The Thief Who Wasn't There (Amra Thetys, #4)

by Michael McClung

I had to break this thing to my will, or it would be no use to me. If I couldn’t break it, and quickly, I’d have to kill it and try to take from it what I needed; and I did not have sufficient confidence that the extraction would be successful. The Art requires confidence virtually indistinguishable from egomania, or delusion.