"Adios."
"So," Amanda teased as soon as they were alone. "You actually do know how to be nice to someone."
She saw the corners of his mouth twitch as he fought down the urge to smile at her. "Only when the mood strikes me."
He pulled a fork and knife out of a drawer and cut a small bite of chicken.
"Oh, this is good," he said. He cut another piece. "Here, you have to taste this."
Before she realized what she was doing, Amanda allowed him to feed it to her. The spices filled her mouth at the same moment it dawned on her just how intimate a moment they were sharing.
By the look in his eyes, she would say it occurred to Hunter about two seconds after her.
"It's very good," she said, stepping back from him.
Without another word, Hunter set about putting out plates for them. As she watched him, the full horror of the night came crashing down on her.
"My house is gone," she breathed. "Completely gone."
Kyrian set the plates aside as he felt her pain reaching out to him. It was a staggering wave of loss.
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming in grief. "Why did he burn my house? Why?"
"At least you weren't in it."
"But I could have been. Oh God, Hunter, Tabitha is normally home at that time! What if you hadn't been there? Allison would be dead. Tabitha could have been killed." She sobbed as she looked about, panic-stricken. "He's not going to stop until we're dead, is he?"
Without thinking, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. "It's all right, Amanda, I've got you." Kyrian froze as he realized what he'd done.
He'd used her name. And with it, he felt some inner barrier shatter.
Tears rolled down Amanda's cheeks. "I know it's just a house, but all my things were in there. My favorite books, the blanket my grandmother crocheted for me before she died. Everything that was me was in there."
"Not everything. You're still here."
She wept against his chest. Kyrian closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against the top of her head as she clutched at him. It had been centuries since he'd comforted a woman.
Centuries since he felt this way. And it shook him deeply.
"Can Desiderius get to Tabitha?"
"No," he whispered against her hair, trying not to inhale the sweet rose scent. He failed and his body reacted instantly as his groin tightened and burned for her. "As long as she stays in a private, human dwelling he can't get to her. It's one of the limitations Apollo put on them when he cursed them so that humans would have some protection."
Amanda took a ragged breath and stepped away from him. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping the tears from her face.
He clenched his teeth as he noted the way her hand shook. He could kill Desiderius for hurting her like this.
"I don't normally cry in front of people."
"Don't apologize," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands. "You're actually holding up a lot better than anyone should under the circumstances."
She looked up at him from under those long, dark, wet eyelashes. His heart hammered at the vulnerability he saw. A vulnerability that touched him on a level he didn't want to think about.
He wanted her. Desperately.
He hadn't felt this in so long, no, he corrected himself, he had never felt this way about another woman, not even Theone. This wasn't just lust or love, he felt a bond with her. They were like two parts of a single heart.
But it was a lie. It had to be. He didn't believe in love anymore. Didn't believe in much of anything.