Who. [It's quiet, but still firm. He addresses the jiangshi that attacked Dorian the first time again as it staggers back to its feet.]

Excuse me. [In spite of the politeness of the statement, there's an animal savagery when he goes into motion. He's been drilling obsessively with the kedan and any other fighter who will have him over the past half year, and it shows. Brawler's instincts have sharpened into a fighter's economical elegance of motion. He steps neatly around Dorian and strikes out with the broad side of the shield, impact throwing the corpse against a building across the street as a second creature loses its head entirely to one of Steve's combat boots. That doesn't stop it from clawing at his ankle, but he seizes it by one wrist and then the other, breaking its arms in three places and leaving the thing, if not harmless, at least hard-pressed to attack.

He continues the conversation as though nothing else has happened.] And I don't know how much of the book is true. All I really know is your name and how you've been with me, which is kind.

[Exhale. He's talking to Dorian Gray.] But I'll get you to the fires.