Shadows and Light

men. They’re fools, cowards, little boys still sucking on the teat instead of men who know with certainty that they own the teat and it cannot be denied to them.”
    Adolfo stared into his empty wineglass for a long time. “We cannot walk away, Ubel. We cannot leave this unfinished. The eastern barons are too weak to bring about the changes needed to make Sylvalan a good place for good men. If the other barons are allowed to continue to oppose the right way to live, there will be uprisings. The eastern barons will be overthrown. Even in Wolfram, there continue to be small uprisings. Magic springs up in a place, seducing the common people away, turning females into creatures that can’t be trusted. Not that they ever can be trusted. Here, if the other barons continue to defy the good we brought to their land, the eastern barons will fall.”
    Ubel said nothing, just watched the Master Inquisitor’s hand tremble slightly as Adolfo refilled the wineglass.
    “I have given it great thought,” Adolfo said softly. “Great thought. Witches are the vessels of magic. They are the key. When they are destroyed, magic dies, and the Small Folk and the Fae are driven away from the land. But here, in this accursed country, magic dies as is right and proper—and then it comes back.
    Pools of it have reappeared in Old Places that were cleansed of magic. Pockets of it have appeared in places where magic hadn’t been before. We keep cutting down the weed that blights the garden, but until we dig out the tap root, it will keep coming back. Keep coming back.”
    Adolfo drank deeply, draining his glass. “I am convinced there is a great wellspring of magic in Sylvalan, a great, filthy nest of witches hidden somewhere in this land, and their power flows underground like hidden springs, rising to the surface when some thing or some place acts as a channel. We must find that nest. Find it... and destroy it. We must eliminate the barons who oppose our great work, and we must eliminate the Fae in the west.”
    Ubel stared at Adolfo. “But... all the Inquisitors in Wolfram and Arktos combined wouldn’t be enough to do that. It would take an army.”
    “Yes.” Adolfo nodded. “It will take an army. And we’ll have an army. From Arktos. From Wolfram.
    From the eastern barons here. A great army that will roll across this land and wipe out the stain of magic once and for all— everywhere. And you, Ubel. You will take the ships and men to the west, and you will exact a fitting punishment on all those who opposed us, who shed Inquisitors’ blood.”
    “Thank you, Master. I will not fail you.”

    “I know you will not fail me.” Again .
    Ubel felt the sting of the unspoken word.
    “Go now,” Adolfo said. “Get some rest. We’ll sail back to Wolfram in the morning. There is much to do.
    ”
    Ubel stood, bowed, and left the yacht.
    As he walked to the hotel where he had taken a room, he suddenly wondered if being given command of the part of the army that would attack the west was a reward or a punishment.

Chapter Twenty-nine
    The village of Breton was just ahead of them. Almost the end of the journey.
    Or the beginning of another, Aiden thought wearily. But he wasn’t going to think beyond this next task
    —finding Lady Ashk and trying to convince her the witches were more, far more, than servants for the Fae’s convenience.
    “Almost there, love,” Aiden said. When Lyrra smiled at him, his heart clenched. She wasn’t pregnant, and he was grateful for her sake, but the strain of the journey and the lack of quiet privacy she was used to during her moon cycle had made today’s traveling difficult for her. He wished he could have stopped at the last traveling post they had passed and let her rest for the day. But his purse was empty, and the only place he could hope to find her a decent meal and a comfortable bed was at the Clan house in Bretonwood.
    They were met at the edge of the village by four armed guards who maneuvered their horses to block the road.
    “What’s your business here?” one of the guards asked harshly.
    “Hold your tongue,” the guard captain snapped. “You can see just by looking at them that they’re two of the Fair Folk.” He drew in a breath, blew it out again. “But we still need to be asking who you are and what your business is here.”
    “You’ve had trouble?” Aiden asked, pleased that his voice remained calm while his heart pounded wildly.
    “Black Coats—and those nighthunter