Summary

Lightner informs the Mayfairs that he has been excommunicated from the Talamsca, and warns them not to trust their men. Michael, meanwhile, informs Aaron of what he learned from his visions of Oncle Julien. Later that night, Michael awakens to find that all of the guards and nurses have mysteriously disappeared; when he checks on Rowan, he finds Lasher standing over her, and shortly thereafter is interrupted by Lightner, Stolov, and a Talamasca man named Norgan. They refuse to let Michael kill Lasher and ask him to hear Lasher’s story.

Lasher explains that he was born in secret to a lord from Donnelaith, and that his birth was initially hailed as the hundred-year return of St. Ashlar before being regarded as something much darker. The religious order in Donnelaith wanted to kill Lasher—who they understood to be a Taltos—but he...