Days had passed since that moment in the garden and still he did not have an answer. Why had he kissed the High Priest? Why had he betrayed Pechal that way? Why did it still feel as if it had been the right thing to do? Worst of all, he wanted to do it again. To do more. Raz leaned his head back against the tree and stared up through its branches to the clouds high above. Snow would start falling soon, and it would be a blizzard. He was starting to think it was true when people suggested that Pozhar was slowly freezing to death because of Holy Zhar Ptitsa. Would killing him really solve everything? He still found it hard to believe he was a piece of a god. How had Pechal felt about it? How had all the others? Raz sighed. How much longer did he have before someone finally found him? He was hoping it would take Ivan, and Shio and Shinju a little while to figure out he had returned here. It was stupid to have come back to where he had been before, but the tree and the ruins of the manor around it felt safe where nothing else did.
