"Keep behind me, Metatron--wait here--Asriel is suspicious--let me lull him first. When he's off guard, I'll call you. But come as a shadow, in this small form, so he doesn't see you--otherwise, he'll just let the child's daemon fly away." The Regent was a being whose profound intellect had had thousands of years to deepen and strengthen itself, and whose knowledge extended over a million universes. Nevertheless, at that moment he was blinded by his twin obsessions: to destroy Lyra and to possess her mother. He nodded and stayed where he was, while the woman and the monkey moved forward as quietly as they could."