"She did. And I saw her. Once. Briefly. It was because of the Goddess's intervention that that gods-be-damned Stark is still breathing and walking the earth."

"Stark followed Zoey to the Otherworld, and he lives?"

"He lives, although he shouldn't." As Kalona spoke he absently rubbed a spot on his chest, over his heart. "I suspect those meddling bulls have something to do with his survival."

"The black and white bulls? Darkness and Light?"

Rephaim tasted the bile of fear at the back of his throat as he remembered the slick, eerie coat of the white bull, the unending evil in his eyes, and the white-hot pain the creature had caused him.

"What is it?" Kalona's perceptive gaze skewered his son. "Why do you look thus?"

"They manifested here, in Tulsa, just over a week ago."

"What brought them here?"

Rephaim hesitated, his heart beating painfully in his chest. What could he admit? What could he say?

"Rephaim, speak!"

"It was the Red One--the young High Priestess. She invoked the presence of the bulls. It was the white bull who gave her the knowledge that helped Stark find the way to the Otherworld."

"How do you know this?" Kalona's voice was like death. "I witnessed part of the invocation. I was wounded so badly that I did not believe I would recover, that I would ever fly again. When the white bull manifested, it strengthened me and drew me to its circle. That was where I observed the Red One getting her information from it."

"You were healed, but you didn't capture the Red One? Didn't stop her before she could return to the House of Night and aid Stark?"

"I could not stop her. The black bull manifested and Light banished Darkness, protecting the Red One," he said honestly. "I have been here since, regaining my strength and, when I felt that you had returned to this realm, I have been awaiting you."

Kalona stared at his son. Rephaim met his gaze steadily. Kalona nodded slowly. "It is good that you awaited me here. There is much that is left undone in Tulsa. This House of Night will soon belong to the Tsi Sgili."

"Neferet has returned, too? Is the High Council not holding her?"

Kalona laughed. "The High Council is made up of na?ve fools. The Tsi Sgili blamed me for recent events, and has punished me by publically lashing me and then banishing me from her side. The Council has been pacified."

Shocked, Rephaim shook his head. His father's tone was light, almost humorous, but his look was black--his body weakened and wounded. "Father, I do not understand. Lashed? You allowed Neferet to --"

With immortal speed, Kalona's hand was suddenly around his son's throat. The huge Raven Mocker was lifted off the ground as if he weighed no more than one of his slim, black feathers.

"Do not make the mistake of believing that because I have been wounded I have also become weak."

"I would not do that." Rephaim's voice was little more than a choked hiss. Their faces were close together. Kalona's amber eyes blazed with angry heat. "Father," Rephaim gasped. "I meant you no disrespect." Kalona dropped him, and his son crumpled at his feet. The immortal lifted his head and threw his arms wide as if he would take on the heavens. "She still imprisons me!" he shouted.

Rephaim drew in air and rubbed his throat, then his father's words penetrated the confusion in his mind and he looked up at him. The immortal's face was twisted as if in agony--his eyes were haunted. Rephaim slowly got to his feet, and approached him carefully. "What has she done?"

Kalona's arms fell to his sides, but his face remained open to the sky. "I pledged to her my oath that I would destroy Zoey Redbird. The fledgling lives. I broke my oath."

Rephaim's blood felt cold. "The oathbreaking held a penalty."

He didn't phrase it as a question, but Kalona nodded. "It did."

"What is it you owe Neferet?"

"She holds dominion over my spirit for as long as I am immortal."

"By all the gods and goddesses, we are both lost then!" Rephaim couldn't stop the escaping words.

Kalona turned to him and his son saw that a sly glint had replaced the rage in his eyes. "Neferet has been immortal for less than a breath of this world's time. I have been so for uncountable eons. If there is one lesson I have learned over several lifetimes, it is that there is nothing that is unbreakable. Nothing. Not the strongest heart, not the purest soul--not even the most binding of oaths."

"You know how to break her dominion over you?"