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Greece, in a cave next to the water I won’t res that happened to me, yet I’m aware that the memories were taken Not that thatthat’s ever been done toI’ve done, and the hate… God, Amun, I’m always fil ed with so much hate For the first few years of a new life, that hate is the only thing that drives me"

He rested his chin on top of her head, his war have you been alive this time?

"About eleven years"

Why have you never come after us before?

She should lie The truth would destroy the tranquility of this , he deserved the truth

"I have coo, some of you were in New York I helped burn down your hoo, in Budapest, there was a shootout I was there"

No, Itime, yet this is the first time since ancient Greece that I’ve encountered you

He wasn’t going to take issue with her confession He wasn’t even going to acknowledge it as the travesty it was

The realization was staggering "I always reot the hate under control And even then, I have to wait until I can pass myself off as someone else before I can rejoin society and the Hunters, which ht have known me are dead"

How do you knoho they are, if most of your meed your identity?

"I’ve come back so many times, and with so many years apart, I’m often able to reuse the same name

As for the rest, I keep records inside h in one lifetis, photos, that sort of thing, to a mailbox nearby"

That’s smart His sincerity warmed her as surely as his touch

"Thank you" She lifted her ar his attention to her tattoos She’d never done this before, either Never explained what the etchingsto h--you want a ful -blown relationship now?--one of the step

"See this?" she asked, ignoring her question to herself

With her free hand, she traced a circle around the only address aers curled around her wrist, slowly turning her ar tattoos He rubbed the pad of his thumb over Micah’s name, as if he could wipe it away Just then, she wished he could

Yes, he said I see

"That’s where my mailbox is"

At first, he didn’t respond Then his breath e else about how you survive Okay?

"O-okay," she said, confused "Why?" Because he’d feel obligated to tel his friends, but didn’t actual y want them to know? Yes, she realized a ht of possible betrayal should have sent her leaping out of his lap Instead, she cuddled closer

He was stil trying to take care of her

Who’s the Bad Man? he asked, changing the subject

Hearing a nicknaht jolted her

"How did you know about him?"

His thumb brushed the side of her jaw, and she shivered I had a vision of you Like the onetogether, of you on the veranda Except in this one, you were a little girl

Everyone else, I can read their minds, but you…I have only ever seen snatches of your life

First, he could read alShe wished he could see al of her, know al of her If anyone could help her sift through her confused e desires, it was this man "The Bad Man was the first Hunter I ever met He found me after my parents were kil ed"

Blood, a river between her mother and her father Both helpless…dead

Oh, no No way in hel would she al ow that hated memory to resurface now "He saved ht I’d coht, he just didn’t know it I was nearly a teenager when he soldto train me But after I died the first time, I remembered his lessons and that’s how I later hooked up with the Hunters"

And that’s when you helped kil Baden? Simply asked, with no hint of his emotions

Goodbye, sweet, stolen moment If any topic could ruin their ease with each other, it was that one Stil

She nodded, tears once again burning her eyes

Who did we take froain, there was no eer, not conde, his question offered her absolution A justifiable reason for her actions He would never knohat that meant to her, how profoundly that affected her

She couldn’t help herself She pressed a kiss on the pulse thu at the base of his neck "My parents