Empire of Ash: A Passionate Paranormal Romance with Young Adult Appeal (God of Secrets Book 1)

me talking, his expression turns serious. “If you agree that I’m as real as you, you also know that you brought back to life that sphinx from the Louvre when you deciphered her secret.”
I bite my lip and look up into his eyes, eyes exactly like the ones that always calm me. His eyes are doing nothing of the sort.
“So what happens now?” Still reeling from the confluence of events, I can’t believe I’m even asking.
“We capture it.”

Chapter Eight
“You’ve got to be kidding!” My voice rises.
“And what’s this ‘we’ business? You saw what that thing did to the Louvre! You said it yourself, it’s one of the largest sphinxes outside Egypt.” Even as the words come out, I can’t believe I’m saying them. This whole thing is insane.
He just watches me.
The guy might be real, but he’s definitely crazy! Crazy Guy, indeed. And he expects me to help capture a sphinx? No way. Not happening in this lifetime. The one in Thebes ate people who answered its riddle incorrectly. If this thing behaves… no, no, no, no, what am I saying? My heart’s racing. This whole notion is insane.
“Let me get this straight. You mysteriously show up, twice now,”—I raise two fingers—“tell me some farfetched story that I supposedly brought a sphinx statue to life and ‘we’ are supposed to go capture the thing. I’m sorry, but I’m not about to risk life and limb…” I wave my hands. “I don’t know you from Adam. I don’t even know your name.”
His face is grim. “People will die if we don’t.”
“Why must I come? You seem more than capable.”
He chuckles. “As I mentioned in the scroll room, secret magic will only answer to the one who wielded the power to release it.”
“You said that’s why I had to put the scroll away, not that I have to—”
“Address the consequences?” He raises an eyebrow.
I furrow my brow. “What’s this consequences business? You invited me to come with you, and I declined.”
“I didn’t want to scare you away from what ultimately must be done. I didn’t make the rules.” His jaw is tight.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“How do you know I’m not?” He looks me up and down.
I throw my head back and raise my hands, pleading with whatever higher being hears me to knock some sense into this guy.
“You saw what it did to the Louvre,” he adds.
I open my mouth to object, then close it again as he fixes his gaze on me. He’s not going to take “no” for an answer.
“Are you afraid?” he asks.
“I’m not sure what I feel, let alone what to think.” I shake my head.
“This again?” He frowns. “We’ve been through this.”
“Good of you to be so sure, but pardon me if I’m just a wee bit skeptical. This is just too weird.”
He crosses his arms and starts tapping a foot. “I wasn’t kidding when I said people will die. There’s no telling how many. Can you live with yourself?”
Nice… He’s trying to guilt me.
I throw my hands down. “I don’t know if all this is real, how am I supposed to feel bad?”
He gives me a long look, then says, “Go change.”
I furrow my brow. “What? Why?”
“We’re going out to get you something to eat since you spilled your soup.”
“It was your fault.”
He frowns. “Go.”
My unwelcome visitor is ordering me around. What’s wrong with this picture?
I roll my eyes but rise and grab a change of clothes from the dresser, hiding my clean undies in the middle as I pull them from the drawer, then head for the bathroom. I gnash my teeth when I remember that the lock on the door doesn’t work.
Uncertainty over what Crazy Guy might do while I’m changing makes me hurry. I peel off my soupy sweats, wash up, then don my last pair of clean jeans and evergreen hoodie, taking time only to run a brush through my wet locks.
When I reappear, Crazy Guy reclines against the headboard of my bed. I’m pleased to see he’s kept his dirty boots off. He might be dangerous, but at least he isn’t a barbarian.
I scan the room to see what he might have gotten into and discover that the gross soup mess at my desk has disappeared. “You cleaned up after me. Thank you.”
“It was the least I could do… since I was told it was my fault.” He raises a dark eyebrow.
I grin. “Yes, well…”
My cheeks warm as he looks me up and down, not saying a word. Damn cheeks. The guy’s sexy good looking, but he’s crazy, I remind myself.
A corner of Crazy Guy’s mouth hitches up as if he can read my warring thoughts, and my face heats all the more. Argh.
“Boots.” He nods toward the tile where they stand, one next to the other, as clean as the day I bought them.
“You…” I draw a hand to my chest.
“Yes, I cleaned them up, too. You’re welcome.”
I snort as I stride over and grab them, then sit on the chair at my desk. “Thank you. You’re quite domestic.”
His eyebrows hike up nearly to his hairline.
My coat is equally pristine when I grab it, along with being dry. How?
Despite my wonder, a smile escapes me when I shrug it on to discover it’s toasty warm. “Maybe I should keep you around.”
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
Crazy Guy is kinda cute. Cute but crazy, I remind myself.
“Just trying to expedite feeding you.”
“Is it still raining? We can take my car,” I ask, standing and opening the blind.
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s walk. There’s a little café not far from here.”
I turn furrowed brows on him. It’s only