The Trouble With Heroes.... by Jo Beverley Page B

because her hands had started to shake. "Then
why do you want to come back?"
    "It's my home."
    "A person doesn't bring danger to their
home."
    "Why are you here, then?"
    Truth. "A group of us -- Tom, Yas, you know
-- thought we needed to find out about you. Before doing
anything."
    "And you drew the short straw?"
    She sighed. "I was the only one
willing."
    He suddenly smiled, a flickering hint of the
old Dan. "Ah, Jen. That's part of why I've come back."
    "For your doubting friends?"
    "For you."
    Her heart missed a beat. "Why?"
    "Do you have to ask?"
    "Yes."
    He looked down. "Perhaps because you
commanded me to."
    Coward that she was, she didn't want that
burden. "Really?"
    "Partly."
    She realized then that he was being as
painfully careful of truth as she was.
    He looked back up, faced her. "I need you,
Jen, to have a chance of survival."
    "You have survived! The war's over. Isn't
it?"
    "I'm not sure wars are ever over. The
repercussions rumble on and on."
    "You don't need me." She meant it to be
cheerful, bracing, but truth tumbled out after it. "I don't want to
be needed that way, Dan."
    "I don't want to need you that way.
Sometimes we run out of choices."
    He reached into the fire and grasped a
burning brand. He lifted it, flames licking his fingers. She
waiting for him to drop it, but he didn't.
    "I can hold a burning brand, Jen. You can
hold me."
    She tossed her remaining tea over the
flames. They hissed, but then burned on undaunted.
    Burning what?
    He released the brand in mid air, and it
hung there as he showed her his unmarked hand. "You'll survive,
too. I think."
    When he'd left, a small piece of glowing
wood had burned his fingers. Sharp as a knife, Jenny knew everyone
was right. Dan was more dangerous than she'd ever imagined, too
dangerous by far for a peaceful town.
    Or for her.
    "You can't force me, Dan."
    "I can, in fact, but I'm trying not to."
Abruptly, the brand fell back into the fire, scattering golden
sparks. "I've learned many things, Jen, and one is that we do what
we have to do to win." Suddenly, he lowered his head, his fingers
digging into his bound hair. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put it
like that. I've not talked to real people for a long time. Rusty
skills...."
    Oh, if he was looking for a weapon he'd
found a good one. It was if she were back by the lake again, with
Dan facing death, and the ashes gritty in her mind. She longed to
reach out and soothe those anguished hands, but she held back. She
had taken on a greater role, had accepted the responsibility of
judge. And she was scared. She felt a lick of fear that might be
what a hellbane victim felt, and a pull toward him that was almost
as bad.
    "I need you, yes," he said, with the kind of
calm that takes great effort, "but there's more to it than that."
He looked up, eyes densely dark in the fire's shadows. "The world
needs you. Needs both of us. You say you can't. You don't have that
choice. You must."
    She blocked that. He was powerful, and he
was wounded. He might be very dangerous indeed.
    But he needed her, and she knew what she
must do. "I'm yours, Dan. Forever, if you want me. I'll come with
you to Hellbane U."
    A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Thank
you for that, love, but it isn't so easy. I need the town."
    The word "love" collided with the rest of
it. "The town doesn't need you."
    "Same argument as before. They have no
choice."
    "Then why are you sitting out here instead
of going in?" She pointed at the closed gates. "Blow them
open!"
    The brand rose again without touch and began
to whirl, shooting flame into the dark. She glanced at the wall.
Was that damned camera recording all this? "Put that thing back
before someone sees it!"
    It stopped, then settled with perfect
gentleness into the fire bed. "Better?" he asked.
    Her heart raced and tea and ale churned.
"Was that demonstration of control designed to reassure me, because
it failed? What are you doing?"
    He inhaled and she thought she saw
impatience, frustration, anger --