As I worked on the translations, I caught myself glancing over to what was happening next to me. After double-checking the phrases and making certain they made sense, even if they weren’t completely on point, I glanced over to Cian who had begun reading what I had written down with narrowed eyes. His focus darted back and forth between my translations and the scroll as if he were comparing the two and then a smug smirk played on one corner of his lips, exposing one of those disarming dimples. He caught me watching him and his smile spread until his eyes crinkled. That’s when his hand slipped around mine. I started to nonverbally protest by snatching my hand away, until I felt the cool metal against my skin, a stark contrast to the heat of his hand and the tingling it brought.
My pendant.
Instantly, I met his stare.
“Don’t give up on me, Aish.” His words rang through my mind.
“What is with this place an’ the mental conversations?” I rolled my eyes.
Cian’s eyes widened. “Y-you heard that?”
“Didn’t ya mean for me t’ hear it?” Confusion set on my brow.
Cian turned and made like he was still flipping through the journal with his free hand while not letting go of my hand with his other. “I was just thinking I wanted t’ say it t’ ya. Didn’t expect ya t’ hear me. That’s . . . well, it’s unusual.”
“But not totally unheard of, I take it.” I followed his lead and turned back to face the scroll and my transcriptions. I checked to see if we were being watched, but Kage was looking over a list of some sort he’d pulled from his pack.
“Well, it’s something that happens when ya form a soul bond. And I . . . we . . . it jus’ doesn’t make sense.”
“Ya know I’m only still holdin’ your hand t’ get my pendant and some answers, right? The thought crossed my mind to cut ya both down with the Tartaros Blade when I found out you’d played me.”
“An’ I wouldn’t blame ya. But I’m glad ya didn’t. You gettin’ hurt was never part o’ my plan, Aish. I pray you’ll believe that.”
“Havin’ a hard time believin’ anything ya say at the moment, Cian.”
“Aye. ‘Ats fair. An’ I deserve it.”
“Is my uncle safe?” I turned and looked him square in the eye. No matter the response, I was going to make him tell me straight to my face, even if it wasn’t aloud.
“Lachlan is fine. He’s—”
“Where are we on the translation?” Kage interrupted without looking up from his list immediately. It was just enough time for Cian to let go of my hand and look toward Kage, as one would when someone spoke.
“It’s done,” I announced.
Cian eyed me, hid his smile, and that’s when I became convinced he knew what I’d done. If he did, that meant he never needed me to translate it. He could have done it himself, but for some reason, he didn’t want Kage to know that. What exactly was Cian McCallister up to?
“Great, let’s have it.” Kage held his hand out and I tore the sheet from the notepad and handed it over.
Cian sidestepped until he was close enough to touch the back of his hand to mine. When he did, I heard him in my head once more.
“Do you remember what it says?” he questioned, still looking at Kage.
“Do I need t’? You can read it jus’ fine without me,” I jabbed.
“So, ya noticed that, did ya?” Satisfaction played in his tone. “One of my favorite things about ya. Ya don’t miss much.”
“Ha! Apparently, I missed a lot. I missed that you and I are not playin’ for the same team.”
“Cian, look at this.” Kage pointed to the paper I’d handed him, and my throat constricted, hoping he hadn’t pulled the same stunt as Cian. Even though my gut told me that would be absurd. “Which of these syllables has the accent?” I let out a breath of relief.
“Would ya like me t’ mark the syllables so that ya don’t end up summoning the ghost of Christmas past or somethin’?” I offered in an attempt to appear to be a useful team member instead of the saboteur that I was.
“That would be a great help,” Kage admitted and handed the paper back over to me.
“You need these ingredients before you can perform the invocation?” Cian questioned him.
“Yes, only missing the two that have to be found here within the ruins,” Kage replied.
I listened, wondering what those two ingredients might be.
“Did ya bring enough to perform the invocation twice in case ya fumble the pronunciations the first time?” Cian joked.
“You’re hilarious,” Kage deadpanned.
“Ya know, I’ve been tellin’ people that.” Cian looked over at me with a grin. “But seriously, did ya?”
“Always have to be so prepared, don’t you, McCallister? Yes. I have enough for a third time if need be. As long as we have the other ingredients.”
“Then I s’pose we should get t’ searchin’,” Cian insisted. “You want t’ find the silver or the wolf’s fang?”
Kage sneered. “I think my odds are better with the silver since there used to be a mine attached to the ruins.”
“I’ll bet you the right to perform the invocation that I can find a wolf’s fang and get back here first,” Cian challenged.
“You’re on.” Kage looked up at the ever-darkening sky and then checked his phone. “I’m heading north. According to satellite images, my guess is the silver mine was in that direction.”
“I’m just goin’ t’ follow my instincts,” Cian razzed. “You remember what they are, right?”
“Ya got jokes.” Kage didn’t seem as amused as Cian. “What do you propose we do with her in the meantime?”
Cian glanced over his shoulder at me and they continued to talk about me as if I weren’t standing in earshot. “Eh. I’ll keep an eye on her. She probably wants the chance to cuss me up and down anyway.”
Kage shook his head. “Best of luck with that,” he mumbled and slapped a hand on Cian’s shoulder as he walked by him to head down the steps into the courtyard. Meet you back in say . . . twenty minutes?”
“Oh, I’ll be here before that. I intend to win the wager,” Cian called after Kage as he disappeared into a small path at the northwest corner of the courtyard.
Cian immediately turned to me. “We don’t have much time. Do you remember the invocation?” His voice spiked with urgency. “The correct one. Or do we need to translate it again?”
I studied him a moment, an intense glare pointed in his direction. I had actually written it down twice, the correct way and the way that left just a couple of words off. But I still didn’t trust him.
“Why should I give it t’ ya?” I scoffed.
“Because this is our only chance to locate the Kanna Stone before he gets back without bloodshed. We have all the ingredients right here. We ju—” Cian pointed to the altar where Kage had been busy laying everything out as he went down the list but stopped mid-sentence.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The blade . . . he took the Tartaros Blade with him.”
“Ya read somethin’ in that journal, didn’t ya?”
“Aye. Hand me your pendant an’ I’ll show ya. Maybe you’ll stop wastin’ our time with your suspicions. Not that they aren’t warranted, lass. They are. We jus’ don’t have time for ‘em.”
I didn’t have much to lose, so I handed the pendant over. Cian immediately began flipping through the journal once more. Quicker this time. Then he stopped on a page. “Here!” he tapped hard on the page and handed the pendant back to me. I moved it slowly over the text and nearly dropped it when I got to the part about the Tartaros Blade combining with the Kanna Stone and the utter damage it could cause.
I looked up at Cian. “He wants them ALL dead. All of them, Cian.”
He nodded. “I know, lass. We can’t let that happen. Read on. There’s more.”
I returned my attention to the book and kept reading. When I turned to the next
page, I read familiar words.
The Hébel Stone and the Kanna Stone were one in the same. The Stone of Two brothers.
My eyes moved to Cian who was watching me intently. “Do you think Kage understands this?”
Cian shook his head in small, short movements. “No. He is purely searching for the Kanna Stone. He has no interest in the part of it that wants to heal instead of destroy.”
“And I’m s’pose t’ believe that ya are?” I confronted him.
“It’s a really long story, Aish. And I want t’ tell ya more than anything. But we jus’ don’t have time right now. I have the two ingredients we need to perform the invocation. We need to find this stone before he does!”
“Ya jus’ happen to have these things? Seems a lit’l convenient.” I argued.
“I came prepared. Look, I want ya to trust me, Aish. I promise, Lachlan is safe and sound waiting for us at the entrance to the ruins. He and Darek are keepin’ an eye on James, but close by if we need them.”
“James?”
“I think ya met him. Dashingly handsome fella,” Cian said with a smirk.
“Oh . . . the traitor. Aye, I did. James. Hmph. Not the name I expected.”
“Cute,” Cian retorted and looked at his watch. “We have twenty minutes to find this. Tops. You helping? Or am I doing this translation all over?”
“Fine. But only because as much as I don’t trust you right now, I trust Kage less.”
I slipped the translation from the pocket where I’d hidden it and flattened it out on the table. Cian gathered the three ingredients Kage had placed on the altar with one large hand, told me to bring the invocation, and grabbed my hand with his other. He practically pulled me down the steps and toward the hidden entrance straight across from the courtyard. We were heading to the garden.
Thirty
“Why are we going to the garden?” I asked. Even though that’s exactly where I wanted to go, I also wanted to know Cian’s reason.
“Because I left one key ingredient off of Kage’s list—just in case. I was told we can find that item in the fountain.”
“What ingredient is that? And who told you this?”
“Moonwater. The Lunar goddess. She also said to give you a message, but insisted I wait until the peak of the Silver Moon.”
“I don’t know when that is,” I admitted as we ducked through the overhanging vines that hid the garden steps from the courtyard. Cian took my hand and pulled me toward the four pillars topped with moon orb replicas. Once it was in sight, we stopped, unable—or unwilling—to look away. The roundness of the fountain was nearly filled with a silver reflection of the moon in all its glory. Not a crescent moon. Not a halfmoon. A nearly full Silver Moon shone in the water; it was only a crescent shy of filling the space. It was beautifully breathtaking.
Cian stepped over to the edge of the fountain and grabbed the bowl that I’d drunk from before. He scooped some of the water from the basin, sending ripples through the moon’s reflection. I grew mesmerized by the way the small waves danced back and forth within the confines of the walls. I looked over to see Cian mixing the ingredients he’d brought with the water in the bowl.
“Aren’t ya missing the two that you and Kage are s’posed t’ be findin’?” I asked.
Cian grinned. “What do ya think took me so long t’ get here, lass? I had t’ make sure I had these in advance.” He reached into his pocket and revealed two pieces of silver and two wolf’s fangs. Why he needed two, I didn’t know. But I would have guessed it had something to do with Cian being overprepared.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you’d once been a boy scout.”
“I’ve met a few.” He winked.
He dropped the final two ingredients into the bowl and asked for the translated invocation. Without hesitating, I handed it over. He held the page before him and began reading.
Te invoco a profundus
Dona mihi ingressum ad id quod mansiones in obumbratio
Ostende mihi quod quaerere
Ostende mihi lapis de duobus fratribus
Just as he finished, a puff of smoke billowed from the bowl. Cian stood from his place at the wall of the fountain. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Wait. That was it? Little anticlimactic. And where are we going?”
“Following the arrow.” He pointed to the small silver arrow now floating in the bowl. All of the other ingredients had dissipated. He scooped his hand beneath the arrow until it was floating in his palm, then he placed the bowl back onto the edge and began walking. I followed him back through the courtyard, and we took a hard turn on the eastern side of the ruins, ducking into a barely-there footpath. We maneuvered through the brush until we came out into a small clearing at the opening of a cavern.
“Arrow says it’s . . . in there.” He pointed into the darkness—the entry to the cavern.
“I hope ya brought a flashlight,” I quipped.
“We’ll do the best we can. Arrow can’t be wrong, and if that’s the way to the Kanna Stone, then that’s where we are going.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped on the flashlight, and we started into the obscurity of the cavern.
“That ‘tis a sad flashlight,” I teased. But I meant it. We had no way of knowing if there was a drop off at the next step that would lead to broken bodies or worse. However, a few steps into the black void things got a little brighter. Literally.
“Umm . . . Why are ya glowing?” Cian asked.
I looked down and sure enough, it was me. More specifically, the Moon Orb in my pocket. “Because I’m a beacon of light an’ hope?” I reached in and brought the orb into view, half-draped in its velvet protective shield and still bright enough that it lit the cavern for as far as we could see. Jagged rock formations pierced down from above us. The light of the orb reflected on the water trickling down as it dripped into an iridescent pool beneath. “Now . . . that’s a flashlight.”
Cian chuckled, shutting his phone down and returning it to his pocket. “I like it. Let’s keep going.”
I’d been counting the number of turns and noting direction, but when we’d turned down our third corridor of rock the question hit me. “So . . . is this arrow goin’ t’ lead us back out of here? Because I haven’t been leavin’ breadcrumbs.”
“But you’ve been counting the turns.”
“How’d ya know that?”
“I heard ya.”
“Cian, I didn’t count out loud.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me with one eye squinted and his brow furrowed. “Are ya sure?”
My head bounced up and down rapidly. “Positive. You’re in my head again”
“Interesting.”
“Ya keep sayin’ that. Why’s it so interesting?”
Cian stopped and turned to face me; his tone took on an authoritative quality. “Because unless two beings are both of pure heavenly blood, this type of connection only happens when two souls bond—when they are a reflection of each other. And right now, you don’t trust me, much less want a soul bond with me. It’s not enough that I’m all in, well . . . it shouldn’t be. So, it’s a bit on the odd side that we can communicate that way.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to trust Cian. I wanted more, but he had lied to me. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth about Kage from the start?” I asked bluntly.
His shoulders fell. “I couldn’t. My mission had very specific boundaries. Ya were a bit of a wild card, Aish. And as much as I knew from the moment we met that I could trust ya with that information, I had orders and an objective I had t’ follow. Telling ya was an unknown factor. I need ya t’ understand. I never knew of Kage’s plan t’ kidnap ya until it was already done. I think he wanted t’ gauge my reaction and see where my loyalties were. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when ya needed me.” He stepped closer to me and his warmth began to curve around me. “If ya allow me the chance, it won’t happen again.”
Every
fiber of my being wanted to give in to him . . . except that one stubborn fiber that told me to trust no one. But then he leaned in and pressed his lips softly on my forehead. And that’s when the vision struck me again. This time, the hand gripping the Tartaros Blade stood out. My body jerked back at the visual assault; I squeezed the orb tightly as my footing faltered. Cian wrapped his free arm around my waist and steadied me.
“Ya a’ight, lass?”
I gave one bob of my head.
“Ya sure have been losin’ your balance a bit today,” he teased.
“Yeah, well, isn’t that what our objective here is? Restore the balance?”
“Touché. I much prefer your version of doin’ so. But really . . . what happened jus’ now?”
“Maybe I jus’ got a little swoony.” Not entirely false, but not completely forthcoming either. I tried to rationalize not telling Cian everything; it really wasn’t much different than him lying to me. Only, I wasn’t on a mission from a higher authority. So, who was I to fault him for following orders? I’d have done the same thing in his position. “No. That’s not entirely true.”
He held his stare on me, waiting for me to finish.
“It was the vision again. Of the blade . . . and you.”
“Ah. Are ya okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be better if we can get our hands on this stone and the blade and put an end t’ this nonsense.”
“We will.”
“Well, we aren’t goin’ t’ make it happen standin’ here.” I pushed past him before I remembered he was the one with the magical little arrow in his hand and I stopped. “Got a lit’l carried away.” I waved my hand for him to go.
He snickered and took the lead.
Several minutes later, we emerged into a large open space with a catacomb of tunnels leading in different directions. At the center of the space stood a circular stone pillar with a bench-like ledge around the bottom. It was easily as wide as Cian was tall. Chiseled into the pillar were more of the glyphs I had seen on the altar and scattered throughout the ruins. After taking in the surroundings for a moment, I realized Cian was simply walking in circles around the room.
Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) Page 23
