Heart 0f The Dragon (Atlantis Book 1)

by Gena Showalter

  His features tightened, and his eyes lightened. Lightened until that cold, crystalline gaze was back in place. How odd, she thought, shaking her head.

  “There is much we need to discuss, Grace,” he said. The rough edge of his voice sliced through her musings. “When you finish covering yourself, we will begin.”

  Here she was, offering herself to him despite everything, yet he didn’t want any part of her. The rejection hurt deeply.

  She must have hesitated too long, because he added, “Do it. Now.” His jaw clenched.

  Unease dripped past every other emotion working through her, withering her relaxation a bit more. This was the man who had threatened to hurt her. This was the man who had chased her and locked her away. This was not the man who’d held her tenderly, who’d kissed her so passionately.

  “Darius?” she said with a wisp of uncertainty.

  “Use the sheet,” he said.

  “Darius,” she repeated, ignoring his dictate.

  He flicked his gaze to the ceiling, as if praying for divine intervention. “Yes, Grace?”

  “What’s going on?” It was a silly question, yet she could think of nothing else to say.

  “I told you I would come for you, and so I have.”

  She swallowed. “Why?”

  Before she had time to blink, he unsheathed a small blade from the waist of his pants and held the razor-sharp tip at her neck. The contact was light, not enough to draw blood, but enough to sting all the same. She gasped and whimpered, the sounds blending and echoing off the walls.

  Darius arched a brow. “We are going to have a chat, you and I.”

  “You didn’t travel all this way to talk,” she said. And he hadn’t traveled here to make love to her, either. What exactly did he want from her?

  “For now conversation is all I require of you.” His blade stayed suspended in the air for another fraction of a second before he slid it back into its sheath. “Do not forget how dangerous I am.”

  Yes, he was dangerous. And if now was for conversation, what was later for?

  Fighting a cold sweat and a timorous shake, Grace scrambled up. Her sheet and comforter whisked to the floor in a tangle at her feet. Darius remained in place, as if he feared nothing she could do. Determined, she reached into the backpack on her nightstand, knocking down the empty wineglass in her haste.

  She withdrew her Mace and without any hesitation, sprayed him in the eyes. While his roar reverberated in her ears, she bolted out the bedroom door.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  EVERYTHING HAPPENED within seconds.

  One moment she was racing through her living room, the next Darius tackled her from behind. He slammed into her, propelling her facedown. They landed on top of her couch, and the impact squeezed every molecule of oxygen from her lungs. As she struggled to breathe, he flipped her over and locked her wrists above her head. Still a favorite position of his, obviously. She didn’t have time to panic.

  “My soul belongs to you, and yours belongs to me,” he chanted, his voice strange, hypnotic. His gaze clashed with hers, ice-blue calculation with turquoise uncertainty. The rims of his eyes were red and swollen, but as she watched, all hint of the toxic spray vanished.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped, growing increasingly light-headed.

  “Bound we shall be,” he continued, “from this moon to another, then set free.”

  Her blood whirled inside her veins as a strange, dark and oddly compelling essence invaded her. Dark, so dark. Scattered thoughts flashed through her, motionless images in black-and-white—images of a child’s terror, hurt, and search for a love never found. Images of desolation and an ultimate withdrawal from emotion.

  The child was Darius.

  She was poised on the periphery of a vision, gazing down at a bloody massacre. Men, women and children were lying motionless in pools of their own blood. The boy—Darius—knelt over one of the children. A little girl. Long black hair formed an inky river around her face and shoulders, blending with the blood dripping from her neck. She wore a sapphire-colored dress that was bunched around her waist. Her eyes were closed, but there was a promise of beauty in every line of her softly rounded features.

  Gently Darius fitted the hem of the dress around her ankles, covering her exposed flesh. He remained kneeling and gazed up to the crystal dome. He slammed a fist into the dirt and howled, the sound more animal than human, more tortured than any child should ever have to endure.

  Grace wanted to sob. She found herself reaching out, hoping to wrap the boy in her arms. But even as she moved, she was whisked back to reality. Darius still hovered above her.

  “What did you do to me?” she cried.

  He didn’t answer right away. His eyes were closed, as if he were lost in a vision of his own. When he finally opened his eyelids, he said, “I have bound us together.” He looked smug. “For one day, you must remain in my presence. There will be no more escaping.”

  “That isn’t possible.”

  “Isn’t it? Can you not speak my language? Did I not travel here—Gracie Lacie?” he added softly.

  She gasped. “How do you know that name?”

  “Your father called you that.”

  “Yes, but how do you know?”

  “I saw inside your mind,” he said simply. He pushed to his feet, and she scooted backward to the edge of the couch. “Go to your room and dress,” he said. “Wear something that covers you from neck to toe. We have much to discuss and not a lot of time.”

  “I’m not moving.”

  His gaze narrowed to tiny slits. “Then I will change you myself.”

  With that threat ringing in her ears, Grace jumped up and scurried around him. When she reached her bedroom, she quickly shut and locked the door, then raced to the nearest window. She unlatched the fastener, raised the glass and attempted to throw one leg over.

  An invisible wall stopped any movement outside.

  Nearly screeching with frustration, she kicked and pounded at the wall but couldn’t break past it. Finally, panting, she gave up. How dare Darius do this! she seethed. What had he said? A binding spell. How dare he cast a binding spell, locking her within his grasp.

  A hard knock sounded at her door. “You have five minutes to dress, and then I am coming in.”

  He’d do it, too, she thought. Even if he had to kick in the door. Even if he had to take the apartment building apart brick by brick. With a humorless chuckle, she leaned against the ledge and rested her head on the wooden frame.

  How had such a lost little boy grown into such an uncompromising man?

  She didn’t want to believe those flashes of his life were real, but he’d known her father’s nickname for her. And she hadn’t shared that information with anyone. Darius’s childhood, those things she’d seen, had happened. She didn’t like knowing he’d once had a family. She didn’t like knowing about the pain he had endured at their deaths. Knowing made her long to comfort him, to protect him. To stay with him.

  “I don’t want to change while you’re inside my house,” she called. “I don’t trust you.”

  “That matters not. You will do as I have commanded.”

  Or he’d do it for her, she mentally finished. Grace dragged her feet to her dresser and tore off her ripped tank. She quickly jerked on her largest, plainest turtleneck sweater and a pair of plain gray sweatpants. He didn’t want to see her skin, and she didn’t want to show it to him. Glowering, she donned socks and tennis shoes—better to kick him with.

  When she was completely dressed, she paused. What do I do now? She would go out there, Grace decided, and she would be civilized. She would answer his questions honestly. Afterward, he would leave her, just as he’d found her. The boy he’d been would allow nothing less. She hoped. He’d certainly had the opportunity to hurt her: while she slept, while they kissed. A shiver of remembrance trickled through her, and she scowled. How could she still desire him?

  Gathering her scattered wits, she unlocked the doo
r and pulled it open. Darius towered a few feet away, his shoulder propped on the opposite wall. His expression was as cold and merciless as ever; his eyes could have been chipped from an Alaskan glacier.

  “Much better,” he said, eyeing her clothing.

  “Let’s go into the living room,” she said. She didn’t want a bed anywhere near them. Without waiting for his reply, she swept around him. She settled on the recliner—so he couldn’t sit next to her—and said the first thing that popped into her mind. “Are you going to eat me?”

  “What?” he half growled, half gasped. He settled onto the couch, as far away from her as possible.

  Was he just as leery of her as she was of him? The thought shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did. She had done nothing, by word or deed, to earn his dislike.

  “Your friends,” she said. “They’re cannibals and wanted to eat me.” She shuddered at the memory.

  His lips curled in what could either have been amusement or fury. “They will never do so. That I can promise you.” He schooled his features until they were as blank as a brand-new chalkboard. “Where is the medallion, Grace?”

  Uh-oh. Confession time. “I, uh, lost it.”

  “What?” he roared, jolting to his feet.

  “I lost it?” she offered more as a question than a statement.

  He sank back into his seat and rubbed a hand down his face. “Explain.”

  “While I was inside the mist the second time, it ripped from my neck.” She shrugged. “I tried to get it back, but failed.”

  His gaze pierced her with its intensity. “If you are saying this in an attempt to keep the medallion for yourself, I will—”

  “Search my home if you want,” she interjected defensively.

  He massaged his temple with two fingers and continued to stare over at her. Then he nodded as though he’d just come to a monumental decision. “We are going to take a small trip, Grace.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “We’re going to the cave. We will not stay long.”

  Heat drained from her face and hands, leaving her cold and pale. Did he hope to send her back into Atlantis? To lock her up? To either kill/torture/molest her—okay, the last one appealed to her in a way it shouldn’t have—in his own surroundings?

  “Do not think to protest,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “I must go, therefore you must go. We are bound together.”

  “Atlantis is—”

  “Not where I’m taking you. I wish only to visit the cave.”

  She relaxed, soothed by the ring of truth in his tone. Another trip to Brazil might actually be beneficial, she realized, remembering the postcard Alex had sent her. She could take his picture with her, something she hadn’t had last time, and walk through town, asking people if they had seen him. Because maybe, just maybe, whatever lead he’d found, whatever he’d done in Florida had directed him back to Brazil. That’s where the portal resided and that portal was what Alex was looking for.

  “If I go with you,” she said, purposely omitting her change of desires, “will you help me find my brother?”

  “You do not know where he is?”

  “No. And I’ve looked. His coworkers haven’t seen him. He hasn’t been home. He hasn’t even called our mother, and he usually does. Someone sent me an e-mail supposedly from him, but I know it wasn’t because I found a postcard Alex had written telling me he was in trouble. This entire situation is a mess! The only people who know I’m looking for him are his coworkers, but they’re looking for him, too, so I don’t know why they’d want to stop me. I just want my brother safe.”

  A flash of guilt stole through Darius’s eyes. “I cannot stay here long, but you have my word of honor that while I am here, I will help you find him.”

  “Thank you,” she told him softly. Why the guilt, though?

  He stood and held out his hand, palm up.

  “We’re leaving now?”

  “Now.”

  “But I need to call the airline. I need to—”

  “You need only take my hand.”

  Blinking up at him in confusion, she swallowed, then forced herself to stand. “Give me just…” She rushed to her storage closet. “One…” She withdrew a photo album. “Second.” She peeled Alex’s picture from the slot, folded it and shoved it into her pocket. She raced back to Darius and, with a half smile, placed her hand in his. “I’m ready.”

  “Close your eyes.” The deep baritone of his voice was hypnotic.

  “Why?”

  “Just do what I say.”

  “First tell me why.”

  He frowned. “What I’m about to do can be jolting.”

  “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” She closed her eyelids, total darkness encompassing her. A full minute ticked by and nothing happened. What was going on? “Can I look now?”

  “Not yet.” His voice was strained, and his hand clenched around hers. “I do not have full use of my powers, so the trip is taking longer than usual.”

  Trip? And why didn’t he have full use of his powers?

  “You may look now,” he said a moment later.

  His dilemma forgotten, she fluttered open her eyelids and gasped. Bleak, rocky walls surrounded her. Water dripped in a constant procession, the sound ghostly. A thick, smoky mist billowed around them, cold and dreary, dusting everything it touched with chill. She was suddenly grateful for her sweatpants.

  The only light came from Darius. Even through his shirt, his tattoos glowed bright enough to light a football stadium.

  “How did you do that?” she asked, awed. “How did you bring us here so quickly, without walking a single step?”

  “I am a child of the gods,” he said, as if that explained everything. “Do not move from that spot.”

  Since that suited her desires perfectly, she nodded. She wasn’t going near the mist.

  His eyes scanning, searching, he stalked around the cavern, his muscles rippling beneath his clothes with every movement. She easily recalled how all that strength and sinew felt beneath her fingertips. Her mouth watered, and she shifted from one foot to the other. No matter what this man did, he oozed danger and excitement; it seeped from his every pore. He was far too menacing, far too unpredictable, and far too powerful. He’d promised to help her while he was with her, and she believed he would.

  If anyone could find Alex, it was this man.

  He tried to lift a large branch out of his way, but his hands ghosted through it. As she watched, her eyes widened. She turned toward the wall and ran her own hand over the jagged surface. Shockingly her fingers disappeared inside the rock. “We’re ghosts,” she croaked out, spinning to face Darius.

  “Only while we are here,” he assured her.

  Knowing she was not a permanent phantom eased her worry, and she relaxed. She was used to new experiences. Most times she went out of her way to have them. But with Darius, things just sort of happened—weird things she could not possibly prepare for. He was excitement personified.

  “Are you looking for the medallion?” she asked when he continued his search.

  A long silence fell between them. Obviously he didn’t want to answer.

  “Well?” she persisted.

  “I must find it.”

  What was it about that chain? Even she had fought to possess it, had felt its strange, unquestionable draw. “You want it, Alex wanted it and someone once tried to steal it from him. Other than unlocking your bedroom door, what makes that thing so valuable?”

  “Dragon medallions are handcrafted by Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, and each one holds a special power for its owner, like time travel or invisibility. What’s more, it unlocks doors to every room in every dragon palace—as you saw for yourself,” he added dryly.

  “If I’d known it offered special powers, I might have held on to it more tightly,” she said. Time travel. How cool was that? “My favorite novels are time travels, and I’ve always thought it would be cool to visit the Middle Ages.”
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  “If you had known of the medallion’s powers, you would not have lived long enough to travel through time.”

  Well, that certainly put things in perspective, didn’t it? “I guess that means I shouldn’t ask what yours can do.”

  “No, you should not. You and other surface dwellers should not even know the medallions exist.”

  She sighed. “Alex found an ancient text, the Book of Ra-Dracus. That’s how he knew about them. That’s how he knew about the portal into Atlantis.”

  Darius’s chin whipped up and he faced her; his eyes narrowed. “I have never heard of this book. What else did it say?”

  “He didn’t mention much, but did say the book told of ways to defeat the creatures inside. Alex gave no mention of specifics, though. I’m sorry.”

  “I must see that book.” I must destroy it, echoed unsaid.

  “Shortly after he found it,” she said, lifting her arms in a helpless gesture, “someone stole it from him.”

  Darius rubbed his neck as he knelt before a muddy mound. “Atlanteans are dangerous beings, stronger than your people and far more deadly. Why those on the surface continually try to invade our land is beyond me. Those who do always die. Every time.”

  “I didn’t,” she reminded him softly.

  His head snapped in her direction for a second time. Silence. Then, “No,” he finally said, “you didn’t.” He continued to stare at her, and she shifted uncomfortably. His attention wavered between her mouth and her curves. If his eyes became any more heated, her clothing would be incinerated, panties and all. “Where did your brother find the book?”

  “Greece. The temple of Erinys,” she said, snapping her fingers as the name popped into place.

  “Erinys, the punisher of the unfaithful.” His brow furrowed. “A minor goddess. I do not understand why she or her followers would possess such a book, a book that tells of ways to defeat us.”

  “Maybe she wanted to punish those in Atlantis,” Grace offered.

  His nostrils flared. “We are not, nor have we ever been, unfaithful to anyone.”