That’s the voice he’d first used to get my attention, and it was the one he now used to calm Janah. But when he switched to conversation mode, he adopted a more “normal” tone, one that would be a DJ’s dream, but not so spellbinding that you’d ignore what he was saying.

Finally, he changed to English for my benefit. He explained my mission, and with each word, Janah’s gaze un-clouded, as her mind cleared and focused. Then she turned to me, eyes narrowing.

“They send this one after her?” She snorted. “And they call me mad.”

I started to retort, but Trsiel cut me off.

“The Fates know what they’re doing,” he said.

“No, they do not. She will fail.”

“Perhaps, but—”

“She will fail. No ‘perhaps.’ This is a job for an angel, and she is not an angel.”

“Not yet.”

“Not yet what?” I said.

“This is her inaugural quest?” Janah leapt to her feet. “This is not—it cannot be—Fools!”

Trsiel tried to quiet her, but she lunged at him so fast I saw only a blur. Trsiel didn’t move. She stopped, with only an inch between them, and pulled herself up straight. She barely reached his chest, but that didn’t keep her from rattling off a tirade of invective—or what I assumed from her tone was invective, though she’d reverted to her own language. Trsiel put his hands on her arms, but she flung him off and stalked to her window.

“Without the gift, she will fail,” Janah said. “Do not ask me to lead her to her destruction. I will not.”

Janah dropped to the floor with a thud, pulled her knees to her chest, and turned to stare out her window. Even from across the room, I could see that stare go empty as her mind retreated.

Trsiel laid his hand on my forearm, and we zapped out of Janah’s room.

Trsiel didn’t take me back to the foyer, but to some kind of waiting area, empty except for two white armchairs.

“She’s right,” he said, dropping into one of the chairs. “You can’t do this without the gift.”

“What gift?”

He waved me to the other chair, but I shook my head.

“What gift?” I repeated.

“An angel’s power. Full-bloods always have it. The others get it when they ascend. The Fates must know you need it for this, so what could they be…” His voice trailed off, his brow furrowed.

“Is it the sword? I wouldn’t mind the sword.”

A tiny smile. “No, the sword is a tool. You’ll get that, too, when you ascend—”

“Ascend?”