at her feet. Piles of chemical foam dripped from the stove. Rain puddled on the floor. The kitchen curtains were limp, damp,
and dirty, and wet paper napkins had been blown around the room. The storm had been no illusion. But there were remarkably
few signs of fire: a blackened towel, a scorched kettle, a smudge of soot on the wall. A breeze blew through the open door,
clean and smelling of salt.
She shivered. “You‟re saying this wasn‟t a regular fire.”
“It was a fire,” Morgan said. “Fire is the demons‟ element.”
“I was making tea. It‟s an old house. Maybe a gas leak . . .” He met her eyes, and her voice died. Okay, she didn‟t believe
the gas leak theory either.
She picked up Tigger, stroking his vibrating little body for comfort.
“The flames provided the medium,” Morgan said. “But Gau should not have been able to manifest so completely.”
She felt ignorant. Helpless. “Who is Gau?”
His eyes, black and gold and guarded, met hers. “An old acquaintance.”
“A demon.”
“Yes.”
“An enemy?”
“He has made himself so.”
Fear sharpened her voice. “You know, you could stop with the ominous, cryptic statements. We‟re talking about my life
here. My children‟s safety. I need to know what‟s going on.”
He inclined his head. “You are right. I am not used to confiding in another.” His smile showed the edge of his teeth. “I hunt
alone.”
She looked at his teeth and his eyes and was suddenly reminded of something she would prefer to forget. He was not
human.
Inside her something quivered and froze like a rabbit spying a hawk, a flutter of purely animal panic. For a moment the
impossibility of what he was overcame even the improbability of what he was saying.
She bit down on her lip— This was Morgan , she told herself firmly—and the fear passed. “Well, you‟re not alone now.
You‟ve got Zack to think about.” And me, she thought. And Em. “If we‟re in danger, I need to know.”
Morgan hesitated. Debating what to tell her? Or deciding what to leave out? “I am the leader of the finfolk. If I ally with
Hell, if my people side with the children of fire against the selkie and humankind, Gau has offered me rulership over the sea.”
“So he‟s angry because you said no.”
He went still, that quality beyond stillness that reminded her again he was something more or other than human. “You
sound very certain of my answer.”
“No one who knows you could think you are a traitor.”
His gaze rested on her, dark and unreadable. “Not everyone shares your confidence in my loyalties.”
“You gave my daughter a kitten. You told me about our son.” You made love to me as if I mattered to you. “You saved my
house and probably my life. That earns you a certain amount of trust.”
“You give me too much credit. You were in danger because of me. I could hardly do otherwise.”
He would see it that way, she thought. Whatever Morgan was, whatever he had done, he had his own spare, warrior‟s code.
She frowned. “I still don‟t understand why Gau attacked me. Does he want revenge?”
“He wants my support.”
“Killing me won‟t accomplish that.”
“Threatening you might. He sees you as a weakness to be exploited.”
She held her breath. “And how do you see us?”
“I have no weaknesses.”
She struggled to hide her disappointment. “Then we have no value as hostages.”
“Elizabeth.”
She looked up and met his gaze. The look in his eyes was as warm, as fierce, as intimate as a kiss. Her blood began to
pound.
“Your value is something Gau cannot begin to comprehend. He will not touch you again.” Morgan‟s words had the weight