Protector of the Flame (16 page)

The smell had been so beautiful, so strong she’d crushed it in her face and pressed it all over her clothes. Sothis had grimaced at the mess, but her father laughed.

The memory faded, as it came, softly. She cringed, anticipating what might follow, but as she opened her eyes there was only a spectacular garden in her sight.

No vile, painful image or nasty side effect.

She stretched and walked to the fountain. Sitting on the edge, she dipped her hand into the cool water. A breeze blew a refreshing spray across her skin.

The colossal white building shimmered in the sunlight. On the roof near solar panels, five sentinels patrolled, swords strapped to their backs. Off in the distance on the other side of the island, five more shifted warriors flew high in the sky.

She wondered if they had a view of the outdoor showers. Surely they did. It was good she’d taken to late evening showers. Not that the sentinels had any reason to spy, when there was a sea of beauty in the open bay showers every morning.

“Let’s go,” Adriel said, a bit winded.

Wearing a nylon backpack, he took her hand, curling his fingers around hers. They headed through the expansive garden. A sentinel patrolled a couple of hundred feet away near a cluster of palm trees, but glanced at them with indifference.

They trudged through bushes and shrubs, making their way toward a part of the island where no sentinels flew overhead. Adriel helped her cross a quarter mile of slippery rock adjacent to the shore, never letting her out of arm’s reach.

It must’ve been divine intervention to be graced with a new brother as wonderful as Adriel. Her faith in the Creator hung in question, but she had no other explanation for getting two brothers in a row with the power to heal. First Cassian, and now one extraordinarily powerful because he was Blessed.

They came to a cliff with a jagged side on a gentle incline. The rock formation along the slope provided natural steps.

At the top, she caught her breath. Adriel plopped down cross-legged in the middle of a grassy meadow facing the ocean. She walked to the edge of the cliff and peered over the side. A sharp drop led to the ocean crashing on the rock wall below.

“This is one place where Neith can’t see us.”

“You make it sound as if Neith has eyes everywhere. Is that her
ingenium
? Some kind of super vision?” She sat next to Adriel.

He handed her utensils, unleavened bread, an avocado, tomato and figs from the backpack. “That would be kind of cool, but no.”

In one hand Adriel held up a rectangular box with loose pieces that rattled inside. In the other, a square box with a black-and-white checkered lid. “Senet or chess?”

“I don’t know how to play either.”

“Any Kindred worth their salt should know how to play Senet.” He put the rectangular box away, confusing her. “But knowing how to play chess will serve you better. Neith is a master at the game.”

As he laid out the pieces, she made a tomato and avocado sandwich. He kept stealing glances at her, mouth open like he wanted to say something.

“What is it?”

“Your eyes. When we met, they were stunning—” he lowered his gaze as if embarrassed, “—but in the light…” He cleared his throat.

“With chess,” he continued, “you have to know the importance of each piece. How it can move before you learn how to play.” He held up a white piece with a crown. “The objective is to capture your opponent’s king, but—” he handed her a different one, “—your queen is the most powerful piece on the board. Without her, it’s virtually impossible to win.”

“It’s all about strategy.”

“And understanding your opponent. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they play. The strategy one uses in the game is the same one uses in life.”

“What kind of player is Neith?”

A devilish smile curled on his face. “Cunning, decisive and patient. No one can beat her. I’m too emotional,” he said, twirling a horse-shaped piece in his fingers. “It pains me to lose any of my pieces. I want to preserve them, especially my favorites, and win, but that’s impossible.”

He set the board up. “Neith, on the other hand, understands sacrifice is necessary to achieve the end objective. She’ll forfeit any of them to win.”

A prickly tingle fluttered in her core. Sothis offered enough information to help complete the archives. Her mother’s value was clear.

While she only seemed to be a liability.

“Knowing what your first move will be is just as important as your last. I never gave much thought to my first move until I studied the way Neith played. Each move is calculated, deliberate. Strategizing is her
ingenium
. She never does anything without the endgame in mind.”

Remember the endgame
, her father’s last words to her mother before he was murdered.

Whatever the ancient beauty’s motives, at least they were in line with her desire to stay alive, but if the day ever came when Neith’s objective ran contrary to her own, she’d quickly be in over her head.

Chapter Sixteen

For dinner, Serenity sat across from Neith and Adriel at one of the long white tables in the dining hall. “How long do you expect me to stay here? When will you contact Cyrus?”

Her heart ached. She had to see her husband, to touch him, to wipe his worry away, the need fisting in her chest.

“If there are Paladin spies at House Herut as your mother claims, you won’t be safe there. I’ll send for Cyrus when the time is right. To do so sooner would endanger you both as well as my island, and that I will not do.”

Cryptic answers that answered nothing.

“I’m sure he’s going crazy wondering what happened to me.” Despite the high-tech computer system and solar-powered electricity, there were no phones, no Internet and no way to contact her
kabashem
.

“Good. The other Houses must believe he doesn’t know where you are or what’s happened to you. Spies at Herut shall work in our favor. Have patience, young phoenix. Waiting for the opportune time will keep you both alive.”

Alive but for what purpose? Seshata wanted them alive, but barren. There was no telling what Neith wanted. The details of Neith’s plan were a mystery. A clear way out of this precarious situation with a happy ending was a mystery. And Neith was the biggest mystery of all.

“I need a timeframe. I’ve been here over a week.” She wondered if drug addicts going through withdrawal were plagued by cravings that didn’t wane, but intensified.

The mere thought of her
kabashem
made her energy stream quiver. How long could it last? Eventually, addicts recovered. But Cyrus was a drug she didn’t want to get over. In her soul, she relished the sweet torment of it. “This open-ended—”

The sight of Sothis entering the dining hall stole her voice.

Her mother was a vision of loveliness and power dressed in turquoise. Thirty warriors in dark blue followed her. They crossed the center of the hall, moving as far away from Serenity’s table as possible.

Warriors sat around Sothis, talking lightly, completely at ease with the Paladin.

Serenity glanced down at her plate of fish pie and green stuff that tasted horribly similar to a cross between spinach and kale.

“I finished debriefing your mother,” Neith said. “You and Adriel are to return to the library tomorrow.”

“When can I read the transcripts?”

“You’ll have access to everything when the time is right.”

She looked across the room at her mother, an ache simmering in her heart. “Why is she in light blue?”

“She’s been made a team leader,” Adriel said.

“I put her in charge of training the sentinels. She can teach them countermeasures for methods used by the Paladins,” Neith explained.

“I’ve never seen anyone else in that color.” Serenity glanced around the half-empty dining hall. It had never come close to being full.

Adriel dug into his mussels. “You might if you got up early enough.”

Speaking of which, she needed to ask about getting an alarm clock.

“They always change before evening meal,” Adriel continued without a trace of an accent. “They don’t like to stand out, unlike your Paladin.”

She hadn’t heard him speak with an accent in front of anyone else, not even Neith.

“Sothis is special,” Neith said. “She would stand out regardless of how she dressed.”

No doubt her Paladin mother would stand out. From the way she carried herself to the brilliant color of her aura, everything about her was different.

“Your light is dull.” Adriel touched her hand. “You haven’t adjusted to being here yet.” It wasn’t a question.

Her energy stream stirred with the vigor of a hibernating bear. She didn’t have any issues with the island. In fact, she found great comfort in the lush oasis. It was the separation from Cyrus that made her ill.

“It’d help if you connected to the collective stream,” he said.

She shook her head.

The vibrations of the Kindred around her were welcoming, but she didn’t want the buoyancy of the collective. She wanted the anchor of her
kabashem
.

“It’s entertainment night.” Adriel moved his hand. “We only have it once a season.”

“Layke shall grace us with her voice in song,” Neith said.

Serenity gave a half-smile. “I look forward to it.”

Finished with her meal, she scraped the leftover food from her plate into a compost bin and put her dirty dishes in one of the receptacles set up around the hall.

“Any more headaches?” Adriel asked.

“Not a one since you made it stop.”

“Excellent.”

They drifted through the main hall under the coffered rotunda dome and to the lounge on the other side.

“I’ll save us a seat while you shower,” he offered, knowing her routine well.

“I showered this morning in the daylight,” she said. “Even took my time and enjoyed it.”

“Bravo.” He gave a soft round of applause. “Open bay or outside?”

“Definitely not the open bay.”

“You shouldn’t be ashamed of your body. In time you’ll shed your human propriety and embrace who you are.”

Perhaps if she’d grown up around her own kind, in paradise like Adriel, it would mean little to bathe in front of others.

For all his years amongst humans and living in puritanical America, even Cyrus displayed no shame in his body in front of others. Then again, his physique was a rare specimen of masculine flawlessness.

All Kindred were some shade of beautiful, but her
kabashem
was something more. All male, melting her insides, giving balance to her soul, redefining the world itself. She swallowed the burning sting of sadness and scanned the loveliness of the Kindred around her. A plethora of exquisite beauty and heartrending grace.

They weren’t all shaped to be models such as Talus, tall, thin and pretty. Some were rugged and athletic like her Cyrus.

A few were cut from a similar cloth as Adriel, gems for eyes, a cupid bow mouth and the gait of a prince. His face and body were an unearthly complement to his divine radiance. His flame burned bright and pure. If his
kabashem
ever got close enough to see him, there’d be no way she could resist. His magnetic charm made it effortless to be near him, although he didn’t seem to have many friends. Only a select handful ever approached or engaged him in conversation, somewhat like her, but this island was his home and he knew every inhabitant. Yet he existed at a distance from most, quite similar to the way she walked through the world.

People lingered on bamboo furniture, engaged in conversation. Some read languorously or lounged with eyes closed, enjoying the cool breeze, taking up most of the seating.

The white tiger sat in front of a vacant sofa along the front row. As a man approached and went to sit, the tiger growled, sending him in a different direction.

When the tiger saw Adriel, it purred.

“We’re in luck. Ximena saved a place for me.” Adriel scratched the tiger’s head. “Thank you, Tony. Give Ximena my gratitude later.” The tiger purred and lay down in front of the sofa.

“Your friend sent a tiger to save you a seat?”

“Ximena does on occasion. She knows I like to be front and center for entertainment night.”

“Where is she?” Serenity looked around for the bald woman she’d seen in the garden.

“She listens from the railing on the second level. She enjoys the sound of Layke’s voice best from there.”

Adriel sat cross-legged on the couch.

“Did you call him Tony, as in Tony the tiger from the Frosted Flakes cereal box?”

Blushing, he laughed, looking absolutely mortified. “You and Nikos are the only ones here who know that. Neith sends me to the mainland a few times a year, where I get to indulge in sinful things like Frosted Flakes.”

Serenity smiled. “Your secret is safe with me.”

He patted the cushion beside him.

“I’m going to take a walk first. The fish pie is sitting a little heavy.”

“Don’t be long, it’ll start soon.”