Fae Farran leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile. The flower in her hair gave off a heady scent. Her diamond earrings glittered in the light from the tall window. “Shall we arrive at a compact, you and I? For I feel we are alike.”

“Do you.”

She laughed, a low, throaty alto sound. “Indeed we are, you old monster. I see the shadow lurking behind you.”

Nothing in her manner threatened; yet Oghor’s hackles rose.

Leaning back, she lifted a wine glass.“Years past, I swore an oath to keep that child safe. Let us make a compact to protect our mutual interest.” 

“I can promise not to harm him deliberately.” He raised his glass.

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s something, at any rate. We old monsters must hang together, mustn’t we? There aren’t many like us.”

He bristled a little at the comparison, although he couldn’t say why. Unemar knew, Oghor hoarded his own secrets. Why shouldn’t she?

“And your promise?”

She clutched the pendant at her throat in mock indignation. “You aren’t suggesting I would do the least harm to my very soul? I have sworn an oath. I will keep Ellyll safe.” At last he heard the slight edge to her tone, the implied threat: “No matter what.”

Thousands of years past, a heartbroken wizard stopped the world. The survivors rebuild on a tidelocked planet.