Stop it, X told himself. You're married to an angel. You shouldn't be even remotely starstruck.

And yet. No one ever planned on meeting more than one divine figure in their lifetime. Besides, being a little starstruck was a good distraction from what Raphael's shadow was doing.

"You haven't," X assured him. "And I haven't met you. You just remind me of..."

He trailed off. He could lie, and have yet another Dreamfolk here he needed to keep track of, or even avoid altogether. His instinct right then was to lie, and he was fairly sure that it was a leftover from Valdis's memories, a reaction to an overbearing guardian discovering that they're being rebelled against. But this was Aifaran; X didn't want to turn Aifaran into more of his home world, where he had to hide and lie constantly in order to survive.

He exhaled, and changed his mind. "... but I do know who you are."