central circle, stood in front of Silas and held her hand out to him through the mist. Edgar was shouting something, but the silence of the veil swallowed his words before they could reach her. Silas held his head high, took her hand and let her lead him into the half-life.
The veil reacted to him as strongly as it had before. A void of darkness gathered around him and the shades backed away, not daring to come close. Silas was much taller than Kate and the darkness made him look even more intimidating, making it difficult for her to do what she was about to do next.
She reached up and pressed her fingers on either side of his head, just as he had done to her the first time he had taken her into the veil. She let his void surround her and then she listened, searching out the memory that would tell her why Silas wanted death so badly. He did not resist her. Their thoughts merged into one, and the memory she was looking for played out.
Kate was Silas, walking into the museum’s main hall as it had been twelve years before. He was a soldier then, but in the reflection of the glass door, he did not look a day younger than he did now. His blue blade marked him as a warden of the highest rank and he had risen quickly to a position of responsibility by proving his worth in countless battles against the Continent’s men. Da’ru had summoned him to the old museum, but he had no reason to be suspicious. She was new to the High Council and known to be a Skilled of some ability. Meeting in unusual places was often their way.
Kate saw Da’ru standing in the center of the circle with Kalen at her side, and she felt Silas’s hand twitch instinctively toward his blade. Kalen was well armed, too well armed for a simple meeting, no matter whom he was protecting. Something was wrong.
Silas was suddenly wary of the new councilwoman and her guard, but to put his hand upon a weapon in her presence would be seen as treason. Da’ru greeted him in the formal way and he did the same, dropping to one knee to show respect. But when he lowered his head, Kate felt the cold stab of metal as a needle sank deep into Silas’s neck, his hand closed weakly around the hilt of his sword and a flood of poison pulsed swiftly through his veins.
The rest of the memory came in patches. The blaze of light as Da’ru opened the circle to the veil, the cries of the shades swarming overhead and the confusion Silas felt when the current of death drew close to him. Kate had assumed that Silas had participated willingly in the experiment that had altered his life forever, but now she saw how wrong she had been. Silas had not even been one of the Skilled when he had entered that circle. The veil was as new and impossible to him then as it had been to Kate the first time she had looked into it. And despite his nature, despite a life spent defending Albion against its enemies, Silas was afraid.
Da’ru had the book, Wintercraft, with her in the circle and she used its knowledge to bind Silas’s spirit to her blood. He was to be her greatest achievement. One that would secure her place in Albion’s history forever.
Kate felt Silas’s fear rise into rage as Da’ru dripped her blood onto his palm and seared it with a red-hot blade, blending it with his own. The current of death retreated from Silas, but his soul was broken. Kate felt the tearing emptiness as part of his spirit was dragged back to his body, leaving a greater part of it behind, trapped forever inside the half-life at the very edges of the veil. Silas’s lungs breathed again, his hand burned with pain, and Kate shared the moment when he looked through his dead gray eyes for the first time to witness the cold look of triumph on Da’ru’s face.
After that, the memory shifted. Kate saw the stone walls of a tiny prison cell and sensed the cutting bite of chains gripping Silas’s wrists. Da’ru was standing in front of him, and Kate saw the countless flashes of a green glass dagger, sending cut after cut searing across Silas’s bare chest. Da’ru tested his resilience, burned his skin with flames, and