I glared down at the man, noting with satisfaction that one of his eyes was swelling shut. Gabriel must have connected with his fist before I’d made it around the back of the house. ‘‘All right, but only because if he got seriously hurt, you’d have to heal him.’’

‘‘Your consideration boggles the mind,’’ Drake said dryly as Gabriel, weaving slightly, took my hand and pulled me up next to him.

I looked him over carefully. There was a faint trickle of blood from his upper lip, and some nasty bruising on his throat, but the latter were fading before my eyes. ‘‘Are you OK?’’

‘‘Yes,’’ he said, clearing his throat at the roughness that resulted from the throttling. ‘‘I’m fine, although I would appreciate it if Kostya would tell me in advance when he declares a kill-on-sight status upon me.’’

The man I’d correctly surmised was Kostya got to his feet, assisted, I was secretly pleased to note, by no one. He listed a bit to one side, and his face had a battered appearance, but already his black eye was beginning to recede. He spat something out in a language that sounded Slavic.

Drake sighed and took Aisling’s arm. ‘‘Your assault on him was unwarranted, Kostya. We’ve already told you that Gabriel does not have the phylactery.’’

‘‘The phylactery?’’ Gabriel looked startled for a moment, then frowned. ‘‘What game is this, Kostya?’’

‘‘Come out onto the patio and we’ll explain it,’’ Aisling said, sounding and looking a bit weary. I thought Drake was going to carry her out there, but she gave him a warning look and made her own way out to the comfortable rattan couch that overlooked the garden and beach.

I wondered what it would be like to be so cherished. Despite my relationship to Cyrene, I’d always been alone most of my life—she had her sisterhood of naiads, and I had Magoth.

‘‘What’s wrong?’’ Gabriel asked, his voice warm against my ear as I took a seat. He stood behind me, one hand on my shoulder in a little display of possession that I found oddly appealing. ‘‘You look as if you’d just bitten a dung beetle.’’

‘‘I was thinking about Magoth,’’ I answered quietly.

‘‘Do not worry about him, little bird. All will be well there, you’ll see.’’