Protector of the Flame (45 page)

Serenity followed him. “Was that your first time to see the book?”

“Yes.” His pace didn’t slow.

“What did you read? Was it your past life or mine?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He refused to look at her.

“Why are you so upset?” Holding the railing of the walkway, she stopped. “What did it say?” Perhaps it said everyone around her and Cyrus that tried to help them had died as well. Maybe she should read it. What if knowing was the only way to spare some of the others, to save Adriel?

She turned to race back up to the library.

Adriel caught her. “The past isn’t destined to repeat itself. If you have any love in your heart for me, any at all, you won’t go back to read it.”

Goose bumps flashed over her skin and her spine tingled. The baby started kicking and a flutter whipped through her stream. She should have read it when Neith had insisted a second time. “You’re scaring me.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then promise.” His eyes pleaded, his words tugging at the strings twisted around her heart. “Please. Promise me.”

Her heart pounded in her ears.
Go back and read it.
Then she gazed into Adriel’s eyes. He did love her and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. “All right.”

“Thank you.” He wrapped her in a tight hug, for just a moment, then left her alone on the walkway.

Chapter Forty-Three

Trembling, Serenity drifted to her room. Cyrus sat in bed, reading.

“I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll be right back.”

“Are you okay?” He looked up from his book.

She reassured him she was fine and slinked out of the room. Scrubbing her face and arms in the shower, she wondered if he’d really be able to smell Adriel on her. That was the last thing she needed.

Her promise to spare Adriel’s feelings had been a gross miscalculation. The more she turned it over in her mind, the more clearly she saw the mistake. She needed to silence the warning bells clanging in her head.

She climbed into bed, her nerves pinging.

“Lights, dim,” Cyrus said.

She sat up. “Lights, bright.”

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

She told him about Abbadon’s latest message and Neith’s concerns.

Sitting up, Cyrus raked his hands through his hair.

“How did Julius and Bellona die?”

“What?” he asked, looking bewildered.

The Book of Destiny plagued her and she couldn’t wipe it from her thoughts. “She was pregnant when she died and I want to know how.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“Do you know what happened to them or not?”

“All I know is she died in childbirth and the baby was stillborn. Julius drowned himself out of grief.”

“That’s it? Isn’t there more to the story?”

He leaned back and held her. “Their story isn’t our story. We won’t end up like them.”

If only he knew how the story of Julius and Bellona was quite literally their story from a past life.

No sense in telling him. It’d only worry him when there was nothing they could do.

“Wait.” He climbed out of the bed. “All of his poems were about his
kabashem
and how much he loved her.” He opened the dresser and pulled out a book. “All, except one.” He climbed back into bed and flipped through the book. “Here it is.”

Moving in close, she gazed at the book as he read aloud.

Oh brother, most beloved in mine eye, more fair than the sun

Thy breastplate as our shield thy offered, as beauteous as thine face

Trust in thee, perverted by cruel fate, sought and won

Light of day cast too late, my faith misplaced

Thy soul dark as ash, ruthless as frost

To smite our hearts’ cherished love, to extinguish her star from the sky

Sweet words to poison, did thee know the cost

A plague upon they venomous lips, a curse upon they envious eye

My eternal suffering at thy hand is plain upon thy forked tongue

My sorrow for the love I still bear thee, shall go unsung

“Sounds like they were betrayed by someone they shouldn’t have trusted,” he said, closing the book. “Feel better?”

Her gut churned. She wanted to puke. She should’ve read the book, but Adriel would never do anything to harm her or her baby. He certainly wouldn’t hurt Cyrus in a futile attempt to get closer.

Cyrus kissed her neck and chest.

She turned to get out of bed. “I need to speak to Neith.”

“Now?” He reeled her closer. “Do it in the morning?”

She allowed Cyrus to slide her down in the bed. Her mind spun as he made love to her. Too distracted to enjoy it, she was grateful once he spent himself and rolled over to go to sleep.

When she was certain he was in a deep slumber, she threw on clothes. She dashed up to the library and to Neith’s office.

The lights were bright inside.

Neith sat slumped in her chair, looking old and weary as if she hadn’t slept in days. She didn’t glance up from her desk as Serenity entered. “I hoped you’d come to your senses once you were no longer in Adriel’s presence.”

Serenity moved one of the chairs a few feet back from the desk and sat.

“But I’ve already given the book to a team to take from the island.”

There was a way to keep her promise to Adriel and have her questions answered. “I’m sure you know the story well enough without the book.”

Neith gave a slow nod. Fatigue or sadness dampened the ancient beauty’s spirit. There was no fire in her eyes.

“Adriel was the one who somehow betrayed Bellona and Julius.”

“Florian. His name was Florian.”

Her heart fluttered. She had to know it all. The time had come, but what if knowing wrecked the chance at a different outcome?

“Bellona started the Paladins. She had a vision of an exceptional warrior class that would change the history of Kindred.”

Her ties to the Paladins stretched all the way to a past life. She stroked the tattoo on her stomach.

“She excelled at recruitment beyond the walls of Sekhem, populating her ranks with the young and powerful, not yet entrenched in House politics. Bellona tried to recruit Florian. He proved a formidable challenge. She tempted him with her feminine wiles, but instead of converting him, they fell in love.”

No.
She’d prepared for deception and betrayal, not this. Anything but this. “What of Julius and Florian’s
kabashem
?”

“Florian never met his
kabashem
in his past life. Just as I doubt Adriel will meet Evane in this one.”

“And Julius?”

The ancient beauty had a slack expression, opalescent gray eyes dull and distant. “Florian stayed at Bellona’s side, as her consort. They were very close. Nothing separated them. When she had her Whitescape, she hid it from him but dispatched spies to the colonies and Houses in search of her
kabashem
. Years passed with no news.”

The story unraveled in a completely unexpected direction. Her heart sank as she listened, wishing she’d been able to let it go.

“Florian somehow learned of Bellona’s deception. She swore she only wanted to meet her
kabashem
so their energy streams could merge, protecting her from the afflictions of
sangre saevitas
and the dark veil, then she would be rid of him by taking her own
kabashem’s
life to prove her love for Florian and opposition to redemption.”

Bellona loved Florian first, enough to threaten the life of her
kabashem
. The horror of it chilled her soul.

“Florian didn’t believe her and returned to his House. Aten.”

Serenity twisted her hands, needing to hear the specifics on how it ended, dreading the details in between.

“Years later, Florian asked to meet Bellona. At the rendezvous, he didn’t show. In his place he sent his younger brother, who’d been born in the years he’d spent away. Julius.”

A sudden sharp pain struck Serenity’s chest. She stood, rubbing her sternum, and paced. They were brothers. It was too much.

“It was a test. Florian wanted to see if Bellona would choose him over her
kabashem
and keep her vow.”

An impossible choice.
The inexplicable draw, the magnetic pull to one’s
kabashem
was the most powerful force she’d ever experienced. It was immediate, intense, electrifying. It was lightning and once it struck little else seldom remained. She knew what happened next.

“Bellona failed Florian’s test.” Serenity leaned against the statue of Sekhmet. “She gave up everything for Julius, the Paladins, her fight against redemption, her first love.”

“She came close to killing Julius more than once, but in the end, yes.” Neith shifted in her seat. “And once Florian realized he’d lost her, he sent a message to Sekhem, telling them of the Blessed couple’s whereabouts. Bellona quickly became pregnant, but they were hunted. They couldn’t stay on the run with warriors closing in at every turn.”

“Did they know Florian had betrayed them?”

“They were unaware of his duplicity. When he offered to help them, assuring them safety at Aten, they accepted with all other options exhausted. Seeing Bellona and Julius together consumed Florian with an inexhaustible rage. He poisoned Bellona, killing the child in her womb. Then he confessed everything he had done to his brother. Julius killed him, and in his grief committed suicide not long after.”

Serenity slid down the statue and sat on the floor. She shook her head, reeling from the magnitude of her mistakes in this life, as well as the one past.

“You said we’re destined to repeat the same mistakes.” If it was true, at the rate they were going now, there was little hope for them.

“Your souls are destined to be pulled into similar scenarios,” Neith said. “It is the only way to resolve the pain and errors of your former selves and find a way to change your fate.”

Neith stood and ventured to the open air outlet. “Adriel has only known love for you, not a
kabashem
, in two lifetimes. This unnatural bond changes things for the worst. You both seek to rectify what went wrong in the past. For him, that was losing your love.”

Serenity didn’t know Florian, but she knew Adriel, knew he wanted her happiness, knew he’d never hurt her or the child, but doubt lingered. “Am I safe around Adriel?”

“With this bond, Adriel poses the second greatest threat to your life.” Neith faced her. “This tether between you puts you both at grave risk.”

Serenity pushed off the statue to her feet. “Why didn’t you just have him tied up and taken from the island?”

“I am confident he won’t hurt the child, which is my primary concern. The choice had to be his. It is up to the three of you to make different choices to change your fate.”

Well wasn’t hindsight a bitch.

“Adriel jeopardizes his life being near you. The tolerance in Cyrus wavers and your desire to protect them both could be your undoing.”

Asking Adriel to leave now would only breed distrust and contempt. And Cyrus might still need him if there was war.

“Use this knowledge to make more prudent choices. Let it be your guide in moments of weakness.”

Providence had brought them all to this island. Their lives, their souls and their fates were tied.

This was a second chance to get it right and not just for the three of them.

She rubbed her belly.

This time would be different. She swore it on her life.

Chapter Forty-Four

In a single day the island declined from a bustling complex of six hundred strong to one hundred and twenty-four. Neith pulled most warriors from the work details across the island to augment security. Only the essential workstations continued to operate with skeleton crews: the kitchen, orchard, laundry, trash and engineering.

Sothis led the evening security detail. Her mother gave the warriors precise instructions not to discount the smallest abnormality and to sound the alarm if anyone was detected, even if it meant sacrificing a kill.

In the mornings when her mother finished standing guard, she worked with Cyrus, giving him a Paladin crash course. Serenity was lucky to get Sothis for ten minutes after dinner. She had no idea when her mother slept.

Neith kept Serenity close, instructing how to operate the library as though it were fully functioning, imparting her vast knowledge from a safe distance to keep the ancient beauty’s head clear as if doing some mind-to-mind download.

The evenings with Cyrus were a bizarre combination of gut-wrenching tension, like they were waiting for a time-bomb to finish a countdown, and long nights of pleasure since their world might very well come to an end as Herut’s impending response loomed.

The moon grew full and waned to a thin sliver of a crescent illuminating the night like a scythe.

Each evening the nights darkened as they moved closer to the new moon and the time limit for Herut’s answer. Abbadon must have been struggling to find a way not to use the Book of Bylaws. It was the only explanation for the delay. If they were forced to attend the Pesedjet, Sekhem or Aten or the
Sodalitas
would be ready to strike before their grievance could be heard.