She smiled upon him. It was not a pleasant smile.
‘Favin,’ she greeted him. ‘I am somewhat displeased with you.’
He was not given time to respond. Ootapi struck, winding itself around Favin’s spirit in a paralysing grip. Radinka’s stolen body stiffened and froze — for an instant. But Favin gathered himself and fought; Ootapi hissed and shrieked with effort and pain; and Nanda had no time to think.
Ideally, Favin ought to be expelled from Radinka’s body and captured. His judge ought to be The Shandrigal, or perhaps The Malykt, for he and his brother had transgressed mightily against Them both. But Nanda had never been faced with such a problem before; there was no clear way to proceed, no precedent for how to prevail.
So she acted on instinct. She reached for Radinka’s face and gripped
