"Forget the coffee, Dad." She did not take her eyes off Cooper. "I came here to ask the boss of the Aurora Springs Guild a couple of questions, and I'm not leaving until I get the truth."

Cooper's jaw tightened fractionally. "I've never lied to you."

Careful, she thought. You do not know this man. You only thought you did.

"Technically, that is probably a true statement," she agreed. "But you haven't always bothered to fill me in on all of the facts, have you?"

Cooper walked around the slab of rectangular green stone that formed the surface of his imposing desk. He lounged back against the edge of the massive chunk of quartz and folded his arms.

"What are your questions?" he asked calmly.

She swallowed hard and steeled herself. She was about to piss off the most dangerous man in Aurora Springs. Maybe she should have given herself twenty-four hours to cool down after she heard the gossip this morning.

Then again, an extra day of brooding would have changed nothing. Might as well get it over with and get on with your life, she told herself.

"There is talk going around the campus that a couple of months ago, shortly after you and I met, just before you were offered the position as head of the Guild, you challenged Palmer Frazier to a ghost-hunter duel down in the catacombs." She took a deep breath. "Is that true?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her father stiffen. His reaction told her everything she needed to know. The rumor was true. Her heart sank. For the first time she acknowledged to herself that she had been hoping against hope that Cooper would deny the story.

Cooper's expression, unlike John's, never altered. "Who told you that tale?"