"Don't be," he interrupted. "This atrocity was not of your doing."
No, but I was the reason he was here to witness it. I sighed. "I'm gathering the Rakshasa didn't appear?"
"No. But Hunter is right—it is still in its feeding stage. It will appear sooner or later."
Great, except I didn't have much of a later, thanks to the council threatening to kill me if I didn't catch this thing within the next seventy-two hours. And six of those hours had already slipped by. "What will we do if it doesn't appear tomorrow night?"
"I don't know." He hesitated. "But the council will not kill you. I will ensure that."
I smiled. "Because you need me alive to find the keys, right?"
I said it teasingly, but his only response was a flash of annoyance. He pushed away from the wall and said sharply, "Marshall comes."
"Azriel—"
The door opened before I was entirely sure what I'd been about to say. Marshall appeared, smelling and looking a whole lot fresher than I did. "I take it our Rakshasa did not make an appearance?"
He said it testily, as if it were our fault. "If it had," I retorted, standing up, "we wouldn't still be fucking here."
His eyebrows rose at my tone. "My, my, a little irritable this morning, aren't we?"
"I'm stiff, sore, and tired, and I just want to get out of this house of horrors before I'm tempted to violence."
Amusement touched his thin lips. "That would not be wise in this place. Not if you wish to leave it alive."
"Marshall, you have no idea just what I'm capable of. Now, can we cut this dance and just get out of here?"
His gaze skimmed me before it slipped to Azriel. He might not be worried about me, but the same could not be said when it came to my reaper. He shrugged and said, "This way."