“You believe they have Mac,” Ryodan says.

“Undecided. One moment I felt her, the next I didn’t. Haven’t felt her since.”

“Worried about her.” It’s a question, though Ryodan’s voice doesn’t rise at the end. I wait expectantly for Barrons’s answer.

“No.”

I bristle. That’s it? A lousy no? Doesn’t he care? Is this what our relationship is going to come down to: me finding out while invisible that I don’t even matter to him?

“She’ll be back,” Barrons says.

“She’s a vessel for the Sinsar Dubh, has virtually unlimited power at her disposal, there for the taking. I’m not certain you or I could resist such temptation.”

He’s not? Shit, shit, shit. That’s it. I’m doomed.

“She managed it once. She’ll do it again. Mac’s got a light inside her that’s inextinguishable.”

I beam, feeling ten feet tall and bulletproof. If Barrons’s faith in me is that unshakable, I can do anything. Then I scowl. If he had so much faith in me, he would have trusted me to handle what happened between us that first day. Eyes narrowed, I flip him the bird.

Ryodan says, “She looked eighteen, nineteen.”

“Physically, I’d put her at twenty,” Barrons says. “Mentally, closer to thirty, in hard war years.”

If they’re talking about Jada aka possibly Dani, I agree with Barrons.

“She’s cold as ice.”

“You used to worry she’d get herself killed before she managed to grow up,” Barrons says. “Moot point now.”

“She’s fucking beautiful.”

Barrons studies him a moment then says, “Old enough for you.”

“That’s not why I watched over her.”

“Bullshit. We all saw the woman she could become. Just didn’t think she’d do it so quickly.”

“I wanted her to have— Ah, fuck, it doesn’t matter.”

“The childhood she missed. It’s gone. Adapt.”

Ryodan smiles faintly. “I loved watching her be young. Cocky. Swaggering around like she was invincible. She was supposed to have years of it.”

“She’s still swaggering. And feeling invincible.”

“She was healing. Until she and Mac fell out. It fucked with her head. I was going to be the concrete pillar that held up the roof while she redecorated her bunker. Give her time to choose who she wanted to be. Thought if I could keep her from having to make any brutal choices for a few years, she’d merge. Let her rebel against me rather than taking on the whole world. That opportunity is gone now.” Ryodan doesn’t say anything for a long moment. When he speaks again his voice is low, rough. “It’s as if my Dani died.”

I catch myself about to suck in an audible shocked breath. I may be unseeable but I’m not unhearable. The grief in his voice made me abruptly aware of my own. If Jada really is Dani, I’ll never again see that gamine grin, those sparkling eyes, listen as she mutilates the English language as only Dani can. The night I chased her through the Silver was goodbye, my last look at the teen I’d grown to love as a sister. He’s right, it is as if my Dani died. The fourteen-year-old is gone, just gone, never coming back.

“When do we abduct her?”

Ryodan carefully places the dark blade on the empty desk and looks up. “We don’t. It won’t work with ‘Jada.’ She’ll only get more remote, harder. Lor’s going to lose it when he sees her. He adored the kid.” He rubs his jaw and for a moment the only sound in the office is the scratch of rough beard against hand. I hold my breath, suddenly acutely aware of every noise my body might make. “Speaking of Lor, how the fuck am I supposed to get him back from being Pri-ya.”

Barrons says, “He’s not Pri-ya.”

“Mac said—”

“She lied,” Barrons says flatly.

Gee, could you rat me out a little quicker, Barrons?

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“There are a few things you didn’t tell me either. You knew Dani had an alter.”

“Mac knows too much,” Ryodan says, changing the subject.

“So does ‘Jada.’ It’s a different world now. Women are different. We evolve. As does our code.”

“Convenient for you. Tell that to Kasteo. Ah, sorry you stupid fuck, you chose the wrong millennium to try to keep the woman you wanted.”

“That’s not why we did what we did and you know it.”