Demon Forged

futures—knowing when they would die, how they would die. Especially as Khavi chose which information to reveal. To what purpose, Irena did not want to imagine.
    So they kept away. If that disappointed or grieved Khavi, Irena did not pity her.
    “And that is the goddess Astraea, I think? The figure with the scales?”
    Drifter shook his head. “I sure don’t know.”
    “Yes,” Irena said. She met the grigori’s eyes. “The one who sat in judgment of humans until she decided they were too evil for her to bother with anymore.”
    Khavi’s brows arched. Like the rest of her, they were thin and delicate. Appearances are almost always deceiving. “You believe she was weak?”
    To set herself up as a judge, but run when the task became too difficult? Her wisdom could not have been worth much.
    “Yes,” Irena said.
    Alejandro stepped closer, close enough for Irena to touch, and looked up at the Virgo. “She did her duty. She judged them all when she said they were evil. Perhaps humans should be grateful she didn’t also carry out a punishment.”
    “Perhaps people would’ve been more grateful if she had killed the evil humans among them.” Irena gave him a wry look. “You argue with the devil’s tongue, Olek.”
    “No.” Khavi’s smile had an edge that was sharper than amusement. “He sounds like an angel.”
    “ Angels? You’ve met—” Jake’s phone buzzed. He looked at it and grimaced. He caught Drifter’s eyes, then jerked his head toward Lilith’s office. “I’m heading in. You want a ride back to Seattle?”
    “I do.”
    “Okay.” With his hand in Alice’s, Jake backed away, pointed at Khavi. “I’m going to ask you more about that.”
    Irena held Alejandro’s gaze as Jake and Alice took their leave. Jake wanted to ask more about Khavi’s claim to have seen angels, but Irena did not care about that. There were no angels here. Only Guardians. Guardians and grigori.
    Though when she looked at Olek, Khavi seemed very far away. “Did you think I would pull my knives out?”
    “No. If it came to that, I think you would use your teeth.” His gaze settled on her mouth as if he expected her to snap her teeth at him—or to laugh. “If you will join me in the gymnasium, we will spar.”
    She laughed now, in surprise. “Slaying the nosferatu didn’t satisfy you? You’ve had a victory today; do you now look forward to a defeat?”
    “When did you last use your sword rather than your knives?” His smile came into his eyes. “You’ll find that I’ve improved.”
    She knew he had. “I’ve beaten you with only a knife before.”
    “That was before,” he said. “And you were not satisfied then. Now you will be.”
    Her heart pounded. When had he last challenged her? Before the bargain with the demon, before she’d created an iron room to keep Olek out, before she’d left him to burn it all. Now, finally, he challenged her again.
    The centuries fell away, and she was breathless, her world filled with him. Needing movement, she circled his lean form, her gaze measuring his length. Physically, he had barely changed. He still moved like smoke and flame.
    Except for now, when he was a statue beneath her gaze.
    “You are older. Which means that you use swords that are not matched to your speed or your strength. If we do this, I will measure you for new weapons.” She stopped behind him. His muscles were taut. Her fingers remembered gliding up smooth metal that was a match to his aroused form. “Or I will try to. It will be difficult to take your measure when you are begging for mercy upon the gymnasium floor.”
    “Did you wear braids then?” Khavi’s harmonious voice smothered Irena’s good spirits. “Or is that something you will do?”
    Irena held herself still. She wouldn’t anger just because the grigori had spoken to her. “Unless you have lied about being unable to see the past, then it must be the future, demon spawn.”
    And it couldn’t be Irena’s future. She would never wear braids again.
    “I saw it long ago, and it was not your future. I do not know when it happens. Perhaps it has, or it will.” Khavi drew her fingers down the sides of her jaw and brought them to a point a few inches from the end of her chin. “His beard was longer.”
    Alejandro remained still, but he was like smoke again, dark and gathering. “Mine?”
    “No. The demon’s whose future I saw. Though the rest of him was like you, the beard was not.” She drew the end of a braid to