He hadn’t bothered to deny it; she’d have felt the same. Just because he could, he slid his hand up her leg and let his thoughts go wandering through hers, relishing the sense of all doors opening to him – it had a thrill of its own. Naturally, his own mental doors weren’t all open to her, though she’d think they were. He’d constructed an elaborate false memory detailing how he’d anonymously gotten into contact with the Angel Killers and gained their trust – the last thing he wanted was for anyone, including Charmeine, to realize he had a link with the half-angel. A good false memory had the same vivid sensory details as the real thing; Raziel was quite proud of the level of attention he’d put into this one. Charmeine could have done something similar, of course, but he didn’t think she had. He could sense her loathing of the Council seeping through her almost every thought; there was no way she could fake that. Hiding it was just about possible, though not easy. It wasn’t surprising she was tired.

For a moment Raziel thought he felt a flutter of resistance. He gave Charmeine a keen look. She lay against the sofa cushions with her eyes closed as he explored, her face untroubled. The faint feeling was gone just as quickly. Probing further, Raziel decided it hadn’t been hiding anything in particular.

Then his hand froze on her leg as he came across something. What? He checked again; he hadn’t been mistaken. He stared at Charmeine wordlessly.

“I was wondering when you’d find that,” she said without opening her eyes. “They told us a few days ago; it’s why we’re spending three weeks in Mexico City. I always thought it was sort of a long time just to appoint a church head.”

Raziel shook his head, still half-lost in the images he was getting. “What do they think they’ll accomplish by such a thing? They must be insane!”

Charmeine sat up as she glanced at him, her expression ironic. “Let’s just say they’re very eager for angels to remain angels. They think being in this world is turning us all into base gluttons, who indulge ourselves for pleasure instead of necessity. They don’t want us mixing with humans too much, except when we absolutely have to.”