"So you want to take me to the place that Asmodeus is strongest. Those men he sent to kill me came from there. You're taking me to them. To the hunters I've been running from my whole life."
She surged to her feet and paced across the room, feeling trapped and afraid. "When I was small, they were the monsters beneath my bed. And you want me to go right to them? Deliver myself like a gift?"
Hurt flashed across his features before he masked it.
"Do you think I'd let them take you? Hurt you?" he asked, his voice low and intense.
"Why should I trust you?" The words were out before she could stop them, like a gun misfiring without the shooter's intent. The bullet flew free to do what damage it would, and it was too late to call it back, even if she wanted to.
Did she want to? Did she dare trust him?
She knew almost nothing about what he'd become and what exactly it meant to be a soul reaper. She didn't know if he lived in the same world she did, or if he spent most of his time in the Underworld. Were there limitations? Conditions?
Everything was so confused and confusing.
And lovemaking didn't equal love.
Had she ever stopped loving him?
Pain arrowed through her, sharp and bright. She'd never stopped. She'd loved him and hated him. She loved him still.
She met his gaze, wondering how much her expression gave away.
She thought he would turn away, perhaps become angry, but he only came to her slowly, as though approaching a wild thing that would bolt at being cornered.
"Amber," he whispered her name as he took her hand and drew her against him. "I'm not human anymore. You're not alone anymore. I never stopped loving you, even when I believed you'd sent me to die. A part of me hated you, but a part of me never stopped loving you."
His words mirrored the exact emotions of her own heart. Even when she had believed he had betrayed her, a part of her had loved him with an eternal flame.
"I will let no one hurt you," he said.
And as he wrapped his arms around her and drew her close, his heart thudding a steady beat against her ear, she realized that a part of her believed him.
How dangerous was that?
Chapter Six
Toronto, Canada
Three days later
Standing at the counter of the coffee shop, Kai tipped his head to one side and stood perfectly still, his hand half extended with a bill pinched between his thumb and forefinger. Amber collected their cappuccinos as the woman behind the cash looked at him questioningly. But his attention wasn't on her, it was on the shelf behind her, above the cash register.
Amber followed his gaze. He was staring at a small gray box that had what appeared to be hieroglyphics engraved on the lid and sides.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
The woman cast a look over her shoulder. "The ROM gift shop."
"ROM?" Amber asked.
"Royal Ontario Museum. Last year they had this exhibit of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead." The woman frowned. "I think it's over now. Too bad. I wouldn't have minded seeing it again."
"The box?" Kai urged.
She gave a dismissive wave. "I bought it in the gift shop. It was just sitting there, one of a kind." She laughed. "Or maybe it was the last one they had, or something. There wasn't even a price on it. But the cashier was going off shift and she seemed okay just sort of comparing it to some jewelry boxes that were about the same size and she charged me the same price and that was that."
"What do you keep inside?" Kai asked, and Amber wondered at his interest. She knew the Underworld deity he worked for was Egyptian, so maybe that was the connection.
"Nothing." Again, the woman glanced over her shoulder at the box, then turned back to face them. "It doesn't open. I think it's hollow because it isn't that heavy, but I've looked and looked and I really can't see a way to open it. There's no secret catch or anything."
"May I?" Kai asked, and held out his hand, palm up.
"Sure."
She passed him the box. It was about the size and shape of four or five paperback novels stacked up.
A flicker of emotion danced across his features, and Amber felt like a cold wind blew against the back of her neck. Something felt odd about that box. The fine hairs at her nape rose as she watched Kai turn it with his long fingers, almost reverent in the way he handled it.
"I'd like to buy this from you," he said.
The woman laughed. "Not for sale. Sorry. I swear, it's my good-luck charm. Ever since I bought it, business here has been crazy good."
Amber searched Kai's face as he set the box on the counter. He seemed perfectly fine to let the matter go as they took their coffees to a table by the window, but she sensed his preoccupation, and she wondered at it.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah." He lifted his coffee and took a sip. "A-okay."
"Why so interested in a knickknack?"
"Just a feeling it might be of interest to my boss."