The Timekeeper (7 page)

I loved my mortal mother. The one good thing about being reincarnated repeatedly, I got to sample the many variations of parenting I didn’t have the opportunity to experience in my real childhood. Few made worthy parents, some had been nightmares but all styles were different
.

My Djinn mother crowned a fearless Assassin, the head of the Order and an excellent leader, but she hadn’t been a typical parent. She loved me, something I wouldn’t question, but her love didn’t often show.

Queen Cassandra Carnadine was a hard woman, as she should be, that did nothing for a young girl looking for her mother’s love and approval. Her support had been the only reason I became an Assassin in the first place. My plan worked briefly.

Master Carnadine had always been harder on me in training. I constantly out did the other girls and nothing made a difference. The strain on myself paid off eventually, I am one of the best Assassins in the world. The look of pride on her face when I received my mark and became officially initiated into the Order made everything worthwhile.

My mom in this incarnation was wonderful. Always supportive, protective and stern when the situation required. The world would be losing a truly astonishing woman when she passed. Her death was something I didn’t want to think about
.

She’d been getting older, her joints were starting to go south, and this was the beginning of the end for her
.
I always hoped we would die at the same time, that way neither of us would have to suffer the loss.

I walked to the back of the store to check the new bars on the drying racks. I started to flip them one by one, making sure all of them had started setting up properly. Talk about a long, tedious process, but it had to be done or the entire batch wouldn’t cure correctly. After batching and molding, the soap had to dry for a month or so.

Each rack held clipboards dated with the start and finish dates. The soap required turning every day. Sometimes, I wondered why in the world I thought this would be a good business. Other days
,
I loved it. Today, mom had already flipped the bulk of them before I had arrived
.

The bell on the door jingled and I walked to the front, hoping we actually had a customer. I should’ve known better, the majority of our non-commercial customers tended to place online orders or faxes from retail stores carrying our line
.
Echo Jones came walking towards me. I’d been consistently jealous of her beauty.

I’m not ugly by any means, but something about her made me hope I looked half as good as she did. Black leather seemed to hug her body in ways I could never achieve, constantly making me wish we’d been sisters. I wouldn’t feel so overshadowed and unfortunately, she was equally as beautiful on the other side of the Veil.

I was ecstatic to finally find someone to talk to. Some days I would’ve preferred to be alone, but I had too much on my mind. Echo offered a good distraction.

“Sup, Princess.” I grinned at her. Echo was striking. Her mousse brown hair framed her perfect face made up of large eyes, a little upturned nose and full lips. She had a dark complexion and never seemed to show any blemishes. Her plump breasts, small waist and ample hips on a petite frame made Echo the perfect mix of exotic beauty.

“Nothing much, thank you from saving me from death by boredom. We’re slow today.”

She began to laugh, “Sweetheart, we’re slow everyday.” I started chuckling too.

“You’re right.” She sat down behind the counter and positioned herself to start wrapping the cured soap waiting to be packaged, labeled and stocked out on the sales floor or tossed in a box to be shipped. She grabbed a piece of cellophane and a bar of purple lavender and began wrapping absentmindedly relying on me to place the final product appropriately
.

“So, I heard you had a run in at the club. Drake mentioned a pair of winged, goodie-two-shoes harassed you yesterday. Drake also said Darius ran them off, but they knew exactly who the two of you were.” I bobbed my head.

“Boy, Drake’s got a big mouth. Yeah, that’s what happened. Damn Angels from the Order of the Seraphim show up and start bugging me about Neal and Warde. I’m telling you, I’m not helping any fucking Seraphim no matter how good looking they are.” She grinned at me like a Cheshire cat. She’d always had a slight crush on my Angels.

“Drake told me you’d been flirting with one of them, and you almost got busted by your hubby.” I put on my best-shocked face.

“I did no such thing.”

Echo went into hysterics, “Yeah, right. Drake must’ve gotten the details wrong
.
” I tried to stifle my own laughter.

“Okay, I might have been, but he started it. You should’ve seen this Angel, Echo. You would’ve flirted with him too. He’s fucking gorgeous. He’s also got a great personality. I’m telling you, God hates women, or he wouldn’t make Angels so damn impressive.” She snorted.

“I’ve got to see this guy. I don’t think God was thinking about those things when he created his servants. No one wants to stare at an ugly steward. Wait, is he better looking than Neal and Warde?”

I tittered, “Pretty close to Warde, only without the bad attitude. His manner reminded me of Neal. Gideon’s the perfect combination of the two brothers.” Echo chewed on the thought for a moment
.

“Damn.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Oh yeah. I need to leave early today. I’m the honored guest at an NA meeting. I’m seriously glad this is almost over with. I’m not sure how many more of these damn things I can take. I’d rather have gone to jail.” She started to laugh at me.

Princess or not, Echo had never tried to hide her true feelings, we had been best friends since childhood and it showed
.

“You know, if you didn’t hang with such unsavory characters, you wouldn’t get slammed with court ordered treatment plans anymore.” I scowled at her.

“The only objectionable individuals I run around with are you and Dalvin. I told you, I didn’t do anything. I simply left the bar in the middle of the night, and one of the local crack heads asked if he could walk with me because the cops were out. How was I supposed to know he was a dealer?

“So I’d been walking with the guy. Those jackasses with badges assumed I was with him
,
rather than the other way around. I can’t believe the judge didn’t think I’d been telling the truth.” I sighed, no one ever believed me.

“I freaked when Darius told me they went after you for prostitution
.
You have to admit it sounds pretty lame. You, a stunningly beautiful tiny, well tanned woman, in the middle of the night on Capital Hill all by herself, decides out of the kindness of her heart to walk the local crack dealer home. Dressed in bondage gear no less, leaving a club during a drug raid on the resident crack houses.

“Think about it for a minute
,
Ilana. You’re damn lucky the judge didn’t assume you’re part of some terrorist splinter cell.” I started to laugh.

“Well, when you put it like that, yeah, the whole thing sounds pretty lame.” We laughed for a couple a minutes and carried on with our mundane duty of wrapping and labeling soap.

“So, I ran into Neal yesterday.” She dropped her bar and raised an eyebrow. I knew the mention of his name would peak her interest. Echo might have been a married woman, like myself, but nothing stopped her from fantasizing about the resident Angels in Aliis. Especially, since she wasn’t privileged when it came to running around with other men, fantasy was it for her.

“Did you? How is the hottie, what color is his hair now? Please tell me he kissed you, or something equally as scorching. I’m so jealous, but I’ll live through you vicariously if I must.” I rolled my eyes, for some reason Echo thought the world revolved around Neal and his ever-changing hair color.

“Bright blue.
Evet
, he kissed me, he always does. The bastard makes my heart stop every time he touches me and he’s made a habit out of it on purpose. I don’t think he’s enjoying his stay with the Summer Queen. Ariannona’s being difficult as usual
,
and is making his life miserable in the process. But I did find out something interesting.”

She stopped wrapping soap, setting the bar down this time rather than dropping it, and glared at me. I gave her a slight grin, knowing every second I didn’t tell her my tidbit seemed like a century of agony.

“Don’t you dare do that dramatic pause bullshit, spill the details woman.” I tossed a soap bar at her.

“Take a pill chick. I found out several things. One, Warde and him are fighting again and refuse to speak to each other. Nothing new with the situation, those brothers will never get along. Two, Zev is looking for me out of the blue. Three, Neal actually had a relationship with my goddaughter, who seems to have found herself in some deep shit recently. I guess I’m not his only love after all.” Shock covered Echo’s face.

I knew she wouldn’t believe it. I think she felt betrayed, which I found amusing. She thought I should be upset about the news. I had been relieved when I discovered he’d moved on for at least a little while.

“Seriously? Jaylynne Kwan had a thing with Neal? When did this happen? Are you pissed? I can’t believe he did this to you, I always considered him so devoted.” I smiled at her and shook my head at her.

“No I’m not angry, and the man can run around with whomever he likes, Echo. I don’t own him. I’d like to know when he found the time for this liaison with my goddaughter, and I’m glad he did. He said it was ages ago and they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since he’d been transferred. Kind of a shame, Jaylynne’s had a hard life. He would’ve been good for her. She’s going to fall in love and marry her twin soul, but this situation isn’t something anyone can help. No one’s ever found a way around fate.”

Echo frowned, knowing she wouldn’t get any particulars from me. I didn’t tell people those types of details.

“Well, at least I know if I’m ever forced into divorce
,
he’s still available.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, “Something you forgot to tell me?” She blushed and shook her head frantically.

“No, just a statement. I love Dalvin. I’ve got no intention of leaving him. It never hurts to have a plan in case everything falls apart. We do a dangerous job, and you’re the only one who’s been graced with a clue about what’s going to happen in the future. When we all die, and we are simply Sargon and Zipporah, revered aides to the royal family of the Deep Desert, our lives will be more dangerous still. Even you see the truth, Princess. It doesn’t take an Oracle to figure this out.”

I shrugged, she was correct. I was positive nothing would happen to Darius in the near future, but I also had a plan. This particular man had no idea, nor was he even slightly interested in me any longer. It didn’t matter, nothing was going to happen, and my misplaced hope was placed up there with retirement and a great vacation package. Not foreseeable, unless I decided to revise my entire set of preparations for the next lifetime or two.

I would never be with him, no matter how much I manipulated the situation, my previous love had already taken another lover and I had to accept the circumstances for as long as his undead wife walked the lands
.

“Got any thoughts on why Zev is looking for you? I bet the big blue scaly creature you’re married to just
loved
that little piece of news. As if it wasn’t bad enough Neal’s the one who told you
.
The Angel your hubby doesn’t want you talking to, but he detests Zev.
I’m sure finding out made his millennium.” I glared at her. She always had a way with words
.

“Yeah, you think Dr. Obvious? He was one pissed off puppy
.
I could tell when he started avoiding the subject after he went off for a couple of minutes. I can’t imagine anyone else in this world he abhors more than he despises Zev. What do I say to him? I mean
,
I don’t want to be around Zev either, but he remains my husband.

“The big blue bastard is still mad at me about our wedding night, and it happened so long ago the whole thing has become ancient history. I’ll never come up with a decent response when he brings it up. Sometimes I wonder if he thinks I planned the whole thing
.
” The look on her face told me, Echo didn’t believe I wanted nothing to do with Zev.

“Princess, you married him and had a beautiful daughter with him. Even your father approved of him at the time, well at least he did, until he found out he was after more than just his daughter-heir. I understand the reasons you want nothing to do with him, but you’ve still got feelings for the monster. Don’t lie to me, or yourself
.
Your hubby is aware of it too, even though he doesn’t say anything. As far as the wedding night goes, you should have told him before hand, and Zev shouldn’t have violated the ceremony
.
Don’t try and place all the blame on Zev.” I didn’t want to acknowledge what she was saying, but I had no choice. She was right, as usual.

“Listen, I married him, we had a daughter, we have grandchildren together, of course I have feelings for him. I’m hurt because he never loved me, I’m angry that he betrayed me, I’m furious I didn’t know any better and I still love him. I hope someday someone will be able to kill the son of a bitch so I can forget he exists. Azul, Darius, whatever you call him, doesn’t have a damn thing to worry about. I want nothing to do with Zev. Azul wasn’t the only one who suffered on our wedding night
,
Zipporah. If I had it all to do again, I would do it differently, but no one gets the option.” She was sympathetic. She knew how much suffering Zev caused for everyone involved
.
She said nothing
.