I guess that made sense, even if the rest of it didn’t.
"You still have the locker key," he continued. "Go there today at one PM, and you will find further instructions."
"Why not just give them to me now?"
"Because my Razan foolishly set the wards for a brief window, and I am out of time." The smothering energy evaporated, and suddenly I could breathe again. "And the less I am close to you, the less likely the Raziq are to use you to come after me."
Yeah, right. There was more to these fucking games of his than just a need to keep his distance.
"And what happens once I get the book?" I asked instead.
He didn’t answer immediately, and his retreating energy became more distant.
"I must go."
"Wait!"
But he didn’t. I drew a shaky breath and slowly picked myself up from the shattered remains of the shower doors.
"Are you all right?"
The words emerged from the silence even as the heat of Azriel’s presence washed over me. Reapers, like the Aedh, were creatures of light and shadows, with an energy so fierce their mere presence burned the very air around them. And while they weren’t true flesh-and-blood beings, they could attain that form if they wished.
Which is how I’d come about. My father had spent one night in flesh form with my mother and, in the process, created me—a half-breed mix of werewolf and Aedh who was lucky enough to mostly get the best bits of both and few of the downsides.
"Do I look all right?" I said, trying to extract myself from the remains of the shower door.
Azriel appeared in front of me, taking my arm and holding me steady as my foot caught on an edge and I stumbled. His fingers were warm against my skin—warm and disturbing.