This was not a comforting reminder that Leo could see the aspect Devin carried, and he was privately grateful the young man had not pressed about it.

"Most of the people I engage with in my world are predisposed to want to murder me anyway, so it wasn't particularly unfamiliar as a situation," Devin remarked dryly. "I am as aware now as I was then there were other things I could have done."

The inan shoved her face against his leg, trilling. This argument is not going well, insofar as neither of them is likely to change their position. Devin closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling slowly. "I appreciate your concern," he acknowledged at length. It was a true statement, but a difficult one to say aloud. "For now, what's done is done. Trahearne may think of me what he will. I don't need him to like me to exist in the same city peacefully, so long as he doesn't risk other's safety again."