Mordecai pursed his lips and nodded. He thought he had her. She wanted to slap the smug look from his handsome face.
“And then what?” she added softly. “They’ll die in a horrific fire a few months later. Or perhaps they’ll both be drowned or shot or die of disease. If you change one event you alter a thousand more. It’s like a ripple in a pond, never-ending. How many other lives will change? How many other people will die if I take your offer?”
“What do you care?” She could sense his growing impatience. “You’ll have what you want?”
“How many?” She’d been watching him closely and had seen the slightest flinch. It wasn’t really a flinch, more of a muscle twitch just beneath his left eye, but she knew she’d hit the nail on the head with her assumptions.
He leaned so close their noses were almost touching. “The drunk driver who hit your parents’ car would hit a school bus filled with children instead.” He straightened. “As to how many would die…” His shoulders moved up and down as he shrugged again. “Who knows?”
Aimee swallowed back the lump in her throat as she thought about all those children losing their lives before they’d really had a chance to live. “That’s pure evil.”
Mordecai shook his head. “That’s choice. Think of it as collateral damage.”
“Is that what your friends are to you? Collateral damage?”
His face turned to stone. “If you don’t want your parents back, how about fame and fortune instead? You could become one of the biggest names in the art world.”
Aimee shook her head. Reaching out, she laid her hand gently on his arm. The muscles beneath her palm quivered. “Give it up. There is nothing you can offer me that will make me betray Roric. I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want money. What good are they when I don’t expect to live to see tomorrow?”
Something that might have been respect reflected in his eyes for a brief second, but was quickly replaced by scorn. He stepped back and her hand fell back to her side. “You’d give your life for his?”
“For hope,” she corrected. “And it’s mine to give.”
He snorted. “It won’t be yours for much longer. Soon it will belong to Hades.”
“Perhaps,” she acknowledged.
“Tell Roric I said hello. And tell him that this was the last offer. If neither of you will budge, the gloves are off. You’ll soon see how little he values you when he tosses you to the hounds of Hell to save himself.”
“Perhaps,” she echoed.
Mordecai grabbed her shoulders and yanked her toward him. Before she could react, his mouth covered hers. Time stopped as he plunged his tongue into her mouth in an erotic caress that sent an icy shiver down her spine and left her cold. He banded his arms around her, fisting his hand in her hair and tilting her head to one side to deepen the kiss.
Aimee brought her hands up to his chest and shoved with all her might. It was like pushing against the side of a mountain. Like Roric, there was no give in him. Switching tactics, she brought her knee up hard and fast. Mordecai broke the kiss and managed to jump back at the last second.
He laughed. “Spunky. I like that.” He licked his lips and laughed again when she swiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “I’m going to ask Hades to give you to me. You’ll be my personal slave for all eternity.”
“Get out,” she commanded. “This is my home and you aren’t welcome here.”
As it had in the living room, a dark circle seemed to appear out of nowhere, sucking all the light from the room. Mordecai stepped through the portal, raising his hand in farewell. “I’ll be seeing you soon,” he promised. “Dream of me.” He blew her a kiss as the circle closed in on itself and disappeared.
“What the hell is going on?”
Aimee whirled around. Roric filled the doorway. He looked sexy and fierce, his unusual hair falling free around his shoulders. From what she’d seen so far these ancient warriors all looked damn good. She saw the two gleaming swords clasped tight in his hands and her heart skipped a beat. He’d come ready to defend her.
She tried to smile, but it felt like more of a grimace. Roric stepped to her side and the swords disappeared in a flash. What was most shocking to her was that she wasn’t surprised at all by their vanishing act. She’d already seen him do it once, and after everything she’d seen in the past twelve hours, a disappearing sword or two seemed almost tame.
“Aimee?” He strode forward, stopped in front of her and cupped her face with his hands. The action was reminiscent of how Mordecai had held her, except his grip had been impersonal and had left her feeling cold. Roric’s touch was warm and heated her insides.