"No, I didn't. I had my hands wrapped around her neck and was about to end her life when she looked up at me with those weepy, fearful eyes. One minute I wanted to kill her and the next thing I knew, I wiped her tears away, kissed her trembling lips, and left her there in peace."
He clenched his teeth. "So, you see, you sit beside the greatest fool ever born. A man who traded his soul for a vengeance he never took."
The full horror of his past hit her. After all he had suffered because of his wife, after all he had lost, he had still loved her. Greatly.
No matter what Theone had done to him, in the end he had forgiven her.
How could anyone have betrayed someone capable of so much love and loyalty?
Amanda couldn't fathom it. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. As they say, I made my bed and I was crucified in it. I was the one who was blind and foolish. I realized too late that she had never, once, told me she loved me."
The regret and sorrow in his voice tore at her. "It wasn't your fault," she said as they headed into the Garden District. "She had no right to betray you."
"Theone never betrayed me. I betrayed myself."
Good Lord, he was strong. She'd never known anyone who was so willing to shoulder such responsibility on his own shoulders. How she wished for a way to reach through that iron wall he kept around himself.
Her heart heavy, Amanda watched as they passed by the antebellum mansions where large oaks and pines were draped with tons of hanging Spanish moss.
Hunter pulled into a drive at the end of the street. Trees obscured her view to the house, and two large stone pedestals secured a heavy wrought-iron, twelve-foot-high gate. A tall redbrick wall surrounded the grounds and seemed to go on forever.
The place looked like a fortress.
He grabbed a remote out of the glove compartment, pressed the button, and the heavy gates swung wide.
Amanda's breath caught in her throat as he drove up the long, curving driveway and she could finally see where he lived.
Her jaw dropped. His house was huge! The neoclassical architecture was some of the best she'd seen. Tall columns ran all the way around the house and the upper balconies had ornate white iron scrollwork.
Hunter drove around to the back of the house and into a six-car garage where she saw he also owned a Mercedes, a Porsche, a vintage Jaguar, and a new Buick that looked strangely out of place.
Okay, the Lamborghini had clued her in that Hunter had a lot of money, but she'd never dreamed he lived like this.
Like royalty.
She winced at the thought. Of course he did, since that was what he was. A prince. A real-life prince of ancient Greece.
As the garage door closed behind them, Hunter helped her out of the car. He turned Terminator loose in his backyard, then led her inside the huge house. Her gaze tried to take in everything at once as they walked down a small hallway into a kitchen where a thin, elderly Hispanic woman was pulling something delectable out of the oven.
His kitchen was mammoth, with stainless-steel appliances and antiques lining the dark green walls and marble counter-tops.
"Rosa," Hunter said in a chastising tone as he laid his keys down on the counter by the door. "What are you doing here?"
Rosa jumped and patted her chest. "Lord, m'ijo, you scared me out of ten years."
"I'm going to scare you out of more than that if you don't do what the doctor said. You and I had an agreement. Do I have to call Miguel again?"
She narrowed her large brown eyes on him as she set her pan of chicken on the stove. "Now, don't you go threatening me. I gave birth to that boy and I'm not about to let him go lecturing me on what I need to do. And that goes for you, too. I was minding my own home long before you were born. You hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Rosa paused as she caught sight of Amanda. A wide smile spread across her face. "It's good to see you with a woman, m'ijo."
Hunter passed a sheepish look to Amanda. He stepped over to the stove to inspect the food. "This smells delicious, Rosa, gracias."
Rosa smiled proudly as she watched him savor her work. "I know; that's why I made it. I'm tired of seeing TV dinners and fast food bags in the garbage. You need to eat real food once in a while. That processed stuff will kill you."
Hunter gave her a gentle, tight-lipped smile. "I think I can handle it."
Rosa snorted. "We all think we can, and that's why I have to take heart medicine now."
"And speaking of," Hunter said, turning to her with a chiding stare, "you are supposed to be home by now. You promised me."
"I'm going. I put a salad for you in the refrigerator. There should be enough for both of you."
Hunter took Rosa's coat from the back of the chair and helped her into it. "You are taking tomorrow off."
"But the gardener man, he comes."
"Nick can let him in."
"But-"
"Nick can handle it, Rosa."
She patted his hand affectionately. "You're a good boy, m'ijo. I'll see you Wednesday."
"But not before noon."
She smiled. "Not before noon. Good night."
"Adios."
"So," Amanda teased as soon as they were alone. "You actually do know how to be nice to someone."
She saw the corners of his mouth twitch as he fought down the urge to smile at her. "Only when the mood strikes me."
He pulled a fork and knife out of a drawer and cut a small bite of chicken.
"Oh, this is good," he said. He cut another piece. "Here, you have to taste this."
Before she realized what she was doing, Amanda allowed him to feed it to her. The spices filled her mouth at the same moment it dawned on her just how intimate a moment they were sharing.
By the look in his eyes, she would say it occurred to Hunter about two seconds after her.
"It's very good," she said, stepping back from him.
Without another word, Hunter set about putting out plates for them. As she watched him, the full horror of the night came crashing down on her.
"My house is gone," she breathed. "Completely gone."
Kyrian set the plates aside as he felt her pain reaching out to him. It was a staggering wave of loss.
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming in grief. "Why did he burn my house? Why?"
"At least you weren't in it."
"But I could have been. Oh God, Hunter, Tabitha is normally home at that time! What if you hadn't been there? Allison would be dead. Tabitha could have been killed." She sobbed as she looked about, panic-stricken. "He's not going to stop until we're dead, is he?"
Without thinking, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. "It's all right, Amanda, I've got you." Kyrian froze as he realized what he'd done.
He'd used her name. And with it, he felt some inner barrier shatter.
Tears rolled down Amanda's cheeks. "I know it's just a house, but all my things were in there. My favorite books, the blanket my grandmother crocheted for me before she died. Everything that was me was in there."
"Not everything. You're still here."
She wept against his chest. Kyrian closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against the top of her head as she clutched at him. It had been centuries since he'd comforted a woman.
Centuries since he felt this way. And it shook him deeply.
"Can Desiderius get to Tabitha?"
"No," he whispered against her hair, trying not to inhale the sweet rose scent. He failed and his body reacted instantly as his groin tightened and burned for her. "As long as she stays in a private, human dwelling he can't get to her. It's one of the limitations Apollo put on them when he cursed them so that humans would have some protection."
Amanda took a ragged breath and stepped away from him. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping the tears from her face.
He clenched his teeth as he noted the way her hand shook. He could kill Desiderius for hurting her like this.
"I don't normally cry in front of people."
"Don't apologize," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands. "You're actually holding up a lot better than anyone should under the circumstances."
She looked up at him from under those long, dark, wet eyelashes. His heart hammered at the vulnerability he saw. A vulnerability that touched him on a level he didn't want to think about.
He wanted her. Desperately.
He hadn't felt this in so long, no, he corrected himself, he had never felt this way about another woman, not even Theone. This wasn't just lust or love, he felt a bond with her. They were like two parts of a single heart.
But it was a lie. It had to be. He didn't believe in love anymore. Didn't believe in much of anything.
And yet...
She made him want to believe again. Made him long for things he had forgotten. Things like a tender hand in his hair when he woke up. The feel of a warm body lying next to him while he slept.
He was almost powerless before it.
His cell phone rang. Kyrian pulled it off his belt and answered it.
It was Talon.
"Is the woman with you?" Talon asked.
"Yes, why?"
"Because you have one big problem. The Apollite told me the fires were set from an electronic timer that was hidden inside the houses."
Kyrian frowned, then went cold as he remembered something else Amanda had said to him yesterday. "Amanda?" he asked, drawing her attention to him. "Didn't you say Desiderius had captured you while you were inside Tabitha's house?"
She nodded. "In her living room."
His stomach settled into a cold knot of dread. "Did you hear that?" he asked Talon.
Talon cursed. "How is that possible?"
"Someone must have invited Desiderius in, which means there's a human running around working with or for him. My money says Tabitha wouldn't be so stupid."
"Neither would Allison," Amanda inserted. "She knows to watch out for anyone suspicious."
Kyrian thought it over. "Any ideas?" he asked Talon.
"I don't know."
"What does your guide say?"
"Ceara knows nothing. And the next tiny problem, my back isn't healing."
If his stomach drew any tighter, it would make a diamond. "Not healing how?"
"I was hit with an astral blast. The same kind a god wields."
Kyrian went cold. "I didn't kill a god, I killed a Daimon."
"I know."
Kyrian cursed under his breath. "What have we gotten into?"
"Beats me, but until we know more, I suggest you sit tight on her. With the untapped powers she has, Desiderius will be after her full force. I'm sure by now he'd rather have her than her sister."
Kyrian shifted the phone as he watched Amanda take a seat at his table. Gods, he couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt. The pain of the idea racked him. "Do you need me to do anything for your back?"
"No. It just hurts like hell."
Kyrian knew the feeling. His shoulder was still stinging from Aphrodite. "I'm beginning to understand how Desiderius killed the last eight Dark-Hunters who went up against him."
"Yeah," Talon agreed. "And I don't want us to be nine and ten."
"Me, neither. Okay, I'll keep Amanda safe with me, but we still have the problem of her sister out there."
"I can have Eric put a leash on Tabitha for the time being. You just make sure Amanda stays in touch with her or she's likely to make our lives even more difficult."
"Will do." Kyrian hung up and tossed his phone onto his counter.
"Is something wrong?" Amanda asked.
He laughed in spite of himself. "I think a better question would be, is anything not wrong?"
"And that means?"
"It means your boring life has just ended. And for the next few days, it looks as if you're going to find out exactly how dangerous mine is."