Queen of the Darkness

Jaenelle walked over to him. He wrapped his arms around her. "Witch-child ..."
    She shook her head, kissed him, and smiled. But her eyes were filled with tears.
    "Thank you for being my father. It was glorious, Saetan." Then she leaned close and whispered in his ear, "Take care of Daemon. Please. He'll need you."
    She didn't fade into the web, she just disappeared.
    Wiping the tears with the back of his hand, he approached the webs and studied them carefully.
    The first web, the moldy web, were the Blood tainted by Dorothea and Hekatah. The second web, with all its Jewel stars, were the Blood who still honored the old ways. The third web, with its spiral, was Witch.
    As he continued to study the webs, he began to shake his head, slowly at first, then faster and faster. "No, no, no, witch-child," he muttered. "You can't connect them like this. If you unleash your full strength ..."
    It would blast through the large Ebony Jewel in the center of the first web, travel through all the strands, sweep up all the minds that resonated with those strands, then hit all the Ebony chips, meeting a smaller portion of itself in a devastating collision of power that would destroy anyone caught in it. Then it would continue on to the next web, barely diminished.
    The middle web, with all those thousands of beads of power, would provide tremendous resistance as her strength swept through it. The demon-dead, providing a shield and anchor for the living, would absorb some of her power as it flooded over them, but not all of those thousands of beads of power would be enough. That unleashed strength would continue on to the third web and...
    The power would flow through that perfect symmetry, burn out the web, and shatter every Jewel chip as it came blasting back through the spiral. And once the last Jewel chip shattered, the only thing left to reabsorb the rest of the power would be...
    "NO, witch-child," he shouted, turning round and round, searching for her. "No! A backlash like that will rip you apart! Jaenelle!"
    He turned back to the webs. Maybe, if he could link himself to Witch's web somehow, draw every drop of reserve power out of his Birthright Red Jewels and his Black... Maybe he could shield her enough to keep her safe when the rest of that explosion of power came screaming back at her.
    He took a step forward...
    ... and everything faded.
    Saetan opened his eyes. Deep twilight. Almost night.
    A dream? Just a dream? No. He had been a Black Widow too long not to know the difference between a dream and a vision. But it was fading. He couldn't quite remember, and there was something about that vision that was desperately important for him to remember.
    That was when he noticed Daemon standing a few feet in front of him, watching him with frightening intensity.
    Just remember that your mirror truly is your mirror. You only have to look to see the truth.
    Andulvar's words. Andulvar's warning.
    So, with eyes blinded by tears, he looked at his mirror, his namesake, his true heir. And saw.
    Still watching him, Daemon reached into his jacket pocket. His hand came out as a loose fist. He opened his fingers, tipped his hand.
    Little colored bangles, the kind women sewed on dresses to catch the light, spilled to the ground.
    Saetan stared at them. They chilled him, but he couldn't say why.
    And when he looked up again at Daemon ... He could almost hear the unspoken plea to think, to know, to remember. But his mind was still too full of the other vision that had turned elusive.
    Daemon walked away.
    Saetan closed his eyes. Bangles and webs. If he could find the connection, he would also find the answers.
----
    7 / Terreille
    Surreal swore silently as she stared at the perimeter stakes. There had to be a trick to getting past them. Hell's fire, Daemon had gotten them into the camp without anyone realizing it, but she'd still been too stunned by his shift into the Sadist to pay much attention. And he'd gotten Marian and Daemonar out without anyone realizing it.
    Could it be as simple as jumping over them so the contact between the crystals wasn't broken? No, she would have remembered that.
    "What are you doing out here?" a voice demanded.
    Shit.
    She turned to face the sentry who was moving toward her. She was too far away from the camp for anyone to believe she was just a broken witch wandering around. But she had to try to convince this bastard. Or kill him quietly. If she ended up in a fight and used her Gray Jewels, Daemon would know