"So no chance of redemption?"
"No."
"Good." I crossed my arms and watched Ilianna. But I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.
"You would make a good Mijai," he said, after a few moments.
I snorted softly. "Why? Because I feel no remorse for the bitch when the thing she raised stole a little girl's soul?"
He half smiled, but it was oddly sad. Something inside me wanted to weep—not for him, but for me. I rubbed my arms and tried to ignore the sensation of fate staring out at me from the blue of his eyes.
"Because you do not quibble with what needs to be done. You simply do it."
I snorted softly. "Yeah, that's me all over. Decisive and proactive."
"You have the heart of a warrior, Risa, even if the outer shell dabbles with weakness."
The sound of my name on his lips was somehow ominous. I met his gaze again. "I decided several years ago I didn't want to be a warrior, Azriel. That hasn't changed. I just want to keep running our restaurant and have a normal life."
His gaze moved from me, and yet that sense of fate bearing down on me didn't ease. "Sometimes we must do things we do not want to."
"Like you having to follow me around?"
A smile flirted with the corner of his mouth. "Yes."
"Why is that? And why, if you've been following me around incessantly, did you not step in and stop the Aedh from kidnapping me?"
His gaze met mine again. His face was still impassive, but there was an odd sense of impatience rolling off him. "You have already guessed why I did not step in to rescue you—having heard what your father said, I wanted to see how the Aedh would react. But once they took energy form, I was unable to track them or rescue you."