Chapter
Six
“Ginny, putting the swords together was a brilliant idea.”
Ginny stood back, watching as Alton
carefully sheathed the strange ruby and gold sword in Taron’s old
scabbard. He didn’t touch any part of the weapon, instead holding
it with an edge of the blanket Roland had used to hide it. Once it
was firmly sheathed, he carefully wrapped the scabbard and sword in
the blanket until it was entirely hidden within the soft folds.
There was power in this sword—a great and terrible power. They’d
all felt it—no one wanted to risk actually touching the
thing.
Finally, Alton tucked the wrapped
blade under his arm and kissed Ginny much too quickly. “I had no
idea they’d actually be able to talk to each other. That was
amazing. C’mon.”
Ginny adjusted the sheath holding
DarkFire and followed Alton through the portal leading from his
quarters. At least now they had an idea where to begin on their
search for Artigos the Just. Ginny looped her fingers around
Alton’s arm. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I figured it
couldn’t hurt to try. Now we know where to start asking
questions.”
“We start with Selyn. I wonder what
she can tell us?” He kissed Ginny again. “Hurry. Before citizens
fill the passages.” Alton took off down the wide tunnel with his
usual long strides. Ginny stretched her legs to keep up with him,
but she didn’t try to slow him down. There was so much to be done,
and so very little time to do it before all hell broke
loose.
Literally.
But what an amazing morning. They’d
stared at that damned ruby sword the night before until Roland had
finally headed back to his quarters and Ginny’d fallen asleep. It
had been a startlingly clear dream that had her lining up all three
crystal blades on the bed in the early morning hours.
When HellFire and DarkFire had not
only acknowledged the ruby sword, but had pledged allegiance, both
she and Alton had been totally blown away. The ruby sword had
remained mute, though the crystal glowed like fire.
Whatever the swords said afterward,
though, had remained private. The blades had glowed and then faded.
DarkFire had been the one to utter the name of the woman Roland had
rescued.
At least they knew exactly how to find
Selyn, which made her the perfect point to begin their
search.
Suddenly, Alton grabbed Ginny’s arm
and pulled her into a dark alcove. A moment later, a group of
guardsmen marched by. Their footsteps echoed against the cavern
walls until the measured sound finally faded into the distance.
Alton poked his head out of the opening, looked both ways, and then
grabbed Ginny’s hand and tugged her along with him.
He glanced over his shoulder, but he
didn’t slow his stride a bit. “That’s really weird. I didn’t
recognize any of those men. We’ve a fairly small population. I know
most of the guards, at least by sight if not by name.”
Ginny scrambled to keep up. “They’re
Lemurian though, aren’t they?” They were big men, though. Really
big. Taller and heavier even than Roland or the other guards she’d
met.
“They are, but where have they served
before now? Why don’t I know them?” He tightened his grasp on
Ginny’s hand and picked up the pace. She glanced at him, but he was
frowning and staring ahead, along the passage, so she raced beside
him, running now for all she was worth. Quietly, without further
interruptions, they raced toward the vortex.
Ginny wasn’t all that sure of her way
around within Lemuria, but she didn’t think they were all that far
from the energy veil that separated this world from the portals in
the vortex. At this pace, they should be there really soon. But why
were they running? Why was Alton so concerned about discovery?
“You’re the new chancellor,” Ginny whispered. “Why’d we
hide?”
He wasn’t even breathing hard when he
answered her. “Roland said not everyone accepts the change of
leadership. We don’t have time to convince some hardheaded guard
I’m no longer a wanted man for breaking Dax and Eddy out of
jail.”
“Good point.” She glanced at the tall,
strikingly beautiful man running purposefully beside her and
decided that anyone who didn’t admire and respect Alton of Artigos
was an absolute idiot. But he was so terribly conflicted right now.
She knew how badly he wanted to help his father, to regain the man
he barely remembered—the one who had loved the child Alton had once
been.
Even stronger was his desire to
protect both his world and hers from demonkind. There were so many
forces against them, so many things that could go wrong. She hoped
like hell they’d all find the happy ending that seemed so
impossible at this point.
Ginny was breathing hard and fighting
a stitch in her side when the golden veil marking Lemuria’s
boundary came into view. Alton wasn’t even winded. She looked at
him, and a sense of destiny swept over her, a feeling that maybe,
if they could pull everything together, this whole convoluted plan
might work.
Though right now, a lot hinged on
Selyn’s willingness to help. Ginny hoped the woman didn’t harbor
too much anger and too great a need for revenge. Selyn had suffered
terribly because of Artigos. Why would she ever want to help them
find the man’s father?
Selyn sipped her cup of coffee and
tried to decide whether or not she liked the strange brew. Eddy had
added some sugar and a squirt of foamy white cream out of a can,
and the flavor had been much improved, but now Eddy was gone, and
somehow the coffee and cream no longer tasted as good.
Everything seemed different since Eddy
and Dax had left, though they’d only been gone a short time. Selyn
wondered if it was the fact that her mother’s spirit was no longer
here. Not that she’d spoken to Elda again since that one time, but
just knowing she was nearby and happy had given Selyn
peace.
That, and having another woman around.
Now it was just Selyn, Dawson, and Artigos. And BumperWillow, of
course, though Selyn found it difficult to count her as an actual
woman—not when she barked and chased her tail and liked to stalk
rabbits in the yard.
She sipped her cooling cup of coffee
and thought of how it had been this morning, waking up in Dawson’s
home, seeing him with his eyes sleepy and his hair mussed. She’d
felt strange sleeping alone in a big bed in a room by herself,
having her own bathing room and private facilities after a lifetime
of living in the slaves’ barracks—a hundred women sharing
everything.
All of this felt strange. This world,
her life. Everything.
She glanced at Dawson. He’d been on
the phone, talking to someone at his clinic, whatever that was. She
knew he dealt with the health of animals like BumperWillow, but she
wasn’t at all certain exactly what he did.
Whatever it was, it seemed to make him
smile. Of course, a lot of things made Dawson smile. Often, when
she looked up and caught him watching her, he was smiling . . . or
frowning. He frowned, too. He was a confusing man, but maybe all
men were confusing. She had so little knowledge of the gender, and
none at all of the men of Earth.
This particular man was more
fascinating than any she’d ever met. She wished she knew what he
was thinking. Why he watched her with so many different
expressions.
Earlier, he’d taken Eddy and Dax to
the vortex at a place called Red Rock Crossing so they could go
back to Eddy’s home in Evergreen. Eddy had decided to leave
BumperWillow behind, and that had actually made Dawson laugh out
loud. He’d said something about taking his talking dog to the
clinic and surprising his staff.
Of course, Selyn knew he wouldn’t
actually do anything like that. He wasn’t about to give away the
existence of demons or Lemurians or talking dogs. He’d tried to
explain it all to her last night, the fact that, as far as his
world knew, she didn’t exist. Demons didn’t exist, and dogs hosting
talkative spirits were absolutely impossible.
Just like the man locked in the back
room. He couldn’t exist either, at least by human beliefs. Selyn
knew better. Her hatred refused to allow her to forget his
existence. He was awake this morning. She sensed his anger, his
desire to escape his prison. He’d kicked the door a couple of
times, but now he appeared to be sulking.
She sensed it. All of it: his anger,
his frustration—and his demon. There was no denying the fact the
man harbored a demon. Dax wasn’t the only one able to feel the evil
surrounding Artigos, the deposed Lemurian Chancellor of the Council
of Nine.
He was evil all the way through. And
he was the one who had condemned her mother to death, the one who
had decreed that the Forgotten Ones should never be free of
enslavement in the mines.
He really needed to die, and she,
quite literally, held the key to his prison. Dawson had no idea
what power he’d handed to her when he put Selyn in charge of the
key. When he trusted her.
Selyn took another sip of her coffee
and studied Dawson over the rim of the cup. Of course, it wasn’t
like she could just march back there and kill the chancellor. Not
when Dawson had sworn to protect the bastard. Selyn owed Dawson her
life.
Somehow, she needed to work through
this conflict without compromising Dawson’s honor—or her
own.
But how? She had sworn to avenge her
mother’s life of slavery and her untimely death. Not only for
herself, but for all the other Forgotten Ones who toiled below. But
how could she kill Artigos without putting Dawson’s honor at
risk?
Something nudged her leg. Selyn
glanced down, into the deep brown eyes of that silly looking dog.
It was impossible to plot a murderer’s death when a creature like
this one was staring at you. “Did you want something,
BumperWillow?”
The dog blinked. Then she sighed.
I feel your anger, Selyn. And I must
apologize, but I couldn’t help but hear your thoughts. You are
conflicted, and rightly so. Artigos has done terrible things, but
he does not command himself. Truly, he is not to blame. He is ruled
by a demon that has controlled him for many years. The death of
Artigos would not avenge the Forgotten Ones, nor would it avenge
your mother. It would only hurt Alton and Dawson—two good men who
have risked much to help you—and it would destroy the life of a man
who is as much a victim as any of the warrior women who died, as
much as the women who toil in the mines. Please, think of that when
you plot your revenge.
Selyn didn’t answer. She couldn’t.
What could she say? Was the spirit within the dog right? Was that
old man merely one more victim of demonkind?
She’d have to think about that. Better
to be sure before taking a life, especially one everybody seemed so
worried about saving. She stared into her cup of cold coffee and
realized the person she hated to hurt the most was the man standing
across the room.
“Ginny just called.”
Surprised by his nearness, Selyn
blinked and spun around on the tall stool. Dawson was no longer
across the room. He was right beside her. She hadn’t even realized
he was there.
He was so close she had to blink and
refocus her eyes to see him, yet she felt no need to back away. He
smiled with just the corners of his lips as he stuck his phone in
his pocket, and she had the odd feeling he was laughing at
himself.
That made no sense. No more than the
fact he’d reached for her and now lightly ran his fingers down a
long curl of the black hair hanging loosely over her shoulder. His
gaze shifted from her eyes to his fingers. He seemed mesmerized by
the lock of hair he now curled around his hand and slowly rubbed
between his thumb and forefinger.
“What did she want?”
He blinked and raised his head. “What?
Who?”
Selyn covered his fingers with hers.
Wrapped her hand around his. “Ginny. You said she called. What does
she want?”
“Oh.” He laughed, and his face
flushed. It appeared humans blushed exactly the same way Lemurians
did. Interesting.
“She called to tell me they’re at the
portal and need a ride here. Alton has something he wants to show
you.” He shrugged. “No idea what. She didn’t say. The thing is, I’m
not comfortable leaving Artigos here alone, even locked away, and
while I hate to leave you again, I’d feel better if you were here
to keep an eye on things. Do you mind guarding the fort for a few
minutes?”
She shook her head, still bemused by
his blush. What could it mean? “I was fine when you took Eddy and
Dax,” she said. She turned his hand loose. His fingers dropped away
from her hair.
“You were hardly gone long at all,”
she added. “I’ve got BumperWillow to keep me company.”
He laughed and ran his hand over the
dog’s curly head. “That you do. I’m glad she decided to
stay.”
“Together we will guard your fort.”
She watched the way his long fingers slipped through the dog’s
curls and felt a strange yearning inside. So much she didn’t
understand. So many odd feelings, so much about this
man.
He glanced up and stared at her for a
long moment. Then, almost as if he were as bespelled as the old man
in the other room, he slowly straightened, reached out, and cupped
her jaw in his hand.
His touch surprised her. The other had
been almost accidental, as if he’d touched her hair without
thinking, but this time, the intimacy of his hand cupping her face
so carefully was a more conscious act. He was very gentle for a
man. Surprisingly gentle, though she’d known that from the
beginning. Still, she wondered if she would ever be totally
comfortable when a man touched her, knowing what violence they were
capable of.
But Dawson appeared to have no
violence in him. His palm was warm; his fingers warmer still. Selyn
held very still, unsure what he wanted . . . what he
intended.
Unsure of how she felt about his
touch. It wasn’t unpleasant. Not at all like anything she’d ever
experienced with a man. Nor was it like the comforting touch from
one of the sisters of her soul. This was unique—almost a caress—and
the more she thought about it, the more she decided she liked
it.
She leaned against his palm, stared
into his blue eyes, and wondered what he saw when he looked at
her.
Suddenly he blinked, and his hand fell
away from her face. The quickness of his movement startled her; the
loss of contact surprised her. She missed the warmth, the sense of
connection she’d felt when he held her face so
carefully.
Definitely something she’d have to
think about.
He stepped back and cleared his
throat. “I’ll be away for just a few minutes. Don’t let anyone in,
okay? BumperWillow, guard the house and protect
Selyn.”
The dog yipped. The sprite was silent.
So was Selyn as Dawson turned quickly away and left the
house.
Shit. He’d almost kissed her. What the hell
was he thinking? Poor kid had been beaten half to death just the
night before last, and the last thing she needed was some idiot
pawing her. So what did he do? Played with her hair, put his hand
on her face without even thinking how it must appear to
her.
He should apologize, at the very
least. He would apologize, as soon as he got Alton and
Ginny.
What the hell was he going to do about
Selyn?
Nothing.
You’re not going to do a damned thing. She’s off limits. Get over
it.
Yeah.
Right. He laughed out loud as he pulled into the
parking space at Red Rock Crossing where Alton and Ginny waited.
Selyn was currently living in his home, sleeping across the
hallway, eating at his table, and watching him with those beautiful
blue eyes. Getting over Selyn was probably not going to happen
anytime soon.
“Hey, Daws. How’s it
going?”
Ginny leaned in through the open
window and kissed his cheek. Then she crawled into the backseat
while Alton rode shotgun.
“Going good. What’s that, Alton? Got a
baby wrapped in that blanket?” He really needed to get his head
screwed on straight. Ginny and Alton were the ones to help him do
exactly that.
“Not quite.” Alton lifted a corner of
the woven blanket back just enough for Dawson to see what looked
like a solid gold hilt to a sword that was sheathed in a white
leather scabbard.
“What the hell is that?” He glanced in
the rearview mirror at Ginny’s big smile, and backed out of the
parking space.
“It’s a crystal sword that spoke to
Taron and said it belongs to Alton’s grandfather.” Ginny was
practically bouncing in the backseat. “Isn’t that just
cool?”
“Only he’s been dead for ten thousand
or so years, which means we’ve got a bit of a conundrum.” Alton
covered the sword once again. “How’s everyone doing?”
Dawson headed back toward his house.
“Selyn’s great, your dad’s pissed, and Eddy and Dax have gone home
to Evergreen to check on the portals there and make certain the
ones to Abyss are still sealed. We’ve got BumperWillow. She thought
she might be able to help drive the demon from your
father.”
“Good.” Alton turned and glanced at
Ginny in the backseat. She leaned forward and clasped his
shoulder.
Dawson couldn’t help but notice the
way they communicated without words. He knew Lemurians used
telepathy, and even he could understand Willow, but there was more
than that working between Ginny and Alton. They obviously
understood one another on so many levels.
He wondered what it would be like to
be so in tune with another person that her fears became yours, her
desires, her needs, her interests—all shared because you were so
tightly connected.
And he thought of Selyn, of the way
she’d looked when he’d touched her hair and she’d reached for his
hand, when he’d cupped her cheek in his palm. He wasn’t sure, but
he thought she might have actually leaned into what could only be
described as a caress. He didn’t think she’d pulled away, but that
might be his wishful thinking.
She had definitely wrapped her fingers
around his when he’d stroked her silky hair. Maybe she’d done that
to stop him from doing more.
He pulled into the driveway and turned
off the engine. Selyn and BumperWillow stood in the doorway.
“Everything okay?”
She nodded and stepped outside with
the dog on her heels. Even in the old pair of his surgical scrubs,
Selyn was absolutely breathtaking. She’d braided her hair while
he’d been gone, pulling all of it back from her face into a single
long braid that looped over her shoulder.
The tightly bound hair made her eyes
look bigger, her cheekbones more pronounced, her lips fuller. He
missed the soft curl of dark hair falling all the way to her hips.
It softened her, somehow. Made her look more
approachable.
She looked stronger with it tied back,
though. More self-contained. Every inch the warrior woman. No way
in hell could he see her as a slave when she looked this way. No,
this woman was not a slave to any man.
His body didn’t seem to care. He was
hard as a post and hoping like hell no one noticed. He cleared his
throat and made a point of focusing on those deep blue eyes of
hers. “How’s Artigos?”
Selyn smiled and rubbed the dog’s
curly head. “I just peeked through the window on the door and
checked on him. He sleeps, but his breakfast tray is empty. I think
he likes your bacon and eggs.” She flashed a big grin at Ginny and
Alton. “Hello. It’s good to see you. I’m glad to hear everything
went so well.” She nodded and stepped aside.
“Hey, Selyn. I brought you something.”
Ginny held up one of the cloth bags she carried. “Sandals. I think
they’re your size. Dawson said you needed shoes.”
Selyn’s eyes lit up like a little
kid’s at Christmas. “For me?” She took the bag from Ginny, tugged
the drawstring to loosen it, and pulled out a beautiful pair of
leather sandals.
Dawson stepped closer to see. “Wow.
Those are gorgeous. Will they fit?”
Her eyes sparkled as she knelt to put
them on. Dawson almost laughed aloud. Obviously shoes appealed to
all women.
Selyn finished buckling the sandals
and stood. “They’re perfect. I’ve never had anything like them.
Thank you.”
“Wonderful.” Ginny leaned into Alton.
“When you meet Gaia, Alton’s mom, you can thank her. She sent
them.”
“Your mother?” Selyn’s eyes went big.
“I thought they looked like something one of the aristocracy would
wear. Are you sure it’s all right for me to . . .”
Alton seemed to understand what she
was thinking. “Of course it’s all right. They’re a gift from my
mother. She wanted you to have them. She sent a robe for you,
too.”
Ginny held up the other bag, but she
elbowed Alton.
Laughing, he added, “but Ginny thought
you’d prefer pants.”
“I guess.” Selyn brushed her hand down
her cotton-covered legs. “Like these?”
“No. Like these.” Ginny laughed and
held up one jeans-clad leg. I’ve got some extras in our room, and
we’re about the same size. C’mon.”
Dawson watched the women go inside his
house and couldn’t quit grinning. When he’d bought this big place,
it had originally been his intention to set up his clinic here, but
he’d quickly discovered his patients wanted the convenience of a
veterinarian in town rather than out in the country. Then he’d
dreamed of filling it one day with a wife and
children.
Never, not in his wildest dreams, had
he imagined filling it with Lemurians and talking dogs. Luckily, it
hadn’t been difficult at all to convince Ginny and Alton to give up
their expensive casita. They’d been staying at that ritzy lodge
north of town, but it felt right having everyone here, and he had
more than enough room in the sprawling ranch-style
house.
“Ginny and her clothes.” Alton was
laughing softly as he followed Daws back inside. “She’s easily
sidetracked! Let me show you the reason we’re here, besides trying
to rid my father of his demon.” He carried the rolled up blanket
into the kitchen and set the bundle on the counter. Carefully,
without touching the contents, Alton unwrapped and then unsheathed
an amazing ruby sword. Larger than the crystal blade he carried, it
had what appeared to be a solid gold pommel. The crystalline blade
glowed a deep blood red.
“Holy shit. Where’d that come from?”
Dawson clenched his hands into fists to keep from touching the
thing. Obviously, with the care Alton was showing, fondling someone
else’s crystal sword wasn’t a good idea.
Alton sighed. “It’s one of the
replicated swords. The others are all clear crystal, like mine.
This one shocked the nine hells out of Taron, especially when it
asked to be taken to my grandfather, who supposedly died when we
made the move from Lemuria to Mount Shasta. This morning, HellFire
and DarkFire both pledged allegiance to the sword, but it didn’t
say anything. There was a lot of glowing and an aura of true power,
so we both sensed they were communicating. Then DarkFire said one
word: ‘Selyn.’”
“Selyn?” Dawson stared at the blade as
if he might actually find answers there. Somehow. “Why would she
say Selyn’s name?”
“I imagine as a place to begin our
search for Artigos the Just. Wow! Selyn, you look
hot!”
Dawson spun around.
Ginny laughed out loud. “Hot? Alton,
when did you start sounding like me?”
Alton just laughed. Dawson didn’t
really give a damn. The big guy was right. Selyn wore a pair of
Ginny’s tight black jeans that looked like they’d been glued to her
legs, with a bright blue halter top that sort of flowed around her
waist and yet still managed to cling to all the right places.
Dawson couldn’t have said a word if his life depended on it, but
yeah, Selyn was definitely hot.
Hot enough to make his temperature
rise a few notches.
“Do I look like a human woman in these
pants? They feel so strange.” Selyn laughed and sort of held her
arms out, as if she wanted to show off her outfit.
Dawson wanted to lock her in a dark
room. Yeah, he’d seen her naked when she was all beat up and he’d
been trying to heal her wounds, but for some reason she looked more
naked to him now, covered in denim and silk, than she had without a
stitch on. He shook his head, feeling absolutely dazed. “Selyn, I
hate to tell you, but you don’t look human at all. There’s no human
alive as beautiful as you.”
He caught a quick look at Ginny’s wide
eyes and heard Alton chuckle, but he didn’t care what they thought.
Not at all. All he cared about was the woman standing in his
kitchen. Selyn was a combination of shy innocence and sex
incarnate. She stared at him with a whole raft of expressions
flitting across her face. He couldn’t read any of them, though she
didn’t seem at all put off by his comment.
He hoped she didn’t mind that he
thought she was too gorgeous to be human. Hoped she didn’t think it
was an insult. He stepped closer, but a brilliant flash of red
caught his eye.
He turned to look as Selyn stepped
around him and stood in front of the counter. She stared,
transfixed, at the ruby sword. It glowed as if someone had turned
on a light switch. Dawson reached for Selyn and caught her hand
before she could touch the crystal blade.
She shook her head. “No. Can’t you
hear it? It wants me to touch it.”
He didn’t hear a thing. Daws glanced
at Alton, who gave him a short, sharp negative shake of his head.
He hadn’t heard it, either.
Selyn licked her lips and tentatively
laid her fingers on the glowing blade. It pulsed blood red beneath
her fingertips. Dawson, Alton, and Ginny all stayed
back.
The sword wanted Selyn.
Another bright flash lit the room. A
deep voice raised chills along Dawson’s spine. BumperWillow
whimpered.
“You know of the one I seek, Selyn of
Elda’s line, daughter of the DemonSlayer. Take me to Artigos the
Just.”
The glow faded. Selyn stepped back and
bowed her head, her respect obviously bordering on awe. When she
turned, her excitement practically radiated from her shining eyes.
While she looked at the three of them, Dawson was certain she spoke
only to him. “I know where he is. We have to go back to the mines.
He’s there. A prisoner locked away for millennia, kept apart from
all of us, approached with fear by all the guards. I never knew his
name. Now I do.”
She turned her attention to Alton.
“Your grandfather Artigos the Just, the father of your father, is
imprisoned deep within the mines of Lemuria.”