"He said it was to learn patience," Daniel answered with a somewhat bitter smile. "So that we would learn patience, not him. According to him, he had enough patience but the rest of us, especially myself, needed to learn how to have more patience. When he finally told us the truth, we started finding ways to get out of having to..."

He trailed off and looked away.

"Course, being his lover didn't actually afford me the ability to say I wouldn't go. He had patience, all right, but not as much as he'd have you believe."