Dominic berated himself, attacked himself, raged in quiet where nobody could see: under his cloak. He should have seen it coming, he thought hatefully, should have guessed, should have predicted, should have looked at the situation, at her situation, and realized something like this was on its way-

"I'm sorry," the new Mercurian kept saying, helplessly and shaking. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect her to Fall. It was her idea, a truce like that, she demanded to know how many Archangels would support her desire for peace at all costs and I - I guess I didn't care about that part but her ideals held - and she was beautiful... I'm sorry..."

Dominic took a deep, unnecessary breath, and let a bandaged hand fall onto Andrealphus's shoulder. "All right," he murmured. "Tell me when you first began working with Novalis..."