"I guess so?" Alec hadn't really thought about it. He'd read up on the subject. He wasn't an expert on it. "I don't know if I could explain it. I assumed I was your librarian or guide." Adam was the one who could do magic. How could Alec help except to point him toward the right texts?

"I figured you did." It should annoy him, but it'd been a good strategy. One that Alec would have used if their situations had been reversed and Alec actually could figure out what someone might like as a peace offering. "Shooting at most people is my job. I'm the guard cat.

"You asked if I was the avatar of the temple and acted like I didn't choose to be here." Adam probably didn't know how the guardian had been chosen but it'd still stung when it had sounded like Adam thought he wasn't human. "I'm part angel and part human. My kind are mortal. The angel blood gives us special traits, but we're still human." Shifting from one foot to the other, he wasn't sure how to explain what had happened to him since he'd stepped through the gates. "I don't know what I am now. I don't age." The floor became fascinating again as he thought of some of his darker times during the past centuries. "I can still get hurt, but I don't think I can die."