"You can't do that job if you're dead."
"As I have said, if death is my fate, then so be it. You are the important one in this equation. You and the keys."
"And I'm only important because I'm the only way to those keys." I snorted softly. "You know, if I did die, the world would be better off. No one would be able to find the keys or open hell's portals."
"If you think your father or the Raziq would stop searching simply because you were dead, you are sorely mistaken." Azriel's voice held a sharp edge. "Death cures nothing, Risa."
Maybe. Maybe not. I pulled away from the comfort of his touch. "Let's go back to the car. I need to go home."
He released my hand and I walked out the door—only to run nose-first into an all-too-familiar chest.
"Speak of the devil and he arrives," Azriel muttered.
I shot him a warning glance, then stepped back. If ever there was a man who was perfectly formed in every imaginable way, Lucian was it. He was truly beautiful to look at, and yet there was nothing effeminate about his looks or his presence. He was tall, towering over me by a good six inches, and his build was that of a warrior—muscular and strong.
He had the facial features of an angel, and in the past—before his golden wings had been torn off—he probably would have been mistaken for one. Because even though reapers were the true soul guides, it was the Aedh who were the source of the angel seen in so many myths. And like many of those mythical angels, he had golden hair and eyes that were the most glorious shade of jade, but his were so full of power that it was almost impossible to meet them without flinching.
Normally, my heart rate would have leapt into overdrive at the mere sight of him, but given my recent brushes with both my father and the Raziq, I couldn't muster anything more than annoyance—though it was edged with a bit of suspicion.
"What are you doing here, Lucian?"
His eyebrows rose. "We haven't seen each other for almost a week, and this is the greeting I get?"
"It is when you suddenly appear where you're not supposed to be."
"Last time I looked, this was a public train station, not a private one." His expression was amused, despite the slight edge in his voice.
"You know what I meant."