Claimed by Shadow Page 0,118

to glance at us. "The cycle is almost complete.”

Billy looked nervous. "Cass, do you think I'll keep this body once we go back?”

"We're going back?”

"As soon as that thing cycles to blue. But we'll only have about thirty seconds to get through at the right destination. We're getting off at Dante's, but the Senate is next on the rotation, so we have to jump quick before it turns red.”

I found it hard to keep up. "Why are we leaving?”

"Because you're going to retrieve something for me." A deep baritone echoed off the walls. I slowly realized that what I had taken to be a pillar draped in material was actually the biggest leg I'd ever seen. I looked up, and kept on doing so for a ridiculous length of time. A face as large as a searchlight beamed down at me from the shadowy vastness of the hall. The ceiling had to be thirty feet high, yet he was bent over slightly as if it cramped him. I did a double take, then just stared.

The huge head lowered itself to get a better look at me. Frizzy brown hair obscured much of it, leaving a bulbous nose and blue eyes the size of softballs visible. "So this is the new Pythia.”

"We had to deal with the king," Billy explained in a low voice. "Our runes are used up until next month. Pritkin tried to caste Hagalaz and it didn't work-it just got a little colder and we ended up with a puddle of slush. Null bombs are great, but only against magic, and we're seriously outnumbered here. The Fey don't need mumbo jumbo to hit us over the head. We need more weapons and some allies or the only thing we're going to do here is die. Marlowe's agreed to cough up the weapons from the Senate's stash when we go back.”

"How generous of him. What's the catch?”

Marlowe, for once, didn't have a glib reply. Instead he simply stood there staring at me, looking flabbergasted. Then he slowly sank to one knee. "The Senate is always delighted to aid the Pythia," he finally said, after several tries.

"She isn't Pythia," Pritkin remarked, turning at last to acknowledge my presence. Then he stopped dead, his mouth working but no sound coming out. One hand remained raised halfway through a movement, as if he had simply forgotten to lower it.

"My lady, what shall we call you?" Marlowe asked reverently.

"No!" Pritkin broke out of his trance and stared between me and the kneeling vamp. "This is a trick-it must be!”

I glanced at Tomas, baffled. "What's going on?”

He smiled slightly. "Your aura has changed.”

I tried to see for myself, but I couldn't concentrate well enough and just ended up cross-eyed. "What does it look like?”

Marlowe answered for him. "Power," he whispered, appearing dazzled.

"You need to proclaim a reign title, Cassie," Tomas said. "Your rule doesn't officially begin until then. Lady Phemonoe was named after the first of the line. You can take the same title if you wish or choose another.”

Pritkin had come back to life and was striding across the room, looking outraged. "Herophile," I said quickly, the name from my vision coming automatically. I looked nervously at Tomas. "Is that okay?" Pritkin's hand, which had been reaching for me, stopped and dropped to his side.

"Where's the golem?" I asked Billy, keeping an eye on the mage. He had the look of an atheist who'd just had a visit from God: stunned, disbelieving and faintly ill.

"You don't want to know," Billy answered, staring fixedly at the portal, his throat working nervously.

"What do you mean?”

The king answered for him. It was hard to believe that, for a moment, I'd actually forgotten someone that large. "He was given to my steward as a gift. He very generously loaned him to me.”

“They turned him loose a couple of hours ago," Billy said. "They're going to give him another hour, then go after him. Something about training their hunting dogs.”

"What?" I was horrified. "But he could be killed!”

"Technically, he isn't alive," Billy pointed out, "so he can't die.”

"He may not have been alive before, but he is now!" I looked around for support but didn't find any. Marlowe had moved up beside Pritkin, looking worried. Billy was staring at the swirls of color inside the portal and biting his lip, and I doubted the golem's fate was uppermost in his mind. "We can't leave him!”

"Of course," the king murmured, a sound as loud as anyone else's bellow, "you