One wall was lined with fitted cupboards, each with a full-length mirror. I turned and looked at myself in one of them. My jawdropped; I could not bel...ieve what I saw. It wasn't my reflection lookingback at me, but rather that of a youngish, fairly attractive woman!! Ivery nearly burst into tears, but remembered in time that I was wearingmascara!Anne stood smiling in the doorway. Clearly my reaction was not untypical."Do you like it?" she asked. "Like it; I love it!" I responded. "I neverthought. She wore a surcoat over a padded gambeson, and had an arming sword belted to her hip.“Yes, it did.”“It sounds like a strength spell. It’s exhilarating the first few times you cast it, until you get used to the effect and learn to compensate for it.”“I asked Venni to join us because she has experience with the types of spells you know,” Yelena said. “She’s a battle wizard.”Venni nodded. “You sound like one yourself, except for not being a wizard.”“Battle wizard?” Corec asked.“A wizard that. His boots stopped crunching against the frosty grass as he stepped out of the shade behind the cabin and he was grateful that he had them on. His feet were much more comfortable protected by heavy socks and cowhide than they'd been on his first trip outside this morning. Warmer, too.He reached the nearby trees, then turned right, intending to make an ever widening circle around the cabin until he either found her, or some trail indicating where she might have gone. He walked a few minutes,. A hunger I didn't want to acknowledge because I'd prayed faith would keep me strong.She was right of course about my thoughts. Uncannily accurate, but I fought for my sense of decency. To not admit I'd betrayed Emilia, even if it was only in my head. But the visions flooded back, swirled in response to the sight of Kay turning herself on above me. And moment-by-moment, what little resolve I had shrank, becoming more distant, harder to cling to, then evaporated.I clenched my fist and hissed,.