Grace's mind went in circles, trying to find a way out and every time hitting against the immovable fact that she was caught, and it was over.

"I'd love to hear all about your travels," Ruidic said, smiling that predator's smile of his, and his evident delight at scaring her made her want to drive her foot into his face. "Let's talk about them as we go."

She heard the Captain make a noise of displeasure, and looked over at him, silently pleading, desperate for him to stop this somehow, or at least delay it. Surely he had some authority here. He hadn't finished questioning her.

He looked back at her blankly, and seemed unaffected by her desperation. He spoke to Ruidic.

"Am I to take it that you'd like to remove this prisoner before I have finished interviewing her?" he asked, and Grace realised something then. He disliked Ruidic intensely, and was struggling to keep it hidden.

"I'm afraid the Queen needs to see her," Ruidic told him, turning his self-satisfied smile on Roschan. "She's been waiting for this one."

Grace heard the Captain sigh, and the little hope she had felt died.

"Very well. I hope I may have the opportunity of questioning her further at a later date."

"Anything's possible," Ruidic said, with a wink.

He took Grace by the arm with such a display of affection that she was sure Roschan wouldn't understand why she was being taken away. He wouldn't be able to see the strength of the grip at her elbow, so firm that it almost hurt.

She thought about those girls with power vanishing, and realised that she should be as much afraid for herself as she was for Benjamin. He had seen her hold the globe on the stage, and he knew what she was.

A wave of hopelessness hit her, and seemed to wash away every thought except one - that he hadn't taken Afi. If she trusted anyone to talk their way to freedom, it was him, and that meant that she had a chance. Though how Afi might help her now was beyond her. There was more than freezing water to drag her out of now.

Perhaps he'll just go back home, she thought. And she knew she should be happy with that thought. At least I won't have gotten him killed, too.

But she knew how much she wanted him to come and save her again, and she felt ashamed of the thought. She was supposed to be the hero; she was supposed to be rescuing Benjamin.

She had expected Ruidic to become sterner once they were out of sight of the Captain, but he seemed to be so pleased to have caught her that he led her to the intention wind plate in high good humour.

"I couldn't quite believe it when I saw you travelling over my head in Cartheno's Fields," he told her.

She clenched her teeth, thinking of how different it could have been if she hadn't woken for a few more hours, or if the Captain had taken her via a different route.

"I thought you would come, though I wasn't sure if it was your mother I should have been expecting. But whichever of you it was, I expected you to be picked up before you ever reached the city."

He shook his head, with the sort of admiring surprise Dad might show if she'd been particularly devious in a kick-boxing match. It seemed bizarre when he had captured her, and had snatched her brother away to trap him and drain his power.

"Instead, I see you inside the palace," he said, and laughed. "I knew you'd be resourceful."

They stepped onto the disc, and Grace tried not to panic as they were carried upwards. She had the sensation of travelling rapidly towards disaster, and still could see no way out. It spoiled the beauty of every new room she saw, one hot and humid and filled with pools of steaming water; and another dimmer than the infirmary, with what looked like stars on each and every side.

They were climbing as they went, and after a while Grace realised that they must be in the very upper reaches of the tower. Close to Benjamin, she thought with a twist of frustration. They slowed as they rose through a tunnel and floated into a room that was full of blinding light.

Grace squinted against the glare, and then looked around them with a gasp.

They were in a circular room a few hundred feed across, though it seemed more like a garden. There was grass underfoot and little stone pathways, and everywhere there were riotous plants and flowers, most at ground level but some climbing up invisible supports to make arches or little screens. Little channels of water ran between them, and she saw a bird light on an orchid close by, only to take off again.

The most extraordinary thing, though, was the glass. It ran the whole way around where there should have been walls or supports, and the roof was of crystal, so that there was nothing to keep the sun from shining in. And beyond the riotous greenery of the room was the whole Kingdom, laid out in dazzling, white, snowy glory with the glimmering trails of travelling winds hanging like a frosted cobweb across them all.

Ruidic had to nudge her to make her start walking again, though when she blinked at him, she saw that he enjoyed her admiration of this place.

"I made this room for her," he told her. "Can you tell? Do you see my signature on every petal and stem?"

Grace looked at it all as she walked just ahead of him on one of the stone paths, and realised that she could tell, in a way. The flowers were so large that they could never have been suspended by the delicate curling lines of the vines that held them, and the colours were so vivid that they almost hurt her eyes. As she moved into and out of the sun, different areas and colours were picked out. The showy beauty of it was really just another light show, but with only the Queen for his audience, she supposed.

And then Grace realised something she should have realised before. Ruidic was a boy, and he was riezehn. Why, then, hadn't he been put into the trance like the other boys? Why was he free to work his power where he chose? Was it only because he could see magic in others and bring them to her?

She looked at him, seeing his gleaming hair and the wild, tumbling colours in his eyes.

Every girl-child born with magic is a threat to her, Mr. Fredrickson had told her. Only those who are weak are allowed to live.

What about the power of the one free male riezehn? Wasn't that a threat to her too?

A darting shape whizzed past her, and she stood to watch a dragon-fly, its wings threaded with gold, as it hummed around her. It was only when it alighted on a blossom that she realised its body was really dozens of jewels all joined together, which caught and sparkled in the sunlight. Each eye was a clear sapphire, and she realised that its wings were silver spun fine, with gold run through it.

Ruidic was grinning at her, and his pride in his creation was almost as repulsive as his triumph had been.

"Every bit of it created with magic," he said, "and kept flying with it. If my power left it, the creature would become just a little pile of stones and metal."

Grace shook her head at him, beginning to find this place sickening. With a strong and unexpected rush of homesickness, she longed for the normality of her house on her street, with the real, irritating squirrels who sometimes threw nuts at her but which were alive and natural.

Ruidic frowned, momentarily disappointed by her reaction.

"It's a great work of craftsmanship," he told her. "I could teach you."

Grace gave him a humourless grin. She was pretty sure she wasn't being brought to the Queen so that she could learn magic.

Ruidic let out a little breath of annoyance, and then he gestured forwards.

She jumped when she heard, in the quiet air, the laughter of a child, and as she ducked under a spray of white and silver flowers, she saw a little figure running across the grass. His wild honey-blond hair reminded her a little bit of Benjamin's, though it was longer, and he was much younger. He couldn't have been more than three. And Benjamin had never radiated light as this little boy did. It shone of him in pulsing waves, and made it difficult to see his face clearly.

She stopped to watch as a lovely young woman raced out of the garden ahead, her cascading blue and white dress somehow staying out of the way of her feet, and caught him up. He squealed and squirmed in delight as she lifted him.

"Ha, you're my prisoner now!" she said, and tickled him while he writhed around, laughing with such an infectious sound that Grace couldn't help smiling. "What shall I do with you? Shall I take you to Ruidic?"

The boy screeched, and writhed more. The young woman was evidently used to him, though. She clutched onto him and kept tickling.

Ruidic laughed, and stepped past Grace onto the grass.

"What's wrong with being taken to me?" he asked, and took the boy himself. He growled into his ear, eliciting more squeals, and while he did so, Grace looked for the first time at the woman and realised that she wore a small circlet of silver in her black hair.

With a shiver, she realised that this beautiful young woman was the Queen.

But she should be much older than Ma, Grace thought, and then she remembered that she kept magic for her own use. Of course she would use it to hold on to her youth, if she could. Perhaps it had been the only way for her to have a child, too, since she must be too old now to bear one naturally.

Everything about what she was seeing disturbed her, though. Ruidic, the man who snatched children away from their parents, was playing with this little boy as if he were an older brother to him. And the boy seemed to love him as if he was his brother.

And the magic of the boy. How great must it be for him to glow like that? Ma had called Benjamin powerful and yet, to her, he just looked like a boy. He had none of the other-worldly glow of this little toddler.

After a few minutes, while the Queen watched and laughed, Ruidic put the child down. He protested, and clung to his legs.

"No, pick me up! Pick me up!"

"I need to show your mother something," Ruidic told him, and took his hands instead while the boy swung from his arms, kicking his feet off the ground.

Ruidic turned to Grace, and the Queen followed his gaze.

Grace stood frozen while the Queen looked at her. The youth and beauty of her face didn't seem to touch her eyes, which were ice-blue and knowing. Grace realised she was looking at the face the fortune-teller had showed to her, days ago, and that it scared her even more now than it had then.

The Queen suddenly smiled again, the same warm and merry smile with which she had watched the child.

"She came! And she looks just like Lena," she said, and she held out her hand towards Grace.

Grace found herself moving towards her before she had stopped to think. For a moment she forgot that this woman scared her, and she wanted to laugh with her and be embraced by her. She wanted her to be as kind as Ma, but happier and more forgiving too.

She stopped still in front of the Queen. Those eyes looked piercingly at her, and she felt a warm energy as the woman took her hand.

"I'm so glad you've come," she told her. "I've missed my Lena so much. And Ruidic has missed her even more." She turned the smile on Ruidic. "I think she will come back to you, now."

Ruidic gave her a nod, but as Grace looked over at him the feeling of adoration towards the Queen faded a little and she was able to see that he didn't quite believe it. And she realised, then, with a shock, that Ruidic was in love with her mother.

"She's strong, isn't she?" the Queen asked.

"Yes," Ruidic said. "Almost as strong as Lena, though she's still young."

The Queen looked at her again, seeming to be delighted by her. She held out a hand to stroke her cheek. "I knew she would be. Lena's daughter." She gave a little laugh, and then reached to lift the boy away from Ruidic. "Look, Ori. A girl."

Ori gazed at her shyly, his glowing face as sweet to Grace as Benjamin's or Maggie's had been at this age. She was dazed by all this, the unexpected warmth and the beautiful child. But as she watched the Queen kiss little Ori, she began to remember the True-Seer and that this was what she had been afraid of. She was being shown a perfect vision, and she had to remember that she couldn't trust it.

She began to understand why it had taken Ma so long to escape from her, and - suddenly - why she had been so very afraid of coming back.

She frowned, determined to think instead of feel. This woman had taken Benjamin, and no matter how much she loved her own little boy, she was heartless towards every other child she came across.

Ori looked at her stern face with huge eyes, and then his face crumpled, and he began to cry. In spite of Grace's determination, she felt a rush of guilt at upsetting him.

"Oh, what is it, Ori?" The Queen asked, twisting back and forth to rock him as he buried his head on her shoulder. "What's the matter?"

Grace heard the mumble, "She hates me."

"No," Ruidic said, with a frown, but Ori was crying loudly now.

"She wants to take me away from you, Mommy. Don't let her. Please don't let her."

Grace's mouth went slack as she saw the Queen look up at her with a changed expression. It was as if Grace had suddenly reared up and become a monster.

"She doesn't want to do that," Ruidic said. "Come on, Ori. She just wants her brother back."

The Queen turned and gave Ruidic a sad smile that made Grace's blood run cold. "No, Ruidic. He's right. She's Lena's, and she will turn on us. He sees something in her."

She gave Grace a fierce look. "She told you about Ori, didn't she?"

Grace shook her head, feeling as if everything had been turned upside down and she no longer knew which way the floor was.

"Ma only told me that you'd taken Benjamin, that's all."

"You're a liar," the Queen said.

"I'm not - "

"You should never have brought her here, Ruidic," the Queen said.

Grace looked over at the circus-master and saw that he was as confused as she was.

"But you told me to bring her," he said. "You said I could teach her, that she could come and find talent with me."

The Queen shook her head, and sighed with the sound of ancient wisdom. "I know what you want, Ruidic, and how you feel. But Ori is right. She is a girl-mage of huge power, and she is dangerous. Take her to the empty room."

"Please don't," Grace said, suddenly very much afraid. "I won't hurt you, Ori. I promise."

The little boy howled, and the Queen tried to hide him from her.

"Ruidic! Quickly," she said.

Ruidic stood where he was for a moment, and as Grace watched his face, she realised that he was able to feel more than delight or triumph or irritation. He was fighting with anger, and hurt, and something else.

If it hadn't been her own life they were fighting over, Grace might have laughed. To Captain Roschan, he had been unbearably superior about having the power to command him. But now he found himself in the same situation, and he hated it.

She wondered if he was going to argue. Despite how easy it was to dislike him, she rooted for him to argue.

But then he seemed to sag, as if giving up, and nodded.

"Of course," he said, and he took Grace a little roughly by the arm and led her away. When Grace looked back, the little boy was still crying, and his beautiful mother was shushing him and rocking him as she stroked his beautiful honey-blond hair.

**If you've read this far, I'd like you to know that I LOVE YOU. And if you haven't already done, I would love it still more (in fact, I'd be grateful beyond grateful) if you'd be willing to hit that vote button. :-) Hopefully, if you haven't stopped yet, you like it enough to vote... Here's hoping you can help me on my mission to get to that Fantasy Number One slot!!**