Her words earned a slight wince. He knew her meaning, and knew she was right. His magic... little as he liked it, he couldn't reasonably hold back. Not with everything on the line. The freedom of so many people--ones he loved and one as he'd never known--mattered so much more than his own fears.

Greg looked into Meril's face, and set his jaw. "It's about time all this got used for something good." A familiar weight fell on his back. A guitar made far less an impressive sight than wings, but it was his equivalent all the same.