She shrugged. “I have nothing to hide.”
“Good. Then tell me where the black diamond is.”
“Except that.”
“Then we really don’t have anything to talk about.”
He stood, but this time she grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
He looked down at her. “I’m not in the mood to play games, Angie.”
“I’m sorry. Sit down. I really do want to talk.”
He sat. “If you wanted to discuss something, all you had to do was say so. You didn’t have to ply me with alcohol.”
“Right. Because you’re usually so open and talkative.”
He tilted his head. “You’re a real smart-ass, you know that?”
She looked away, but her lips curled. “You like me that way.”
She was right. He did prefer her this way to the sweet, accommodating woman she’d been earlier tonight. That Angelique had been alien to him. He liked her with a little sass. Maybe he could handle her better when she showed him some attitude.
“So what’s on your mind?”
“I’m worried.”
“About?”
“A lot of things. About what happened at the cottage. How that demon knew where to find me. And if they found me, they can find Isabelle.”
“Are you thinking something’s happened to her?”
“I’m trying not to think that, actually. But there has to be a good reason she has suddenly gone under the radar. And yes, she makes me nuts, but right now I need to know where she is.”
“Why now?”
“Because of what Bart said at the caves in Australia.”
“You’re wondering if your sister has some connection to the Sons of Darkness?”
She nodded, misery in her expression. “It wasn’t me. When I touched the black diamond, the light inside it extinguished. Then Bart said I wasn’t the one, almost as if he expected me to have some kind of magical power, as if he already knew I would.”
“That doesn’t mean Isabelle will, either.”
“True. But putting two and two together, Izzy and I are twins. What did the Sons of Darkness know about me, about us, that I’m unaware of?”
“Good question. Are you sure you don’t know anything?”
She narrowed her gaze in anger. “Please. Do you think I’d be a sitting duck if I was on the demons’ side? That that thing would have held my throat, demanding answers? I don’t know anything. I didn’t at the caves and I still don’t.”
Ryder didn’t know what to think. Demons liked to play games, and subterfuge was one of their favorites. Often what you saw wasn’t what you got. He wouldn’t put it past them to plant one of their own in the midst of the Realm of Light.
But gut instinct told him that wasn’t what was going on here, that Angie wasn’t involved with the demons. Not directly, anyway.
“I’m afraid Isabelle is the Queen of Darkness that Bart spoke about.”
Well, hit him over the head with a sledgehammer. Now they were getting somewhere. “Why would you think that?”
She leaned over, balancing her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together, studying them, he supposed, so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. “Several reasons, actually. Because of Bart’s confusion about me and the black diamond, and because of Izzy’s behavior. It. . fits.”
“What do you mean, it fits?”
Her head shot up and her tortured eyes met his. “There’s a darkness in her. I’ve always known about it. She can be sweetness and light one minute, and turn on you the next. And when she does, she almost seems to enjoy it. I could understand it if it had just happened when we were kids, but it’s continued even into adulthood. It’s like she gets a perverse pleasure out of hurting people, especially me.”
“Sibling rivalry?”
Angie shook her head. “No. It’s much more than that. I can’t really explain it, Ryder. There’s a deviousness to her, an inherent. . evil. I can feel it. Sometimes she scares the hell out of me. And the older she gets, the more pronounced it’s gotten.”
“What kind of darkness?”
Angelique shrugged. “Her behavior. Her lack of scruples. She’ll hurt people without a second thought, with no remorse. She’ll take and take for her own gain without thinking of the repercussions.”
“She definitely sounds greedy.”
Angelique nodded. “Yes, but it goes beyond that. She wants to beat me, to stay a step ahead of me. It’s always been that way. She’d steal a treasure right out from under me if it meant she could win.”
“That still sounds more like sibling rivalry.”
She shook her head. “I used to think so, but she’s a successful archaeologist in her own right. She doesn’t need to be better than me. She’s already brilliant at what she does. She has this drive to be rich, famous, as if she wants everything. There’s nothing she won’t do to get what she wants. There’s no one she won’t destroy who stands in her way. She never gets close to people, never lets anyone in. She and I have a bond, but we’re sisters. And even then, she can be cold with me.
“I’ve always felt there was something different about her, but I denied it for so long. Until Australia. Then it hit me that she could have evil in her. But how? We’re twins, and I’m. . I’m not like that, Ryder.”
Ah, hell. The pain on her face was so intense it made his stomach hurt. He wanted to drop to his knees and gather her in his arms. Goddamn. He wanted to soothe her.
That so wasn’t his thing. Talking was better. Touching wasn’t a good idea. And he wasn’t a soother.
“We all have a dark side, Angie. It’s what we choose to do with it that makes us who we are.”
The look she gave him was so filled with question and need that he could feel it deep inside. It made him crave things he hadn’t craved in a very long time.
“What do you mean by that?”
He should learn to keep his damn mouth shut, before he started spilling his guts to her. “Nothing. Some philosophical bullshit I read once. I thought it might help. Did it?”
She let out a soft laugh. “A little.”
He stood and walked to the window, looking out over the moonless night, wondering what he was doing in here with Angie when he should be outside.
Or maybe he just felt the need to escape, to gather some distance between them, before he did something really stupid, like try to comfort her. “I’d better get outside and patrol.” He turned back to her. “Look. We’ll find your sister and when we do, you’ll discover that she’s just fine. Quit worrying.”
“I’ll try.”
He slipped out the back door and shut it, filling his lungs with a deep breath of humid night air. The choking sweet smell of gardenias was making him sick, so he moved away from the house, keeping his focus on the surrounding terrain, searching for the signs of anything suspicious.