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nothing can be foretold. He dismisses it entirely.”
    Irena swallowed, then vanished the remaining heart and the body of the deer into her cache. “I am of the same mind as the Doyen. And Michael is rarely incorrect about such things.” She cocked a brow and stood. “But it does not matter as long as Teqon believes it, yes?”
    â€œThat is what I hope.”
    â€œHave you found evidence of the prophecy? Any mention that did not originate from a demon?”
    â€œNot yet.” Nothing in the temples, nothing in the Scrolls.
    â€œKeep trying,” Irena said, as if Alice might have considered anything else. “The options you’ve chosen—there is no victory, Alice. Eternal torment or eternal prison. If you become mad enough, they will be the same.”
    Yet it would be fitting. She’d been thought insane when she’d made the bargain. How elegant that she would be reduced to insanity by it. “I shall spend eternity creeping around the room.”
    Smiling, Irena knelt and began washing the blood from her arms with the snow. “You are an odd woman, Alice.”
    â€œGiven enough time, I will be odder still. But even if my mind is gone, my soul would be safe.”
    Irena’s mouth reshaped into a hard line. “Our souls are never safe. Not so long as there are demons who know the prices for which we will sell them.” She scooped up more snow, roughly scrubbed her face and hair. Her ivory skin glowed when she finished. “I will help you as much as I can, Alice. But if you cannot face imprisonment, and choose to fulfill your bargain, I will kill you myself.”
    Irena had said the same twenty years ago, and so Alice was prepared for the sadness and dread the words stirred inside her.
    She concealed it remarkably well, she thought. “You may not have the opportunity. Very likely, a queue of Guardians will be waiting to take my head.”
    â€œThen I will push to the front.” Irena stood and looked to the east. Her wings sprouted from her naked back, the feathers a deeper, purer white than the snow around them. “I must deliver the meat to the village before dawn. Will you come to Seattle tonight? Charlie completed her training in Ashland, and Drifter wants to make an evening of it. I was to invite you if we met.”
    â€œI’ll come,” Alice said without hesitation, amazing herself. How simple that decision had been. Several months ago, only Irena’s nagging and her own curiosity had propelled her to meet the woman Ethan had chosen for a partner. But to Alice’s surprise, she’d been comfortable in Charlie’s company. The woman had a gift of putting anyone she spoke with at ease—a gift that Ethan shared.
    A gift Alice had never possessed.
    In any case, she needed to talk with Ethan. Not only would he know how to find Teqon, Ethan was also the Guardian most familiar with the prophecy—and he would ask few questions in return.
    Not that there were answers she could give. Or that she would give. Only Irena and Michael knew of her bargain. Her debt to Teqon made her a traitor at worst and a coward at best—and she’d never had the spine to tell Ethan or any of the other Guardians with whom she’d become close.
    Irena turned, her wings arching, and for a moment Alice was reminded of the statue in the temple. Then the Guardian lifted into the sky, signing a farewell.
    No, Alice thought. She had no answers. But if she were lucky, perhaps the photographs in her cache would finally offer a clue.
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    Blast!
    Alice firmed her lips before the curse escaped. It was shameful to lose her temper—even more so to lose it over a piece of godforsaken technology.
    She’d known trying to maintain a computer in Caelum would be more of a hassle than it was worth, but she’d been seduced by the cleverness of the machine.
    The photographs of the temple interior had transferred from camera to hard drive with