“Oh,” she whispered, and for a moment I was sort of struck stupid by the fact that she had managed to kill a daimon. And as I stared at Josie, her expression said she was also a bit surprised by it too.

The dread that had formed in my gut earlier now churned viciously. Completely stupid, but there was a huge part of me that didn’t like that she had killed a daimon, that she was even in the situation where it had to go down. Damn stupid. Because Josie had been created to be a weapon. There’d be a lot of killing in her future.

“Well, there you go.” I steered Josie around. “Check you guys later.”

Josie grumbled something under her breath when I started walking, tugging her along with me.

“Seth, this isn’t—”

“Not yet.” My voice was a low warning. “I don’t really trust myself to speak to you right now.”

Her gasp of outrage was audible as I led her around a dead daimon. “I think you’re completely overreacting!”

“And I think you don’t understand the words I just spoke to you.”

She tried to pull her hand free. She didn’t get anywhere. “You do realize that I’ve been training to fight? And that I’m a demigod? Oh, yeah, that’s right! You haven’t been around to know—”

“Gods,” I stopped suddenly, causing Josie to stumble. I caught her other arm, steadying her. “Do you have any idea what I felt when I turned around and saw you standing there with a damn dagger in your hand?”

Her gaze searched mine intently. “But that’s my duty.”

“I don’t care.” And the moment the words were out, they were the damn truth. “You’re not ready for this.” I dropped her arm and gestured to the mess around us. “And you could’ve been hurt. Or worse yet, this could’ve been a trap and one of the damn Titans could have been blowing through the Covenant right now, and if that had happened again, I would’ve—” I cut myself off, unable to go there. My heart felt like it had stopped when I saw her, and it still felt like it was trying to recuperate.

“You what?” She sucked in a soft breath. “Why do you even care? You—”

“You don’t get it.” Twisting around, I started walking again, pulling her along behind me. We made it past the main Covenant building before she spoke again.

“You don’t need to hold my hand.”

I shot her a look. “Apparently I need to. If not, who knows where you might end up?”

“I’m not a child,” she spat. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I beg to differ on that account.”

Josie tried to pull her hand free again. The end result was the same as before. “You lost your hand-holding privileges, Seth.”