Inferno's Kiss (36 page)

“Why? Why break your word now? What do you stand to gain, Atia?”

He didn’t care that she flinched as he glared at her. She’d taken him in after his mother died. He’d grown up in her house, and yet he was beginning to realize he didn’t know this woman at all. His face ached from the way the thin layer of skin on his cheek was taut with tension. He turned his head back to Marcus as Atia shifted her gaze to the Sicari Lord.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Marcus said quietly. “Dante is in line to become the next Sicari Lord, and as
Celeris
to the
Prima Consul
it’s more than likely the two of you will meet at some point in time. Would you have preferred that we let the two of you figure it out on your own?”

The question made Lysander frown. He could see the logic in everything they were telling him, but he didn’t like it that they were only just now presenting him with the truth. Although he’d not talked to Cleo since that night in the Pantheon, he could understand how his friend must have felt when Atia had told her about Marcus.

“I’m sorry, Lysander,” Atia said quietly as she met his gaze with obvious regret. “It was done to protect both of you. I wanted to tell you numerous times, but I’d promised your mother we’d keep you safe. Things are different now. The last thing I wanted to happen was for you to meet Dante unprepared.”

“Does he know? Know about me?”

“Not yet,” Marcus said quietly. “I intend to tell him at the earliest possible moment.”

“I need time to think about all this,” he growled. “Excuse me.”

Lysander didn’t wait for either of them to give their permission for him to leave. He simply turned and stalked out of the apartment. He had a brother named Dante. Unbelievable. Until Phaedra, he’d thought himself alone in the world.

He understood why Atia and Marcus had kept him in the dark about his brother, but it didn’t change the emotions that were slamming through him at the moment. Phaedra. He needed to be with his wife. She’d help him make sense of this unsettling news. In her, he’d found a safe harbor. The woman had saved his soul, and right now he just wanted to hold her and have her help him heal one more open wound.

Chapter 18

THE tunnel ended abruptly just below the stone balcony that was part of the Convent of the Sacred Mother. A part of the rock face, the balcony was in the dark. The last time she’d been here was in the daylight, but she knew from the photos she’d taken from her boat that there was a door leading into the convent itself. The only thing she didn’t know was whether the portal was locked.

No one spoke a word, but Dante’s arm suddenly pressed against her chest and forced her back against the wall. She released a soft sound of annoyance and earned herself a stern look from Dante as Tony and another fighter moved forward. Dante looked at his two fighters, and as she watched their expressions, she realized they were communicating telepathically. She grimaced at her inability to hear the conversation.

With a nod, Tony turned slightly and gestured at a younger member of the team. Without hesitation, the woman passed forward two coils of rope with a metal anchor on each one. Tony took one, while the fighter next to him accepted the other.

Dante gently forced Cleo away from the entrance as the rest of the team retreated deeper into the tunnel as well. From where she stood with her back pressed into the roughly carved wall, she watched Tony swing his anchor-weighted rope back and forth then toss it upward. The soft sound of the three-pronged grappling hook against stone made her tense as she waited for a Praetorian to suddenly charge out onto the balcony.

When nothing happened, Tony nodded at Dante then swung across the fifteen-foot divide and quickly scaled the solid stone railing of the balcony until he disappeared over the top. Seconds later the other fighter tossed his grappling hook over the stone railing and repeated Tony’s movements.

Nothing happened for a long moment until she saw Tony straighten upright. An unseen hand swung the rope back toward the tunnel entrance, and Cleo tried to step forward, but Dante’s arm pressed her back into the wall for a second time.

“
You and I go last.
” His abrupt thought filled her head, and she frowned. The man was going to be difficult tonight. He returned the look, his expression harsh with determination.

“I’m not being difficult. I told you from the start that if you wanted to be a part of this team you had to obey my every command.”

“Well, I don’t need a babysitter. Just let me do my job,” she whispered tersely as one fighter after another swung over to the balcony. When they were the only ones remaining, Dante passed her a rope.

“You’re to wait for me once you’re on the balcony.”

“Fine,” she muttered.

A moment later she landed in a crouched position over the rail of the balcony. She glanced around, expecting to see every fighter still on the balcony, but to her surprise the door of the convent was open. Several of the team members had already entered the facility, and she chafed at not being able to move forward.

“You’re about to get your wish, but stay behind me. And stay close to the edges out here. Tony says the center of the balcony is unstable.”

She nodded at his mental instructions as she followed him to the partially opened door and slipped through into a darkened corridor. The shadowy figures of the rest of the team lay ahead of her. A thin stream of light appeared in front of her, and she realized someone had opened another door, this time into an occupied part of the convent. With bated breath she waited for the sound of fighting to begin, but nothing happened.

“This is too easy,”
Dante’s thoughts whispered through hers.
“How many men did you say Angotti told you were in the convent at any given time?”

“Twenty to twenty-five on the inside,”
she responded silently. He didn’t comment as he jerked his head in the direction of the door in an obvious command for her to follow him.

As they stepped out into the dimly lit hall, she saw Tony disappear around the corner of the short hallway. A sharp clang echoed in the air followed by a soft scraping sound as the fighter reappeared dragging a limp body after him. Unceremoniously dumping the body, he gave a thumbs-up and with a grin darted back the way he’d come.

“Right. Let’s move,”
Dante commanded in her head, and as the entire team immediately moved forward, she realized he issued the order to everyone.

Without thinking, she pulled the sword from the scabbard on her back and retrieved the stiletto she’d placed inside its protective sheath in her boot. As she moved forward, the only thing she could hear was Dante’s cloak whispering against the stone floor. He was the only member of the team who wore one, and she found it a comforting sound for some reason.

Once more Tony disappeared around another corridor, and again there was a soft scuffling noise before he pulled another Praetorian out of sight. Dante was right. This
was
too easy. But then maybe they really did have the element of surprise.

“I’m not betting on it.”

His words intertwined with her thoughts, and for once in her life it didn’t bother her that someone had read her mind without permission. If anything, it felt natural when he did it. The moment that thought filtered its way through her head, she felt him withdraw from her mind.

Instantly, she felt as if a piece of her had gone missing. It was an acute sensation that made her heart skip a beat. She glanced in his direction, and his face looked as if it were chiseled out of the stone that lined the hallway. Was he feeling the same sense of loss? It might explain his stony expression. She was being ridiculous. As planned, the team explored first one corridor and then another as they moved in the direction of the control room.

The sudden sound of raucous laughter and a woman’s screams made Cleo’s stomach churn. She automatically turned toward the sounds, and Dante’s physical touch startled her as he gripped her arm tightly.

“Not yet. We secure the perimeter first, Cleopatra. Then we rescue. If they get word out of an attack, Nicostratus will send every available fighter he has.” The quiet words in her ear made her jump. She glanced up at him and nodded.

Together they moved forward with fighters in front of and behind them. Somehow she was certain it wasn’t the usual order of things. She didn’t know whether to feel cherished or irritated by Dante’s protective manner. They were within a hundred feet of the control room door when a screeching alarm went off in the building. In seconds, three Praetorians appeared at one end of the corridor while five more launched themselves into the hallway behind them. Dante looked first one way then the next.

“
Fotte
. There’s not much room for swords, people. Tony, you deal with those
bastardi
.” Dante nodded toward the Praetorians at one end of the corridor. “Cornelia, take up the rear.”

With Dante’s attention occupied, Cleo bolted toward the control room. Her hand gripped the slender door handle and she pushed down. Locked. One look at the deadbolt told her there was only one way to open the door. She sensed Dante behind her, and she stepped aside as with a wave of his hand he unlocked the door. The moment Dante threw the door open, a sword split the air inside the doorframe.

Fingers splayed, Dante threw his hand out, and there was the sound of a body crashing into a piece of equipment. As he lunged into the room, a Praetorian charged at him from behind the door. While the two of them struggled, Cleo darted forward to finish off the Praetorian that Dante had sent flying into the console. She shoved the dead man to the floor in order to study the monitors above the equipment console.

The camera focused on the front gate showed the second Sicari team meeting little resistance from the five Praetorians guarding the entrance. Quickly scanning the console, which some anal-retentive Praetorian security officer had clearly labeled, she pressed the button that sent the gate sliding open. Her senses on full alert, she felt rather than saw the Praetorian she thought dead pull himself up off the floor. Her movements swift, she drove her stiletto deep into the man’s chest straight into his heart. As she watched, the light went out in the man’s eyes, and he sank to the floor without another sound.

“Damnit, Cleopatra, watch out.” Dante’s words were followed by a loud grunt, and she whirled around to see the Praetorian’s sword slice into his shoulder.

“
Fuck
, will you stop worrying about me and start paying attention to what you’re doing?” She shouted over the siren still wailing in the hallway as she realized he’d been concentrating on her and the Praetorian at the same time. “Finish that
bastardo
off.”

Turning back to the console, she quickly silenced the alarm. As the shrieking siren went dead, the sound of the battle in the corridor was easier to hear. She looked up at the front gate monitor and saw that the second Sicari team was already driving the van into the front courtyard. Her gaze shifted to the other monitors where she saw Cornelia and the Sicari with her fighting their way out of the hall into other corridors.

The monitor flickered as it changed views, and she froze at the sight of two Praetorians entering a room of cribs. The nursery. A sharp, stabbing pain sliced through her belly, and she looked downward expecting to see blood. When she didn’t, ice slugged its way through her veins. Whirling around, she charged out of the control room and turned left.

A map of the complex filled her head, and she leaped over fallen Praetorians as she raced toward the nursery. In the distance, she heard screams, but her stride didn’t falter. Ahead of her the sound of babies crying tore at her. A sound that grew softer with each pounding step she made. Two more strides carried her into the nursery, where she saw a Praetorian send his sword downward into a crib.

The cry of fury she released was like that of a wild animal. The Praetorian jerked his head up, the surprise never leaving his face as Cleo used her momentum to leap into the air and plant her feet in the man’s chest. As he hit the floor, she buried her sword in the man’s throat.

Her breathing ragged, she stood up and stumbled from one crib to another. With each step she took, the horror of it numbed her until she couldn’t feel anything. Even worse was the silence. After passing the sixth crib, she turned and stumbled out of the nursery unable to bear any more. In the hallway, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her hand clutched at her churning stomach as she heard the sound of her heart bleeding in her ears.

Suddenly, a woman’s scream and a baby wailing made her go rigid. Her nausea subsided almost instantly as she pushed herself away from the wall and ran toward the sound. At the end of the corridor, she heard another scream and followed it into a room where a young woman lay in a hospital bed sobbing wildly as a Praetorian tried to pull a crying baby from her arms.

“Why don’t you try me on for size, Praetorian?” Cleo said quietly. “Or are you a coward who only kills those who can’t fight back?”

The Praetorian jerked his head up, and her body tensed as she remembered him from the monitor as the second man who’d entered the nursery. He released his grip on the baby then lunged in her direction with his sword. Cleo darted to the left, her blade lightly grazing the man’s arm. She shook her head.

“You’ll need to move a little faster than that.”

The quiet, emotionless sound of her voice surprised her. Inside she was screaming, but on the outside it was business as usual. No. Not quite. The wails reverberating in her head created a chaos she knew would hide her thoughts from her opponent. Her eyes met the Praetorian’s, and she could see the frustration in his gaze. The man couldn’t probe past the screams of chaos in her head. He grunted with anger and thrust his sword at her again. She leaped back as the tip of his weapon sliced a hole in her black knit shirt.

“I can tell right now you’re going to be a good fuck, bitch.” The man’s smile was cruel as he chuckled.