"You can't really blame them," Ariadne said. "I mean, if I was a slave and I didn't want to be, I'd do everything I could to get away." Then again, if she were bound as a familiar, she'd be utterly incapable of it.

Several of her aunts had found themselves in that position, or so she'd been told. Bound to sorcerers and magicians and even the occasional Elf who'd gone down a dark path. Forced to do terrible things. There was no way to break that bond, short of the death of the one who'd created it. And although no one had ever said as much, she was reasonably sure at least one of her aunts had committed murder to escape.

It was hard to hate her for it.

"But you said 'most.' Not all, right?"