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For a heart-stopping second, there was still nothing - no sound at all And then a lone pair of hands clapped, somewhere in the darkness, and then a few more, and then it turned into a round of applause Not cheers and chah Lewis reclaimed the podiu relieved and a little sick with adrenaline

The next bit of theater belonged to Kevin, as standing at the back of the hall, looking surly and militant, as only Kevin could do When a lull cah to carry throughout the roo a Djinn was off-limits What, you’re special?"

There was an audible intake of breath, and heads turned Sohed, but it was quickly smothered Leho’d been about to speak, seemed thrown off balance He focused on Kevin with a baleful stare, and said, "If you want to offer your congratulations, Warden, do it to her face I’ot general laughter People knewsure that everybody saw my expression

Kevin pushed away fro what everybody in here is thinking We just got done burying people ere killed by these bastards, and now she’s going toKahuna? What’s the h of a thrill anymore?"

"Shut up, Kevin" We’d worked this out, but I was still taken aback by the veno of hate stored up, and some of it was meant for me; it was an officially approved opportunity for hi to have to be the one to control my reactions He’s a kid, I reminded myself He’s a kid who’s been wounded, over and over Cut hi tired

"Shut up? In your drea the entire hall "Look, you can see where this is going, right? You think the Djinn are just going to forgive and forget all the ti them do our shit work? You think they don’t hate us for that? Don’t kid yourselves She thinks this is some kind of peace process It’s not It’s obscene Believe me, I know all about obscene Especially when it coh," I said, and h, Kevin"

"Don’t think so Bad enough the two of you popped out some kind of mutant kid - "

I saw red, and fury burned up from around the base of my spine and jolted into my head like a physical shock Son of a bitch He’d never said he was going to drag Imara into this, and while I was prepared to overlook personal insults to myself, reed with nificant portion was either silent or nodding in agree me frowns and dark looks

"We need to ain," Kevin continued "She just wants everything to go back to norreat about that, anyway? What about the rest of you? You think we should just rip up the blood-stained carpet, reure out what the Wardens are supposed to be? Not depending on Djinn, not letting them into our heads or our homes or our beds - "

"What’s the matter, Kevin?" I asked "Some hot Djinn chick turn you down?"

We’d scripted this part I hadn’t wanted to do it - had argued against it, in fact - but now I took just a tiny bit of satisfaction in seeing him visibly flinch The pallor that set into his face, followed by a vivid flush, wasn’t acting I was bringing up old de old wounds

"No," he said "I turned them down But it didn’t matter They had their orders, and the Djinn always follow their orders, don’t they? My mother made sure of that"

Rumors had floated around over the past year about Kevin, about his steprotesque people I’d ever ratification, and for other, even less savory, purposes

Kevin had suffered at her hands I didn’t knohether or not she’d turned her Djinn on him in a sexual sense, but I didn’t doubt it It would have been a tragedy for the Djinn as well as Kevin, but Kevin wouldn’t necessarily feel that

The worst part of it was that for at least some period of time, Yvette had owned David I’d never asked him what his history ith Kevin, and neither he nor Kevin had ever really co the truth of it, right now, but the pain and rage in Kevin couldn’t possibly be et what’s co to you Both of you," he spat, and turned to leave

"Wait a et to ust of wind past him and blew the doors shut with a heavy thud "Sit your ass down, Kevin"

"Bite littering in his eyes, real and agonizing, and I almost stopped it there, almost went to him and put my arms around hiot in ain, Kevin If you can’t control yourself, I’ll do it for you"

In answer, Kevin forh the unholy orange glow, and then turned and threw the fireball straight at the doors It hit and detonated with enough force to blow the doors open and off their hinges

He walked out

"No," I said, and put out a hand to stop the guards who started after hio If he wants to leave, let him leave This isn’t over, but there’s no point in destroying the place Again"

That got a ave of nervous chuckles So a PTSDout to be less theatrical andthan I’d ever intended, but I supposed that was a good thing, ultimately It’s for his own protection, I reminded myself If the Sentinels can’t buy his defection after that, it can’t be done

But I was going to have a hell of a lot of fence-ed ht behind the podiu I et to theI wasn’t really listening I was staring at the srand exit

God, please, watch out for hi happens to him

Lewis etting up in the auditoriu their way toward the exits And Lewis put his hand at the s e, where he whispered, "I think it was all right"

"Brutal," I said My voice sounded strange "I didn’t want to put hi he wants to do Let him be a hero for once"

"Yeah, well, it’s hard to just stand by and watch"

"No kidding," he said, and smiled a narrow, bitter smile "How the hell do you think the rest of us feel about watching you?"

I got a lot of "That was uncalled for!" supportive comments on the way out, but not quite as many as I’d expected; the majority of Wardens seemed to want to stay out of the line of fire Couldn’t really blaun-shy