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“I can tell you’re only being polite to me,” Orlin finally said.

I shrugged at his conclusion. “It’s been a long day and this is the best I can do with my attitude at the moment. Henry tells me there’s nothing wrong with fake politeness. I’m not convinced he’s right, but I’m trying it for his sake.”

Guardians descended from the sky like giant birds landing. I counted thirty-five before I stopped. What did the number matter? One or a hundred—they were all alike. They all thought the same.

I watched Orlin walk through the middle of them like a king. When he stopped, his body radiated the golden glow he had in his guardian form. Orlin ran his hand in a circle and a golden oval appeared. The energy brightened at the edges while it also flowed like golden clouds into the center.

Rasmus emerged from the portal carrying a woman who looked like him in his arms. It was the woman I’d watched him working on in my vision. A pleased looking Rasmus followed Orlin back to me.

Maybe I would have been less upset if he hadn’t left me without even saying goodbye. But he hadn’t and now I seethed inside at the unharmed sight of him. Yet I knew it would gain me nothing to be angry at him for any reason. My anger wouldn’t increase the guardian’s understanding of my feelings of abandonment. Fussing at him wouldn’t soothe the hurt in my soul.

I put a hand over my chest and felt a slight vibration. Rasmus might not know how I felt, but it seemed the Dagda stone did. The vibration calmed me enough to stop resenting my feelings.

But seriously… how could I be so elated to see a man who left me behind without even looking back? I could have died today. I almostdiddie.

I wasn’t up to dealing with this.

Rasmus should have waited until tomorrow. But what was tomorrow to him? He only cared about time when he was forced to vacation here.

“Is her name still Zara?” I asked.

“Yes,” Orlin said. “We left as much knowledge of shifter transitions as we could. We hope her natural curiosity to learn will make her want to figure out how to convert the demon wolves back into humans.”

“I hope so too,” I said. “Thanks for escorting them, Orlin. Don’t let me keep ya. I’ve got this.”

Orlin tilted his head. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. It’s not like Iactuallydied today. I just came close. But I’m fine now.”

Surprising myself, I stepped forward and hugged him. His arms came around me and squeezed back gently.

Then I pushed away to talk. “Rasmus can brief me on how to handle the situation. We’re going to be fine. I’m sure him having a sister will be yet another interesting experiment for him.”

Orlin nodded, glanced at Rasmus, and then moments later walked away. Despite the grossness I’d suffered with Hisser, I made myself watch Orlin’s violent change to his true guardian form.

I never flinched once. I even gave him a smiling wave.

I’d gone to see the guardians in a vision and they hadn’t known I’d been there. Now I knew for certain that they were not as omnipotent as they thought.

As one they all spread their wings and shot upward into the now early night sky like white rockets.

I turned to Rasmus and smiled as much as I could. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had.

“Henry’s put ya and Zara in two connecting bedrooms on the second floor. There’s a bathroom between ya for sharing. If she isn’t going to wake up in the next twelve hours, we can talk tomorrow. I don’t have the brain power for a detailed discussion this evening. My weak humanity caught up with me today.”

“How long was I gone?” Rasmus asked.

“Two weeks this time, I think. I was too busy to keep track.”

Then I walked away and waved for him to follow me.

“Whatever I did to hurt you, Aran, I’m deeply regretful. I wanted to be here.”

“Sure, ya did, Rasmus. And I’m sure ya’re just as regretful as ya were all the other times ya left without a word. I’m sure no one else could have fixed Zara. I can even respect ya for putting her welfare ahead of everything else. Work is the reason ya’re here on my planet, right? Resenting that would be illogical of me.”

“You seem angry at me but I don’t know why.”

I stopped inside the foyer. One of Henry’s demons appeared at the bottom of the stairway. Goddess only knew what Henry heard of our conversation or picked out of my tired brain, but the young demon smiled as he nodded to me.