"I am an expert at being a prat in a forest. I think it's my true calling," he says with all due solemnity before trying to figure where he was in her braid again. Over? Under? Oh well, might as well unravel and redo it.

"I know, 'Mione, but you're also going to find out some ugly things. Reul is Linn's father and Revenants eat people. Like with the vampires, we've worked out a way to manage that so no one ...well, Linn suffers for it, but the others don't."