"They do not." He stuffed them buck in. "And Nathan is too hard on himself. I Jove the guy—not in a gay way or anything—and I hate to see him mired down in guilt. I mean, you were there for that ritual thing. He managed to get over killing his wife. What's left?"

Bella's shocked laugh illustrated her disbelief. "Nathan is by no means over his wife's death. He accepts that she forgives him, and allows her spirit to rest, but he holds himself responsible. And her death is not the only burden he bears."

"Yeah, I know, everyone has emotional scars." Max snorted. "Thanks for that, Oprah."

Bella didn't react to the barb. "Everyone has scars. It is how we heal them that matters. Nathan has worked to heal himself, and you would mock him?"

Not knowing how to respond, Max watched her walk toward the door. She paused, one hand on the door frame, and turned just slightly, not quite facing him. "Do not mock him for achieving what you cannot."

Before he could think up a smart-assed reply, she turned the corner and was gone.

Chapter Seven
Homecoming

"I think we should go back to Grand Rapids."

Nathan's voice dragged me, unwilling, from my sleep. We'd stayed up most of the day doing, well, what we usually did when we were alone with a convenient horizontal surface, and I was exhausted. I knew it was long past sundown, but my body protested the intrusion of consciousness. I muttered a groggy "What?" and struggled to stay awake for the answer.

He touched the side of my face, lifting a strand of my mussed hair and smoothing it against the pillow. "We would be just as safe there as here. And we'd have more research material at our disposal. Not to mention there's the store to run and I've got inventory scheduled for next week—"

"Stop," I mumbled. "Stop talking."

He paused. "What do you think?"

"I think you should stop talking and let me sleep." I turned away from him, onto my side, groaning when he leaned over me to snap on the bedside lamp. The light cut through my eyelids and I groggily sat up. "Don't you think it's a little silly to go back to the one place the Soul Eater know to find you?"

"I think it's silly to let my fear run my business into the ground. It's not as if I have centuries of vast wealth to fall back on." There was a bitter note to his voice, and I knew he thought of his sire. "Besides, you'll have a better chance of manipulating Cyrus for information if you can see him face-to-face."

"Manipulate him?" I frowned. "You think I'm manipulative?"

Nathan smiled—no, half smiled—and dropped a kiss on my shoulder. "I think you're smart enough to do what you have to. Unless you don't think he'll be of use to us?"