I slammed the phone and returned to the shower. The absence of steam should have alerted me, but I foolishly stepped right into the ice-cold cascade. While I was talking, the shower had run out of hot water. Choking the shower pipe would not bring the hot water back, as satisfying as it might feel, so I turned the shower off and toweled dry. It was going to be one of those days.

I SAT IN ONE OF THE VISITOR’S CHAIRS DEEP IN THE bowels of the knight-protector’s office. This time Ted was not talking on the phone. Instead he regarded me from behind his desk like a medieval knight watching the besieging Saracens from the ramparts of his stronghold.

Moments stretched into minutes.

Finally he said, “I pulled your file from the Academy.”

Oh, shit.

“You had an e-rating,” he said.

E for electrum. Not that big of a deal, really.

“Do you know how many squires with e-ratings came to the Academy in its thirty eight years?” he asked.

I knew. Greg told me so many times that the number made holes in my ear membranes, but provoking the protector would do me no good, so I kept my peace.

“Eight,” he said, letting the words sink in. “Including you.”

I tried to look solemn.

Ted moved his pen two inches to the left, gave it a careful look, and leveled his gaze back at me. “Why did you leave?”

“I had a problem with authority.”

“A bad case of honor student ego?”

“It went beyond that. I realized that the Order was the wrong place for me and I withdrew before I had a chance to do something really stupid.”

In my mind Greg’s voice said with a touch of reproach, And so you became a mercenary, a sword for hire, without a purpose or cause.

Ted said, “You’re working for the Order now.”

“Yes.”

“How does it feel?”

“Well, Doctor, it feels rather sore and tingly.”

He waved my quip aside. “I’m not fucking around. How does it feel?”

“Having a base in the city is nice. The MA sticker opens doors. There’s a lot of responsibility.”

“It bothers you?”

“Yes. When I’m on my own, I screw up and my pay-check goes down the drain, so I eat what I grow until the next thing comes along. Now I screw up and a lot of people might die.”

He nodded. “Feel choked by authority?”

“No. You gave me a long leash. But I know it’s there.”

“Just as long as you remember.”

“That’s not something I would forget.”

“I’ve got a complaint from Nataraja,” he said.

I relaxed. The tide was changing. “Oh?”

“He claims that you’re avoiding discussing the case with them. He had a lot to say.”

“He frequently has a lot to say.” I shrugged.

“You know why he’s making noise?”