"Controlling a body isn't that difficult on the face of it," she explains. "I've done it myself, for extensive periods of time. But Protesilaus Ebdoma passed for alive, for weeks, in front of an audience of the best necromancers in the system. At least I had the excuse of veils and a vow of silence for my charade."

"She claimed to have had help from the best adepts in the Seventh House, but that assistance could not have survived a trip through space. It just doesn't hold up. And when I broke the enchantment on the body, the backlash alone should have killed her. That is where the power discrepancy lies."

"It would require less power to steal the construct than animate it herself, but to control and maintain it would still be a tremendous load. Especially because when it killed the Fifth House representatives, she was still controlling Ebdoma as well."

"That's why I initially theorized she was working with the Sixth. But I've ruled that out. Now I think she must just be some monstrous prodigy."