I looked at Luce through the announcer, she'd told me to leave but that didn't mean I didn't want to make sure she was safe. She was sitting beside Miles.

My hands clenched into fists without me telling them to. He was smiling at her in a way that made me want to hit him. Hard.

But she wasn't smiling back. I frowned; actually she looked upset.

Had something happened-had he done something? If he'd hurt her I would-

The announcer shut and I found myself looking at Roland. He looked annoyed.

"You're still hung up on her!"

I blinked, if I hadn't known better I'd have thought Roland was angry.

Angry at me for checking on Luce? Ok, maybe spying wasn't a huge exaggeration, but he knew I wouldn't invade her privacy.

"We've been in love for hundreds of years, I'm not going to give up on us just because- "

Roland interrupted, his voice dripped sarcasm.

"Did you think that love was enough? That a god, who destroyed cities, who enslaved angels, who abandoned his people, did you think that a Deity who killed children to punish their parents- would be moved by love?"

I knew he'd switched sides more than once but I'd never hear him spouting propaganda like this, I'd never seen him like this at all.

"No, Daniel. There is no way for you and Luce to be together without her dying. He doesn't care, you disobeyed Him and He will make you and Luce pay for as long as He can." I wanted to tell him to shut up, to say he was lying but he wasn't. And I hated that. Something in my face must have shown what I was thinking because his face softened, he looked more like the Roland I knew

"Daniel, I'm not saying this to hurt you or to lie to you. You need to be away from her, to stay away from her. You can't think straight when you're with her."

I shut my eyes, what I was hearing didn't make any sense.

Roland wanted us apart.

"What did you say?" He looked blank.

"What did you say to Luce to make her, to make her…" I couldn't finish my sentence, I was too angry.

"To make her agree with me? I didn't have to say anything; I just showed her all the times you had to mourn her, all the years you spent grieving."

"How?"

He pointed to the announcer, "With one of those. Look, I know it's hard for you to give up on you and her," He had no idea how hard it was. "But you need to." I flinched as he put his hand on my shoulder. "I'll give you some time to think about. Just think about it, then you'll see that it's the best thing you can do." I pulled away, he was wrong.

Wasn't he?