“Like what? What could you possibly do that would make it reasonable for you to go up against a god?”

“Stop saying that. I’m not going up against him. Just…sort of around him.”

“Explain yourself, Kat, for you doona make much sense right now.”

“Grey has been teaching me all about being a Djynn. And I’ve been learning. A lot. He taught me what he called ‘arresting’ magic. It’s meant to paralyze an object. Freeze them in place.”

“You want to cast magic like that against Apep?” Ahnvil scoffed. “He can probably break through something like that easily.”

“Maybe. But maybe if I draw all the energy I need for it from Adoma’s Amulet, maybe there’s something special in it that can give it a unique kind of strength.”

“That’s a pretty goddamn scary maybe! What if you just succeed in making yourself a target and pissing him off?”

“Well, it’s worth a try!”

“No, ’tis not. I doona want you anywhere near that god tomorrow. Hell, I doona want you there at all!”

“You’re not leaving me behind. I can be useful. I’ve learned how to cast energy blasts, how to phase through things. I’ve learned to arrest things in place! All of which can be key tools when battling the Templars. I’ve got some good tricks up my sleeve.”

“You’re a novice at being a Djynn. You only learned what you are a few months ago. You are not near good enough to go into battle. When people are getting hit, dying all around you…’tis hard, Kat, and I would spare you that. I would spare you from the danger as well. I canna fight for my Pharaoh if I’m worried about you.”

“I’m not staying behind. You have to trust me to know what I’m doing. To know what I’m capable of.”

“How can I when you’re talking abou’ going up against a god?”

“It’s going to be chaos, Ahnvil. He won’t even know it’s me.”

“He’s a fucking god! He’ll know!” he roared.

“Stop yelling at me!”

“Then stop being so bloody stupid!”

She gaped at him, shock and hurt striking through her. His expression became instantly contrite. “I didna mean to say it like that.”

“You said exactly what you were thinking! That I’m stupid!”

“I doona think your stupid, Kat lass,” he said gently. “I’m just…I’m bloody fucking scared. Tomorrow we’re going to lose a lot of good people. I doona want you to be one of them. I want to be able to come home to you tomorrow, on safe, sound ground.”

“No ground will be safe or sound if we all don’t pull together to fight this monster. You can’t exclude me because you’re afraid for me. I’m terrified for you. I know you’re going to be with Jackson, leading the charge. I don’t want you to go. But,” she said with a hard swallow, “I’m letting you go. I’m not going to ask you to stay behind. You wouldn’t be able to grant a request like that and you wouldn’t want to. It would be an unreasonable and selfish thing to do.”

“But, Kat lass, there’s a big difference between a battle-hardened Gargoyle and a novice Djynn half-breed.”

Again his words stung her. “Stop that! Stop making me out to be less than you are!” she cried, leaping out of bed and quickly slipping on her robe. He caught up to her just as she was striding into the sitting room connected to their bedroom. He hadn’t paused to put on something and so he stood naked before her as he stepped into her path.

“You’re no’ less than me, Kat! I doona think that at all!”

“You do! You just said so. There’s a difference between a Gargoyle and a half-breed Djynn. A large enough one to make the difference between me succeeding tomorrow and me possibly failing.”

“We’re all in danger of failing tomorrow. Individually we’re all weaker than someone else out there. None of us is so powerful that we are not in danger of failure.”

“Just some of us are weaker than others.”

“Aye, ’tis true and I willna say otherwise. And if you were looking at this logically you would say the same. But you’re taking this personally.”

“Damn right I’m taking it personally!”

“Kat, I doona want to fight.”

“Then stop saying mean and stupid things.”

“Aha! There now you said it. Called me stupid,” he shot back.

“I said the things spewing out of your mouth were stupid.”

“Those things are created by my mind so therefore you’re calling my mind stupid.”

“ ‘The one that harnesses Adoma’s Amulet will have such power as to make a god weep’! That’s what it says! I can’t ignore that and I won’t!”

She marched for the outer door and he again stepped in her way.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Away from you! I’m going somewhere where I can practice that paralyzing spell. Whether I use it on Apep or just on a Templar, I want to be ready.”

“You’re not using it on Apep!”

“We’ll see what Jackson has to say about that!” She ducked under his arm and shot out the door, slamming it in her wake. He couldn’t immediately follow her because he was stark naked and while that didn’t bother him, it might bother someone else if he accidentally ran into them in the hallway. He hurried into the bedroom to grab his robe, but by the time he got out into the hallway, she was gone and he didn’t know where she had headed. His first thought was Jackson and Marissa’s room. Sagan was healed now, so he was no longer using their room. It was likely they were in their own bed. Still, it was a while before sunset and they were probably still asleep.

If they were asleep.

Odds were, they were having just a difficult time of it as he and Kat were.

—

Jackson heard a door slam in the hallway, the punctuation to a shouting argument not too far away. He looked down at his wife and soul mate; it was clear what she was thinking. It was a wonder they all weren’t having arguments. The tension in the house was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

“It sounded like Kat,” she said.

He nodded. He thought he’d recognized the cadence to his lead Gargoyle’s speech.