"Meaning, Hieu has tampered with this man’s memories."
No surprise there, I guess. Not when he didn’t want to be found. "That still leaves the problem of how the book actually got here. I mean, my father no longer has a flesh form, and though this doesn’t stop him from manhandling me, the fact remains that you can’t carry anything in Aedh form unless it’s in contact with your skin before you change shape."
Azriel nodded. His fingers were still resting against the rat shifter’s forehead, keeping him still, keeping him compliant.
"Hieu did not entirely erase the event from his mind. There are remnants." He hesitated. "I can show them to you, if you like, but it will mean I need to go into your thoughts."
"You do that anyway."
"That is surface sifting. This would be deeper."
I studied him for a moment, wondering at the wariness I saw in him. "Is it dangerous?"
"For you? No. But you are not happy with my frequent incursions as it is, and this might just strengthen the link that already exists."
Well, wasn’t that just great! But it wasn’t like I had another choice, not if I wanted answers.
"You always have another choice," he said softly.
I snorted. "You’re in my head one way or another, so let’s just get on with it."
His gaze lingered on mine for a moment, then he nodded and tapped the rat shifter’s head twice. The rat shifter dropped to the ground and didn’t move. But he was breathing, so he wasn’t dead.
"Handy trick," I muttered, crossing my arms in an effort to chase away the chill beginning to invade my bones. "Why didn’t you do that with the half-shifter in the locker room? Why use the ropes?"
"Because Razan are harder to render unconscious by this means. The rope achieved the same result, but with less effort."
Azriel stepped over the shifter and stopped in front of me. The heat of him washed over my skin, filled with the vague scents of musk and man. When he’d first appeared in my life, he’d smelled of nothing. Holding flesh was obviously changing him in more ways than what he was saying.