"Actually, it's variety that's the spice of life."
"And you are nothing if not variable," he agreed solemnly.
I laughed, then leaned forward and brushed a quick kiss across his lips. "Thank you."
His hands clenched briefly against mine. I had no doubt he was fighting the urge to reach for me and deepen the kiss, because I was fighting the very same battle. "For what?" he said, voice controlled and very, very even.
"For making me laugh when all I want to do is cry."
A shadow fell over us both and my stomach twisted in sudden fear. I glanced up hurriedly, but it wasn't an angry Lucian, as I'd half expected. The man was thin, rat-faced, and not a stranger. He was the shifter my father had used previously to courier packages and notes to me. We'd cornered him in the basement of an abandoned apartment building, but he hadn't provided a great deal of information, thanks to the fact that my father had erased his memory. As had Azriel, once we'd finished questioning him.
"James Larson," I said, my gaze dropping to the simple envelope he held in his hand. It was the same sort of paper that my father had used in his previous notes, and my stomach began to twist even harder. "What a pleasure it is to see you again."
He stopped and frowned. "How the hell do you know me?"
"You've delivered stuff to me before."
"Huh," he said. "Can't remember it."
Good. It meant Azriel had been successful and my father would not be aware that we'd found his courier.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Surely to god my father wasn't tracking me that closely.
"Didn't," Larson said. "Not exactly. I was told to keep an eye on the building being renovated up the road, because you'd be there sooner or later. Missed you going in, but saw you exit."
So my father knew about Lucian. Through reading my thoughts? Or had he been aware of Lucian way before I'd even entered the scene? It was an intriguing possibility, and one that raised all sorts of questions, especially when Lucian's fierce need for revenge was factored in. Maybe it was a bit of a leap, but it was altogether possible that Lucian wasn't after only the Raziq and the keys. Maybe he'd been using me to get to my father as well.
"How long have you been waiting for me to appear?"