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Perhaps it will improve me.”
    Now she was scowling. “Well, don’t let Maga introduce you to any vapid society girls. Rich men’s daughters—stay away from them. They have no character and no conversation.”
    He was laughing. “Yes, angela. Anyone else I should avoid?”
    â€œAngel-seekers,” she said promptly. “Maga says they’re all over Cedar Hills, new ones arriving every day. She says she’s never seen so many, not at Monteverde and not in Velora. You want to watch out for them.”
    â€œThank you so much for the warning,” he said sardonically. “For, as you know, those are the sorts of women I’m most inclined to spend my time with.”
    She came a step nearer, serious now, neither frowning nor pouting. “Yes, but, Obadiah, you really should meet a nice girl, you know. You have too many friends, and not enough—close friends,” she ended lamely. “You have such a good heart. You need to find someone to share it with.”
    â€œExcept someone who is not an angel-seeker, and someone who is not a gently reared Jordana heiress,” he said. “Who exactly does that leave for me to bestow my heart upon?”
    She gave him a little slap on the arm. “I mean it.”
    â€œSo do I! Who’s left?”
    â€œAn Edori girl, maybe. Someone free-spirited and kind.”
    â€œIs that how you would describe yourself?” he said in a mocking voice. “For the Edori had the raising of you, and although they did pretty well with the free-spirited part—”
    She punched his arm again, a little harder this time. “I’m serious . You don’t want to fall in love with a—with a—conventional girl. She would be so boring.”
    â€œPerhaps I don’t want to fall in love at all.”
    She tilted her head to one side, studying him as if he was a block of marble and she was about to carve out a statue that she particularly liked. “Maybe I’ll just have to see to this myself,” she said thoughtfully, “since I don’t trust Maga’s taste, and you clearly are not willing to make the slightest effort. I’ll look around and see if I can’t find the right woman for you.” She straightened and gave him a warning look. “So don’t be falling in love while you’re gone. I’ll take care of everything.”
    â€œAngela—”
    â€œStop calling me that.”
    â€œRachel. I have no intention of falling in love with anyone. Suitable or unsuitable, beautiful or hideous, kind or unkind, Edori or mortal or angel or Jansai. I am content as I am.”
    She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He stepped back, willing himself not to show his shock and dismay. “No, you’re not,” she whispered. “But you never know when your life might change.”
    After that, of course, he couldn’t wait to quit the Eyrie at first light the next morning. Stupidly, he replayed the whole conversation a dozen times in his head, that night before he fell asleep and that morning as he flung himself from the high, breezy tip of Mount Velo. He manufactured a hundred different scenarios, recast the entire dialogue, so that she didn’t read his mind so well or say such unsettling things. In his mind, he had the gift of handling Rachel. But in reality he had never quite managed it.
    It was some comfort to know that no one, not even Gabriel, had ever figured out exactly how to handle Rachel.
    The flight was easy enough, for the weather was not bad. The air was a little thick and hot, but Obadiah was cruising at extremely high altitudes, in the zones where the temperature was just right for angels with their superheated blood, but cold enough to freeze mortal bones. Rachel, who did not particularly enjoy flying anyway, hated to be carried at such high levels and would always insist that her escort drop to a lower altitude.
    But it did not matter what