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"The wrong--" I just stared at hi up as if referencing so "Yes, yes, that is the phrase"

"That is not the--"

"But you have to understand our dile to return to earth, so a few of us have been at pains to keep quiet, to avoid a general panic But you not only made that i an army"

"My mother wanted the--"

"Yes, and that was the point, was it not? Frankly, if our only choice is between Ares and Artemis, ould prefer the forh the hells are restricted His return would allow us time to considerextreme measures Your mother’s would not"

"So you killed Pritkin"

"It seemed prudent Whether you intended to return your lory, or to rule in her stead, you would need the incubus Few are able to transmit power as his line can, and Lord Rosier’s antipathy for your mother is well known I believe he would die before he would help her to regain her strength But his sonere not so sure of him Or of you"

"So you spied on me"

"We wanted to knohat you would do, once you were deprived of hi for your death as well But to others of us, that see to return and your record of opposing them in the past We required more information"

"Like what?"

"We wished to knohat you would do without the incubus Would you try to find another strong enough to replace hiain, and foro to soize? What would you do?"

"You knohat I did!"

"Yes We know And, for the first ti ofastonisho away But apparently, ancient demons leave when they want to

"At first, we did not understand," he told ht you would shift out when the witches had gone We thought you weregrandstanding? Is that the word?"

"Look it up," I told his out of bed

"But then, when you did note realized you would not, even to save yourselfit occurred to us that perhaps it is possible to be too cynical To forget that not everyone thinks as we do"

And he couldn’t have had that epiphany yesterday, I thought, pain twisting inAs if part ofon the floor I wanted to screas I wanted to cry and never stop I wanted hione so I could curl around my hurt

"You said several reasons?" I rasped

"Yes I wished, ished, to give you this," he said, taking out what looked like an eel-skin wallet, but probably wasn’t And handingfrom inside