control

deeply, perhaps more deeply than she.
Then he said softly, "I am not yet strong enough."
"No." Rhoslyn put a hand on his arm. "Even together we could not destroy him."
Pasgen shook his head. "That we might accomplish if we put our minds and strengths to it, but I could not hold the domain together."
It was Rhoslyn's turn to be frozen into stillness. She had not sensed her brother's ambition previously . . . or she had denied it to herself. "Would you want to?" she breathed. "Would you want to rule the ogres and goblins and hags?"
"Would you want to set them loose without any control? Or see them in the hands of someone weaker and more vicious than Vidal Dhu?" His tone was savage, however, she knew it was not aimed at her but at their "guardian" and master.
Again Rhoslyn was silenced, but she reached out and put her hand on Pasgen's arm. She had not understood his sense of responsibility. She had not even thought of anything beyond the chance of being free of Vidal Dhu—and really, that was unlike her. What Vidal was doing to their mother had shaken her. She took a deep breath.
"You are right, of course, and this is no time to be at odds