Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce owns all of these characters; I do not.

He saw her. Uusoae, Queen of Chaos, exactly as his parents described her. He stared at her, entranced.

She looked at him, her empty eyes taking quick glances at his face. He did not flinch, like most mortals would. He needed her help.

"Why have you come?" she rasped at him.

He raised his head to look into her eyes. "I know that you hate my parents," he said boldly. "And I need to work in my revenge. I need your help, and you need mine."

Uusoae glared at him. "I can kill them without your help," she said hoarsely. He could tell she was lying, and she knew it. She changed her form to an eagle, with a human's head. "Why have you come to me now?"

He smiled.

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Rikash Salmalín ran his fingers through his brown curls. His sister, Sarralyn, would be returning from her stay in Corus today. Of course, his parents would dote on her. He stared at the floor.

He had thought the previous night about contacting Uusoae, who had come to him before, three years ago, asking him to help her have her revenge on his parents. He had refused. But now he wanted his parents to suffer, and he had wanted to talk to Uusoae.

And so he had a dream, but he knew it was more than a dream. He had magical powers, but even if he didn't, he would know it was another encounter with the queen of Chaos.

His father, Numair Salmalín, interrupted his thoughts. "Your sister is here," he told his son, with a note of pleading in his voice. Rikash had been distant for the past year, and if anything would revive him from his state, seeing his sister again would. He had not kept any contact with her since she left for Corus a year ago, but when his mother, Daine, had asked him what was wrong, he had insisted that there was no problem.

Rikash glared at his father, with a look of hate in his eyes, causing Numair to step back. "Will you see your sister?" the mage asked, looking a little hurt.

The boy looked down, feeling a twinge of guilt. He cursed himself silently. He could never forgive his parents for what they'd done to him. He forced himself to stare his father in the face. There was one thing he could do to really hurt them. The thing that Uusoae had suggested, but he had rejected. Now, he realized it was the only way.

"Of course," he said, with a nasty smile on his face.