Understanding entered her eyes. “If he goes to get her, they’ll see he’s wearing an illusion. And Lannes isn’t sure he can trust them.”
“It’s more than that.” Eddie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He has a bad history with witches. He and his brothers were imprisoned and tortured by them.”
Lyssa paled. “He can’t go in there.”
“Not alone.”
They stared at each other.
“My presence will only cause trouble,” she said, rubbing the heel of her palm against her tear-stained cheek.
“I need to help him.”
“God,” she said brokenly. “This is going to be a mess.”
“Lethe is not her real name,” Eddie told Lyssa, during the stop-and-go cab ride to the Upper East Side address that Lannes had given them. “It’s Alice. She had amnesia and doesn’t remember her life from before a couple years ago.”
Lyssa glanced at the cab driver, but he was holding a loud conversation in Arabic over his cell phone, and ignoring them completely. “How did she meet Lannes?”
“Accident.” Eddie turned off the touch-screen television embedded in the divider. If he had to hear another ad for daytime television, he was going to throw himself into traffic. “They found each other not long after she lost her memories.”
“Lucky.” Lyssa plucked at the backseat’s peeling black vinyl and dragged down a shaky breath. “Some things I’d like to forget.”
He hesitated. “How long did you know Estefan?”
“Three years, but only six months of that was face-to-face. We met in Florida. It was an accident. Going there was stupid because of the heat and how I have to cover my body. But I missed the sun and ocean.” Lyssa rubbed her face. “Do you have more tissues?”
Eddie reached into his backpack and found one.
She blew her nose. “There was a waitress he liked to flirt with at this little café near the water. We happened to be there at the same time. It had been years since I’d seen another of my kind, and the same was true for Estefan. I couldn’t help but talk to him.”
“He was a good friend.”
“So good. I was skittish at first, and he had such patience. I can’t tell you what it meant to me that someone knew. . what I was. He made me feel less alone.”
“There wasn’t anyone else you could have gone to? Your father’s family? Your mother didn’t have relatives? No friends, even?”
“No one. No one wanted anything to do with my family. My father lost his friends when he married my mother.”
Eddie stared, baffled. “Why?”
Lyssa looked down at her gloved hands, but he knew she was seeing past cashmere to scales and claws. “Ignorance and fear. Not that it matters anymore.”
It mattered to her, and to him. “Because your mother was a witch?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” When she didn’t take his invitation to explain, he added, “Is that why you’re angry at Long Nu?”
“She sent you to deal with me instead of coming herself. I think that says it all.”
“She told me it would draw the wrong kind of attention to you.”
A bitter smile touched her mouth. “You believe that?”
Eddie leaned back. “You think Long Nu was afraid that she would become a victim.”
“For all her power, she is still vulnerable to the Cruor Venator and her women. You, on the other hand. .” Lyssa gave him a curious look. “Why were you able to resist them?”
“I had a priority more important than fear.”
“Must have been a good one.”
“It was you,” he said. “So yes, it was.”
Lyssa stared, and his cheeks heated — especially when a faint, warm smile broke over her face.
“You should use that line in a bar. It would get you laid, like, a thousand times a night.”
Eddie smiled back. “That sounds exhausting.”
“What are you, eighty?” Lyssa closed her eyes, leaning against him. Her smile faded. “Long Nu doesn’t want to end up like Estefan. He’s dead because of me.”
He felt like an asshole. “Maybe it was a coincidence. The Cruor Venator found him, then realized the connection afterward.”
“Maybe. But I didn’t hide myself in that town. Everyone knew he was looking out for me. I stayed in his home. If the witch tracked me there, and asked questions. .”
That was exactly how it had happened. Again, Eddie kept his mouth shut and hated himself for it.
Lyssa shoved her wet tissue into the jacket pocket — and an odd look passed through her eyes. When her left hand emerged, it was with the plastic bag that contained her charred, flaking photo. It was slightly more ragged than he remembered, but her young, smiling face was still intact.
Eddie thought about his sister and felt a pang in his heart.
“You were happy then,” he said quietly, thinking that was something he should remember, too. “Don’t forget that, no matter what happens.”
Some of the tension left her shoulders — but when she glanced at him, her eyes were red-rimmed again, and bright.
“Seems like since I met you, I’ve been crying nonstop,” she said, and stroked the bag covering the photo. “You’re right. I was happy. If there was a kid who had a better childhood, I’d like to meet her. My parents were the best. There was so much love in our family.”
“I’m sorry you lost them.”
She gave him a heartbreaking smile. “I was going to have a brother. My mom was pregnant when she died.”
Eddie’s breath caught. Lyssa looked again at the photo, and her smile faded.
“Sometimes. . I think my mom knew she wasn’t going to last long. Or maybe she was just paranoid. She tried to teach me as much as she could, even when my dad thought she went overboard.” Her hand began to shake, and she set the photo down in her lap. “I miss them.”
I miss my sister, he wanted to tell her. I miss her every day and think about all the ways I could have done things differently. If I could turn back time. .
Eddie carefully took her hand in his. He felt wounded, touching her. Heartsore, grieving for his losses. . and for hers.
She snuggled closer, without hesitation, resting her head against his chest as though she’d done so a million times before. The familiarity of that gesture, the trust in it, made tenderness burst inside him in a rush of heat that went deeper than any fire.
No person had ever done this to him. He wasn’t even sure what this was. . except that it wasn’t just infatuation. It wasn’t just his lonely self, reaching out to the first woman who could meet and withstand his fire.
Fire was nothing but a chemical reaction releasing heat and light. Fire could be struck with a match, or lightning. Fire was common.
This. . what he felt when close to Lyssa. . was something else entirely. Losing her would mean losing his life. As ridiculous as that should have been, it was truer than anything in his life.
How was he going to protect her? Was there any way to keep her safe that wouldn’t end in killing?
She made a small hissing sound and touched her nose. Blood dotted her fingertips.
“Are you sick?” he asked, alarmed.
“Side effect,” she muttered. “Don’t worry. I haven’t done any magic in almost ten years. It puts stress on the body.”
Anger made his voice sharp. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
The cab driver swerved to the right and braked hard, nearly sending them into the divider. But Eddie never took his gaze off Lyssa, who — for one moment — gave him a haunted look that chilled him to the bone.
“We’re here,” announced the cab driver. “Close, anyway.”