FROM THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF SEBASTIAN JAMES FAIRFAX

I hear the clock strike three. There is no rest for me this night.

They are looking for me. The women who were once my servants now pursue me with deadly hate. And you, my darling girl, they hate you too.

When I remember them, and my past dealings with them, my heart sickens. But these women, these Dark Sisters, whose hearts and minds I once controlled, have moved beyond my influence now. My powers have faded.

Even so, I must rise from this sickbed; I must venture out and try to warn you—to stop them—I must.

I can’t—

I can’t—

Oh, Evie, Evie, where are you? All I want is to hold you again, to protect you from what I have done to you. I would give anything to be able to walk and ride and run as I once did. Perhaps this is a punishment, this weakness, for my being so arrogant as not to realize my good fortune in the days of my strength.

My body is weak. My mind is fading. But my love is strong, even now.

I must tell you—I know what they want, those deadly women.

Oh, it looks so harmless, so innocent! A pretty trinket around a pretty throat, that is all. A simple necklace, to be admired and then forgotten.

How it burned me when I tried to touch it, the night you first showed it to me.

The pain seared my mind but opened my eyes to the truth of who you were and what your necklace was. Then I knew how Agnes had contrived to keep her greatest secret from me.

Oh, hide it, hide it from me! The Dark Sisters are not the only creatures who desire the Talisman. I also long for its silver tracings. I long for the depths of its crystal heart; I long for its powers that could set me free. Let no one see it. Let no one touch it. Keep it from them.

Keep it from me.

Hide it, Evie, hide it, before it is too late—