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“Yeah, you got it going on.” He still smiled but was having a harder time hiding the worry. “When’s the big moment?”
“Not long. Maybe twenty minutes.” I shrugged. Then I grew more serious. “You want to—” I barely stopped myself from saying “see,” “—meet him, don’t you?”
He shifted. “You mean Mzatal?”
“Yes, Mr. FBI suspicious guy. Mzatal.”
A scowl curved his mouth. “Well, shit, Kara, you’re going off for half a year or more with one of these lords.” A hint of jealousy flared in his eyes that I knew was Ryan’s and not Szerain’s. “I don’t exactly have a lot of faith in them, y’know?”
Well, now I knew I was right not to mention getting jiggy with Mzatal. “I do know.” I smiled. “Which is why I’m going to let you come downstairs for the summoning if you want.” This wasn’t the first time I’d invited him to witness a summoning, but this time I had the ulterior motive of reassuring both Szerain and Mzatal that all was as well as could possibly be. That made the unknown risk of having the two demonic lords in the same room worth it. I hoped.
“Really?” He sounded like a kid who’d been told he was going to Disney World.
“Yeah, but this is different, Ryan.” I kept my face as sober as possible. “This is a demonic lord. You have to be totally naked for this.”
Ryan tilted his head in thought, shrugged, and then began unbuttoning his pants, grinning. I burst out laughing.
“I should totally let you meet Mzatal in the buff,” I told him. “That’d teach you.”
“It might intimidate him,” he said with a laugh. “Best not to antagonize him.”
I snorted. “With your ego perhaps.” This was what I would miss the most—the camaraderie and easy banter. Would I still have that with Szerain? I didn’t want to think about it.
“Okay, let me finish getting my stuff together,” I said. “Then you can carry it downstairs for me.” I gave him a sidelong glance. “That’s really why I’m letting you come: to carry my shit.”
“At your service, Miz Gillian.” He gave a mock salute. “You have anything ready yet?”
“The big duffel in my bedroom,” I told him. “I just want to grab the rest of the fashion magazines I bought for the zrila.”
Ryan headed off down the hall while I busied myself getting the last few things that I could think to bring.
A moment later I heard a groan. “Jesus, Kara,” I heard from the bedroom. “Is your whole house in here?” He hauled the duffel out of the bedroom, staggering comically under the weight.
“If you want to head to the basement with it,” I said, “I’ll be down in just a few to get things started.” He gave a nod and tromped down the stairs.
I grabbed a few more things and was about to head downstairs myself when Zack came out of the guest room and quietly closed the door behind him. I flicked a glance behind me to make sure that Ryan was already downstairs, then leveled a slight frown at Zack. “Are you going to let him be present for the summoning?”
He gave me a small nod. “I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” he said. “But then again, it just might be.” He shrugged. “Better if I’m close by in any case.”
I smiled in relief. “Thanks. Makes me feel better about it too.” I headed to the kitchen, trusting him to follow. I grabbed the bag containing the rest of the coffee. “What happens now with your oath to not talk about Szerain’s exile?”
Zack shrugged. “I won’t speak directly of that which is not known to you, but it’s pointless to avoid what’s already clearly revealed. If I’m named kiraknikahl for something as asinine as that, so be it.”
I snorted. “Sounds reasonable to me,” I said, then took a deep breath. “I can sense Szerain more now.”
Zack leaned against the kitchen doorway, folded his arms across his chest. “Kind of like putting the lug nuts back on the wheel. Sometimes you forget to tighten them all down.”
“Hunh. Hate it when that happens.” I gave him a slight smile, then sobered. “You’re Rhyzkahl’s ptarl.”
He gave me a single nod. I stayed silent for several heartbeats while I tried to figure out what I wanted to say. “Has he ever done anything this—” I gestured to myself and the sigil scars, “—extreme before? Did you know he…?”
“I knew Rhyzkahl had chosen that path,” he replied in a voice heavy with pain. “It is part of the reason I am here, rather than there.” He shook his head. “But he has travelled far along it in the years I have been on Earth.”
“Did you know he had such designs on me?” I asked, eyes intent upon him.
His eyes dropped to my upper chest, and the pain in his eyes seemed to deepen. “I did not know he had come to this. I swear it, Kara.”
My gaze stayed on Zack for a few more heartbeats, then I nodded. “Y’all need to watch out for Katashi and his people.” I gave him a quick rundown of the Katashi and Gestamar summonings and our subsequent retrieval of the reyza.
