“She doesn’t help the enemy on a real battlefield, I assure you,” Kieran said, his heart pounding warmth through him. “She’s not used to battles being games. The first time she used her magic was against my father. She fought an experienced Demigod’s army right out of the gate. With all due respect, to my people at this point…fighting inside an office building isn’t real fighting. It is like training, and when you train, you don’t aim to kill others.”

“Quite right, yes. Just so.” Zander fell into silence for a moment as they continued to walk. They were both still the objects of scrutiny, although Kieran noticed people seemed to be watching him for longer than his companion. “This thing with bringing people back to life… I’d thought she was the bringer of death. I haven’t heard about this other facet of the magic. What is it?”

“It’s not bringing someone back to life, it is more…keeping them from dying. She cannot heal a body, but as long as the body is sound, she can heal a soul. After Magnus and Aaron attacked us, her male ward was left clinging to life. I helped repair his body with my…magic, and she rebuilt his soul so that he would live. I could try explaining how such a thing is possible, but it—”

Zander waved him away. “Of course, of course. Broad strokes are fine.”

“Anyway, when it comes to spirit, she is a killer and a healer. She can take a life, or save a life. Her magic, when used with a sound mind and good heart, can do a lot of good. That is why I must keep her safe from those who would use her for mindless killing. She’s more than a blunt instrument, but she could be an extremely potent blunt instrument.”

Zander turned a little as they neared the exit, his eyebrows raised. “You must be forgetting who finally stopped the last blunt instrument.”

Kieran bent his head a little. No, he had not forgotten—none of them had—which was why he was trying so hard to help Zander see the good facets of Lexi’s magic.

“That young man—the last Soul Stealer—was not capable of doing any sort of healing,” Zander said, pushing open the door. His protection detail ran in from the side, perfectly in line. Kieran’s people came right after them, equally organized but giving precedence to Zander’s people. “He would not spare a life if he could help it. He was…corrupted. Mind and body, that young man was not right. Death was a blessing for him. If your Soul Stealer was anything like that…”

“That’s not the sort of person I’d want on my team,” Kieran said in a firm tone.

“Good, good. Yes. You have a level head on your shoulders. Your father and I didn’t see eye to eye on many things, but he was good at what he did. He was effective. I see he passed that on, and then some.” Zander stopped near his collection of golf carts, parked right in front. “You have a long way to go, let’s get that straight.”

“Quite a long way, yes. Today has humbled me in ways I wasn’t expecting.”

“As well it should. You are smart for realizing it. Tomorrow won’t be so packed. If you show well again, perhaps we will have you for dinner. Juri is incredibly taken with… What is her name? Your Soul Stealer?”

“Alexis.”

“Yes, Alexis. Juri is quite taken with her. She’s fascinated. Miss Alexis is so strange in her customs, and between us, I think Juri would like to take her under her wing.” Zander’s look turned severe. “That is, if you pass the formal investigation into that mark she wears. Your past with her is convoluted. We must protect her if that mark was placed without her consent.”

Kieran schooled his expression, keeping it neutral. He knew full well Zander didn’t give two shits about protecting a rare level five. He mostly followed the rules and laws, it was true, but not out of any softness of heart. The law was important because it helped keep order—if one Demigod was allowed to mark someone rare and special against that person’s will, it would open the floodgates for the rest of them to get greedy.

Thank heavens Kieran’s Soul Stealer loved him.

“I’d also hate…” Zander paused for a moment, looking out at the trees, as if wondering if he should go on. He straightened up, his shoulders tense. “I’d hate that Soul Stealer to fall into…the wrong hands. The last one’s owner was not as sly as he could’ve been. A Soul Stealer in…different hands would be…quite a situation.”

Kieran feigned indifference. He pretended not to know Zander was talking about Magnus. From the closed-door meeting, Kieran had picked up some conflict between the two. Conflict they didn’t advertise in the more public meetings or places. They were both masters of their craft, Kieran could tell, with a firm handle on their territories and their political goals, but they were coming at it from opposite points of view. Magnus was interested more in what he could financially gain, and Zander seemed to favor the overall wellbeing of his territory, money as well as general citizen prosperity.

Kieran wasn’t going to lie—he would’ve preferred if Alexis’s personal connection had been to Zander. Magnus was certainly the trickier of the two. However, if he could get an alliance with Zander, and Alexis could secure the cooperation of Magnus, maybe Kieran would find himself in a good (though incredibly dangerous) spot between the two.

Thinking like a true Demigod.

Kieran gritted his teeth and pushed his father’s voice away.