Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (26 page)

Quinn Masters was leaning against the empty fireplace. Ian was standing back against the wall, and he gave her a nod of recognition. He seemed to have recovered from the wounds he’d received after rescuing her, but his face was still haunted and bleak. There was a vast emptiness in his eyes, a gaping wound in his soul. Was it from the loss of his
sheva
as Gideon had said? She knew it was. She’d had the first hint of that loss when she’d woken up and Gideon wasn’t with her. How awful would she feel if and when it ended between Gideon and her?

Focus, sweetheart. No need to borrow trouble from the future. We’ve got enough to deal with right now.
Gideon squeezed her hand lightly, drawing her focus back into the room.

The rest of the men were seated, sprawled across the black leather couches. They were all there. Kane Santiago with his scars. The irreverent Thano Savakis with his smile. Ryland Samuels, the loose cannon whose pacing was making the other men wary. A restless dark energy was swirling around him, even more than she would have expected given what she knew about him. Was he getting worse now that his mentor, Dante, was gone?

Gabe Watson and Zach Roderick were sitting next to each other on the couch by the window, both of them watching her intently. She could feel the hum of energy in the room, the readiness of each warrior to call forth his weapon and end her life if they thought she was too dangerous. Um…yeah…

The conversation ceased the minute she and Gideon stepped inside. Gideon felt the tension level skyrocket as the males watched him carefully, analyzing his reaction to see if he was sane, or if Lily was dragging him over the line to rogue yet.

They’d all seen Quinn haul his ass down to the dungeons, and they were right to be on guard.

Lily’s pulse was racing, and he felt her true fear at being confronted with the Order. Shit. He hadn’t really realized how much her past would affect her.
I’m with you, Lily. You’re safe.

Her fingers tightened against his.
Keep telling me that, please.

Quinn stood up. “Dr. Davenport.”

“Call me Lily.” She pulled her hand from Gideon’s and stepped forward, setting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the males in the room. He could see the tension in her shoulders, and knew she was trying to be stronger than she felt. But that was Lily. She was about strength, and it didn’t surprise him she would need to face the room without leaning on him.

“Lily,” Quinn agreed, his tone conversational, but his eyes sharp as he watched Lily and Gideon together. He nodded at the table. “What do you know about that, Lily?”

Lily followed his glance, and Gideon saw Nate’s knife on the table. Ian’s hand was resting on it. Her forehead furrowed. “That’s Nate’s knife.”

She walked over and crouched next to the table, studying it carefully. Gideon sensed the angst ease from Lily’s body as she inspected it. He smiled, realizing that Lily was indeed a scholar at heart, and her interest had been piqued by the knife. “How do you still have it?” she asked. “I thought Calydon weapons disappeared if they were outside the body for very long.”

“They only disappear if they aren’t touching a human body. We keep touching it periodically to make sure it doesn’t fade,” Quinn explained.

Ian lifted his hand from the weapon, leaving the knife behind as Grace and Ana walked in and sat on chairs at the back of the room. Quinn raised his brows at Grace, and she smiled back, making something inside Gideon flicker with envy at their easy camaraderie.

Ana said nothing, and she looked even more strung out than she had been since she’d first arrived. Lily frowned at Ana, then he felt Lily touch his mind.
We have to talk about Ana. I think Frank is messing with her mind.

Gideon studied Ana more carefully
. Still? Even though she’s here?

Lily nodded.
I think she’s in danger.

We’ll put a guard on her.

“Can you read the writing on the knife?” Quinn asked.

Lily glanced at Gideon, then returned her attention to the knife. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands, her touch careful, as if it were an ancient artifact she was afraid of breaking.

“It’s a Calydon weapon,” Gideon said. “You can’t hurt it.”

The room fell quiet, waiting for Lily to finish inspecting it. “The designs etched on this are incredible. It looks like it was crafted with the finest of modern technology, yet I know it’s hundreds of years old.” Her eyes were bright with interest, fresh energy flowing back into her face.

Shit, you’re beautiful
. Her eyes were brimming with intelligence, curiosity, and warmth that shocked him. Lily had been brought back to life by her interest in the knife, and Gideon loved the excitement sparkling on her face. It pissed him off to think that two years with Nate had robbed her of this kind of pleasure, replacing this passion with a shadowed fear.

Lily shot a sharp glance at him, then her face softened.
That’s you talking, isn’t it? Not the bond. You think I’m beautiful all on your own.

Yeah, I do
, he agreed. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.

A small smile played at the corners of Lily’s mouth as she turned back to the knife. That one glimpse of her smile hit him hard, a symbol of the woman hidden beneath the stress and the trauma.

Lily chewed her lower lip as she studied the knife. “I’ve seen this language before. It’s really ancient. I think I have some texts on it at my office.” She passed her finger over it. “I think it describes a rite.” She tapped her fingernail on a word. “This word is often used to indicate a ritual sacrifice.”

“Human?” Quinn asked.

“No. Something more specific. Like an object with great power.” She managed a wry smile. “Well, at least that’s good to know he’s not planning to sacrifice me.” There was a murmur in the room, and Lily looked around. “What?”

Quinn answered. “Calydons are being murdered and their weapons are being harvested. If a Calydon weapon is ripped from the body at the moment of death, the weapon doesn’t disappear. We think Nate was collecting them for the ritual he was going to conduct to free Ezekiel from his prison.”

“A ritual.” Lily sat down on the couch, barely noticing that Ian had to scramble out of the way to keep her from landing on him. She hummed under her breath as she traced the words, and Gideon could practically feel her mind turning over the possibilities. She looked up at Gideon. “You said that Ezekiel’s prison walls are weakening, right?”

Gideon vaulted over the back of the couch to sit beside her, giving up trying to resist his need to be close to her. “Yeah. Does it mention him?”

She leaned next to him, her shoulder resting against his as she pointed to a small design on the handle. He bent his head beside hers to get a closer look at it, feeling strangely content as she leaned her elbow on his thigh, unconsciously, he was sure.

Her hair fell in the way and she shoved it aside impatiently, then pointed to a symbol that looked like three triangles superimposed over each other. “This is a symbol for strength, but it’s been broken. That could reference the weakening walls.”

Anticipation pulsed inside Gideon. “So, this is it, then? The stone has our answers to what’s going on?”

“Maybe...” Lily continued to chew her lip as she studied the handle. “I need my texts. I can’t remember what most of this means.” Her finger traced over a symbol. “This one here. This is important. It’s a location...” She faded off into silence as she studied the knife. “I need paper.”

Anticipation hummed through the room as everyone scrambled for a pen and paper. It was Ryland who finally brought it from the kitchen. All the Order members tensed and readied to call their weapons when Ryland neared Lily, but all he did was set the paper and pen in her lap and walk away, shooting a scowl at everyone for not trusting him.

Gideon knew it was only a matter of time until Ryland went rogue, especially now that Dante was dead. Dante had been the only thing keeping Ryland on the right edge of rogue, and now that he was gone, the Order had to be ready to take Ryland out when he finally crossed the line.

But it wouldn’t be yet. Right now, Ryland was too committed to avenging his mentor’s death, and Gideon suspected that his goal would provide enough motivation to keep Ryland sane until he’d accomplished his mission.

Lily set the paper on Gideon’s thigh and started to scratch notes, pausing every few minutes to inspect the knife again.

“Can you figure out the location of the rite?” Quinn’s voice was brimming with anticipation. “If we can find where the rite is being performed we can stop it.”

“Working on it,” Lily muttered. “It’s a map, but it’s so old that once I translate it, we’ll have to correlate the location to modern times. I need to go to my office and get my books.”

Gideon rubbed her back as he spoke. “Do you think your office is still there?” he asked gently, not wanting to upset her. “You’ve been gone for two years.”

“Of course it is. My parents would never have been able to let go of the hope I’d come back.” Her conviction was apparent. “My office will be exactly as I left it.”

Kane stood up. “I’ll get them and bring them back. I’m fastest—”

“No.” Lily was already shaking her head, and she
still
hadn’t looked up from the knife. She was utterly focused on what she was doing. “I have thousands of books. I need to go and sort through them.”

Oh, yeah, Gideon didn’t like that suggestion. “Frank is probably waiting there for you.”

She waved her hand dismissively, so caught up on her work that she didn’t even react to the reminder of Frank. “My office is unlisted because I got too many threatening phone calls about my work. About tangling with the Calydons. He wouldn’t be able to find it.”

Gideon grinned and ruffled her still damp hair. Lily was a different woman when she was concentrating on her work. She simply shut everything else out. He could see now how she had survived all the hell she’d been through. She’d retreated into her mind and her work, into a world where she was powerful and in control. She’d found her place, and that gave her strength to rebuild whenever she revisited it.

Uh, oh
. Lily went rigid beside him, and Gideon was instantly on alert.

His fingers stilled in her hair.
What’s wrong?

I just found out why the Order thinks they may need to kill me to stop Frank. And they might be right.