He set the glass down. “Sarad Nukpana’s not someone I’d want in my head.”

“No one asked what I wanted.”

“And you want me to change that.”

“It’d be nice if you could help.”

Justinius straightened in his chair. “My not-so-illustrious predecessors didn’t have any luck turning that rock to dust, but then I like to think I’m a better mage than they were.”

“Do you have any immediate ideas?”

“Not a one. But Mychael just dumped this on me late last night. Brilliance takes time.”

“Time’s something I’m running out of.”

“Mychael said the rock’s not affecting you, and from what I’m seeing I’m inclined to agree.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Feeling evil?” Justinius asked.

“No.”

“Having an urge to overthrow governments, kill thousands?”

“No and no.”

“Take over the world?”

“Too much work.”

He laughed, a bright bark. Then the laughter was gone. “You sure you want to be rid of it?”

I knew the “it” he was referring to. Power. “What I was born with was working just fine as of last week,” I told him. “I’m a very good seeker,” I said with a meaningful glance at Mychael. “I’m an average sorceress. That was good enough for me, and I’d like to have that back.”

“Some of my mages would be foaming at the mouth to have what you have now.”

Justinius Valerian’s eyes had never left mine, but they changed focus, and I felt the barest hint of the power that’d earned him his title. He was seeing me inside and out. It was the type of seeing that’d earn any other magic user the business end of my fist. Considering who Justinius was, I thought I’d let him finish. He was just assuring himself that I wasn’t actually on the verge of a world-domination rampage.

“You’ll be fine,” he concluded. “But considering who your papa was, that’s not all that surprising.”