could see his point of view, even if she didn’t want to. She had known him less than a week, yet her entire life had been leading her to him. So maybe she should allow for the fact that he knew more about this whole thing than she did. Damn. She really hated being rational.
“Put me down, Rune. Please.”
He did and she wobbled a little unsteadily for a second. Not surprising, really, since desire, fury and magic were mixing into a thick, debilitating stew inside her. Hard to straighten out just what she was feeling, what she was thinking, when a pair of gray eyes were fixed on her, waiting for her to make the mistakes another woman had made in another time.
She knew those memories were locked away inside her and she would do all she could to free them. But even if the time came when she could recall every moment of each of the lives she’d lived before this one, she would still be Teresa. And he had to realize that.
“I don’t remember those lives you’re still holding against me,” she said finally. “The images you showed me earlier were hard for me to accept. But I still don’t remember them. It’s more like watching a movie starring a completely selfish heroine. This is my life. This one, Rune. And despite all the years of training, what you’re asking of me is all new.”
He folded his arms across his chest and stared down at her. “I know that.”
“So blaming me for what I did back in the day is probably not the best way to make friends.”
A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “No, probably not.”
“Thanks for that much, anyway.” She reached up and pushed her hair back from her face. The roar of the water rushing into the hot tub had become just background noise. Steady. Like her own heartbeat. The heat in the room filled her and the steam rising from the surface of the water shone from the colorful brilliance of the crystals in the wall.
This whole thing, she thought, was out of some wildly twisted fairy tale. An immortal and a witch, chased by enemies, stranded in the desert, sharing a magical cave filled with gleaming crystals. But in this story, the hero and heroine were so busy butting heads they weren’t getting anywhere. And she was willing to admit to her share of the confrontations.
Sighing, Teresa reached out and took one of his hands in hers. The sizzle and flash that shot through her at his touch was almost familiar in days filled with too much change. “Whoever it is you remember from our past, it’s not me. Whatever you think, that’s not me.”
“We will see,” he said.
Irritation rose up and quickly died away. Yes, she’d had a hard time of it, but so had he. Maybe she could cut him a little slack. “Look, I know what we have to do and I’m not trying to back out. I just want to know what you expect from me.”
“I expect you to be beside me,” he told her, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand in long, sexy strokes. “I expect you to be my mate as I will be yours. To join our energies, to channel our magic into finding the Artifact and returning it to Haven. I expect you to do what we must.”
She nodded and watched his thumb moving over her skin as if she were mesmerized. “That’s it? You’re not expecting … love?”
He laughed shortly. “My heart doesn’t even beat, Teresa. If it once knew how to love, it’s forgotten now and I’ve no interest in reacquiring the knowledge.”
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. How could they possibly succeed when neither of them was willing to invest everything? If each of them held back, would either of them be able to do what they had to, together? But what choice did they have except to try?
“All right, then,” she said quietly. “How do we do it?”
“We start like this.” He snapped his fingers and they were naked. Torchlight flickered over the walls, firing the crystals and shimmering on their skin.
Danger still resonated between them. They weren’t safe and wouldn’t be until all of this was over. Maybe, Teresa thought, that emotion was feeding into what was sweeping through her now. She had nearly died today. And again in Sedona. And both times this Eternal had saved her, at great cost