Erskine was approaching this whole check-up ordeal with the mindset of "It's already broken, don't break it any further." Yes, the cut on his leg still hurt, and probably more than it should, but Anton hadn't done a poor job of fixing it up. He'd certainly had worse. All in all he considered himself lucky for having not gashed himself any worse when he'd fallen with a straight razor in his hand.

He shook his head. "Anton trusts you. I believe you know what you're doing. But I also know you've never met Darquesse." He paused, letting the name linger on the air for a moment before continuing. "She's what we call a 'world breaker.' More powerful than any of the rest of us. Capable of magic you wouldn't believe. Darquesse is our doomsday scenario."

That little ball of light. If he'd known...

What then? Run? From her?

"I want you to know what you might be looking at. It's only fair to you. If there's anything left of her magic there's no telling what it might do. You could be killing yourself. You could..." You could trigger it again. Ravel took a deep breath, forced his voice to stay even, impassive despite the fear coiling around his heart. "Go ahead and do what you intend, Raine. But please, do me a favor. If I start screaming, and it doesn't look as if I'm going to stop, please kill me. I can't do it again."