He certainly seemed in a hurry to execute me. Could he be the person Ian sensed Dagon’s power coming from?

Then again, Haldam and I had never been close. Now, he had all the reasons he needed to despise me. Out of all the council members, he’d been the most vocal opponent of mixed-species people and magic practitioners. It took a special kind of coldness to sentence a child to death, yet Haldam had done it to Cat’s daughter without even feigning the same hesitation that other council members voting for her death had.

Maybe I’d let Haldam see what it was like to be on the receiving end of a summary execution decision. It would be so easy to reach inside him and yank out his soul . . .

I gave myself a quick shake, as if trying to physically dislodge the thought. This was the danger of merging the half of myself I’d long denied with the rest of me. That half might not be evil, but it contained the same borderline-sociopathic logic that allowed my father to transport people to the pits of the Netherworld without a hint of remorse. Now, it was fully a part of me, so to say that it could affect my sense of right and wrong was an understatement.

Haldam might indeed deserve to die because of his merciless actions, but that didn’t mean I should appoint myself as his executioner. If I meted out death to everyone I and I alone deemed worthy of it, I would soon become more monstrous than the council at their very worst.

I’d also be proving the council’s fears about people like me, even though I hardly represented all mixed-species people, let alone all people who practiced magic. And inevitably, I’d end up harming those who didn’t deserve it. No one was above being wrong, least of all me.

“Put the web spell on her, Xun Guan,” Haldam ordered, as if somehow sensing me struggle over my new desire to execute him. “She’s far too . . . unconfined as she is.”

Xun Guan’s mouth turned down, but she pulled a magic-infused gem from her belt. Long ago, I’d told her never to be without one. She’d heeded the advice. Then, in the original language of the spell, she spoke the words that resulted in layer upon layer of sticky, unbreakable substance wrapping around me as if giant spiders were cocooning me in webs.

Despite everything, I was proud. I’d taught her that spell several centuries ago, when I was training her, as all Law Guardians needed to know defensive magic. Most of the other Law Guardians had been unable to master such a complex spell, but Xun Guan did. Now, she executed it perfectly. It was also ironic that the last time I’d been caught in this spell, it had resulted in Ian and I being forced to marry.

Had that only been two months ago? It felt so much longer.

“Finished,” Xun Guan told Haldam.

He gave a short nod, but stayed as far away from me as he could without being obvious about it. He needn’t worry. I wasn’t going to kill him, even if more than a small part of me was still convinced that he deserved it. Instead, I settled into the web spell as if it were a warm blanket.

I had nothing to do now but wait, so I may as well be comfortable while I did.

Vermont in winter wasn’t a hot spot for vampires, so it took over two hours for the first of the council’s reinforcements to arrive. They consisted of three Enforcers and two more Law Guardians, who took up positions around the exterior of the ski lodge. I had been carried inside the lodge over an hour ago, then dumped next to one of the broken circle traps. Only scorch marks on the floor revealed where they’d been.

Well, that and the two dead Anzus inside Ian’s former circle.

The Anzus had gotten a lot of attention, not that I could blame the council members. It wasn’t every day you saw the remains of two creatures that had been thought to be only myth up close. The Anzus were poked, prodded, and examined, then ordered to be brought back to Athens for further study.

I stayed where I’d been dropped, pretending to doze. If not for Ian’s suspicion that one of the people here had traces of Dagon’s power in them, I might have napped for real. But he’d told me to keep my guard up, so my dozing act was to see if anyone tried to take advantage. There was a lot going on, with council members arranging for transportation, scheduling an emergency trial, and arranging for even heavier security to transport me than the Law Guardians who were already here. All that on top of the Law Guardians chronicling the magic traces left over, gathering up the stones at pivotal points in the pentagrams, and making sure any nosy humans didn’t disturb us.

With all that, someone could attempt to sneak up behind me and slip a silver knife into my heart, if Dagon did indeed have a secret acolyte among them. If that happened, they’d discover I had a bulletproof vest beneath my black shirt, and I’d discover that the power-seeking spell inside Ian wasn’t on the fritz.

But thus far, I was ignored by all except Xun Guan, who kept casting looks at me that ranged from angry, to sad, to betrayed.

I regretted hurting her, but my lies had been a matter of survival, not preference. Vampires often looked down upon humans for their many bigotries, but in reality, we were no better. We simply chose different reasons to oppress each other.

“The helicopter will be here within the hour,” Hekima announced from the other side of the lodge. “It will take us to the airport, where a plane will be fueled and waiting.”

“Good.” Haldam’s voice, disgust dripping from it. “This hovel stinks more than I can stand . . .”

His voice trailed off. I opened my eyes from their mostly closed slits to see what had distracted him. Then my eyes widened and I pulled myself into a sitting position.

The air had turned to gold. That’s the only way I could describe the thick shimmer that now filled every crevice of the blood-spattered, garbage-strewn lodge. If my hands had been free, I would’ve swept them through the golden haze to see if that glorious shimmer would coat my skin instead of merely hanging in the air, but I couldn’t move beyond stunted crawls.

Hekima did it for me. No, the bright shimmer that looked as if a cloud of gold dust had gently exploded didn’t stick to her skin. It also didn’t coat her hair or her clothes. It might be so thick that it made the room hazy, but somehow, it wasn’t tangible enough to touch.

Haldam turned toward me. “Stop that this instant!”

“I’m not doing it,” I replied with the absolute truth.

“Then who?” he demanded.

Who indeed? Was this some sort of spell from Ian? He was the only one who knew we were here, except for the demons who’d fled. But Ian hadn’t been in any condition to do this kind of magic, and demons didn’t flood a place with a strange, non-corporeal version of gold dust before they ambushed. Demon attacks were violent. Not sparkly.

Drops of light began falling into the thick golden haze. They hung in the air instead of dropping to the ground, looking like tiny stars against a golden sky.

Hekima gasped.

Xun Guan barked out an order for the remaining Law Guardians to protect the council. Soon, I couldn’t see the council members behind the rush of vampires that hurried to obey. All the while, more starlike drops filled the golden haze.

If this was Ian’s doing, it was his most impressive spell yet—

A beam shot down into the room, fast as a lightning bolt and twice as bright. I shut my eyes against the glare, then dipped my head when that still wasn’t enough. When the glow penetrating my closed lids dimmed enough for me to tell that it was no longer blinding, I opened my eyes, making out the darker silhouette of something tall and big against the golden-starred sky.