me. Promise me you will never give it away.'
Tears filled her eyes. Minutes passed in silence.
'Promise me, Anya. Give me that peace of mind.'
Her lashes were black and spiky, creating a shadow-fan under her ice-blue eyes. Or perhaps, in her anguish, bruises had formed there. Finally she said, 'I promise.' Then she laughed without humor. 'Great. Now I feel even guiltier.'
He reached out and sifted strands of her silky hair between his fingers. 'You should not feel that way.'
'Then how should I feel?' She sniffled.
'Come here,' he said, giving the locks a gentle tug.
As she inched forward, her watery gaze landed on his hand. She gripped his wrist, turning over his palm, and frowned. 'You're hurt.'
'A tiny scratch, nothing more.'
She lifted it to her lips and placed a soft kiss directly on the wound. 'My poor baby. I don't like to see you hurting.'
Electric jolts shot up his arm, hot and hungry.
'Do you think he can do it? Do you think you'll weaken?' she whispered brokenly, though they both already knew the answer. 'You're so strong. You're so vital.'
'I will be fine,' he lied.
'Maybe I should, I don't know, talk to Cronus or something.'
Adamant, he shook his head. 'You will not do that, either. He could make things worse.'
Sadness couched every beautiful plane and hollow of her face; she remained silent.
'I told you. We will find the artifact.'
'You guys coming?' William called, his irritation clear.
'In a minute!' Anya shouted without looking away from Lucien. 'You need to get dressed. We can't have you turning into a popsicle, now can we?'
'Not again.' He spent the next heartbeat of time memorizing her face, drinking her in and branding her essence onto his every cell. She caressed his cheek all the while, clearly not wanting to leave the room, either.
'I put your gear on the floor,' she said.
He chuckled. 'I know. I saw you drop everything.' He kissed her softly. 'I'll see you downstairs.'
'Flowers, I—'
'Say no more, sweetheart. We'll find a way to make this work.'
A tear finally spilled over, racing down her cheek. 'Sweetheart. You called me sweetheart.' Without giving him a chance to reply, she disappeared.
But he didn't think she left right away, because he could still smell strawberries, could still feel her gaze burning into him. Then the skin above his heart tingled, as if she'd just traced an X.
A SULKING WILLIAM HAD refused to allow Lucien to flash him. Instead, the man had a helicopter take them to the coast of Greenland, where mountain met ice and many a human had died, forgotten and alone. The flying deathtrap could not go any farther, and Lucien was glad. He wanted out. The air was so cold, the engine kept sputtering, threatening to freeze.
He could have flashed before plummeting to the ground, so the thought of crashing didn't bother him. The fact that he was not in control bothered him. The fact that his stomach was in his throat bothered him. The fact that Anya's last memories of him might be of him hunched over and vomiting bothered him.
He nearly kissed the snow-covered land when he finally exited.
Three ATVs were already waiting for them, along with backpacks of food and water. William had seen to everything, not that Lucien trusted him. Lucien remained on guard, staying between the warrior and Anya at all times.
They climbed onto the vehicles, and he traded his lack of control for a sense of bleak isolation. An ocean of snow surrounded him. Beautiful, lovely to the extreme, but deadly. Was this how the demon had felt inside Pandora's box? Only instead of vast white there'd been nothing but eternal darkness?
'We can flash this stuff to where we need it,' Anya grumbled with a glance at the backpack behind her. Heated breath caused mist to curtain her face. 'I don't see why we need to haul its weight around and let it slap us in the ass every time we hit a bump.'
'I agree,' Lucien said.
'Well, I don't,' William griped. 'And obviously, you need me, so it's my way or no way.'
She flipped him off. Lucien grinned at her show of spirit. Much better than the broken woman who'd left him in the bedroom.
The wind was glacial, so sharp and biting it cut past the thermal bodysuit he wore and all the way to the bone. Already he could feel his blood crystallizing, as if someone were blowing ice directly inside his veins.
'We need to climb to the highest peak,' he told William. He'd checked his voice mail before leaving the house and, not surprisingly, he'd missed Torin's call while he and Anya…played. The warrior had left a message, saying he and Ashlyn had researched the area but had found no recent documented sightings of Hydra or any other beast. Too few people traveled up here, it seemed. The best place to look, Torin had advised, was the region's most dangerous area. The less traffic, the more appealing a spot it would be to a creature trying to hide.
'That's the one, then,' William said, pointing straight ahead. 'And don't try to flash, leaving me behind. You won't reach the top without me since I've left little presents for my…uninvited guests along the way.' He paused, tilted his head. 'In fact, just get flashing out of your mind, period. Maybe I should have told you earlier, but, well, you irritate me. I can't be flashed anywhere.'
'What makes you so sure you cannot be flashed?' Lucien asked.
'Just trust me. Attempting to flash me hurts everyone involved. I made the mistake of rocking Hera's world, so Zeus made sure no goddess would ever be able to flash me to safety. Jealous husbands are dumb. Then Hera found out I was also rocking other goddesses' worlds, and next thing I know, I'm keeping Anya company in the slammer. Some women are more trouble than they're worth.' William anchored a helmet on his head and motioned for them to do the same.
Lucien grabbed Anya's and looked it over carefully before he allowed her to do so. She gave him a secret smile before she pulled it on. His nostrils, lungs and chest stung as he donned his own. The crackle of Anya's breathing suddenly filled his ears. There was a headset built into the side, he realized, so they could communicate while they moved. Human technology could be a blessing.
'This is fun,' Anya said.
It was as though she was purring straight into his ear, and his blood finally heated, melting the ice.
William cranked up his ATV and started forward. Lucien and Anya followed just a few feet behind.
'Maybe now is a good time to tell you that a group of men entered the circle about…oh, three days ago,' William said into the headset. 'Doubt they were looking for me.'
Lucien didn't have to see his face to know the warrior was grinning with relish. 'How do you know?'
'They're human. I don't mess with human women.'
'Could it be Hunters?' Anya asked. Through the mask, Lucien could see her eyes blazing with curiosity.
'Most likely,' Lucien said. How had they known to venture here, though? Before meeting their demise at the temple, the Hunters had complained about their lack of success.
Perhaps Cronus was somehow feeding them information as the warriors learned it, he speculated. His eyes narrowed in fury. That made sense—and did not bode well for the warriors.
'Where are they now?' he asked.
'Maybe dead.' William shrugged. 'Maybe on the mountain.'
'I thought you monitored this place for jealous husbands,' Anya said. 'You should know.'
'Maybe they disabled my cameras.'
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Anya leaned down—Lucien reached for her, but she maintained her balance—grabbed a handful of ice and threw it at the warrior, nailing him in the back. 'Your attitude sucks. This is hardly the way to get your book back.'
