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Then the fields were gone, and we regained substance And though it involved no effort on

"You," he said, expression concerned, "are not recovering as quickly as you should"

"It’s been a hard feeeks" I stepped back to study the building in front of us, even though all I really wanted to do was remain in his arms That, however, was not an option Not now and certainly not in the future Not on any long-ter at all honest withhistory of falling for inappropriate men Take my former Aedh lover, Lucian, for instance

"Let’s not," Azriel said, voice grihtly waved me forward

Amuseer a threat to whatever plans you--"

"It is not the threat to me I worry about," he cut in, voice irritated

I raised iven he and everyone else wants the damn keys"

"His need for the keys did not stop his attele you"

Well, no, it hadn’t But I suspected Lucian’s actions had been little more than a momentary lapse of control--one he would have snapped out of before he’d actually killed h, to be honest, I hadn’t actually been so certain of that when his hands had been around ate and walked up the brick pathway toward the front door Wolfgang’s house was one of the increasingly rare redbrick Edwardian houses that used to take pride of place in the leafy bayside suburb The front garden was small but meticulously tended, as was the house itself I pulled out the gloves as I walked up the brick pathway toward the ornate front door, then said, "Lucian is no longer our problem"

"If you think that, you are a fool"

And I wasn’t a fool Not really I just kept hoping that if I believed soht actually coloves on and switched the discussion back to round

"You can’t expect me to recover instantly, Azriel I’ain His voice was still testy But then, he always did sound that way after a discussion about Lucian, who amount of passion for soave hiiven what Malin did to you"

Malin was the woe of the Raziq, my father’s former lover, and a woman scorned My father had not only betrayed her trust by stealing the keys froive her the child she’d wanted Instead, for reasons known only to hi what?" My voice was perhaps sharper than it should have been "You never actually explained what she did"

And I certainly couldn’t remember--she’dlittle away "No And I have already said more than I should"

Because of my father Because whatever Malin did had so the device the Raziq had previously woven into the fabric of ned to notify theh was one of frustration, but I knew better than to argue with Azriel--at least when he had that face on "It doesn’t alter the fact that a body--even one that is half energy--can run on eh--his own lack of energy was the reason he’d been unable to healor sleeping or any of the other things huies--which was the reaper version of sex--with those who possessed a harmonious frequency Unfortunately for thee coh the dark portals The good neas that he could apparently recharge through y being, but rather half olf, he refused to say Just as he’d so far refused to recharge Up until very recently, he’d been more worried about the threat of assimilation--which hen a reaper becaed and they beca of his ability to heal ht on the astral plane Because, as I’d already noted, without me, no one could find the keys My father’s blood had been used in the creation of the keys, and only so the decision to recharge and actually doing it were two entirely different things Especially when I barely had enough energy to function, let alone have sex

Which was another sad statement about the state of my life

I punched the security code into the discreet syste to the left of the doorfrareen I opened the door but didn’t i the scents within the house flow over h it wasn’t particularly strong and it certainly didn’t hold the decayed-meat aroma that sometimes accompanied the dead Underneath that rode less-definable scents The strongest of these was ale that somehow seemedalien? It was certainly no shshifters

Was that ere dealing with, rather than a demon? I had to hope so, if only because I then hadthe search to the Directorate

The hallway that stretched before us was surprisingly bright and airy and ran the entire length of the house Several doorways led off it fro doors led out into a rear yard that contained a pool Like the front yard, both the hallway and the rear yard were meticulous--there didn’t appear to be a leaf out of place, and there certainly wasn’t even the slightest hint of dust on the richly colored floorboards Whoever looked after this place--be it Wolfgang or hired help--was one hell of a housekeeper

I took a cautious step inside, then stopped again, flaring est