Mom closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deep. "He had one of those."
He being my father, obviously. "I'm told it's a Dušan, and that they protected the Aedh priests when they were guiding souls through either the light or dark path."
Something sparked in her eyes. Maybe hope, maybe something else. "So it's a good thing that you have one?"
"So Azriel tells me. He also has one."
"So who is sending out these Dušan, and where can I get one?" Riley commented, lightly touching my arm. Fire rippled across the dragon's scales, and if her eyes had been visible, I'm sure they would have gleamed.
"That is the million-dollar question," I said grimly.
Riley's gaze jumped back to mine. "Your reaper can't tell you?"
"Not when it comes to why we both got sent one. Did Rhoan run a check on the tattoo?"
She nodded. "Nothing came up, and it wasn't something Jack had seen before."
Jack being the vampire who ran the guardian pision, and the man who happened to be Director Hunter's brother. On a hunch, I asked, "Did anyone happen to show the tattoo to Director Hunter?"
Riley smiled and patted my arm. "You know, you would have made a damn fine guardian—although I'd kick your butt to hell and back if you ever decided to take that path."
"Only if I couldn't get to her first," Mom said, voice grim but amusement tugging her lips.
"Both of you know I've seen too many of Riley's scars to ever want to go down that path myself," I said drily, and once again thanked the intuition that had told me to keep the Directorate's approach a secret. She really would kill me if she ever realized I'd actually gone as far as doing some entry tests before I'd come to my senses. "So what did Hunter say about the tattoo?"
"That the tatt used to be the marker for the Razan—human serfs who tended to the day-to-day running of the temples that the Aedh priests lived in."
I blinked. Aedh priests lived in temples? "But Handberry wasn't fully human. And why hasn't Uncle Quinn ever mentioned them? Didn't he undergo priest training?"