"Well now," the big man said. "If it isn't the little mageling."

Valina froze in a brief wave of panic before she banished it. That moment may have been to her benefit, because the man didn't move toward her, instead taking the time to do up his trousers and turn in her direction; perhaps he thought she wasn't a threat. His long black hair hung all the way down to his stomach, loose and unbound. Several thick, separate strands of it partially obscured his face. She calmly raised ...