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“You’ll be seeing him soon. I have more to share about him, but we’ll save that for the end of our conversation. We have many other things to discuss first.”

I tilted my head to study him. “I believe I’d rather stick to talking about Rasmus. Did he send ya to check on me?”

“Requesting my help was unnecessary. He knew I wanted to talk to you.”

I stood up, turned my chair, and sat again facing him. “If ya think ya’re going to convince me I shouldn’t keep stopping the bad humans from hurting the good humans, ya can save yer breath. I’m doing what I was born to do. Don’t make me call The Dagda to vouch for me.”

“That won’t be necessary. I already covered that subject with your father. He felt as strongly as you do about your timely intervention being the primary purpose of your life. I’m afraid my conversation with him did not go well. Your father thought I was crazy and asked me never to return. So I didn’t.”

Since his skin still glowed, I could see him plainly in the dark. “I don’t think ya’re crazy. Humans are still alive and flourishing, so yer kind must be doing a fairly good job of saving us from our stupidity. After hearing about the extended history of this planet, I can see humans are becoming like the Venusians. That can’t make it easy for ya to want to help us.”

The guardian spread his hands. “Humans are the most challenging species to guide since Dragons roamed the planet. Your love of conflict is especially trying to us. It holds your spiritual development back.”

“By spiritual development, are ya speaking of us meditating twenty-four seven? Or of us turning into little balls of light like the Venusians? I heard the full list of complaints from Rasmus so I’m aware of how ya see us.”

Hearing him laugh made me as happy as when I made Rasmus do it. Luckily, that’s where my feelings for this guardian ended. There was something about him—something eerily familiar. The idea that I was being complacent with a stranger set my teeth on edge.

“I like your wit, Aran of The Dagda.”

I smiled again. I could use his name too. “So,Orlin... was yer conversation with Da about the ring containing the Seal of Solomon?”

“Yes, but the ring he accepted without argument. The biggest part of our conversation involved a completely different sort of confession—one your father took to his grave with him. He never even told your mother about it.”

The recent memory Rasmus shared of Da fixing Ma’s rocking chair washed over me until I felt like sobbing. It had felt so real and lingered with me still. All the memories he showed me did. “My father loved my mother madly and completely.”

“Yes, he did. And she felt the same. He was a lucky man.”

I nodded. “Do I also get to hear your confession? I assume that’s why ya came to see me in person.”

Orlin lifted his chin and stared silently at me for a long time. His eyes glowed brightly as he pondered my words. When his eyes stopped glowing, he relaxed and smiled at me. “You are everything Rasmus said you were and more. Your aura is as powerful as you are.”

I smirked at him. “Why are all guardians so enigmatic when they speak? Ya drop these profound statements in conversation and expect the rest of us to spend our brain cells figuring out the significance. Can’t ya speak a little plainer?”

Orlin’s smile turned into a smirk. “Fine. Here is my message in the plainest terms I can say it. Aran O’Malley, I’m your biological grandfather.”

I sprang out of my chair and stalked away. I didn’t turn back until I stood in the dark. If Rasmus hadn’t been so brutally honest with me, I wouldn’t be giving Orlin’s confession any rational thought. But because Rasmus had been equally brutal, I couldn’t discard it.

“How can that be, Orlin? I thought such pairings were impossible. Rasmus told me horror stories that nearly wrenched the heart from my chest.”

“I also thought the pairings weren’t possible. Then your father was born.”

I rubbed my forehead. “Ya’re giving me a headache. To take this in, I need a story that makes sense.”

Orlin held out his hands. “Many years ago in human time, I fell in love with Murieann O’Malley, and we became lovers. I felt confident that I’d made my human form sterile so I never imagined children would or could result from our connection. My kind has learned to control the reproductive biology of any species form we are assigned to protect. This included all the species before humans.”

“Like Dragons and Venusians,” I said, letting him know I knew what hewasn’tsaying.

“Yes, like those and others,” Orlin replied, nodding at my answer. “Something happened to me when I was in guardian form shortly after your grandmother and I got together. To heal from the experience, I went into seclusion for the rest of Murieann’s life and most of your father’s. I had no choice, but that truth conflicted too much with what your father thought he knew about his origins. Eventually, we also realized that it had happened to more guardians than just me—and that it had happened through every species we mingled with over the years.”

“Are ya saying guardian-dragon hybrids are running around somewhere?”

“It is a possibility. The Venusians all left the planet together, so it is doubtful there are any of those hybrids remaining on this planet. However, humans and guardians mixed without issue and in nearly all mating cases a child was born. This led my kind to track down all females we’ve mated with in the last millennium or two.”

“That’s a lot of years, Orlin. I bet that was an enormous piece of research work.”

“We used your current genealogy programs. Nearly all guardians have an account.”

I laughed despite my shock. It wasn’t hilarious, but it was certainly odd enough to be funny. Just thinking of these nearly omnipotent beings using human science was laughable. I watched Rasmus change monsters back to normal humans. He stopped time from moving forward inside that lab building. Rasmus could do more than the gods I came from could do.