Thepes closed his hand around the pale strand.
His own blood was still caught farther along it. He could feel those scattered drops, just as he could feel the blood he had placed inside the bodies below.
He pulled.
The drops moved toward him. The strand brightened around them, and something else entered his palm with the returning blood.
Power.
His damaged arm filled out at once. The hollow left by Lolth's blow closed, easing the pain beneath his ribs.
Thepes tightened his grip.
Until now, he had been striking a body that repaired itself faster than he could tear it apart. The light woman had barely paid attention to him after breaking his arm. She had looked toward the ships as though they mattered more.
He had watched the threads brighten each time someone was caught.
That was how she kept coming back.
The power in the strand entered his blood. His heart beat harder, driving it through the same body that had swallowed the buried ritual's power.
He knew how to use it.
