“The main spell is set,” she told Haida, her voice raw. She held the destruction of the world in her hand. “We are undone.” “Can you use it to destroy him?” asked the hobgoblin, ever practical. “When the sight of him turns my knees to water?” Ariana said bitterly. “He has changed me. Made me a frightened and powerless creature who is as obedient to his command as any of his hounds ever were. I cannot move against him in his presence.” Once, she’d been strong-willed and powerful, but now she was nothing, a shadow of what she had been—broken to her father’s will except in these stolen moments.
