Demon Forged

welled.
    Irena didn’t flinch, didn’t change expression, but he saw the subtle way her weight rocked back on her heels.
    “Becca!” Both Alejandro and Hugh barked her name. Dru said it in her sharp, quiet manner.
    “Quickly, Becca,” Dru continued. “Do not saw your way through. Chop.”
    Irena’s lips parted. The breath she sucked in trembled with her pained laughter. “Thank you.”

    Irena vanished the blood as the novices returned to the gymnasium. At the end of the hall, Hugh and Alejandro signed to each other—so that the novices would not overhear them, Irena guessed.
    She walked with Dru to the hub and did the same.
    Pim was ready, Irena signed. Dru had guided the novice through the healing, but Pim hadn’t needed guidance—she’d only needed the confidence that Dru’s presence had given her. Yet you could not do what must be done. Is it because you are in love with her, or because she is with you?
    Dru’s flush didn’t provide an answer. It could have been either—or both. If Dru didn’t return Pim’s feelings, she still might be sensitive to them. Combined with her natural inclination to heal rather than harm, such feelings would make the healer hesitate to practice with the novice. And if Dru loved Pim . . . it might be impossible to practice in the manner they needed to.
    Dru sighed. Before the Ascension, someone was always injured from practice or during assignments. Always. We didn’t have to chop at each other.
    You should speak with Hugh. He’ll find a way to help you.
    Dru laughed quietly. He’s been trying.
    But Dru was stubborn. Affectionately, Irena tugged at the healer’s blond hair, then rose up on her toes to kiss Dru’s forehead.
    “Your feelings do you credit, too,” she said, and laughed aloud at Dru’s embarrassment.
    Her laughter died when she saw Lilith come through security and into the hall beyond the offices. The other woman looked tired despite her brisk stride and the precise clip of her boots on the tile. As she walked, she pulled at the back of her hair, and the black coil at her nape unwound over her shoulder.
    “Alejandro, Dru. We’ll debrief in my office.” She glanced at Irena. “You were with Taylor.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then I imagine her report isn’t accurate. If you fill in the details she left out, it’d be helpful.”
    “I will.”
    Lilith nodded. “I’ll be with you all in a minute.”
    Irena supposed that was an order to wait for Lilith in her office, but she turned and watched her walk toward the gymnasium, instead. She passed Alejandro, went straight for Hugh.
    “You didn’t swear. Was that difficult?” Hugh’s amused voice traveled down the long hallway.
    Irena couldn’t see what Lilith signed to him, but Hugh laughed softly, shaking his head. “Do you want me to come in with you?”
    “I’ll fill you in on everything tonight, and we’ll decide how to go from there.” Lilith reached him, touched his arm, then his chest. She signed again, and whatever it was had Hugh studying her for a long moment before he pushed her back into the wall. Irena looked away as his mouth took Lilith’s.
    Alejandro stopped beside her. They surprise you, he signed.
    “Her,” Irena said. “Not him.”
    “You surprise me, too.”
    Had he expected her to tell the hellspawn no? She frowned at him. “A woman is dead, Olek.”
    “Yes,” Lilith said. She walked away from Hugh, but held on to his hand until distance forced her to let go. Not looking so tired anymore—and well-kissed. “And we need to know if they shot at her husband because he’s a congressman, or because he’s a demon.”
    Alejandro stepped back, allowing Lilith to pass between them. “If they knew he was a demon, they wouldn’t have shot him.”
    “Unless they didn’t know a bullet wouldn’t hurt him.” Lilith pushed open the door to the office she and Hugh shared.
    Irena hadn’t been in the room before, but it fit the occupants well, a mixture of old and new. Modern computers with blade-thin screens sat on heavy wooden desks. She shouldn’t have been surprised that books lined two walls—both Hugh and Lilith were readers. Irena glanced at the other two Guardians. Alejandro always studied, and even now Irena could see the flat outline of a paperback in Dru’s lab coat pocket. Three Guardians and one former demon stood in this room, yet Irena was the odd one out.
    And feeling out of place—but Caelum was familiar. She moved to the right, toward the wall covered