Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade) (12 page)

She retrieved them, scooting backwards into the cover of the trees while she armed herself. It wasn't until she had an arrow set in place that she finally took a breath.

Zach hadn't moved, and he hadn't tried to come after her. He just set his hands on his hips, watching her. "My friend is dying," he said quietly. "I need to save him. That's why I'm here. I'm not one of the bad guys."

Rhiannon heard the desperation in his words, and on some level, they resonated as true. He'd saved her from one of José's warriors and even given her back her weapons. No one working for José would have done either one of those things. But at the same time, she didn't understand who he was or what a Calydon was doing in this jungle if he wasn't connected to José.

But still, he had saved her when she couldn't save herself. She wasn't foolish enough not to understand how significant that was. There would be others after her. Many others. If she fled the rain forest, José would hunt her down. Maybe she would evade him, and maybe she wouldn't. But she would never be able to stop looking over her shoulder, unless she ended it now. The last ten minutes had made it abundantly clear that she couldn't do it by herself, but with Zach by her side, maybe she had a chance. "What do you want?"

Zach clasped his hands over his head, as if he were trying to give the impression that he was harmless…as if she would ever believe that. He studied her for a moment, as if he were contemplating how much truth to give her.

She waited for him to decide, carefully studying his features so she could learn them well enough to determine what he wasn't telling her. She'd learned to protect herself by watching the facial expressions of José and the others, and figuring out when they were lying and when she could believe them.

He finally met her gaze, his dark brown eyes were unabashedly honest. "I'm a member of the Order of the Blade," he said, pausing as if that was something she was supposed to know.

She shook her head and jerked her chin at him to continue. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the phrase sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it.

One eyebrow went up, as if he were surprised she didn't know. "The Order of the Blade was founded several thousand years ago to protect innocents from rogue Calydons. That's my sworn oath."

She stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying. "There are Calydons that
protect
people?" She remembered now hearing rumors about the Order, but she'd always dismissed them as stories started by fan girls who wanted a bad boy in their beds and had created this fantasy as a way to glorify them.

"Yeah, and we're good at it." He still hadn't looked away, openly inviting her to see the truth in his eyes. "Thano Savakis is on my team, and he went rogue."

She stiffened at the words and looked over her shoulder. A rogue? "Is he nearby?"

"He's unconscious. He's not coming after anyone right now."

There was an edge to his voice that drew her attention, and she looked at him again. This time, there was no mistaking the pain in his eyes. Guilt. Determination.
He cared
, she realized. He cared about this friend of his. Suddenly, her throat tightened, and she knew she was losing her mind, seeing emotions in the eyes of a Calydon just because she was so desperate for help. "So?" she challenged, her defensiveness making her voice harsher than she'd intended.

Zach didn't seem bothered. "Apparently, there's a hot shit fire god who has some sort of implement that can bring sanity back to a rogue. I want it. I need it.
Thano needs it.
"

She stared at him, his words sinking in. He was talking about José. He wanted José's staff. He wanted to track down José and steal from him, in order to save his own teammate that he so clearly cared about.

There was no doubt about his loyalty to Thano. It was etched in the lines on his face, and his words were heavy with urgency and desperation. He was a man who would fight to the death to save his teammate, which meant he would fight to the death to get to José. She knew he would. She could see it in his expression. "Do you know where this fire god is right now?" she asked. Fire god, though? She knew José could do a lot of stuff with fire, but he was a Calydon, not some all-powerful god. Rumors had turned him into more of a monster than he already was.

Zach's expression darkened with anger he didn't bother to hide. "The intel I got on him was crap. I'm on my own to find this piece of shit and save Thano." He surveyed her, taking in her outfit, but at the same time, she felt heat burning on her flesh as he studied her. She didn't like it when men studied her so intently anymore. She wanted them to not notice her.

But before she could warn him off, his gaze went back to her face. "You look like you know your way around this jungle. As I said earlier, I'll hire you to be my guide. I'll pay you well, and—" he studied her speculatively, his gaze settling on her bruised throat and the dangling strap of her broken quiver, which was still lying on the ground by her ankle. "I'll keep you alive and safe while you're working for me."

Hope leapt within her. Was this really possible? She was being handed an armed escort who would stay with her right until the very end? As soon as she asked the question, the fragile hope faded again. It was impossible. Coincidences like this didn't happen. How did she know he wasn't working for José, and figured it would be easier to deliver her if she happily agreed to follow him through the jungle? She couldn't trust him.

But then again, if he was telling the truth, she needed him. Desperately. She wasn't a fool. She'd had limitations before, and there were even more now.

Zach shifted restlessly. "I don't have a lot of time," he said, an edge of impatience cutting through his tone. "Yes or no?"

God, she wanted to say yes, but she was terrified of being wrong, of trusting the wrong man again. "Prove it."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Prove it? Which part?"

"That I can trust you."

"Prove that you can trust me?" He studied her for a long moment. "You're a warrior," he said thoughtfully. "Your instincts should tell you what you need to know."

Yes, they should. But she had long ago lost faith in them. Right now, when she looked at this man, all she could see was a hero who had saved her, and that made her want to fall down to her knees and cry in exhaustion, turning herself over to him. The urge was so great that it terrified her. She knew that she was so desperate for hope that she could very possibly see good where there wasn't any, just how a person dying of thirst in the desert would see a mirage. She shook her head wordlessly. "I can't," she said.

"Can't what?"

"Trust my instincts."

Understanding flared in his dark eyes, and for a moment he didn't move. Then he slowly walked over to her, and he went down on one knee just as she started to tense at his proximity. "My sister and her two children were murdered by a rogue Calydon," he said quietly, his gaze burning into hers. "On that day, as I stood over their broken bodies, the ones I had failed to protect, I made them a promise." His voice was hard, so steely that it almost broke with the tension. "I swore on their souls that I would spend the rest of my life fighting that battle and protecting innocents like them, to save the lives of all those to make up for the ones I didn't protect."

Her throat tightened at the deep anguish on his face, and instinctively, she reached out to touch him, wanting to take away his pain as he had hers. Her fingers brushed his hair, a soft, damp silkiness that felt so good that she jerked her hand back, horrified that she'd touched him on her own.

He didn't react outwardly, but his sharp eyes softened at her fearful reaction. "I swear on their souls that I'm telling the truth," he said softly, as if he could lessen her fear simply by gentling his voice. And weirdly, it worked. His voice was kind and soothing, and she felt it wrap around her like a warm embrace.

He held out his hand to hers, as if offering to show her that nothing bad would happen if she touched him. "I swear on my family's souls that I'm telling the truth about Thano, the fire god, and my promise to take you under my protection until this is over, if you'll help me find him."

She felt the depth of his promise in every cell of her body, and chills ran over her skin. She didn't know how this Calydon had become so humane, but he had. There was no doubt about his pain, and his commitment to avenge his family's murder. Silently, she nodded, too overcome with emotion to speak.

He raised his brows. "Is that a 'yes, oh wondrous Zach, it would be my great honor to escort a mighty warrior such as yourself into the hell that no one can survive?'"

A tiny, almost imperceptible laugh slipped free. "It's a 'yes, I'll be your guide,'" she said. "I don't know about the rest of it."

He grinned, his eyes lighting up. "You know the way to the fire god?"

The thought of heading toward José made her tense, and she realized suddenly that at some point she had lowered her bow to her side, forgetting to stay armed. Zach had made her forget her fear, even for a brief moment. For that, she might indeed call him wondrous. But for now… "Yes, I know the way. I'll take you." She held out her hand to stall him as he started to get up. "Say it again. Your promise that you'll protect me. Promise that you'll never, ever use force or mind control against me. Swear it on your sister's soul."

Something flashed in his eyes, something so dark and predatory that she took a step back. "Is that what's been done to you?" he asked in a voice so low she could barely hear it. "Is that why you're so scared?"

Rhiannon stiffened at Zach's question, unsettled by how intense his gaze was, as if he could see right through her walls to the nightmares she tried so hard not to think about anymore. She lifted her chin, trying to make him see her as the warrior she once was, not the woman who was afraid to sleep at night. "Swear on your sister's soul," she repeated. "Swear that you'll never hurt me or try to control me."

This time, Zach didn't simply offer his hand and wait for her to accept, which, of course, she never would. This time, he took her hand himself, and before she could protest, he laid it over his heart, over the wound she'd caused that was already healing. He flattened her palm over his chest, and then placed his hand over hers, sandwiching her fingers between his hand and his heart.

Fear coiled in her belly, but at the same time, to her surprise, she didn't want to pull away. Something about the warmth of
his
body felt comforting and reassuring, instead of threatening and dangerous. So, instead of running, she eased down to her knees in front of him, not taking her gaze off him.

Face to face they knelt, and then Zach spoke. "What's your name?" he asked.

She could feel his words vibrating in his chest, as if they were a part of his body. "Rhiannon Diaz," she whispered.

He nodded. "Rhiannon Diaz," he repeated.

The sound of her name on his lips made her stomach tighten, but not in fear. It was something else, something that felt good and safe. Instinctively, her fingertips tightened against his chest, digging in ever so slightly, not to hurt him, but to hold onto him.

Zach squeezed her hand, as if welcoming her touch. "Rhiannon Diaz, I swear on the soul of my sister and her children that I will protect you. I also swear that I will never use force or mind control against you.
Ever.
You're under my protection, and you're free to stab me any time you feel unsafe."

She stared at him, and then another laugh escaped. "Stab you?"

He nodded. "If you get scared, or I trigger a memory for you and you need to strike out to feel safe, it's fine. I can heal. Just do it."

She smiled then, the first real smile she'd felt in so long. "Okay. I promise to stab you whenever I feel the need."

He grinned back at her, a beautiful, amazing smile that seemed to touch deep in her heart. "Well, then, let's go find a fire god, shall we?"

Her smile faded as the reality of their situation came crashing back down on her. "Yes." She dropped her hand from his chest, almost surprised when he allowed her the freedom to break the contact. She didn't understand him, and she knew it would be foolish to have too much faith in him, but it was tempting. "Let's go." She started to turn away to pick up her bow, which was on the ground beside the quiver, when he stopped her with a touch to her arm. She glanced back at him. "What?"

"Thank you for your help."

She smiled, and again, something softened around her heart. "No," she said. "I'm the one who needs to thank you."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

She grinned at him, suddenly feeling relief she hadn't felt in a very long time, enough relief that she almost felt giddy. "Because the fire god you're after is hunting me. That guy you just attacked? There will be a lot more of them. If you're going to keep me safe, which you promised to do on your family's souls, you're going to be a very, very busy man." She smiled at him, expecting him to look intimidated, or even a little shocked at what he'd just gotten into.

But he simply held out his hands. The two weapons he'd thrown at Luther began to vibrate where they were still lodged in his prone body, as if Zach was calling them to return to his own flesh. They suddenly tore themselves free of Luther and hurtled through the air right back to his hands. They slammed into his palms with a thwack, then shimmered and disappeared as he sheathed them back into his body. His muscles were taut, his jaw hard, and his eyes focused as he carefully surveyed their surroundings for any enemy. "I'm ready," he said, his voice vibrating with power and focus. "Bring it on."

For a moment, she couldn't do anything but stare at him. He was huge, this warrior who had declared himself her protector. He was so chiseled he could have been a sculpture of male perfection, and he seemed to emanate such strength that she should be terrified. Was this formidable presence really on her side? Could she truly trust him? It was almost too much to conceive of. Men like this caused pain. Men like this were the ones she had been brought up to protect the jungle from. Men like Zach were the enemy.