“And you think that makes him a bad person?”

“Yes.” I turned back toward Carter. “Because I didn’t agree. I was willing to take the risk. He gave up.”

“Sometimes it takes more courage to know when to retreat than to keep fighting.”

“I don’t think it could have taken that much courage. He ended up with Maddie pretty quickly.” No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice.

“That takes courage too, forcing yourself to start over with someone new, to keep moving on with your life.”

“Seems more like a rebound to me.”

Carter took a long drag on his cigarette. “Seth didn’t leave and go to Maddie because he stopped loving you. If there were no complications in the world, you would be the one he chose. You are his ideal, his first choice.”

“That’s not flattering to Maddie.”

“It doesn’t make her less. It just means he loves her differently. And when you decide you have to move on, that’s how it is. Just because things don’t work out, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other people you can’t love. Love is too big a thing for you to go without it in life.”

“Oh yes,” I said. “I have so missed these cryptic conversations.”

Carter crooked me a grin. “I’m glad to see you’re back to your old self.”

“I’ve missed the sarcasm too.”

“No, I’m serious. You weren’t a lot of fun these last few months. You were kind of . . .”

“. . . bitchy?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. You were angry and depressed and frustrated. You stopped caring about the people around you. You weren’t . . . well, you.”

“You don’t know me or what I am.”

“I know you better than you think. I know you’re still hurting and think the universe has given up on you. It hasn’t. I also know that as far as all this demon business is concerned, your curiosity is going to tangle you up further in something you shouldn’t be involved with in the first place. Jerome,” he declared, “is a fool.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked eagerly, coming to a stop. “Who’s leading that cult? Who’s supposedly running this huge game that’s going on that I can’t see?”

“No,” said Carter, expression dark. “I don’t know any of that. But if I were you, I’d get back to Seattle soon. Stay close to Jerome.”

“He hates me right now.”

“No, he doesn’t. Stay close to him. He’ll protect you. If he can’t . . . well, I will. If I can.”

There was nothing romantic in his offer of protection. It wasn’t spoken with chivalrous fierceness. His manner was uneasy, like he was dealing with a last resort. I also couldn’t help but replay his last words: if I can. Angels—or demons—didn’t use the word “if” very often.

“What do you mean if—”

“Go back home, Daughter of Lilith.” He tipped his head back to stare at the night sky, blew smoke into the air, and then looked down at me with his silvery gray eyes. “We’ll talk soon.”