Green Eyes

“Captain Mallon, what a surprise,” Brutus greeted the near-naked, bleeding, and helpless Blood Guard captain. “Please do tell us why you are in the Navi’s cell and why you aren’t wearing any clothes.”

Mallon’s face was ashen. He had lost a lot of blood and had been lying here for several hours but what had really drained the color from his face was the Viceroy. He seemed to enjoy toying with the captain.

“Please, my lord, have mercy,” Mallon begged, his voice cracking.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Brutus leaned down. “I can’t hear you from up here. Why don’t you stand up?”

“I cannot, my legs, my lord,” Mallon croaked as loudly as possible.

“You can’t move?” Brutus eyed him with amusement. “Oh, you mean the knife in your back?” he reached down and yanked the weapon out, eliciting an agonized shout from Mallon. The nerves in his back still worked quite well. “How did this get there?” he admired the weapon in his hands.

“Jared, my lord,” answered Mallon. “He stabbed me in the back.”

“Stabbed you in the back?” the Viceroy continued his game. “How did he manage to do that? Surely a brave soldier like you would have faced him head on.”

Mallon desperately tried to think up of some sort of lie to get himself out of this, but nothing came to mind. There was no alibi, no reason that he could possibly give to why he was in the predicament that he was. Deep down, Mallon knew that the Viceroy already knew what had happened; he was just tormenting the captain for his own amusement.

“I didn’t know what else to do, my lord,” Mallon shuddered at the memory of the fight in the ruins. “He slaughtered my men like they were children with sticks but spared me. He gave me no choice but to help him rescue Selene, the Navi I mean.”

“You had the choice of dying for your king,” retorted Brutus, “As any worthy soldier would gladly have done.”

“I am sorry Viceroy,” Mallon groveled. “If you give me the chance, I will gladly, happily give my life for the king.”

“It is good you feel that way,” Brutus walked towards him, “because I am about to give you that opportunity.”

“My lord?” Mallon didn’t follow until Brutus placed his right hand on Mallon’s head. “What are you doing?”

“Letting you die for the king,” Brutus explained curtly.

“My lord, please, have mercy!” screamed Mallon as the awful truth of the moment suddenly sunk in.

“But Captain Mallon,” Brutus whispered in his ear, “this is mercy.”

He squeezed the captain’s head, drawing a shriek from the victim as his head slowly, painfully turned to ice. The captain’s howls ended abruptly as the ice closed off his windpipe. With a stern flick of the wrist, the Viceroy slammed the frozen head against the stone floor, shattering it into a million pieces.

“Get someone to clean up this mess,” growled Brutus to the guards standing in horrified shock. Numbly they nodded and ran to get brooms or mops, depending on how fast Mallon’s gooey bits melted.

“My lord,” a Blood Guard came up and bowed to the Viceroy, “what about the prisoner?”

“Who are you?” Brutus demanded with a glare, forcing the woman to step back a couple paces. “Were you Mallon’s second in command?”

“Uh, yes, I was,” she refused to look at what was left of her former commander.

“Congratulations, I just promoted you to nobility,” Brutus gruffly informed her. “With Mallon dead and David incapacitated, I need someone I can count on to run this region.”

“I will not fail you, my lord,” she promised.

“See that you don’t,” he gestured to Mallon’s headless corpse. “That was my mercy; something I am not fond of giving out.”

With a gulp, the woman nodded her understanding. “What does my lord wish us to do for him first?” she queried.

“We have two very dangerous prisoners on the loose,” Brutus said. “Find them. Send your legion to the town and round up the people and interrogate them. Find out where they would hide or go. I don’t care who you have to kill or torture.”

“If you will forgive me my lord, but I do not think that will do much good,” the woman interjected.

“You dare question me so soon?” the Viceroy turned a cruel glare on the woman.

“I meant no disrespect, but the Navi, Selene, was hated by the people,” she said. “She had no friends and so no one will know where she might go.”

“What of the mercenary?”

“He was new and never really tried to fit in,” she responded. “People know him less than her.”

“I see,” Brutus scratched his bare chin. “What do you suggest?”

“Me, my lord?” the woman looked surprised.

“You are the new ruler of this region, so these are decisions that you must make,” Brutus told her.

“If they are smart, they won’t go back to ruins,” she pondered thoughtfully. “If I were them, I would head as deep into the forest as fast as possible.”

“Very well,” agreed Brutus. “Send your soldiers into the forest and find them. Kill them if you have to, but I want the Navi alive.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but a look from Brutus silenced her. “Yes my lord, it shall be done at once,” she bowed and left to carry out his orders.

*******

Breathing deeply, Selene’s eyes fluttered open. Judging by the sun shining through the clouds overhead, she guessed it was mid-morning. Stretching, she sat up and looked around.

Jared was standing a few feet away. He still had on his loose fitting black trousers and boots, but his shirt was off and he seemed to be worrying over something on his left bicep. Whatever he was trying to do, it wasn’t working.

“Here, let me help,” Selene offered standing up and walking over to him.

“You’re up,” he greeted almost sounding disappointed.

“What happened?” she questioned when she saw that he was trying to re-bandage a deep cut in his upper arm. Jared shot her a glare. “Oh, right,” Selene said in a small voice as she remembered accidently getting in his way. “Sorry about that.”

“Just don’t make that mistake again,” he told her gruffly as he kept attempting to retie the strip of cloth.

“Stop, let me get that for you,” Selene pushed his hands away.

“I’ve bandaged myself plenty of times before,” he snapped.

“So I can see,” Selene commented, noting his naked torso. He was well-toned and muscled, but years of warfare had left their mark, plenty of them. Scars crisscrossed his chest and back like a road map. “But I am the daughter of a physician and I’ve picked up a thing or two. Besides, you saved my life, again, so it’s the least I can do.”

“That’s true,” Jared snipped, but relented. “Too bad healing isn’t in your arsenal.”

Selene hadn’t considered that. “Maybe it is,” she suggested. “Let me try.”

“No!” Jared jumped away from her.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Selene tried to assure.

“Let’s think about this,” Jared looked at her dubiously. “So far you have torched your house and flash-frozen about a hundred soldiers. Consider the consequences if you miscalculate.”

“I have to figure out my powers sometime,” Selene argued. “And I don’t want to have to wait until we’re in Jerel to do that. Besides, healing might come in handy.”

“I agree,” Jared nodded. “Just make someone else your test rat.”

Sighing, Selene assented and took the bandage from Jared. He watched her suspiciously as she wrapped his arm tightly, but gently. When she was done, he examined it and grunted his approval. Selene guessed that was as close to a “thank you” as she would ever get.

“We need to get going,” Jared said, throwing his long shirt on and buckling his sword belt around his waist. “Someone overslept and we need to get a lot deeper into the forest before we are safely out of the army’s reach.”

“You could’ve woken me up,” Selene crossed her arms.

“After everything you went through, you needed the rest,” Jared replied. “Especially because we’re going to be walking at least until we get to Beth Isaac.”

“Couldn’t we ride Barak?” Selene protested the idea of having to walk through knee deep snow for the next couple of weeks.

Jared shook his head. “In this snow, he can’t carry our gear and our weight,” Jared answered. “Even if it was good weather and flat, open ground, I doubt he could. So we walk until we get to Beth Isaac and get on the boat.”

“Can I at least take a bath first?” Selene huffed out a request. “I’ve spent the last 36 hours or so either in a dungeon or out in the middle of nowhere and I need to get cleaned up.”

Jared raised his eyebrows in an amused expression. “If you want to bathe in the Trickling Creek in sub-freezing temperatures, be my guest. Being a Navi, you might just survive it. Though you might need my sword to chip through the ice.”

“I can’t go two weeks without a bath!” Selene wailed.

“Take a snow bath,” Jared suggested. “It may not be as soothing as the real thing, but it’ll do the trick.”

Selene didn’t like the idea, but decided it was the best she could get. Walking deeper into the forest, away from any prying eyes, she stripped down, shivering in the freezing air and watching her breath condense in front of her. Sucking in several deep breaths for courage, she plunged her hands into the snow and vigorously scrubbed her skin.

It was so cold it burned, but when she was done, Selene found she felt strangely refreshed and clean. Either that was because the snow bath worked or because she was just so filthy. When she got back to camp, Jared already had everything packed up.

“Ready to go now?” he sarcastically asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Selene nodded and the pair trudged off through the snow.

They ploughed through the snow with few rests the rest of the day, following the Trickling Creek. Although Selene was used to living outdoors, having done a lot of exploring and hiking around the ruins and in the forest, this was exhausting for her, especially because they were pushing through knee deep snow, off the roads. But Jared kept going seemingly unaware of Selene’s personal misery.

Looking over his shoulder and saw the sun sinking under the horizon, Jared finally reined Barack to a stop. “Alright, we’ll make camp here,” he announced.

Selene collapsed into a heap, heedless of the snow, panting. In fact the snow felt good, cooling her overheated body. Her muscles were cramping and aching to the point that she felt herself tingling, a sign she took as her healing powers kicking in.

“Get up,” Jared kicked her gently. “You’re sweating like a race horse in the summer. If you just lie in the snow, your sweat will freeze yourself.”

“One of the joys of being a Navi is that it won’t kill me,” Selene panted from her position in the snow.

“You’ll be miserable though,” Jared told her.

“Just let me die,” she breathed in and out deeply.

“Suit yourself,” shrugged Jared. “I’m going to set up camp.”

“Aren’t you tired?” she asked, leaning her neck up.

“We were only hiking for about six hours,” Jared furrowed his eyebrows. “I thought you were in better shape than that.”

“I’m in great shape!” Selene protested.

“Uh-huh,” Jared replied.

“I am!” Selene yelled at him.

“That was barely a walk,” Jared scoffed. “Tomorrow will be going ten hours for the next two weeks or so.”

“Ten hours!” Selene gaped. “Are you insane?”

“No, you’re just out of shape,” shrugged Jared. “Another tip, if you just lay there, your muscles will be hurting worse tomorrow.”

Groaning Selene struggled to her feet, muscles and joints rebelling violently. “What do you need me to do?” she asked resignedly.

“Clear an area of snow for a fire and place to sleep,” Jared ordered her. “I’m going to get Barack unpacked.”

Selene grumbled, but did as she was told, getting a hemlock branch to sweep snow away from a large patch of ground. In a few minutes Jared returned carrying their packs and set them down where Selene had cleared the ground.

Now that she wasn’t moving as much, her sweat had started to freeze on her body. Shivering and teeth chattering, Selene stood there and looked at Jared.

“H-h-h-how about a fire?” she asked hugging herself.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Jared looked at her. “So how about a fire?”

“You want me t-t-t-to start a f-f-f-fire?” Selene questioned. “Where’s your t-t-t-tinder box?”

“No tinder box,” Jared shook his head. “Use your power.”

“My p-p-power?” she raised her eyebrow.

“You torched your house,” Jared shrugged. “Starting a fire should be a piece of cake.”

“It isn’t as easy as it l-l-looks,” she recalled her failure in David’s dungeon.

“Try,” he prodded.

Scowling Selene thrust out her hand towards a pile of brush Jared had gathered. She strained and concentrated trying to produce a spark. Nothing happened.

To put it simply, she had no idea what she was doing.

“I d-d-don’t know what I am doing,” she complained. “Can’t you just light a fire and have us be done with this?”

“You need to get at least some sort of handle on your powers,” Jared didn’t back down, arms crossed. “Especially your more, uh, volatile powers.”

“But I don’t know how to do it!”

“What did you do last time?” Jared explored. “What triggered your outburst last time?”

“I don’t remember,” Selene sighed, trying to revisit the single most painful memory of her life. “My dad had just been murdered in front of me, so I guess that triggered. But we can’t exactly recreate that again, now can we?”

“No,” Jared agreed. “But your father’s murder did trigger something. The question is what. What about other times you’ve used your power?”

“What other times?” Selene growled. “I’ve never used my power before.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think I’d remember lighting up a like a wheat field in summer,” Selene retorted.

“What about with Arioch?” Jared questioned.

That made Selene stop. It was another unpleasant memory that she had tried to forget but now she brought it to the surface. She recalled her arms feeling hot and Arioch jerked his hands away. “That little witch burned me,” he had said. At the time she had dismissed it with everything else that had happened shortly thereafter.

“What were you feeling?” Jared prompted. “Fear?”

“No,” Selene remembered that much. “I was mad; the maddest I’ve ever been in my life except…”

“Except?”

“Except when Brutus killed my father,” Selene finished as she put the pieces together. “Anger,” she finally concluded. “Fire must be tied to anger.”

“A surprisingly logical and rationale conclusion,” Jared allowed a backhanded compliment. It was really the best she ever got from him. “So get angry and light the fire before I freeze to death.”

Selene shot him a slightly irritated look, but shrugged and focused on getting angry. She thought of all the people that had belittled her (Jared included). She thought of Arioch who had tried to rape her and of Mallon who had tried to seduce her. Above all she thought of Brutus, the devil that had murdered her father and then tortured her within an inch of her life.

That did the trick. Selene felt her arm and hand superheat and a ball of white-hot flame burst out of her hand. It struck the brush pile and exploded in a shower of sparks that lit up the twilight like the midday sun. And then, just as quickly as it had started, it faded into darkness leaving a slightly smoldering crater.

“I guess we need to work on you controlling it now,” Jared blinked at the crater. Even he looked impressed. “I’ll get some more wood and we can have a proper fire.”

Selene nodded weakly. It wasn’t much, but that one blast had really drained her. On the plus side, she certainly wasn’t cold anymore. Now if only she could control it.

While Jared was gone, Selene busied herself by unpacking their bedding and laying it out. After the explosion, the ground in about a ten foot radius was nice and dry. She was just finishing up when she heard some snapping twigs in the darkness.

“Jared, are you back?” she called, feeling strangely uneasy. “If you are, it’s about time. I’m starting to get really cold again.”

There was no answer from the brush, which Selene found strange. She was about to shrug it off as her imagination or Barak when she heard the rustling again.

“Jared?” she called again.

No answer.

“If this is a joke, it’s really not funny,” she chided.

No answer, but there was more rustling.

Selene was getting really scared now. She may be capable of producing a giant fireball, but without Jared around she didn’t like strange noises.

Another twig snapped.

“Whoever you are, I’d appreciate if you come out now,” Selene warned, attempting to sound brave. She didn’t think it was working so well. “Otherwise I’d have to send my mercenary after you.”

“So much for waiting until she was asleep,” hissed a voice. “Why can’t you sit still?”

“My legs are cramping,” replied the other in a whisper that wasn’t very effective.

“Excuse me, but who are you?” Selene yelled at the bushes looking, she was sure, very foolish.

“Might as well take her now,” one of the voices hissed and immediately two figures jumped out from the brush.

Selene knew they were there, but it still made her jump to see the two men standing half a dozen feet away, swords glinting in the embers of her crater.

“Who are you?” Selene asked, nervously eying the blades and retreating behind the pit. “What do you want?”

“We’re some of Lady Tamar’s soldiers,” answered one. “I am Elisha and this is my twin brother Elijah.”

“Who is Lady Tamar?” Selene questioned.

“She replaced Lord David when he was, uh, incapacitated,” Elijah explained. “We have been sent by the Viceroy to capture you and bring you back.”

“We would very much appreciate it if you don’t fuss,” added Elisha. “We’ve been on a long trip and he’s a real pain to deal with.”

Brandishing their swords, the pair stepped forward to grab her, but Selene raised her hands. “Stay back,” she warned.

For a moment, the brothers did, sharing a disconcerted look. “Even if she kills us, it’ll be a lot better than whatever the Viceroy has in store for failures,” one of them, Selene couldn’t quite be sure which, pointed out.

Again they stepped closer, almost to touching her. Selene didn’t want to hurt them, but she was going to defend herself. Closing her eyes and trying to concentrate, Selene raised her hand to blast them.

Nothing happened.

Selene stared at her palms in disbelief as the two soldiers closed around her. She had to be the most useless Navi in history.

Just then she felt two pairs of hands grab her wrists and pull them behind her back and ropes tying them. With a pit fear growing in her stomach, Selene realized she was going back to Brutus. Where was Jared?

“I strongly suggest for your own sake you let her go,” Jared’s deep, threatening voice suddenly intoned.

Her captures wheeled around to see Jared casually setting down a bundle of sticks. His timing, as usual, was impeccable.

“The mercenary,” Elijah identified.

“Astute,” Jared dryly returned.

“Her we’re supposed to take alive,” Elisha jerked a thumb at Selene. “But you the Viceroy wants dead.” Pushing her aside with half tied bonds, the twins drew their swords and charged at Jared.

If Selene hadn’t been moments from being carted off to Brutus, she would have found the scene comical. The twins were hilariously outmatched. Jared didn’t even have to draw his sword.

Elijah stabbed at the mercenary, but Jared deflected the strike away by deftly placing his palm on the flat of Elijah’s blade and redirecting its momentum. It flew harmlessly past. Before the soldier could arrest his momentum, Jared had stepped into his reach and kicked his legs out from underneath him. A follow up kick to the head knocked Elijah out.

Elisha, meanwhile, struck a full blow at Jared’s neck. This time Jared casually leaned out of the way. Elisha had put too much into his attack and lost his balance. He fell into Jared, who grabbed the back of his head and brought Elisha’s forehead crashing down on to his knee. The fight had lasted all of fifteen seconds.

By now Selene had seen Jared do this over a dozen times, yet it still amazed her each time to watch the fluidity and grace with which he fought. Killing she found distasteful, but if ever there was someone who could make it look beautiful, it was him.

“Are they…” she asked, looking at the prone bodies at his feet, “you know, dead?”

“No,” Jared shook his head. “They’ll be fine, aside from a miserable headache. I didn’t want to kill them; something tells me they are worth keeping alive.”

Selene had no idea what he was talking about but shrugged and went along.

“By the way,” he said unwinding her bonds and reapplying the rope to their captives. “Why didn’t you torch them?”

“I don’t know,” Selene had been wondering the same thing herself. It didn’t make sense; it seemed like her powers had a mind of their own and chose not to show up at the most inopportune times.

“Were you angry?” Jared questioned as he arranged the brush pile, which, with a little coaxing, was lit up by the embers.

“No, not really,” Selene answered, thinking. “Mostly I think I was just scared.”

“Huh,” Jared tended the fire some more. “I wonder if your fear was a mental block, you know, cancelling out the anger that fuels, quite literally, your fire.”

“Maybe,” Selene shrugged. “It’s not like I came with a manual.”

“Pity,” Jared commented.

Selene was trying to think of some sort of retort, a skill she most certainly did not have, when moans from their captives diverted her attention.

“Jared, they’re coming to,” she called.

“Really?” Jared retorted sarcastically. “I thought they were just having a good dream.”

Selene shot him a dirty look but didn’t say anything.

“Throw some snow on them,” he told her. “I need to have a chat with these men.”

Selene did as she was told and threw a couple of snow balls in their faces. It did the trick, jerking them awake.

“Wha…What’s going on? Where are we? Where’s our weapons?” they asked in rapid succession.

“Calm down,” Jared interrupted, arresting their attention. “Your weapons are over there,” he gestured to two blades lying next to the fire and comfortably out of reach. “Don’t even think about going for them,” he added sharply as the twins started moving in that direction, pointedly sharpening his sword.

“So what now?” Elijah asked.

“Now I’m giving you a choice,” Jared informed them, casually studying the edge of his sword.

“What, uh, choice, exactly?” Elisha gulped.

“Your first option is to try and take Selene back to the Viceroy,” Jared twirled his sword around. “I strongly recommend against that option.”

“Yeah,” Elijah stared at the lethal weapon in the mercenary’s hand. “I think we’ll pass on that.”

“Good to see you’re not complete idiots,” Jared remarked absently.

“What is our other option?” Elisha inquired.

“Another option is to walk back to Lakeside and pretend that you never found us,” Jared told them.

Judging from the blanched expressions on their faces, Jared judged that the twins found this option even less appealing.

“What would we tell Lord Brutus?” Elijah blinked.

“That’s your problem, not mine,” Jared shrugged. “Perhaps you could slip in unnoticed or perhaps you could lie your way out of it. Unlikely of course,” he added with a subtle smirk. “You’ll probably get your mind scrambled like an egg.”

“Are those our only options?” Elijah questioned shakily.

“There is a third option,” Jared suggested. “But it is going to be much harder than either of those.”

“How could it be harder than getting killed?” Elisha wondered.

“What’s the option?” Elijah inquired eagerly.

“Very well,” Jared set his sword point down and leaned in. “You could join the resistance.”

“The resistance?” Elisha cocked his head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t have,” Jared sighed. “It is still quite small. The resistance is a group of soldiers and outlaws fighting to subvert and overthrow Manasseh.”

“Wait, what?” Elijah exclaimed. “You’re telling me that you want us to join a rebellion against the king? Are you insane?”

“You want to try that again?” Jared raised an eyebrow at them.

“What I mean is, we can’t join the rebellion,” Elijah replied. “We’ve sworn to serve the king. How could we violate that?”

“I take it you wish Option 2 then,” Jared decided raising his blade.

“Wait!” protested Elisha. “We didn’t say that.”

“Did I misunderstand you?” Jared cocked his head. “You seemed to suggest that you couldn’t violate your oath of fealty to Manasseh.”

“We can’t,” Elisha confirmed.

“Then the only way for you to honor that is to take Selene back to the Viceroy or die trying,” Jared answered. “Since I’m certainly not going to let you do that, then the only way for you to keep your vows is for me to kill here and now. Is that what you want?”

“No!” squeaked Elijah.

“I must confess that you have me at a loss,” Jared sighed. “You aren’t willing to die yet you are not willing forsake your oath to the king. You can’t have it both ways: you must choose one.”

The redheads stared at each other helplessly, understanding that they were caught in an impossible situation.

“Allow me to help,” Jared finally relented. “You say you serve the king but why? Has he done something special for you that you owe him your allegiance?”

“Not that we know of,” admitted Elisha.

“So why this allegiance to a king that uses sorcery and fear to keep order?” Jared questioned.

Again the twins exchanged confused looks. “I don’t know,” Elijah finally said. “I guess we’d never thought of it like that.”

“Clearly,” Jared snorted. “Ask yourself this: if the king uses fear, coercion, and sorcery to maintain power, is he a king worth serving? And as his soldiers, how much blood then is on your hands?”

“I don’t understand,” Elisha shook his head.

“Think about why you are here,” Jared explained. “You were sent out into the woods to capture an innocent girl and bring her back to one of the evilest men in history. What kind of person does make you? A murder or worse. Is he a king worth serving?”

“When you put it that way…” Elijah acknowledged.

“Instead of being a pawn to a monster,” Jared went on, “take ownership of yourselves. Do something great with your lives, something that will make a real, good difference in this world. Protect the people from their king.”

Even Selene was taken aback by Jared’s surprisingly impassioned speech. She was not prepared for such eloquence and command from the mercenary. Neither, it would seem, were the redheaded twins who stared in awe at Jared. Slowly the light seemed to click on for them and they began to understand what all he was offering them.

“So how do we find them? The resistance, that is,” Elisha finally inquired.

“Go to Endor and find an inn called the Sunset Inn,” Jared informed. “Ask the proprietor for a man named Joseph. He will take it from there.”

“Yes sir,” they said in unison. “So that’s it then?” Elijah went on. “You’re just going to let us go?”

“You’ll have to leave your weapons with me,” Jared told them. “But essentially yes. However,” he held up a finger, “I warn you that should we meet again as enemies, I will certainly kill you. Understood?”

Both gulped hard as they stared into Jared’s cold, unflinching eyes. “Yes sir,” they said, “perfectly understood.”

There was something slightly different about the two redheaded twins as they vanished in to the night. They stood taller, more confident after their encounter with Jared despite having gotten their butts royally whipped.

Selene studied Jared as he sat down around the fire and began roasting a rabbit he had killed earlier. He was a greater mystery than her powers. So often he seemed like an ordinary individual, albeit unusually irritable. But then he would fight a battle and seem utterly invincible.

Or he would do something like this. He knew all along why the twins really were soldiers. It was as if in those fifteen seconds of fighting, he had pegged them perfectly. And he had done that with her, her father, Arioch, and others. Maybe those blue eyes of his really could peer into peoples’ soul. Yet now watching him cook supper, he seemed so…ordinary, like any other traveler one might meet.

That defined the dichotomy that was Jared. On the one hand, he acted like a nobody. He dressed in simple clothes, lived a simple life, demanded nothing more than what a simple peasant would ask for. But on the other, he was a terrifying warrior, frighteningly perceptive, and a seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge. The peasants of Lakeside had either ignored or scoffed him but nobles like David and Brutus had trembled at his presence.

“What?” Jared interrupted her musings, locking his arctic blue eyes on hers.

Selene realized awkwardly that she had been staring. “Nothing,” she shook her head. “Just trying to figure out the mystery that is you.”

“There is no mystery,” Jared replied casually. “I am just what I appear to be.”

Selene smiled. For once she had a comeback.

“A wise man told me once that looks can be deceiving.”