put his plans to rule the Cor into action.

Kate rolled to face Corvan's anteroom door. There had to be something she could do to escape from this place before Corvan arrived. If only she had the strength to move, maybe she could try touching his door and find a way to warn him to stay away.

Reaching her hand toward Corvan's door, Kate focused her will and thoughts on him. To her surprise, it felt as if a warm hand reached out and held her own. She pinched her eyes shut, feeling the warmth from her hand flowed up her arm and across the side of her face.

"Corvan?" she whispered. "Is that you?"

An invisible hand cupped her cheek and ghostly fingers ran through her hair.

"Where are you?" Kate whispered. "Can you hear me?" The hand withdrew, and Kate grasped the air, the comfort replaced by the fear that any words spoken in the chamber could never get through to anyone who might be near her physical body. She had to at least try. Focusing all her intention she raised her hand to the ceiling and called Corvan's name out loud. Nothing. She tried again and this time the warmth returned.

"What has happened to you?" the old man barked from the broken door, his voice instantly severing the connection she was feeling. Her hand fell to the table. "Has Corvan found your body?" The intense voice drew closer, and Kate cringed. "You must bring him to me," the old man commanded.

Kate shook her head and turned her face to the wall. Corvan must stay away from the chamber and this horrible man.

"Bring him now," the voice hissed in her ear. The glow of the medallion, clutched in his bony hand hovered over her and a shaft of intense pain shot filled her head.

Kate clenched her teeth. She wouldn't let him hurt Corvan. He would have to kill her first. In that moment, Corvan's words came through clearly. "I love you, Kate." She felt Corvan's lips gently touch her own. Her pain faded, she breathed deeply and slumped back onto the table.

"Bring him now!" the old man shouted in her ear, his angry words were accompanied by fresh waves of agony that forced the unspoken words from her lips.

"Help me, Corvan!"

There was no direct reply from Corvan, only an unspoken assurance he would immediately come to her. His presence withdrew, the pain abated, and a cold hand patted her cheek.

"That's a good girl. I believe he got your message." The old man sat on the closest stool and put the flickering medallion back inside his tunic. "Now, we will wait together for our Corvan to arrive."

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