Page 40 of Rekindled Prophecy

The way his lips curled up on one side, outlining a dimple, caused her heart to skip a beat or two again. If he kept smiling that way, in all likelihood her heart would stop completely.

Focus Grey! Control yourself.

“So, if you already ate breakfast,” she inquired, “how did you explain bringing another complete meal back to your room? Everyone must think you have quite the appetite. Wait! How did you get inside the house? The medallion…”

“Oh, that little thing. Piece of cake.” His lips twisted into a full, perfect smile. “Painful. Excruciatingly painful. But easy enough to move away from the entrance with a well-placed stick. Although, you may want to reposition the welcome mat when you do go over to the house later.”

Well, the plan had not been foolproof anyway, but it was reassuring to hear that everyone was alive and well at breakfast. She would have to find another method of keeping him out of the house in case she had to leave again. He may have saved her life, but that did not mean she trusted him.

Kael continued as she scooped an oversized bite of cantaloupe into her mouth. “Well, I didn’t exactly say that the food and coffee were for me. I do have a healthy appetite, for a great number of things.” His eyebrows rose provocatively.

Heat crept up Greylyn’s neck.

“I simply asked Maureen if I could have a tray to bring breakfast over to you. She was more than happy to comply. The rose, however, was my own idea.”

His “appetite for a great number of things” comment riled up the fluttering butterflies in her belly. She almost choked on the juicy bite of cantaloupe. He laughed as she coughed uncontrollably, explaining that when the others had questioned Greylyn’s absence from breakfast, he alluded that she was probably still asleep ... in his room.

“I explained that we talked until the wee hours of the morning. Nothing more. When I awoke with your lovely ebony hair on my shoulder,” he sighed dramatically, “you looked so angelic that I did not have the heart to wake you, so I moved you to the bed before going to grab breakfast.”

The clatter of her fork against the delicate china echoed as she dropped it again. No sarcastic retorts came to mind despite her desperate need to fling one at him.

“You should have seen the looks on their faces. Maureen, in particular, was practically glowing at the news.”

Greylyn glared at him. Hoping the fire in her belly reflected in her eyes, “How could you lead them on like that? You know Maureen already has crazy notions in her head. Encouraging it is not a good thing. I’ll never hear the end of this!”

“Oh, stop acting like such a prude! It was only a cover story, an interesting one that perhaps is more convenient than the truth. At least, if she thinks we are together, she will give us some quality time alone.”

Plopping the tray aside, Greylyn threw off the covers. “Well, I thank you for the yummy breakfast … and for taking care of my wounds …” She paused as the realization hit her hard like a punch to the stomach. Here she was having breakfast in bed with her lifetime enemy instead of them both attempting to kill each other. “Wait a second! Why? Shouldn’t you be trying to kill me? None of this makes sense!”

With a finger wagging frantically, first pointing to him and then to herself, she raved, “Our kind do not play well together. If we had a job description, I am quite sure it would say to destroy the other at whatever cost. So why exactly are you going off script here?”

The tenor in her voice rose in alarm as she fired questions at him. So much for playing it cool. Instead, she was a stark-raving mad lunatic.

Steadily placing his cup on the nightstand, he stepped over to the bed. Greylyn had stood up at the onset of her diatribe with every intention of leaving, but he eased her back down.

“I know you have a lot of questions, and I promise to answer them all…eventually. Right now, though, you need to chill and let me check those wounds to make sure they are healing and that you didn’t just rip that gash open again.” His matter of fact, Dr. Know-It-All tone grated on her nerves.

“No, you are going to answer my questions. Now, Kael!” Sofia’s last words flashed in her mind, but she pushed them back. She needed to be angry. She needed to believe Kael was the enemy, because if he was not…

“I will answer one question, and only one, and then you will let me check your wound. After that … we’ll see.” He stepped back from the bed.

She ignored the second part of what he said.

“Okay, then. Why are you helping me? Isn’t it your job tonothelp me? After everything we’vedoneto each other over the years … why would you do that?”

He waggled a finger at her. “Listen to directions better next time. I said one question.” She hissed at him.

Kael sighed deeply. “But I’ll answer them. First: As much as I would like to be seen as the hero of this piece, I cannot claim such noble intentions. I helped you simply because I can, and I see no downside to doing so. To gloat while you drowned in the koi pond isn’t my style either. You are much too attractive for me to want to see you bloated and pale from inhaling rancid pond water. Yes, you would not actually die that way, but it wouldn’t be a pretty picture.”

She nodded for him to continue.

“Second: Having you die a rather nasty death, even for an angel, because you couldn’t heal properly with a broken talon of a Tenju still inside you isn’t my style either. By the way, I do expect an explanation for how you came to be in that condition in the first place. Tenjus are not known to come out and play whenever they desire, so you must have stirred up quite the hornet’s nest. Hell, they aren’t even known to frequent the United States.”

A what? Tenju? What the hell was that?

With a slight half-smile, he added, “However, I believe the important point to take away from all of this is that we have both had plenty of opportunities to vanquish the other over the last couple of centuries or more, butwe haven’t. It’s something interesting to ponder, don’t you think?” He paused for her answer but continued when she simply stared at him silently with her mouth wide open in shock. “Ultimately, I don’t wish to end our relationship here and now. We have many more years to enjoy thwarting each other.”

Greylyn’s head swam with this information. He did not want to kill her, at least not yet.

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