"Destroyed or permanently incapacitated would work, as would killing all practitioners in the family. He won't release it willingly, and probably can't."

"I wasn't thinking he'd do it willingly. But—'can't'?"

Shrug. "Can't and won't blur together with his kind of Other, and release isn't really in his repertoire. Maybe if enough of his recent hosts thought differently?"

"But being ordered to do something he wouldn't naturally do is in his repertoire, one presumes."

"That would depend on whether he sees being conquered as the same thing as conquering. I suspect not, but I've only ever known him while he's on top."

"Maybe so, but the point is just that the concept is accessible. If it's unavailable... Well, his latest host has been taken recently, let's hope there's still enough humanity left for that."

"He certainly can't surrender. So to have any chance it would have to be framed as an exchange or a concession. He does have the concept of a treaty agreement, at least."

She nods.

"I have, ah, one other question that might be a bit... unpleasant to answer."

"Feel free, if you don't mind me thinking about whether to answer."

She nods. "What... are his weaknesses? Your husband's. Things we can exploit."

"Direct, aren't you? That's an advantage. Illusions are like enchantment. They're about subtlety, feints, misdirection. Anything approaching a slugging match he will lose— if you can separate him from allies like the Lord, the Eye, and the entirely mundane shotgun."

She nods. "And anything specific to him?"

"Not on the magic side of things. But my family are the least willing of the Lord's servants. If you can find out their orders, they will be glad to use any plausible leeway."

"They'd presumably be forbidden from sharing the specific wording, wouldn't they?"

"Usually only if it's known that you were taking an interest in them specifically. When they get written off as the Lord's agents or servants or right hand, there's little reason to hide it."

"Do you think you could figure it out and then tell me?"

"Are you planning to stay in contact? It's risky."

"Not necessarily stay in contact but we could probably arrange something."

She writes down a phone number. "This probably isn't being watched, but tracking phone connections is the kind of thing the Lord could arrange. For something untraceable... how are you with the other kind of connection?"

"I'm not an expert but I dabble."

"You can create a minor connection easily enough. Call someone by name, declare anything you can use to identify them, and command their presence. This works best if you expend part of a power source into the call. It is very impolite, both because of the implication that you can command and because the target finds it attention-grabbing in an unpleasant way, but in an emergency it can work as a signal. Signal me and I will not answer the summons but will contact you as soon as I safely can."

"Okay. You could do the same if slash when you figure out his orders?"

"Or I could just call you. From a pay phone while not being followed, same as if you summon me."

"That seems more straightforward, yes."

"That and I don't know your real name. Either or."