Kat turned her back on him and reached for Kamen’s arm, realizing it and his face had been peppered by shards of ceramic and were now bleeding freely.

“It will be fine,” Kamen assured her. “I will remove the debris and it will heal in short order.” His hand covered hers to reassure her there was no reason for her to worry.

“Doona touch her,” Ahnvil hissed, “if you are wanting tae keep that hand. You doona need both of them tae help us fix your fuckup.”

“That’s it!” Kat whirled around and faced him angrily, “I’ve had it! You won’t let people help me, you won’t even let them touch me, and you don’t even have any right! Especially not after you just left me to my own devices for reasons I’m not all that sure were all that important!” Unable to help herself, she threw all her weight behind a punch into his shoulder. Then another. She knew she was as ineffectual as a fly, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She began crying by the fourth time she hit him and she didn’t even know why. Finally she shoved at him, shoved him out of the way as much as she could with her tiny stature and suddenly he moved, as though she were his size and had shoved into him like a linebacker. With much surprise, he was pushed back hard into a near wall. Far enough out of her way to allow her to pass, running out of the house.

Ahnvil looked at Kamen with shock apparent in his amber eyes. He had felt that push from head to toe, not just in his midsection like she had physically done. What she had done was more. It was power. Pure power.

“What have you done tae her?” he asked Kamen, his voice low and terrible.

“It was done the day she was born. It has been there all along. Only now she has a tool to access it. And I would be careful,” Kamen warned. “She shattered that cup because she is raw and inexperienced and powerful. Half-breed or no, she will be a powerful Djynn once she starts to acquire more niks.”

“Your lessons will stop. She will learn from Grey or from—”

“SingSing? Let me know how that works out for you,” Kamen said dryly. “If she asks me to tutor her then I will. Threaten me all you like, it is her choice, not yours. Your issues with me are outside of this subject. Are you interested in fighting it out? I’m happy to oblige.”

Ahnvil clenched his hands into fists twice, his jaw working. Clearly he wanted to take Kamen up on the offer with every fiber of his being, but as reckless as he was, Ahnvil was a Gargoyle. He had been bred with the instinct to protect the man who held his touchstone in his care. That man was Jackson. Their ruler. And if Jackson needed Kamen to protect their little enclave, then he must be protected as well. It burned him, burned him badly to know that once again he was in the position of having to protect Kamenwati, just as he had when he had been Kamen’s slave.

Kamen stepped a step closer to him, leaning in to say softly, “I am no longer your enemy. Leave the past where it belongs. Only then can you move forward and find what you need.”

With that Kamen moved past him, leaving Ahnvil to stew in his words.

Kat hated crying. She almost never did it. She had learned long ago that tears did nothing to change things and were a waste of some perfectly good energy. But for some reason this had all crept under her skin. As she walked angrily down the long drive, blowing off steam through her pace, she tried to make sense of her emotions. She was so angry with Ahnvil for his antagonistic behaviors! He had ruined her very first attempt at being what she was born to be. Instead of lifting the cup she had blown it to bits and it had been his fault. Where did he get off, trying to tell her what she could and could not do? Yes, she understood he had bad history with Kamen, but that was exactly what it was. History. And it wasn’t her history.

And maybe he was right and she should be cautious around Kamen, and she would be, but having him teach her a few basic activities couldn’t really hurt anything. Could it? Then there was the issue of his disappearance. Where had he gone. Why? He’d made like he was needed for something but there had not been anything going on since the new Nightwalkers had left.

New. Old. Hell, they were all new to her. But she had brought them all together and that was something to be proud of. If not for her they would never have come this far. Would never have come to understand there was a curse at all. Whatever happened afterward she had done that much at least.

None of that had anything to do with her and Ahnvil.

What about me and Ahnvil? she wondered after a moment, her pace slowing considerably from stomping to a mild march. Just what was it she was expecting here? He had never made any declarations of any kind of feelings for her, and she had never asked him for any. She didn’t even want any. Why would she want any? He was so possessive of her as it was, she could just imagine what it would be like if he had actual feelings for her. It was understood, wasn’t it, that theirs was just a physical relationship? If that were the case, it had felt just a little one-sided a little while ago.

That wasn’t fair. So far he had been very attentive as a lover. And he had even made as though he were going to reciprocate … but something had gone wrong.

Before she knew it she had reached the edge of the drive, at the farthest end of the property. The house was very small in the distance now, and she was amazed at how far and how fast she could move when in high temper. She stepped out onto the main road. It could hardly be called a road, she noted. It was a dirt ranch road that led deep in toward the property. It made her wonder if all of the land was theirs. It might have to be, if attacks like the one at the airport were a common occurrence. They wouldn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

She was only a few feet down the road when she had that thought. All of a sudden she felt exposed, as if she had bitten off more than she could chew. She slowed, turned, and stepped back toward the drive.

Right when she did that, like a magician jerking back a cloth covering a levitating lady, a man appeared in her path. She sucked in a breath to scream, but he got hold of her in the next instant, slapping a hand over her mouth as he grabbed her throat. He barreled into her, taking her down to the ground, his full weight behind a knee that jammed up under her ribs. Her breath left her in a rush and it was all she could do to suck it back in through her nose. The next thing she knew he was grabbing for her pendant and went to rip it off her.

The punch of energy that left her body was tremendous. It sent the man flying up into the air with a scream of surprise. The necklace fell back down against her chest. Just as she was sucking in a breath to scream, a second man appeared.