Maggie blinked. It sounded impressive the wayhe said itbut more impressive was the way Sylviafroze and then whirled breathlessly.
"What?"
"It's happened. They've been threatening for amonth, but most people didn't believe they'd reallydo it."
Sylvia put a hand to her middle, pressed flatagainst her stomach as if to hold something in.Then she sat on the fur-covered bed.
"They've left the Council," she said. She wasn'tlooking at Hunter Redfern.
"They've left the Council and everything else.""All of them?"
Hunter Redfern's fine red eyebrows went up.
"What did you expect? Oh, a few of the blackestpractitioners from Circle Midnight are arguing, butmost of them agree with the liberals in Circle Twilight. They want to save the humans. Avert thecoming darkness." He said it exactly the way Maggie had heard lumberjacks say, "Save the spotted owls. Ha!"
"So it's really beginning," Sylvia murmured. Shewas still looking at the stone floor. "I mean, there'sno going back, now, is there? The Night World issplit forever."
"And the millennium is upon us," Hunter said,almost cheerfully. He looked young and...personable, Maggie thought. Somebody you'd vote for.
"Which brings me to the question," he said smoothly, looking at Sylvia, "of when you're goingto find her."
What her? Maggie's stomach tightened.
Sylvia's face was equally tight. She looked up and
said levelly, "I told you I'd find her and I will.""But when?You do understand how important this is?"
"Of course I understand!" Sylvia flared up. Herchest was heaving. "That's why I was trying to sendher to you in the first place-"
Hunter was talkingasif he didn't hear her. "If it gets out that Aradia, the Maiden of all the witches,is here in the valley-'
Iliknow!"
"And that you hadher and let her slip throughyour fingers-"
"I was trying to bring her to you.I thought thatwas important," Sylvia said. She was bristling and distraught. Which was exactly what Hunter wantedher to be, Maggie thought dazedly. He really knows how to play people.
But the analysis was faraway, in the shallowestpart of her mind. Most of her consciousness wassimply stricken into paralyzed amazement.
Aradia.
The Maiden of all the witches.
So it wasn't Arcadia at all, Maggie thought. She might have mentioned that,after I've been calling her Cady for days. But then she hasn't been conscious much, and when she was we had more urgent things to talk about.
Aradia. Aradia. That's really pretty.
The name had started an odd resonance in hermind, maybe bringing up some long-forgotten mythology lesson. Aradia was a goddess, she thought.Of... um, sylvan glades or something. The woods.Like Diana.
And what Maiden of all the witches was, she hadno idea, but it was obviously something important.And not evil, either. From what Hunter was saying, it was clear that witches weren't like other NightPeople.
She was the maiden Bern and Gavin were talkingabout, Maggie realized. The one they were supposed to deliver. So Sylvia was bringing her toHunter Redfern. But Cady herself told me-I mean, Aradiatold me-that she was already coming tothis valley for a reason.
Before she could even properly phrase the question, her mind had the answer.
Delos.
In a coincidence that lifted the hair on Maggie'sarms, Sylvia said, "She won't get to Delos."
"She'd better not," Hunter said. "Maybe you don't realize how persuasive she can be. An ambassador from all the witches, coming to plead her case ... she just might sway him. He has a despicable softspot-a conscience, you might call it. And we know he's been in contact with the human girl who escaped with her. Who knows what messages the little vermin was carrying from her?"
No messages, Maggie thought grimly. Not withthis vermin anyway. But I would have carried themif I'd known.
"Gavin said Aradia was still unconscious fromthe truth potion-that she was practically dead,"Sylvia said.
"I don t think she could have given any messages. I'd swear that Delos doesn't know she'sin the valley at all."
Hunter was still brooding. "The witches have oneWild Power on their side already."
"But they won't get another," Sylvia said doggedly. "I've got people looking for her. All the nobles are on our side. They won't let her get toDelos."
"She should have been killed in the beginning,"Hunter mused. "But maybe youhave a soft spotfor herlike you do for that human boy."
Behind the linen curtains, Maggie stiffened.
Like you do.Not like you did.And who else couldthe human boy be?
She gritted her teeth, listening so hard she couldhear the blood in her ears, willing them to talkabout Miles.
But Hunter was going on in his smooth voice,"Or maybe you still have some loyalty to thewitches."
Sylvia's pale face flushed. "I do not! I'm finishedwith them, and you know it! I may be a spellcaster, but I'm not a witch anymore."
"It's good to see you haven't forgotten whatthey've done to you," Hunter said. "After all, youcould have been a Hearth-Woman, taken yourrightful place on the witch Council."
"Yes..."
"Like your grandmother and her mother beforeher. Theywere Harmans, and so was your father.What a pity the name isn't passed through the maleline. You ended up being just a Weald."
"I wasa Harman," Sylvia said with muted ferocity. She was staring at the floor again, and sheseemed to be speaking to herself rather than toHunter. "I was. But I had to stand there and watch my cousins be accepted instead of me. I had towatch half humansbe accepted-be welcomed.They took my place-just because they were descended through the female line."