“Nita drank her tea, watching Roshaun read while he maneuvered the lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other. The bulge it produced looked very out of place against his otherwise flawless facial structure. Roshaun felt Nita’s gaze resting on him, and looked up. “What?” Nita controlled her smile. “The lollipop…” “What about it?” “I hate to say this, but you’re kind of spoiling your grandeur.” “What grandeur he has,” Dairine remarked. “Kings are made no less noble by eating,” Roshaun said. “Rather, they ennoble what they eat.” “Wow, who sold you that one?” Nita said.”

“What are you thinking of? Dairine demanded. Let me help you— You need to stay here and let me do this, Roshaun said.But if I can just— You can’t, Roshaun said, looking at her with that infuriating, amused expression. But then that’s what “Guarantor” means. If the world can’t pay the price…if the people around you can’t pay the price…you do. The price? No! Dairine said. No! You don’t even like my little planet—you said so— No, Roshaun said. Which is possibly the best of all possible reasons to do this. He stepped out of the wizardry. “No,” Dairine whispered. “No! Roshaun!” Roshaun vanished into the fire.”

“You look concerned,” Roshaun said from behind her. Dairine scowled over her shoulder at him. “The whole universe is in danger,” she said, “and we’re not sure how to save it, assuming it can be saved. One of the Powers That Be has stuffed secret messages into my brain without telling me. And a friend of mine who happens to be my wizard’s manual is being reprogrammed with software that even these guys haven’t had time to beta test! Wow, Roshaun, why would I need to be concerned?” Roshaun glanced at the ground. Another chair appeared for him, a slight distance from Dairine’s. He lowered himself into it, stretching out his legs with a sigh. “Sarcasm,” he said, “Amusing, if ineffective.”

“You do have the idea of being ‘just good friends?’” He gave her a sideways look. “For so high and honorable an estate,” Roshaun said, “ ‘just’ seems a poor modifier to choose.”

“Kit," said a female voice, "what's wrong with the fridge? All the food's gone. No, wait, there's a really ugly alien in here disguised as a leaky lettuce. Hey, I guess I shouldn't be rude to it; it's a visitor. Welcome to our planet, Mr. Alien!"This was followed by some muffled remark that Nita couldn't make out, possibly something Kit was saying. A moment later, Kit's sister Carmela's voice came out of Nita's refrigerator again. "Hola, Nita, are your phone bills getting too big? This is a weird way to deal with it...”

“Nita stood there horrified. “You just killed him!”“No,” the Lone One said, “you did. Not a bad start, but then you were intent enough on killing something.” All around Nita, the snarling of the viruses was getting louder and louder. “Anyway, don’t be too concerned about Pralaya; I’ll find another of his people to replace him if there’s need. Now, though, matters stand as I told you they stood. All we need is your conscious answer to the question. Can we do business?” Nita stood there, frozen. And another voice spoke out of the darkness. “Fairest and Fallen,” Kit said, “one more time…greeting and defiance.”