Page 117 of Seer Prophet

Balidor wondered, too, if Revik’s wife had any idea how much he’d changed already, just from having her and his child back in his light these past weeks.

He guessed shedidn’tknow.

Maybe Balidor or Tarsi or one of the others needed to talk to her about it.

Maybe they needed to warn her not to push Revik too much until he’d healed a bit more from what Shadow and Cass had done to him. Maybe they’d all been side-stepping telling her much for fear of making her worry––or worse, making her feel even more guilty for what happened in her absence.

Looking up at where Revik loomed over his desk, Balidor wondered all these things.

He knew Allie was frustrated with all of them for staying silent.

He also knew Allie thought they blamed her.

Ex-Rooks following her around and praying to shrines with her picture on it probably weren’t helping much with that.

“I know all of that, ‘Dori,” the Elaerian growled.

Balidor looked up.

The currents coming off the Sword hit him in unstable ripples of charged light. The sheer intensity there cut Balidor’s breath.

He considered calling Tarsi––possibly Yumi, Declan, or even Jon, if Wreg would allow it––just to try and calm the other man down.

He wondered if he needed to pull Allie into this, too.

Maybe she needed to see this.

To reallyseeit in action.

The thought made him nervous, though, and not only because she might still be handcuffed to the downstairs bed. He had no idea how the Sword might react, if they brought Allie up here to “handle” him, regardless of the merit of his fears.

Balidor knew at least some of what the Elaerian had been ranting about for the past ten minutes came from a legitimate beef with his wife’s recklessness, at least when it came to her own personal safety.

Balidor also knew it was more than that.

Recklessness hadn’t gotten Allie hurt by Cass. Shadow had done that, and Cass herself. Allie hadn’t done anything to cause that initial, tragic event to occur, which maybe made it worse in Revik’s mind.

Generally speaking, Allie’s recklessness seemed to work out.

More or less.

Balidor also knew that, when it came to Dehgoies, he was dealing with a person who was still learning coping techniques for the intensity of light and emotions that came with marriage in the first place. The Sword struggled with control issues evenbeforewhat Cass did.

He’d been struggling ever since he’d found out his wife was pregnant.

Hell, he’d been having issues foryearswith his wife.

Getting her pregnant only made it all worse. Dehgoies and his wife had never really been allowed to bond normally, which only exacerbated everything else, leaving a lingering veneer of distrust between them that should have mostly dissipated by now, in ordinary mates.

Balidor knew theirs would fade, too, in time, if they could just catch a break and spend more time in one another’s light.

Such distrust was beyond unusual in bonded mates.

Knowing all of that didn’t particularly help Balidornow,of course, in terms of dealing with the man in front of him. Regardless of the merits of the Sword’s emotional reactions, or even his arguments about and fears for his wife, the trauma aspect worried Balidor.

That trauma made Dehgoies unpredictable in the extreme.

“I’m making a request,” Revik growled, forcing Balidor’s eyes back to his. “A formal fuckingrequest,Balidor. I’ll take it to the goddamned Council if I have to.”

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