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mind.
    “No,” he replies. “There will be some who will give their lives to protect you, but there will be others who will have another purpose.”
    “What other purpose?” I ask.
    He avoids looking at me when he replies, “I can think of several. They think of you as a weapon. You are the perfect lure to draw out evil. They would like to use you whenever and wherever they see fit to entrap the Fallen. I’m in the way of that because I will not allow Dominion access to you. I believe that some will want you to return to Dominion, with or without your consent.”
    “Oh,” I say. Dominion wants me back and there will be a few of them with orders to seize the moment and make that happen. “So, my bodyguards could turn into my jailers, if given the right set of circumstances?”
    “Yes,” Reed replies as if he is proud of me for understanding what he is telling me. “We have not allowed them close to you for that reason, but we may need them now that our timeline has been bumped up.”
    I nod, “What about Brownie and Russell?” I ask, pulling away from Reed. Pacing the floor in front of him, I say, “They shouldn’t come back here, not with Brennus coming. He’ll kill Russell, after what Russell did to Ultan and Driscoll.” Brennus will torture Russell if he finds him because Russell killed several Gancanagh when he rescued me. Well that, and the fact that Russell is my soul mate, which seems to really bother Brennus.
    “We can protect them when they arrive here,” Reed replies confidently, but paranoia is setting in now. I feel weak and vulnerable.
    “Let’s go now, Reed. Let’s leave here, just you and me. We can lead Brennus away from here,” I reason. “That way, he will be forced to follow us and we can lose him—I know we can.” Then, at least Zephyr, Buns, Brownie, and Russell will be safe , I tell myself.
    “No,” Reed replies. “This is the best position for us. We will fight here, and you will be safe, and so will Russell. We will protect him,” he says, reading my mind.
    “I want to believe that, Reed, you have no idea how much I want to believe that, but I’ve seen what they can do. They walked right into my room at Dominion’s chateau, without any of the Powers knowing that they were there. Brennus is obsessed. He is like a spoiled child who has never been denied a toy before and he can’t stand it,” I explain, wringing my hands.
    “You are not a toy,” he barks and I flinch.
    “No, I’m not a toy,” I agree, as I stop pacing to look at him.
    A small sound from the wooden gate that connects our pagoda to the others registers in my mind right before Zephyr’s tall frame materializes just inches in front of me. He reaches out to me, grasping my upper arms and pulling me off of my feet to dangle before him. His brown wings are stretching out, blotting out everything behind him but the menacing looking hilt to a broad sword that is strapped to his back.
    “You are alive,” he states between panting breaths as his eyes rove over every inch of me, assessing me and looking for anything out of place.
    “Yeah,” I nod in a soft tone, smiling sheepishly while gazing into Zee’s ice-blue eyes. “You get my message?” I add, and then I bite my lower lip as his eyes narrow.
    “Explain,” he barks, but Reed steps between us, pulling me gently from Zephyr’s grasp.
    “Evie has a new ability that we didn’t expect. She can send out clones of herself,” Reed says, standing between Zephyr and me. “If your message was anything like mine, then…”
    “Is that what you are calling it? A message? It felt more like emotional terrorism to me,” Zephyr replies, piercing me with his stare.
    “Sorry, that’s what I was feeling when it happened,” I reply, feeling ill remembering Molly’s face. I brief Zephyr on what just happened. Zephyr grills me about every detail of the email exchange between Brennus and me. I watch the corners of his mouth lift a little when he asks me to