Golden eyes! Her pulse fluttered in time with a single thought: he is my husband ! His pants hung low on his waist, giving him a sexy, rakish air. She found herself taking a step toward him, intent on slipping her fingers beneath the black material and-she stopped that line of thought before it was too late. Before she lost herself in him.
He didn't appear aroused in any way. He looked… pained, like that strange weakness afflicted him again. Proud as he was, he didn't say a word.
'Come with me,' she said. She led him into the kitchen. There, she hurriedly fixed him a sandwich, and once he finished eating, he leaned back in his chair. He looked the same. Why hadn't that helped? She frowned and took his hand, meaning to gauge his temperature. But as she held his palm in hers, his color returned. It wasn't food that strengthened him, she realized, but her. Her touch.
'You have to tell me what's going on,' she said, holding his gaze and retaining her grip on his hand. 'What causes your illness?' When he remained silent, she persisted. 'Tell me.'
He sighed. 'When the gods banished us to Atlantis, they bound us irrevocably to the land. Those that try to leave, die.'
Her stomach twisted, and her body went cold. If staying here meant his death, she wanted him gone. 'You have to go home. Now.' She allowed all of her concern, all of her anguish at the thought of his demise, to seep into her voice.
'I will return in the morning as planned.'
'I'll search Jason's home on my own, then fly to Brazil. I can be in Atlantis in two days.'
'No. On both counts.'
'But-'
'No, Grace.'
She had to convince him to leave. But how? She released him and began cleaning away the dishes, keeping her back to him. In seconds, he was directly behind her, holding her captive between his arms.
'You are upset,' he said.
She paused, saying, 'I'm scared for you. I'm scared for Alex. I want this to be over.'
An undercurrent of menace suffused his voice when he said, 'Soon. Very soon.'
CHAPTER 19
Bright neon lights glazed from nearby buildings. Grace sucked in a deep breath as her gaze darted left and right. I'm a criminal. I'm breaking and entering - or committing a B and E as the arresting officer would say . She pursed her lips together and fought a shiver. She'd never admit this aloud, but hidden beneath her nervousness surged an intense adrenaline rush.
She and Darius stood outside Jason's swanky apartment building. A slight breeze drifted past, cooling her heated skin. She pressed her back to the brownstone, and cast another glance to her right. Unfortunately Darius couldn't magically teleport them inside. He had to visualize a room first, and he'd never been inside Jason's. She wondered, though, how he planned to get them in undetected.
'What if we set off the alarms?' she asked softly. Did the people strolling the streets suspect the truth? She was wearing all black, after all. Criminal colors.
'We will not,' Darius answered confidently.
'Security guards observe screens of every corridor, maybe every room.'
'That does not matter. I will cast a spell to guard us before we set a single foot inside.' He leveled her with an intense stare. 'Are you ready?'
She gulped, nodded.
'Put your arms around my neck and hold tight.'
After only a slight hesitation, Grace intertwined her shaky fingers around his neck, pressing her breasts into the hardness of his chest. Tingles raced through her nipples. 'We could get into serious trouble for this,' she said. 'I don't know why I suggested it.'
He grazed her lips with his own. 'Because you love your brother.'
Ripping fabric drifted to her ears a split second before Darius's shirt fell to the ground. His long, glorious wings unfurled. Her heartbeat galloped as her feet lost their solid anchor on the ground. Whoosh. Whoosh . A cool breeze stirred.
'What's happening?' she gasped, but she knew the answer. 'Darius, this is-'
'Do not panic,' he said, his grip on her tightening. 'I have not forgotten how to fly. All you need do is hang on to me.'
'I'm not panicked.' She laughed. 'I'm exhilarated. We're flying on the Darius Express.' They moved quickly, smoothly, higher with every second that passed.
He uttered a chuckle of his own and shook his head. 'I expected fear from you. Will you ever cease to amaze me, sweet Grace?'
'I hope not.' She looked down, loving how the cars and people appeared like small specks, loving the giddiness of hovering in the air.
A hunter's moon loomed closer and larger, growing in intensity until she could only gape at its luminance. Darius chanted under his breath, and a strange vibration unfurled from him, a vibration that began as nothing more than a slight tremble, then grew into an intense shaking through the entire apartment building. No one below seemed to notice.
The shaking stopped.
'We are safe now,' he said.
She didn't ask how exactly since they had reached Jason's upper balcony. As his wings glided them slowly forward, Darius set her firmly on the ground. The action drew a grunt from him, and she glanced up at his face. His cheekbones stretched taut and lacked any color. He kept his gaze from her as he drew in a shaky breath.
'You're weak again,' she said, concerned. 'Perhaps you should go home and-'
'I am fine.' Irritation-with her or himself?-lashed from his tone.
She gulped, determined to get him out of here as quickly as possible. 'Let's hurry, then.'
White gauzy drapes billowed around the French double doors. Grace brushed them aside and tried the knob. Locked. 'Do you know how to pick these?'
'No need.' Darius ushered her aside, positioned himself in front of the doors and spewed rays of fire. The wood around the glass panels quickly charred. The tinkle of glass erupted as the panels fell and hit the ground.
'Thank you.' Stepping over the jagged pieces, Grace waved her hand in front of her nose to whisk away the smoke. Unabashedly she entered Jason Graves's home. 'It's so dark,' she whispered.
'Your eyes will adjust.' He didn't use a breaking-and-entering voice. He used a why-are-you-whispering-you- silly-woman voice.
Even as he spoke, her vision opened and objects became clear. A chaise longue, a glass coffee table. 'What about motion sensors and security cameras?' she asked. 'Are we one hundred percent protected from those?'
'Yes. The spell disabled them.'
Allowing herself to relax, she padded throughout the living room, tracing her fingertips over the paintings and jewels-yes, jewels-hanging on the walls. 'So much wealth,' she said. 'And none of it belongs to him. It's like we've stepped through the mist and into Atlantis.'
Darius remained at the threshold, his teeth bared in a red-hot snarl as he took in the stolen Atlantean artifacts.
'I know you're a child of the gods,' she said, hoping to distract him from his fury, 'but you're not technically a god. Where does your magic come from?'
'My father,' he said, losing his infuriated edge. He entered, his steps clipped. 'He practiced the ancient arts.'
The image of his parents' lifeless bodies flashed in her mind again, exactly as she'd seen them in her vision when he'd cast his binding spell. She ached for the little boy he'd been, the child who'd found his family slain. She couldn't imagine the pain he must have suffered-and still suffered.
'I'm sorry for their deaths,' she told him, letting her remorse and sorrow seep out with the words. 'Your loss
