‘So, in practical terms?’
‘In practical terms—if I’m correct, of course—the mark on Mr Harker could be damaged, but the binding cannot be broken without access to the rest of the text. And damaging it could have unforeseeable consequences.’
I chewed a lock of hair and sipped tepid tea. ‘At least our mystery sorcerer isn’t very good.’
He set down his pencil and looked at me. ‘I’d say exactly the opposite.’
‘But you said it was untidy work? Improvised? Doesn’t that speak of someone who doesn’t quite know what they’re doing?’
He shook his head. ‘Rather like music, you have to be very, very good to make improvisation actually work. Flailing around with black magic is more likely to kill you than anyone else.’
He tilted his head back, gazing up at the ceiling in thought, his lips pressed
