I rise from the table, pulling Sage aside, out the door and onto the deck for a private talk, or as private as we're going to get. Piers stays behind, though from the belligerent frown he gives me as I glance back, he would rather follow and maybe do something permanent to make Sage go away forever.

This independent streak of his seems to have triggered more than I expected.

Sage is just as stiff as my sorcerer friend, anger in ...