Solos looked up from where he was checking out a fallen Sentinel. “You take out a daimon with it?”

She glanced down at the dagger and then nodded, surprising me. “Yeah, I . . . I took out a daimon with it.”

“Then it’s yours,” he said, sighing as he rose, brushing his hands off on his pants.

“Oh,” she whispered, and for a moment I was sort of struck stupid by the fact that she had managed to kill a daimon. And as I stared at Josie, her expression said she was also a bit surprised by it too.

The dread that had formed in my gut earlier now churned viciously. Completely stupid, but there was a huge part of me that didn’t like that she had killed a daimon, that she was even in the situation where it had to go down. Damn stupid. Because Josie had been created to be a weapon. There’d be a lot of killing in her future.

“Well, there you go.” I steered Josie around. “Check you guys later.”

Josie grumbled something under her breath when I started walking, tugging her along with me.

“Seth, this isn’t—”

“Not yet.” My voice was a low warning. “I don’t really trust myself to speak to you right now.”

Her gasp of outrage was audible as I led her around a dead daimon. “I think you’re completely overreacting!”

“And I think you don’t understand the words I just spoke to you.”

She tried to pull her hand free. She didn’t get anywhere. “You do realize that I’ve been training to fight? And that I’m a demigod? Oh, yeah, that’s right! You haven’t been around to know—”

“Gods,” I stopped suddenly, causing Josie to stumble. I caught her other arm, steadying her. “Do you have any idea what I felt when I turned around and saw you standing there with a damn dagger in your hand?”

Her gaze searched mine intently. “But that’s my duty.”

“I don’t care.” And the moment the words were out, they were the damn truth. “You’re not ready for this.” I dropped her arm and gestured to the mess around us. “And you could’ve been hurt. Or worse yet, this could’ve been a trap and one of the damn Titans could have been blowing through the Covenant right now, and if that had happened again, I would’ve—” I cut myself off, unable to go there. My heart felt like it had stopped when I saw her, and it still felt like it was trying to recuperate.

“You what?” She sucked in a soft breath. “Why do you even care? You—”

“You don’t get it.” Twisting around, I started walking again, pulling her along behind me. We made it past the main Covenant building before she spoke again.

“You don’t need to hold my hand.”

I shot her a look. “Apparently I need to. If not, who knows where you might end up?”

“I’m not a child,” she spat. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I beg to differ on that account.”

Josie tried to pull her hand free again. The end result was the same as before. “You lost your hand-holding privileges, Seth.”

“Holding hands is a privilege?”

“Damn straight it is.” Her hand squeezed mine until the bones in my hand started to grind together. “Especially with me, and if I remember correctly, you said you were done with me.”

I sighed. “Josie—”

“And you told me not to embarrass myself,” she continued, her voice rising as we passed a group of Guards. “You’ve said that you didn’t want to do any of this with me anymore. So, you don’t—”

Stopping suddenly, I faced her as I pulled her to me, chest to chest. I wasn’t thinking as I cupped her cheek with my free hand and tilted her head back. Not a single thought occurred when I lowered my mouth to hers.

I kissed Josie.

She stiffened against me, and I marveled at the softness of her lips, the sweet taste of her mouth. Fuck. It had been weeks since I’d held her like this. Kissed her. Tasted her. Her chest rose sharply against mine, and in the back of my head, I knew this wasn’t right. My chest was covered with blood. So was hers. People moved around us, and I’d hurt her once before, in ways she didn’t even realize.

None of that stopped me.

The tip of her tongue touched mine and the punch of arousal nearly took my knees out from under me. I groaned into her mouth as I slid my hand back into her hair. The kiss deepened, and it was a nearby shout that brought me to my senses. I lifted my mouth from hers, leaving a hairsbreadth between us.

“What . . . ?” she murmured.

My lips brushed hers as I spoke. “It was the only thing I could think of to get you to stop talking.”

Tension locked up her muscles. “That . . . that is really wrong.”

Yeah, she was right.

Drawing back, I realized how lucky I was that she hadn’t stabbed me with the dagger she now clenched in her right hand.

Lips tingling, walking was a bit harder now, but I kept hold of her left hand, and she was quiet. Kissing worked. But at what cost? I shouldn’t have done that. I’d hurt her again.

And I was as hard as a titanium dagger.

Gods.

The dorm came into view, thank the gods, and the Guard I’d threatened on the way out looked relieved when I passed him by without introducing his head to his own asshole. Lifting my free hand, I tapped into the wind element and opened the doors for us. The act didn’t draw attention from the halfs and pures congregating in the lobby, separated by a—oh shit.

I stopped short. So did Josie, and she stared at the same thing I did. A very new addition to the lobby, in the form of three statues. Each of them was about seven feet tall, made of pure marble. They looked like three angels praying, hands folded demurely under their chins and wings tucked close to their backs. Expressions serene for now, but I knew if that stone started to crack, the looks on their faces would be far from that.