that afternoon. I hadn't heard from him in a few days.
"Do you have any idea how much I don't care about your mortal friends?" he snapped when I told him about the whole bizarre situation surrounding Doug, Alec, and the mystery man. "I have real problems here. I'm dying. I'm getting nowhere with Dana. I keep seeing her, she's nice, and that's it! It's like she only wants - "
"To be friends?"
He stopped pacing around his kitchen and cut me an arch look. "Women are never just friends with me." He leaned against the counter and closed his eyes. "I just can't think what else to do. If I don't act fast, one of our superiors is going to find out how bad things are."
I decided not to mention Jerome's "high and dry" comment just then.
"Well, jeez, take a break and do something fun. Peter's having another poker game. Come over and play with us. I'm going to bring Seth."
"I thought you said this was going to be fun."
"Hey! Who was that a dig at? Peter or Seth?"
"Pick one, Fleur .Although, admittedly, Peter does make a pretty decentsouffle. What can the author do?"
"I wish you'd stop picking on Seth. You don't even know him."
Bastien shrugged. "Sorry. You just make it so easy."
"You're jealous."
"Hardly," he snorted. "I've had my share of mortal infatuations, thank you. So have you, if memory serves. And you've also had a number of immortal boyfriends you seemed to have liked reasonably well. None of them ever gave you as much grief as this guy."
"Seth's different. I can't explain it. Being with him just feels so...right. I feel like I've known him forever. "
" Fleur , I've known you forever. You've only known this guy for a couple months."
We had gotten involved pretty quickly, and it did bug me sometimes, but I truly believed in the strength and depth of my feelings for Seth. They were neither superficial nor transient - I hoped.
He had once told me there was no one else in the world for him but me. When I'd pointed out that was a bold statement in light of how long we'd known each other, he'd simply said, "Sometimes you just know."
It was remarkably similar to what my husband, Kyriakos, had told me when we'd first met, back in my long-ago, dust-covered days as a mortal. I'd been fifteen at the time, and my father had sent me down to the docks of our town with a message for Kyriakos, father. Sending me alone was a bit unorthodox, but my father hadn't thought much about it since he was only a short distance away at the market. Nonetheless, I found it a frightening walk.
Sweaty, dirty men worked ceaselessly, unloading and loading in the hot sun while the turquoise Mediterranean shimmered beyond them. I got directions from a short, bald man who leered up at me when he finished.
"You're a tall girl," he observed. "Bet that might bother some men, but not me. You're just the right height as far as I'm concerned."
He laughed, and some of his companions laughed too. The man's face came up right to the height of my chest. I hurried past them with lowered eyes, honing in on the indicated ship. Relief flooded me when I found Kyriakos checking lines and talking to some of the workers. I'd never spoken to him, but I knew who his father was and knew he was trustworthy. He looked up at my approach and smiled.
"You're Marthanes, daughter, right? Letha?"
I nodded. "I'm supposed to tell your father that the shipment can be ready this evening if he wants it early."
"I'll let him know. He's not here."
"All right." We stood there awkwardly for a moment. I could sense him studying me out of the corner of his eye while pretending to study the workers. He looked like he wanted to say something, but when nothing came, I made motions to go. "Well, thanks. I should get back."
"Wait, Letha." He reached out a hand to stop me from turning, then shyly pulled back before actually touching me. "You...didn't walk here by yourself, did you?"
"My father said it wasn't that far. And that I wasn't in much danger of attracting interest. "
Kyriakos made a harsh sound in his throat. "Your father's a fool. Let me walk you back." He hesitated. "But don't tell your father I called him a fool."
He exchanged a few curt words with one of his men and then set out back to town with