White Fire: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 5 by Michele Callahan

her obsession with the memory of his lips on hers, and her hunger for more. And the man loved another woman. And when that Immortal female hadn’t Marked him, had he returned for her? Hell no. She didn’t even qualify as his runner-up, second choice, guess I’ll take you because the powerful, beautiful, Immortal female I wanted, the woman I really loved, doesn’t exist anymore. Emma didn’t even rate Plan B.
    Such bullshit.
    She just couldn’t live with a male who had no respect for her intellect, her gifts, or her heart. He claimed he rejected her Mark to protect her from becoming a Triscani target. News flash, your highness, she was already a target.
    Just more lies.
    Whatever. If he’d wanted her, he could have accepted her Mark and shipped her off to Alaska until the battle was over. Now? Now she was going into battle alone, but that was somehow supposed to be safer for her because she wouldn’t be identified as his Queen?
    It didn’t make any sense to her. A much more logical explanation was that he just didn’t want her and was looking for a way to soften the blow. That was the more likely option. That was the option that made her want to kill Bran for decades of lies. That was the option that broke her heart.
    She should have just fried his ass on her kitchen floor. That would have hurt less.
    Emma walked back outside to the male who stood waiting for her. The one who drove her crazy and made her want to throw things. The first and only man she’d ever wanted naked, and she couldn’t have him. She would not do that to herself. She’d saved herself for love, not lust with a playboy alien who was more interested in war than he was in her. Her libido could just go jump in an ice pond.
    “She’s not here. Not expected back for a week.”
    Ajax looked down at her with no expression. “I doubt she would have left the stone behind, but we should search her office.” He grabbed her hand and ported them both into the Angeline’s private office. The door was closed and Emma made sure it was locked before looking around.
    The place was immaculate. Leather-bound law books lined perfectly stained cherry bookshelves. Various college degrees and awards were hung on the walls precisely spaced and at right angles. Her desk was spotless and there wasn’t an ounce of paper in sight. No folders. No note pads. No forgotten pens or paper clips. It looked like a page from a decorator’s magazine, arranged for display and perfect. Not a place where anyone actually worked.
    “Neat freak much?” Emma walked to the desk and pulled open the equally well-organized drawers. None of them were locked. The woman’s office took obsessive compulsive to a whole new level.
    Ajax scowled and looked around, checking the walls and small filing cabinets off to one side. “She was not like this before. When I knew her on Itara, she influenced people with a soft voice and kind words. People listened to her because she took care of them. People trusted her with their secrets because they did not view her as a threat. She was more likely to have a flower in her hand than a pen.”
    Emma stood, hands on her hips. She’d looked in every drawer, every nook and cranny. No stone. “Well, I think she got over that. If this is her office, I’d hate to see her house. Or try to face off with her in court. I bet she’s one hell of a lawyer.”
    Ajax seemed to agree. “Yes. Well, with her mother, she’d have to be just to survive.”
    “Who’s her mother?”
    He pulled all the files out of a drawer and then meticulously began to put them back. “She was a member of the Third Circle. Very powerful. Only eight Immortals on Itara outranked her in the government, and one of those was the Queen.”
    “Wow.” Okay. So, he’d married well in his last life. Emma walked around a small corner to a small sitting area with one beige suede chair and a small side table decorated with a beautiful lamp. A small footstool was tucked against it, and Emma