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Cimmerians living here, like you do, instead of in Cimmeria?”
    He nodded. “Some.”
    Ooh-kay. This was worse than pulling teeth, Tessa decided. But she wasn’t going to give up just yet. “So, tell me about your culture. I only know that your people are carefully bred to produce great warriors.”
    His face contorted into a grimace that he quickly wiped away. “Yeah, well, don’t believe everything you hear.”
    She frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “It means some of us aren’t as carefully bred as others.”
    She heard something in his tone that made her consider his words carefully. “You’re not purebred Cimmerian, are you?”
    Now he did look at her, lifting one eyebrow. “Wanna trade me in for a better model?”
    Not on her life. And it very well might be her life. She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be foolish. You’re stuck with me. I’d just like to get to know you a little better since we’re going to be spending some time in close proximity. I’m going to assume your father is Cimmerian. So who’s your mother?”
    He leaned back in the chair, the wry smile on his face hiding the uneasiness she could sense in him. “Pretty sure of yourself, huh? But you’re right, my mother’s aguane , which is probably why Sal sent you to me specifically.”
    Tessa’s mouth dropped open for a brief second before she recovered. Aguane were elusive, elemental Etruscan water spirits. Unlike many Etruscan descendants, most aguane had remained in their homes in Etruria, while the other Fata had moved to the United States two centuries earlier.
    Aguane were solitary beings for the most part, but obviously some of them had found Cimmerian men irresistible. And, she had to admit, who could blame them, if Cimmerians looked like Cal? “How long have they been living there?” she asked.
    “My mom’s been living in Cimmeria for more than a century. And she’s not the only one.”
    “But… why? Why would they choose to leave their forests and hills for the constant gloom of Cimmeria?”
    His expression hardened, and he turned to stare straight into her eyes. She felt the force of that stare like a physical weight. “You’ve never been to Cimmeria, have you, Goddess? It’s not all gloom and doom. We might not have sunlight, but it’s not always pitch black. There are many levels of darkness, from the pale blue of morning to the silver gray of day, light purple in twilight, and velvet black at high midnight.
    “Those colors soothe the soul. They camouflage and hide and conceal. The dark holds a freedom you can’t find in the light, where your every move, your every fault is revealed. Cimmeria is forest and wood, mountains and valleys. And a lot of beautiful water.”
    Tessa found his deep, raspy voice completely mesmerizing, her gaze riveted to his beautiful mouth as he painted a picture of his world.
    “At one time, our people had settlements all over Cimmeria, but now we live mostly in communal homes in the valley near the river. The boys and girls sleep in separate barracks, away from our parents’ homes. Easier to train that way.”
    “Are you trained from birth?”
    He nodded. “Pretty much so.”
    “Are there many children of mixed blood, like you?”
    He held her gaze steadily. “No. When I left, there were three. I don’t know how many there might be now.”
    “So you had to be doubly tough, didn’t you?”
    He didn’t answer right away, seeming to think about his response as his gaze slid back to the TV for a few seconds. “We all had it tough.”
    “But they were harder on you because you were part Fata .”
    Cal knew Tessa wasn’t asking him a question. He heard it in her soft tone and saw it in the rueful tilt of her lips. “I’m a better warrior for it.”
    “But who do you fight for now?”
    He shrugged. “Whoever pays.”
    “No matter what they want that help for?”
    Ah, he knew what she wanted to know. “We don’t wage war against the undeserving, no matter who that might