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"Why not?"
"Because even if I did, you wouldn&039;t remember me" He pulled back to look down at her "It&039;s the way it has to be"
Tears gathered in her throat, but she refused to let him see them "That&039;s not fair to you You can never make any friends"
"No, I can&039;t This is all I have" He sighed wearily "It&039;s all we have"
"I don&039;t understand how you can be so nonchalant about it Don&039;t you ever get mad over these stupid rules?"
He looked away and yet she saw the hurt in his eyes "No, Danger I don&039;t Believe me, this is far better than the alternative At least this way I have moments of muted happiness"
She turned his head so that he could look at her "Tell hed wearily "Yes, there are ti to be able to have one chance at being norain To have one moment when I was hurateful that I have this tiht now You make me feel al ti the feel of his rough shadow against her lips "I wish this could last"
"I know, but it reminds me of a tererets with the pleasure the ht to you"
"Does it work?"
Alexion snorted "Not really At least not for h Acheron seems to do ith it At least he appears to cope with his regrets ret?"
"You&039;d be a to know the answer "What is your greatest regret?"
His gaze burned her with its intensity "That you weren&039;t born nine thousand years ago"
Tears welled in her eyes at words she&039;d never thought to hear from him or from any man "I e&039;d met ere both human," she whispered
"Yeah, but you would have probably killedat hireen eyes teased her "You&039;ve stabbed me twice since we first met That seems to be a bad record withwith er wasn&039;t sure which of the two of them was most stunned by his words "What?"
He pulled away ier stopped hier I&039;m not that man anymore"
"No, you&039;re the man I let into my bed, and believe me, that&039;s some feat There haven&039;t been many who&039;ve made it past h he was trying to pull away "Now you finish what you started"
"It doesn&039;t matter what I feel Or even what I think Time is limited for both of us"
"No, Alexion, it matters to me I want the truth froood is the truth? Really? What good does it do us?"
But she didn&039;t agree She needed to know if he&039;d meant what he said "Do you lovehier sat there with a knot in her throat as eht to have another man say that to her Never
But what surprised her most hat she felt for hi and it filled her with both joy and fear
She pulled hiainst her and laid her head on his shoulder "I love you, too, Alexion"
She felt his jaw tic against her scalp
"This is an iht?"
"I know," she breathed "And when the tiood-bye I won&039;t beg you to stay and I won&039;t round his teeth at her words But that wasn&039;t what he wanted
He wanted
Damn you, Acheron
Most of all, he dao to his wife so soon aftera pact with Arteain
Acheron would be able to barter for his soul back
Then again, had he not wanted to return to his wife so desperately, Acheron wouldn&039;t have o free
None of them would have a chance for freedom from her service His life and soul had been sacrificed for a ain
Without me
It was true For hier or any woman Not that he wanted any other woman She was the only one he would ever love He knew it
"I shouldn&039;t have come here to save Kyros," he said in a hoarse tone "Kyros is as good as dead and all I&039;ve done is make memories that can only serve to hurt in the centuries to coret She wouldn&039;t feel his pain
He clenched his hand in her hair "I&039;ll be able to see you, I could even pass you on the street and you&039;ll never knoho or what I aer"
Tears swaet you, Alexion Ever"
"You have no choice You know too much about Acheron now He&039;ll never allow you to keep your er snapped beneath her tears "I don&039;t care what he does I won&039;t forget you So to remember you, I know it I don&039;t care hoerful he is, he won&039;t et you"
He wished he could believe that, but he knew better
"You need to get soht ahead of us"
She nodded "Are you going to sleep too?"
"In a little while You rest"
She released hiot up and dressed while thoughts and regrets whispered through hi them aside, he went to see Xirena, as still asleep on the sofa
Her feet were propped up over the back while her head dangled off the side of it One arainst the floor while the other was crossed over her chest Srabbed the blanket off the armchair and covered her up
His tinment
But at least time was on his side Stryker would think he still had the soul within hi him
Until the time that Stryker expected the soul to die, the Daiave him a few days to make contact with the other Dark-Hunters to feel the in three days and then the fate of thehts drifted back to Kyros and he wanted to curse out loud at the injustice Kyros was lost to hier
And in the end, he would lose theereuse"
Alexion froze as the soft, feh his head If he didn&039;t know better, he would swear it was
"Artemis?"
"The Daimon wants you dead If he can&039;t take you, he will take someone else"
Alexion sed at her dire tone "Why are you helping me, Artie? I know you hate me"
"I&039;m not Artemis I&039;m just a friend who doesn&039;t want to see Stryker hurt anyone else"
"Then how do I defeat him?"
"To defeat the invincible you can never strike at them You must always strike at their heart"
"I&039;ve tried striking at his heart He&039;s a little swift on his feet"
The voice said nothing
"Hello?" Alexion asked, but she was gone
"Great," he said, clenching his teeth
Stryker was going to er and the only way to save her would be to strike at a god who had no heart whatsoever
"Shit, we&039;re screwed"