Burke smiled bleakly. "I'm sorry, princess. I wish it were that simple."
"But it is!" Now Ariadne's lithe young body once more was tight against his. "I want you to come, my lord Dion! I welcome you—"
"I know. And ... I love you too." For the fraction of a second Burke let his arms tighten around her.
Then, abruptly, he pushed back; gripped her shoulders. "You see, I can't just come and go at will, the way you seem to think I can. And even if I could, it wouldn't help."
"It would not—?" Blank bafflement spread across Ariadne's lovely face.
"Not after tonight."
Puzzled eyes. A wordless question.
Burke said tightly, "By tomorrow there won't be any Knossos. The Great Palace here, the shrines, the other buildings—as of midnight tonight, less than an hour-and-a-half from now, they'll all be destroyed."
Tension, spiraling higher with each passing second.
Burke said, "Now you know why I came tonight, Ariadne: because this is the last chance I'll ever have. I've got to get you out of here, now or never. That's why I have to see Daedalus, and go into the Labyrinth, and meet the Minotaur and kill it."