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sniffed and raised one eyebrow. “For that matter, I should apologize to her as well. It was no doubt, partly my fault you transferred your feelings for me to her.”
    “Yes, well, that is all water under the bridge,” he said. “Who can predict the whims of man? It is not so simple as it was in the days of old. If I fancied the company of a woman, she did not have much say in the matter, but I have to say, those who came into my house had very little reason to complain. I was not a monster, Meredith, at least I never meant to be.”
    “I know, I know, you were lonely,” she put words in his mouth.
    “I was not lonely,” he said indignantly. “I was in need of companionship of the feminine sort. It is always a fine diversion to spend a bit of time away from the cares and woes of the world in the arms of a beautiful woman. I think you understand this more than you care to admit.”
    “That works both ways, yes.” She nodded. “So you have made a number of mortal women extremely happy, have you? Where are they now?”
    “Gone.” He shrugged slightly. “I did not possess the Key of Life and of Death, my dear. That was your Lord Adar. He was the one who was always unwilling to let go.”
    “I accept your apologies, Lord Marduk,” she said. “I just hope you are right about the rest of this. Here we are being sentenced to prison, while Huber musters her armies to destroy the world. Seems a bit ironic to me.”
    “Irony is the key word of my life.”
    Merry got up quickly when Mark emerged from the mouth of the cave. He headed straight for her.
    “Meredith.” Marduk took her hand and kissed it lightly. “I may have been terribly brutal with you, and I may have went about wooing you in an unorthodox manner, but please remember I am a product of my times. In my own way, I still love you, and if it means anything at all, I will give my best efforts to see you do not suffer unnecessarily.”
    “So you think some suffering might be necessary?” She raised both eyebrows, but smiled.
    “I think we have both overstepped our bounds, and we must pay sooner or later.” He stood up beside her and then left her with the Dove.
    “Meredith,” Mark said nervously and stopped in front of her, licking his lips. “I wish I had good news for you, but the judge is very hard. He has his rules. I don’t know what they might be or how to defend you properly. I did my best to make sure he understands the spirit in which you acted. He seems to understand the terms love and altruism, but he is very adamant about affairs of humanity and affairs of the gods and how the two do not mix… at least on the physical plane.”
    “I’m sure you did your best,” she told him.
    “I wanted to say something to you on my father’s behalf, since he is not here to speak with you personally.” He took her hand and led her toward the rocks near the mouth of the cave. They sat down on the boulders and looked out over the meadow instead of facing each other. “This might be as difficult to say as it is to hear.” Mark cleared his throat
    “The perfect end to the perfect day,” she sighed and plucked a tuft of grass from a crevice in the rocks.
    “I am not a judge, and I know nothing of the laws governing the angels, but I can see clearly why my father loves you so. You are all extremes. Guilty and innocent. Ignorant and wise. Young and old. Warm and cool. You embody all the elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Together in you, he found them, and with love as the agent, he created his own Philosopher’s Stone, his personal Quintessence, the Fifth Element. You are his curse and his cure in one. And he will always love you best of all in this Universe.”
    “Where is he?” She asked him point blank.
    “That, I don’t know. Marduk’s fellow reports he is no longer in the house. The last time we saw him, he was in the upstairs window, shouting for us to go and find Lord Marduk. He said he would join us in the caves and threw his sword