She would have called him a liar but for the fact that her own parents had been that way with her. Even so, she couldn't do what he'd done. It was simply amazing. "Tell me about your accent when you speak. It's not a typical Greek accent."
He answered her in flawless Greek. "I was born in a place called Kalosis. It's so small that it's not on a map. It's an island province and my accent is a cross between my mother's and old Athenian."
"When did you come to the U.S.?"
"After my twenty-first birthday."
"And yet you speak English like a native?"
He switched back to his mainstream American English. "I'm exceptionally good with languages. As for my native accent, it comes and goes depending on my mood and the word I'm speaking."
Such simple explanations really, and they made her suddenly feel like Torquemada during the Inquisition. "I'm sorry, Acheron. I just realized how shrewish I must sound while you're trying to help me." She let out a tired sigh. "You and I have gotten off to a really bad start, haven't we?"
He shrugged. "I've gotten off to many worse ones during my lifetime."
She appreciated his graciousness. "Yeah but not from someone you were trying to help, I'd wager."
Ash had to bite back a sarcastic laugh at that. If she only knew . . .
She smiled at him and strangely everything seemed to be forgiven. "Again, I'm sorry that I attacked you. It's just Atlantis has been my whole life. You can't imagine how important the history and my research are to me."
Probably as important as keeping it hidden was to him. "Look, I was a shithead in Nashville. I admit it and for that I apologize completely. I don't normally embarrass people like that. It's just I know for a fact that Atlantis is only a myth. You found some really interesting artifacts, but that's all they are. It's apparent to me that you're a brilliant and sincere scholar and I can appreciate the dedication. However you're wasting valuable time on a moot topic."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you know it's a myth?"
"How do you know it's not?"
She leaned forward, so close that they were almost nose to nose. "Because the man who brought my grandfather over as a child told him stories of Atlantis and the ancient island of Didymos to entertain him and to take his mind off the severe burns he'd received from the Nazis. My papou said that the way this man described Atlantis and its marvels was as if he'd lived there. The man described the same exact buildings that I've found buried in the Aegean."
Ash went cold as she pricked memories he'd buried. Why had he ever told Theo those stories?
Because he'd been a terrified child and Ash had wanted to comfort him. Reassure him. Damn. How could he have known that that one act would come back to burn him so badly sixty years later?
"But the most important is this." She reached into the wooden box on the table and pulled out a coin he hadn't seen since he'd placed it in Theo's tiny hand when he'd left the boy with an adoptive family in New York with the promise that he'd be back to visit. It held the image of Ash's mother on one side and her sun symbol on the other.
Fuck.
Tory tapped the coin. "The writing on one side is something I'd never seen anywhere else until our discovery last summer. On the other side, it's Greek and though I don't know all of it, I can make out the name Apollymi. Now tell me this isn't from Atlantis."
"It's not from Atlantis," he said, his voice sounding hollow to his own ears. It had actually been from his pocket. "It could be anything. Might not even be a coin. It could be a necklace. Maybe she was someone's wife." Or his mother.
"I never said it was a coin. They wouldn't have had money at the time, would they?" Her gaze pierced him. "You know the truth, don't you?"
Ash made his phone ring. "Hold that thought." He pretended to answer it and got up as he tried to think of a plausible answer.
Damn her for being so quick.
Tory watched as Ash walked out of the room to take his call. He came back a few minutes later.
"I have to go."
"But you can't. I've got more questions for you."
He seemed frustrated about something. "I really don't have time to answer them."
"Can you come back?"
He shook his head at her. "I doubt it. I travel a lot for work and I won't be in town much longer." He grabbed his backpack from the floor and headed for the front.
She followed him. "I can pay you for your time."
"It's not about the money."
She pulled him to a stop. "Please, Acheron . . . please."
Ash wanted to shove her away and frighten her. The god in him didn't like to be grilled.
The man in him wanted to taste those lips that beckoned for a kiss. "I can't, Tory." I can't. . . . His resolve set, he gently took her hand from his arm and left.
Tory wanted to scream as she watched him descend the stairs in front of her house that led to the street. He turned right and headed toward Bourbon Street.