Excerpt:

Kobegun grunted in rage and closed his hand of air, squeezing it tighter and tighter until he felt a burning that matched the hatred in his heart. He smashed his fist of air into the pile of dry straw gathered for the exercise. It burst into flame. He jumped back, terrified and elated at the same time. I did that!

"Good," said Gold-hair. "Now this is how you put it out." He brought his aura-wing down flat over the flames, and the fire went out.

"You want me to do what?"

"If you make it, you have to know how to unmake it. If you want to destroy something, you'd better know how to create it. Or how will you make things right if you've made a mistake?"

Kobegun just looked at him, uncomprehending. Fix a mistake? No Mongol prince ever admitted to making mistakes.

Gold-hair patiently pointed to another pile of straw. "This time I'll light it and you put it out." He suited deed to speech.

Kobegun did not want to put his wing into the fire.

"It's really simple," Gold-hair urged. "You make your wing solid, and just slap."

No, no, no. Kobegun wanted nothing to do with it. But he didn't resist when Gold-hair took hold of his wing and slapped it down over the fire. He felt the burn, and then the fire was dead. The awful sensation of mingled auras continued, however.

"You have to make your wing semi-solid, remember?" Gold-hair was saying.

Kobegun aimed a solid stiletto-shaped dagger of air directly into Gold-hair's eye. He was going to scramble some brains in that gold-maned head--

The pressure of Gold-hair's aura immobilized him, yet again.

"You will do what I say," Gold-hair's voice was very quiet. "Your probation isn't over for six months. If you fail that probation..."

Kobegun jerked away, and Gold-hair let him go. "I didn't mean--"

"Don't lie to me. You can't, anyway."

Kobegun felt shame burning him as though he were the pile of straw Gold-hair had ignited. To be known, so truly known, and seen... He looked back at Gold-hair, not bothering to conceal his hate. "You compel me now," he warned. "But just watch your back. You won't always be able to--"

"If you will not willingly serve the House, and promise to protect it, you will be destroyed. Don't try to fool yourself that it won't come to that. Or that you'll win. I am not the only Apkallu, and you have not yet met the eldest and greatest of us."

Kobegun's skin crawled at the thought of a power that could cow Gold-hair. He resolved to save his life for today. What good was immortality if it only lasted half a moon? "I promised," he said. "You just made me angry."

"You've promised privately, to me. You'll promise the people of the House at your Appointing, and keep your promises. Or you'll die, and be Forgotten."

Author BIO: Michaela August is a writing team composed of two Northern California authors, Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss. Despite living 90 miles apart, they've been collaborating for years, using telephones and the Internet.

Marian, a native of Northern California, lives in the wine country with her multi-talented husband (who after many years has gotten used to hearing, "Honey, do we have some wall space left for another bookcase?") As well as being able to make plum jam and chocolate chip cookies, she is a member of Romance Writers of America, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Karin was born in Montreal, Canada. She grew up in California and has traveled extensively in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia (including a stint in Sydney for two-and-a-half years, first as a university exchange student and then while working for a well-known software company). Besides traveling, Karin's other great interests are anime, baking, reading, history, and archaeology. Family members accuse her of writing historical fiction as an excuse to buy books and do research! Karin currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is owned by a small but very bossy parrot. She pays for the birdseed by working as a technical writer.