He huffed, gripped her hand and pulled the mouse free of it. “You just want to question me.”
He glared at the computer screen.
“You don’t believe me.”
Evelyn grimaced and pressed a hand to her side, feeling awful as it burned and she saw the anger in Archer’s eyes, together with hurt. The wound blazed as hotly as it had that day as she thought about what had happened in that dreadful demon castle, her awareness of the other occupants of the archive room fading away as she stared at Archer.
“It just seems so…” Her brow furrowed as she replayed everything and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I swore I was dead.”
“You would have been if it hadn’t been for me.” Archer positively growled those words, anger rolling off him as his handsome features pinched tightly. “I saved your life.”
“I know that.” She reached for him and flinched when he leaned away and glared at her, stopping her from touching his arm. She sighed, eased back again, and looked down at her hands as she twisted them in front of her hips.
Archer had led the team that had slipped into Hell ahead of the one Sable, another hunter for Archangel, had been preparing to lead to the Third Realm of the demons to aid King Thorne in his war against the Fifth Realm. Evelyn had been part of his team, together with a dozen other hunters. Their mission had been to document as much about the Fifth Realm as they could, a covert operation approved by those in command and kept secret from Sable.
One of the scientists had identified a non-human in the pens who had sworn they could teleport their team into the Fifth Realm and had done so in order to gain their freedom.
The operation should have been simple—scout the terrain and gather as much information as possible about the demons of that realm, the army Sable’s side might be up against, and anything else that would help them and return to Archangel headquarters in London to deliver it to command.
Only they had been discovered by a group of demons and brought before their king, and he had declared they were spies and ordered their executions.
“I told you, Evelyn. I saw a chance and I took it. When you were stabbed, I made my move. It was risky, but it worked. I managed to catch them off guard and took out a few of the demons with tranq darts and in the ruckus my attack caused, I got you away from them. I carried you to a place nearby where we would be safe and patched you up. You were out for a few days before you came around.” He leaned back in his chair, his face remaining etched in hard lines that spoke of irritation. His deep voice took on a hard edge as he continued, “You passed out again and I carried you to the nearest town over the border and found someone who helped us get back here. What about that is so difficult to believe? Or perhaps you don’t trust a word I say?”
She leaned back and frowned at him, unable to hide her hurt as those words hit her.
“I do trust you.” She reached for him again and he glared at her hand, stopping her. A sigh leaked from her lips as she thought about what she was doing, as that acid feeling scoured her insides again and an urge to apologise rose within her. She scrubbed a hand over her damp blonde hair instead, feeling awful as he continued to scowl at her.
“You said yourself in your report that everything had been a blur. The pain of your wound and fear combined with adrenaline made it impossible for you to grasp what was happening, and you were unconscious for a good part of it too.” He whipped his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, his broad chest heaving in a deep sigh as he sank against the back of his chair. When he lowered his glasses and hand and looked at her, a hurt edge to his dark eyes, that feeling in her gut worsened. “What do I have to do to make you believe me?”
She shook her head and wanted to tell him she was sorry but she couldn’t find her voice.
Everything had been a blur, and even now, it was still a little hazy. Whenever she sat down and tried to remember what had happened, things slipped through her fingers like smoke. Not just the finer details of what had gone down in the Fifth Realm either. Pieces were missing. Big pieces. Like some of the events that led up to them being in the castle, and some of the things that had happened when they had been held captive. Other things were hazy, like she could remember something but she could never pull it into focus to see what it was.
And she hated it.
“You’ve not seen me in weeks and the first thing you do is question me.” He put his glasses back on and began scrolling through the reports.
Giving her the cold shoulder.
She deserved it.
He was right and it was wrong of her to question him like this. It was hard for her though. He put it down to fear and adrenaline severely affecting her at the time, but something deep inside her said it had been more than that. She pulled down a breath and tried to calm her mind, told herself that he was right and she hadn’t been able to cope with everything that had been happening. She had blanked. It had been too much for her and fear had made her numb, had messed with her head somehow. That was why she didn’t remember what had happened. That was why there was a gap in her memories between the cold kiss of steel in her side and her life draining before her eyes and waking back in the med bay in Archangel.
But it didn’t explain why her memories of the time before they had been captured were patchy.
“If you want, I’ll tell you everything all over again, but it isn’t going to change.” Archer clicked on one of the documents and glared as he viciously scrolled through it.
Evelyn placed her hand on his, stopping him. “I’m sorry. It just… You know how difficult it is for me when I don’t remember things. I hate it. Sometimes I wonder if what those non-humans did to me all those years ago is still affecting me.”
He stilled and looked up at her, his expression instantly softening. His hand slipped from beneath hers as he stood and moved closer to her, raised his other hand and brushed her hair from her face.
“You’re free of that place now, Evelyn,” he whispered. “You’re free of that part of your past. It was just the stress of the moment that made you forget a few details.”
He heaved another sigh and his fingers lingered on her cheek.
“I’m sorry too. I’ve been under a lot of pressure recently and I’m tired. Maybe I need a break.” He smiled softly and shrugged. “Or a drink. I could buy you a drink as an apology.”
“Cafeteria beer? I’ll pass.” She gazed at the servers, seeing beyond the array of blinking red, green and orange lights in her mind, to the world out there. “I just want to be back on the streets. I want to leap back into my work and forget about what happened… which is ironic since I hate forgetting.”
She chuckled.
Archer’s steady gaze drilled into the side of her face.
She kept hers locked on the servers, a heavy feeling settling inside her again. She hated being inactive. It gave her too much time to think and she kept finding herself mulling over all the times she had felt there was something wrong with her.
That she wasn’t right.
“How about we get some decent beer then?” Archer’s hand dropped to his side and he gave her a stern look. “I’m not taking you on patrol, but we could gather some intelligence… something not dangerous… like a trip to Switch or Underworld.”