Excerpt: Candlefire

A few days later, Kara was waiting impatiently for Dell to arrive at her apartment. They had plans to go out to dinner and see a movie, but Dell was late. Her office had probably kept her late yet again. When a knock finally came on her door, she jumped up to answer it, thinking it was Dell.
To her intense surprise, Liam was the one outside her door. James had evidently acquired new clothes for him, because he was in jeans and a snug t-shirt. The second after she recognized that it was him, she tried to shut the door. He caught it and held it open. "I'm sorry to intrude, but we need to talk," he said.
"Please leave me alone," she said. "Just because my father is helping you doesn't mean I want anything to do with you."
"And I'm not thrilled to be arguing with you again, but— can I come inside?" he asked suddenly. "Being in the open unnerves me."
Kara rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let him in. She closed the door and leaned against it. "Should I lock the door, Sir Jumps-a-lot?"
"While I'm sure that's a very witty joke here, no. It's easier to flee from you if the door is unlocked," he shot back with the same drawl. Kara's mouth twitched. "There's hope for us to be friends, apparently."
Kara squashed any semblance of friendship in her countenance. "Absolutely not. You're dragging my father into a dangerous situation he has no business involving himself in."
"It isn't your place to tell him what to do. You're his daughter."
"And he is all I have left," Kara shouted at him. "My mother is dead, I see my brothers once a year if I'm lucky, and my father is it. He and I are the family. And you're putting him in danger."
"Kara, he will be in danger even if he doesn't get involved," Liam said softly. "Carden knows he's here. He will find James, and he will kill him. At least this way James can try to destroy Carden before that happens."
"You already assume he's going to die?" Kara cried. "How can you condemn him so nonchalantly and claim to be his friend?"
"I don't know if he's going to die," Liam replied impatiently. "I pray that he will survive. But I don't know. I don't know if you will survive this battle, I don't know if I will, I don't know if the entire world is going to perish. I just don't know. All I know is that I have to kill Carden once and for all. If he succeeds, my entire life will have been for nothing."
Kara felt an intense insignificance, standing in front of this man who seemed so sure of his purpose and determined to fulfill it. Even in med school she didn't remember being this dedicated. Being a doctor had nothing to do with her purpose in life, it was her job, and she loved to do it. She had never spared a thought about what her purpose was, what her life was going to mean.
Liam mistook her silence as a stubborn one. "I'm sorry, but I need him. He knows how things work here. I can trust him."
"You're tearing us apart."
"No, you're tearing yourself apart. I am not responsible for your reactions."
"It's my fault that you're endangering my father's life and dragging him into things I don't understand?"
"No, it's your fault for refusing to understand. How have you grown up under James's parentage and turned out so..."
"So what?" she asked dangerously.
"Complacent," he said finally. "Have you ever been moved to do something extraordinary in your life?"
This inferiority complex was getting really annoying. "Chasing death isn't what I would call extraordinary. Extraordinarily stupid, perhaps." A knock sounded on her door before Liam got past his frustration enough to reply. Kara opened it. "Why hello, Dell. Come on in."
"Hi..." Dell said uncertainly. She was unused to finding men in Kara's apartment. "Who's this?"
"This is my father's friend Liam. He was just leaving. Say hello to my dad for me, Liam."
Liam sighed and stepped past the two women into the hall. "Say hello to him yourself, Kara. You're worrying him by staying away." He waved goodbye cheerily to Kara's stricken face, and Dell's look of shock, and disappeared down the stairs.
"Since when did your dad hang out with hot young men?" Dell wanted to know.
"He's not hot," Kara said curtly. "He's obnoxious, and arrogant, and—"
"And you like him," Dell interrupted.
"No," Kara said vehemently.