and escort during her mortality. “The two of us alone could take the globe and
the witch….”
Molin felt a trickle of sweat run down his back. Jihan had taken the bait,
embroidering his notions with her own, mortally incomprehensible, imagination.
If he could not lure her back to plans he could shape and control, the exercise
would become a disaster of monumental proportions.
“Think of the Stormchildren, dear lady,” he said in what was both his most
unctuous and commanding voice. “Think of your father. You can’t leave them
behind-not even to travel with Tempus or to destroy the Nisibisi witch.”
Jihan wilted. “I couldn’t leave them.” She patted Gy-skouras’s golden curls
apologetically. “I must put those thoughts behind me.” With her eyes closed, the
Froth Daughter focused divine determination against mortal free will until her
shoulders slumped in defeat. “I have so much to leam,” she admitted. “Even the
children know more than I do.”
“When the Stormchildren are well again, then you will travel with them to
Bandara; you will leam everything that they learn. For now, though, only you can
sense Roxane through her deceits and disguises. Tempus can devise a trap for
her-but only you will know if she falls into it.”
She brightened and Molin almost felt sorry for Tempus. The mercenary would have
no choice now but to close ranks within the Stepsons and concoct the tactics
necessary to lure Roxane out of her hiding .place; no one, not even a
regenerating immortal, could stand for long against Jihan’s enthusiasm. The