The Power Page 0,67

inside, Cassie thought she could see the outlines of the skull.

Cassie stopped and looked at him.

"Father," she said, "I've come."

"With your coven," Black John said. "I'm proud of you." He extended a hand to her, which she ignored.

"You brought them here very nicely," he went on. "I'm glad they had the sense to acclaim you as leader."

"It's only temporary," Cassie said.

Black John smiled. His eyes were on the Master Tools. "You wear them well," he said.

Cassie felt a slow writhe of panic in her stomach. Everything was going according to his plan, she could see that. She was here, with the tools he'd wanted for so long, on his territory, in his house. And she was afraid of him.

"There's no need to be frightened, Cassandra," he said. "I don't want to hurt you. We don't need to quarrel. We have the same purpose: to unify the coven."

"We don't have the same purpose."

"You are my daughter."

"I'm no part of you!" Cassie cried. He was playing on her emotions, looking for her weaknesses. And every minute the hurricane was getting closer to land. Cassie sought desperately for a distraction, and she glimpsed something behind the tall man.

"Faye," she said. "I didn't see you there, standing in his shadow."

Faye stepped forward indignantly. She was wearing the black silk shift, like a negative image of Cassie's, and her own diadem, bracelet, and garter. She lifted her head proudly and gazed at Cassie with smoldering golden eyes.

"My two queens," Black John said fondly. "Dark and bright. Together, you will rule the coven - "

"And you'll rule us?" Cassie asked sharply. Black John smiled again. "It's a wise woman who knows when to be ruled by a man."

Faye wasn't smiling. Cassie looked at her sideways.

Black John didn't appear to notice. "Do you want me to stop the hurricane?" he asked Cassie.

"Yes. Of course." This was what she'd come for, to hear his terms. And to try and find his weak point. Cassie waited.

"Then all you have to do is swear an oath. A blood oath, Cassandra; you're familiar with those." He held a hand out to Faye without looking at her. Faye stared at the hand for an instant, then reached down to pull a dagger out of her garter. The black-handled knife used for casting circles on the ground. Black John held it up, then he cut his own palm. Blood welled out sluggishly, dark red.

Like Adam, Cassie thought wildly, her heart accelerating. Like the oath Adam and I swore.

The tall man held the dagger toward Cassie. When she made no move to step forward and take it, he held it toward Faye. "Give it to her," he said.

Faye took the dagger and handed it to Cassie, handle first. Slowly, Cassie's fingers grasped it. Faye moved back to Black John's side.

"It's just a little blood, Cassandra. Swear obedience to me and I'll release the hurricane, let it turn harmlessly back out to sea. Then you and I can begin our reign together."

The dagger was actually trembling in Cassie's hand. There was no way to steady her pulse now. She knew what she was going to do, but she needed time to get her nerve up.

"How did you kill Jeffrey?" she said. "And why?"

The tall man looked momentarily taken aback, then he recovered. "By getting him to sit down for a moment; and to cause dissent between our kind and the outsiders," he said.

He smiled. "Besides, I didn't like his attention to my daughter. He wasn't one of us, Cassandra."

Cassie wished Portia could see her "Mr. Brunswick" now. "Why did you use Sean?" she asked.

"Because he was weak, and he already wore a stone that I could influence," he said. "Why all these questions? Don't you realize - "

He broke off then and moved lightning fast. While he was in the middle of speaking, Cassie had thrown the dagger at him. She'd never thrown a knife before, but some ancestor who'd worn the Master Tools must have, because the bracelet seemed to guide her right arm, and the dagger flashed end over end straight toward Black John's heart. But the tall man was simply too quick. He caught the dagger in midair - by the blade - and stood holding it, looking at Cassie.

"That was unworthy of you, Cassandra," he said. "And hardly any way to behave to your father. Now I'm angry with you."

He didn't sound angry; his voice was cold as death and poisonous. Cassie had thought she'd been afraid before, but that had