You’re not her jailor. You’re not one of the Furies. Punishing her isn’t your job.

And, when Pat was honest with herself, she had to admit that Hermia was not only personally charming, she had also experienced many things that Pat envied. World travel—even before gatemagery had reared its head. All the perks of being from a wealthy family. Superbly educated—far beyond anything available to Pat in Buena Vista, Virginia. And more than that—Hermia had seen Danny’s wide-open gates and followed him, then practically forced him to learn how to close his gates. She took bold action at the first opportunity, and then tried to help him.

Compare that to how Danny and Pat first met—at a high school lunch table, hiding her bad acne under long straight hair, and Danny’s first action was to heal her by passing her through a gate. And what was her response? Not helpful.

Here was the huge question that nagged at Pat all the time. Danny knew Hermia. Danny had learned from Hermia. So why was Danny in love with Pat, when Hermia was right there? Hermia was everything Pat had always wanted to be—pretty, outgoing, clever, funny, smart. What did Pat have that Hermia lacked?

It couldn’t just be that Hermia was years older than Danny. Nor that she was from a rival family. Neither fact had kept them from being friends. Danny was a normal heterosexual boy, he couldn’t possibly have missed Hermia’s prettiness. It was quite possible he was oblivious to the way Hermia made herself look available to him—the occasional touches, the looks, the covert eye rolls. As if she and Danny were the only two who got the joke, whatever it was. She was always including Danny in her conversation—even on the balcony, when she had already betrayed him, she was flirting—no, not flirting, but—yes, she was including him, making it clear that in some way she belonged to him. He couldn’t possibly be unaffected by that, even if he wasn’t consciously aware—Danny’s ability to remain oblivious was quite remarkable. Yet because Hermia was far better at it than Xena or Laurette or Sin, Danny never had to speak up to shut it down. Therefore he might be perfectly aware but simply chose not to respond.

Why didn’t Danny North fall in love with Yllka Argyros—called Hermia because she was a gatemage?

And was Hermia really in love with Danny, or was she just playing with him? Or was it something even more nefarious—was she playing him, running some sort of Greek-god con?

I’m jealous of her, even though Danny has never given me the slightest sign that he’s interested in anybody but me. I’m jealous because I know that she is the kind of woman who deserves a man like Danny, and I’m not.