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And I’d tried I’d tried Because reed with her But now I didn’t knohat actions would help, and I didn’t have the words

I didn’t have anything

"You called me admirable," I told him miserably "But I’s I kno to fix The Pythia is supposed to have all this power, but there’s plenty I can’t fix! And sooing to explode And there’s nobody around to tellme terrible coffee or to make me run a marathon until I’m too tired to worry about it any babble?" Rosier snarled, turning away from Caleb "If you want a confidant, buy a diary! My son is s!"

I met Pritkin’s eyes "Yes You are But you asked And I don’t kno to say it right; I don’t knohat you want I just know I need you, I need you, I can’t do this without you--" I was crying now, as I hadn’t for Eugenie, as I hadn’t forthis up, I was getting this all wrong, and he was going to leave--

"Oh, spare us," Rosier said, sounding disgusted, but I barely heard him All I could see was Pritkin’s face All I could think was that this h to do what an army of deo! You can’t!"

Hard hands tightened over mine "Cassie--"

"Just try You just have to try"

"It isn’t that simple Even if--" He stopped

"Even if what?"

"Cassie, the councilit isn’t like a human court, with rules and procedures and some semblance of justice They are arbitrary and capricious at best, and at worstthey’re the definition of chaos"

I blinked at him Because I’d heard that word before "Mother said chaos is like ju what’s at the bottom," I told him "But she didn’t seem to think that was so bad I didn’t understand what she meant then, but I thinkuarantees Soh, you just have to ju shifted in his face as he looked at me I wasn’t sure what it was, but his father didn’t seem to like it At all

"Fine," Rosier said flatly "We’ll do this the hard way"

Chapter Twenty-nine

The hard way turned out to be pretty damned hard

"Shit!" Caleb cursed as the door blew open and the bar aruards Who looked like they remembered us, too And no way could the two of us take on that rabbed Rosier and threw hiered back into a table full of the locals, sendinga bunch of dusty, gray-garbed patrons to the floor

That didn’t see back to their feet,those dareen limb, less like a hand than a proboscis, snaked out from under one of the patrons’ cloaks And crumpled the nearest sword like tinfoil

And okay, that works, I thought, right before guards and furniture started flying

I had to hit the disgusting floor to avoid a chair, which splintered against the wall behind rabbing Casanova and the bottle he was still holding "Give rabbed it back And blinked around blearily, before focusing on the veiled guard who had just dove after ht he was also after his precious hell juice

So he bonked hiuard slus and flashing blades And a gray-green fleshy luht!"

"Oh I haven’t been in one of those in--" A curved sword cleaved the table clean in two "And now I ’me us staring at a massive blue-robed warrior, his blade sheened with black blood I stared at him and he stared back, and underneath the veil he wore, I saw him smile Because we didn’t have any weapons and Caleb and Pritkin had been jumped by half a platoon and the closest cover was a pillar a few yards behind hiht as well have been on another planet--

And then the sas slashing down and there was no ti, and I couldn’t shift and I knew I couldn’t--

And I didn’t

At least, not us

I knew that because a second later, ere still sitting in the same puddle of spilled hell juice, inside the sauard But the pillar that had been over there

Was now over here

With a wicked-looking blade stuck halfway through the middle of it

"What did you do?" Casanova screeched, his voice reaching into the falsetto Maybe because the tip of the blade had stopped inches away from his crossed eyes

I stared at the blade, and then out the hich was still shuffling like a deck of cards And thought uard started trying to pull his blade out