“Dragon,” a man called in Chinese.

Will turned his head, and I followed his gaze to a small elderly man behind a table covered with jewelry and figurines carved from ivory and jade. He was smiling, watching us both as we walked through the market. I took Will’s hand and led him to the tent, eager to see what the man offered.

“Dragon,” the man said again, and nodded to Will, his smile widening. He reached over his beautiful wares and lifted a comb with an intricately carved mythological firebird adorning it. He set it in his palm and held out his hand to me. “Fenghuang. Phoenix.”

My eyes captured the comb, roving over the infinite detail and incredible colors. I took it from the man and brushed my fingers over the bird’s wings.

“We’ll take it,” Will said. He pulled a couple coins from his pocket and gave them to the man, who gave a small bow and thanked Will several times.

I drew a little breath when Will turned to me, tucked my hair back on one side, and slid the comb in. “Thank you,” I told him, watching his face, mesmerized by the happiness in his eyes and the one corner of his lips that pulled into a smile.

“Beautiful,” he said, and his thumb brushed my cheek.

My eyes fluttered and I was back in the present, looking up into Will’s face once again. “I remember it,” I said. “Were you going to give it back to me? Now that I’m here … again. Alive.”

His jaw set and he swallowed. “Yes. Eventually. I wanted to give it back to you when you remembered it. You can have it now if you’d like.”

“Thank you,” I said, wishing now that it was in my hands so I could touch it. Instead I touched the winged pendant around my neck, watching Will’s face as he watched my hand.

“Why do you have jasmine, too, of all things?” I asked curiously, recalling how carefully dried the petals were, how strongly the scent had remained. “Did you know that it’s my favorite flower?”

“It reminds me of you,” he said in a quiet voice, his gaze still lowered. “You’ve always smelled like jasmine.”

Of course he would know I loved jasmine. He knew everything about me. I dug through my memories that shifted in and out of focus, and couldn’t remember myself ever choosing a different perfume or scented lotion. I always chose jasmine. For hundreds of years, I had been choosing jasmine.

Overwhelmed with emotion, I felt my eyes burning, and I poked at my plate. “Where’s Nathaniel?”

“Out with Lauren.”

I took a bite of the eggs to please him. They weren’t as burned as I’d thought. He’d made me breakfast despite what had happened last night, and I wasn’t sure I had it in me to tell him thank you. Eating the breakfast meant more to him than stupid words. He knew I appreciated it.

“You shouldn’t have done what you did last night,” I said.

He watched me carefully. “I don’t regret anything.”

“You shouldn’t have interfered. I had everything under control.” It was a lie and he knew it. While he had every right to laugh in my face, he didn’t.

“That’s not what it looked like. That guy was going to take advantage of you. I know you better than anyone. If you were in the right state of mind, you’d never have let him touch you like that.”

I took another bite, because I didn’t quite know what to say. He was right. Brian was a creep. I didn’t know if he was capable of something as awful as rape, but I was also pretty sure I would have been able to stop him if things were about to get that far.

“I don’t regret pulling him off you,” Will continued, his voice firm, “and I hate that you think I should. I will never regret anything that I have to do in order to protect you.”

“Still, you shouldn’t have beaten them up. You against a hundred of them still wouldn’t be a fair fight. You could have killed them all. You scared me, Will. I thought you were about to snap.” I knew he had a temper, and underneath all of that control, there was a darker, volatile nature. This was Will, the one person I knew better than my own self, but I didn’t know if there was anything he wouldn’t do to protect me.

“I was angry and I know it was wrong, but that guy deserved far worse than what I did to him. If I upset you, then I apologize for that, but I am not sorry for striking any of them.”

“You shouldn’t have followed us to that party, either. You had no right.”

“Ellie, you’re being hunted,” he said. “And I am your Guardian. I kept my distance, but I had to go, just in case. What if you’d been attacked? What if a demonic reaper like Merodach had shown up and killed you or someone else? You shouldn’t have put yourself and Kate at risk, let alone everyone else in that house.”

I sighed and pushed my plate away, unable to keep eating. “Do we have to talk about this again?”

“I just don’t think you’re considering the safety of others, let alone yourself.”

I ground my teeth and rapped my nails against the counter. “Look. I’d just nearly died fighting Orek, and my own father even tried to hurt me. I’ve been going through a lot. I feel like I’m going crazy. Getting out and doing something new felt like a good idea.”

“I should have been at your side,” he said earnestly. “Wherever you go, I should be with you. You are my responsibility, and I can’t protect you if you’re away from me.”

“I can’t stand being around you when you treat me as if I’m just your responsibility. Like I’m a stranger. I’m the last person who should be a stranger to you.”