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“Of course not” Xero grinned “He was rich enough to have people who hiked for him”

I laughed, then a thought occurred “You don’t think his obsession with flying is a sign that he’s—you know—starting to like this place a little too much, do you?”

“Turning evil, you ht we decided that was a myth And no, I don’t think so He’s not any more evil than he’s always been anyway”

My eyebrows lifted “What do you mean?”

“Think about it” He shrugged, tugging gently on ed rock that stuck up in front ofmoney and a knack for brutal business That’s evil, to some But he has our backs, he’s saved lives, and he doesn’t want earth to be consuood He’s had opportunities to screw us all over for cash and he hasn’t done it”

“What opportunities?”

Xero slanced over his shoulder, then dropped his voice “There was a girl at the pub on Mönkh Saridag as completely certain ere supernatural in some way I think she saw soive up our secrets, and he refused Of course that was thousands of whatever currency she was using, and he’s rich so thousands is like—I don’t know—a dollar, but still”

“That’s not real convincing,” I said with a grin

Xero sobered “I’m not even supposed to know this next part”

“My lips are sealed”

“Your lips are…” He trailed off as his gaze lowered to my mouth, and a spark of fire lit in ry look in his eyes “Mston I overheard hi to one of his CEOs or CFOs or whatever”

“Oh?”

Xero nodded, a bead of sweat trickling down hisit away “He was pretty heated, I think, or I never would’ve been able to sneak up on hiuy on the other end came up with some kind of scheme to use supernaturals as a cash source Or the university Whatever it was, it would have involved selling out the school and blowing the lid off of the whole supernatural truth—and it would have resulted in billions or more”

I whistled “Okay, that’s convincing”

“Mm-hm And this was after we’d been here for a few months Besides, look at me I never turned evil Neither did Vee, and she’s been here a lot longer than I ever was”