I held my breath, thinking it had to be the Thisavros connection. Thinking maybe this was the turning point and everything would make sense to him again.
He swung around to face me and pulled at his usually well groomed hair as though losing his mind.
No. It wasn't making any sense. My breath left me in a defeated rush.
"Who are you?" he pleaded.
Nico spat a wad of bloody spit on the tarmac beside him, making Theo and I both look at where he still half lay.
"She's your life, you fucking idiot," he slurred, flexing his jaw and making it click. I grimaced at the sound of bone re-knitting. "I was hoping to wake you the fuck up."
"It didn't work," Theo ground out. His eyes came back to my face; I'm not sure what he saw there. I know I was feeling a little lost. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just don't know you. And I...." Another grip on his hair as though he was being tortured. Or the words were being tortured out of him. "And I need you to stay away," he finished, turning on his heel and marching toward the car.
Ignoring everyone, he slipped into the front passenger seat, eyes forward, face hard.
"So, that went well," Nico said climbing to his feet.
"I did warn you," Isadora snarled.
"Oh, fuck off, bitch!" Nico spat back, making my eyebrows rise halfway up my forehead.
"A lot has happened, Miss Eden," Aktor said softly at my side. "Perhaps you and I could go find a late night coffee house and have a wee chat."
"I'll drive Bitchy, Moody, and Sexy back to the house," Nico offered, receiving a glare from Isadora, nothing from Theo ensconced in the car, and a shy smile from Sonya.
"Very good," the butler said, waving them all off, and before I knew it, I was standing alone on the tarmac with a man who had already sold me out once and I realised, belatedly, that he was probably about to do it again.
How could he want me to stick around, if it hurt his master so?
"All right," I said with what little strength and courage I had left. "Let's talk."
The Earth let out a wretched wail, the ground rolling beneath us with its force, that matched, I was sure, the agony inside my heart.
And then it started raining.
Chapter Four
Here I Am
Water ran in torrents through the gutters outside the small café's window, bits of twigs and leaves and trash washing away down the overflowing drains. Cars splashed through the puddles causing arcs of cascading spray to cover the few pedestrians who were brave enough to face the downpour.
It hadn't stopped raining since the airport and it didn't look like it was going to stop.
The Earth sighed; a sad, resigned sound.
I was frowning when Aktor made it back to the table with a plate of sandwiches and two steaming mugs of coffee. The café was one on the main stretch of road in Newtown, slightly worn around the edges like the old weatherboard bungalows popular in this suburb. The coffee smelled good, though, and my stomach appreciated the sight of food.
"Help yourself, Miss Eden. They are for you," Aktor advised, pushing the plate towards me and then stirring sugar into his coffee with a casualness that belied the tension filling the small space of the shop we were in.
"You're not eating?" I asked, aware the polite conversation was a prelude to something much darker and sinister indeed.
"I have eaten this evening, my dear. I dare say, you have not." He sipped his latte, unassuming hazel eyes staring at me from over the top.
I picked at a sandwich, wanting nothing more than to eat one, but unable to stomach anything with this oppressive weight hanging over my head.
"Why are we here?" I asked, alarmed to hear the warble in my voice.
"To give Theodoros time to cool off," Aktor replied softly. "And for you and I to rebuild what was once solid and is now, I should think, quite unstable. We need each other, Cassandra."
Oh, I hadn't heard that name for far too long. Theo's name for me.
I blinked, picked up a sandwich for something to do, and took a bite. My stomach thanked me.
"You know," Aktor said, looking out the window at the passing cars and pouring rain, "ever since he was young, Theodoros has never shied away from saying what's on his mind. I had admired it, until this evening. Thought it a sound quality to have in the cut-throat arena of Ekmetalleftis politics. He could so easily have been cowed by his father, but instead he grew a thick skin and the ability to speak his mind regardless of consequences." He sighed, the Earth mimicked him.
"I would have thought some circumspection wouldn't have gone astray," I remarked, taking another bite of the sandwich. I still couldn't really taste anything, but the motion of biting, chewing and swallowing seemed to calm.
"Indeed, and he has that ability when necessary. An ability that lets him pick and choose where best to speak his mind. Unfortunately, his world view is skewed right now, correct? He thinks you nothing but a stranger, and a threat at that. A Gi for all intents and purposes, who possesses Pyrkagia when she should not. Therefore we are subject to his verbal fits."
"Verbal fits," I repeated numbly. That's one way to call it.
"He will regret it, my dear. When he remembers. I'm simply helping to reduce that fallout by removing you from the scene until he calms."
"Will he remember though?" I asked. Aktor just smiled. A sad, but hopeful one.
"Back to us," he said instead of bolstering me up falsely. "I beg your forgiveness, Miss Eden. I pray you will see it in your heart to forgive an old man his impulsive actions. Actions directed by an old and weary heart. I could not stand by and watch as they tormented that young girl. She didn't have a hope in surviving that. She is not like you."
Like me? I wondered just what he thought I was capable of. Right now it clearly wasn't much more than eating a plate full of sandwiches and feeling like utter freaking crap while I did it.
I stared down at the near empty platter. How many sandwiches had been there. Three? Four? I pushed it away and wrapped my chilled hands around the still warm cup, then lifted my eyes to Aktor's face.
There was nothing to forgive really. I wanted to blame someone for what had happened. For the pain and suffering. For Theo no longer being mine. And it would have been so easy to keep on thinking it only happened because of the betrayal I'd felt from this man.
But there'd been a reason. A valid one.
"I spent many hours," I said softly, "thinking up ways to pay you back."
He nodded, but remained quiet.
"Sometimes it was all that got me through the lab sessions."
A slow blink of his eyes.
"While the doctor prattled on about what he was about to do to me in exacting detail I'd tune him out with images of what I would do to you instead."
His hand shook slightly as he rested his coffee cup back on the table.
"Occasionally the doctor and I would think alike."
A small, clearly reluctant, smile spread his lips.
"It's a bit hard, if I'm honest, to rearrange my thoughts. To realign my reality. To turn the focus of my rage somewhere else."
"I understand," he said gently.
"It was so unexpected," I added, talking about the moment he stepped forward in the Rigas' throne room, announcing his betrayal. The moment it was obvious the Pyrkagia Rigas had found us in Peru because of him.
"I imagine it was," he whispered. "They'd had her for five days by then."
My eyes shot up to his face to see the truth.
"I don't think she would have survived another night."
"Then you had no choice," I whispered back.
"There is always a choice. Theodoros would have chosen your safety over a human's."
"You're not Theodoros," I pointed out.
"But you're not in love with me."
No, I wasn't. But I had loved him. Like a father figure, someone to turn to for advice. Aktor had always looked out for me. Accepted me from the very start, never doubted I belonged in Theo's life. That's why the be
trayal hurt so much.
I couldn't do this anymore. Somewhere, somehow something had to give. Too much hatred and anger, it wasn't who I was. This was a chance to let some of it go.
I sucked in a deep breath of air, closed my eyes and let my soul reach out to the Earth around us, the Fire in the passionate people nearby, the Air that we breathe but I'm not connected to. The Water in the rain outside, equally as distant as the Air. And having no idea what Quintessence actually was, I just sent a prayer up to Aetheros and asked for his guidance and forgiveness.
The ground shook, the heavens opened up with thunder and lightning, the air in the café became super chilled.
I opened my eyes and glanced around the store, but with most things Ekmetalleftis the humans assumed what they heard and felt was natural. A storm so strong it rocked the building, sent torrential rain down on the streets and lit up the sky with lightning.
"That wasn't natural," I whispered, bringing my gaze back to Aktor.
"No, it was not," he confirmed, eyes narrowed and flicking around the street outside.
"Someone's here?"
"I don't think so," he said with a shake of his head. "I think it might have been you."
Me?
"Ah, no?" I replied, but it was doubtful, posed as a question rather than a statement.
"How have your Awakenings been going?" he asked, and just like that I had my Aktor back.
I hadn't said the words of forgiveness, but my heart had opened to this old, gentle, caring man again. I'd say them, but first...
"Just the two so far," I confirmed.
"Maybe you're about to receive a third," he suggested.
I watched the storm for a moment, contemplating the lightning as an Aeras power or the rain as a Nero one.
"Hard to say which one, if I am," I murmured.
"There have been increasing rumblings in the Earth since your captivity in Pyrgos," Aktor remarked. "I assumed it was Earth's disgruntlement with your confinement and treatment. Cut off as you were from it."
"Earth said it could still feel me, but I couldn't feel it," I offered.
"Strange," was all he said.
"What else has been happening?"
He reached out with a steadier hand to lift his cup to his lips for a sip. Saying the words now seemed overkill. Aktor was astute, he knew he had my trust back.
Leaning forward he whispered, barely loud enough for me to decipher, "The Rigas has been more uncontrolled than usual. He has always been considered... highly strung, I think is the modern day term."
I smiled into my cappuccino.
"But lately his rage at Theodoros' betrayal has caused countless arguments in Court."
Everyone felt betrayed lately. It was definitely a theme.
"Court? You mean, where the King and his council meet?" I asked instead of voicing that thought. Too close to home for Aktor and I right now. Bridges were being mended, we didn't need to threaten them with a flash flood.
My eyes darted out onto the street, where the gutters had disappeared completely and the drains were hidden in giant sized murky pools of water and muck.
"Not just council meetings, but in Pygos itself," Aktor explained. "There are factions forming. Those who support the Rigas and those who oppose any threat to a future heir."
"Where do I fit in their reasoning?"
Aktor smiled, it was consoling.
"You are not Pyrkagia," he simply said.
OK, nothing changed there.
"So, political unrest which would mean a weakened Pyrkagia," I surmised.
"Very insightful, my dear. The vultures circle as we speak."
"And the vultures are?"
"The Alchemists."
"They're here?" I asked, scanning the café and then out on the street as though I could spot one. Which wouldn't be easy, they're human and not necessarily identifiable. Unless they borrow an Element and give themselves away.
"We suspect so, yes," Aktor replied. "We even think some of those unhappy with the current reign have been approached. But without being in the thick of Court life, it's difficult to be sure."
"I can understand why you're exiled here in Wellington, but why is Nico and Isadora?"
"Nico spoke out too loudly on Theodoros' and your captivity. He is as exiled as I. But Isadora is still not suspected. Well, she wasn't until tonight. Now, I should think, her chances of returning to Auckland to spy for us are nil."
Great. The bitch was outcast with us. Would I never be shot of her?
Aktor gave me an indulgent look that said my thoughts were written all over my face.
"Well, she is," I muttered.
He chuckled, but then quickly sobered. "You won't like it, but it must be said..."
"We need her," I finished for him, rather peevishly.
"We need each other. Isadora has been an agent of Pyrkagia for thousands of years. Her position high up in the echelons of Court life. To be outcast now will have unsettled her. It is a daunting thing to face."
His tone said he'd had issues accepting his new fate as well, a pain born of centuries of faithfulness abruptly discarded.
"It is a very lonely thing," he added, as an afterthought.
I didn't have it in me to show empathy for Isadora. I may have forgiven Aktor, but Isadora's threat had never been one of betrayal. Hers was more open than that.
Theo.
The weight of my current situation came back with such heaviness I slouched down in my seat, wrapping the coat Aktor had given me to cover my bedraggled prison garb around me. The air in the café felt too chilled again. The rain landed on the front window with the sound of pellets hitting a tin can. The shock of the noise making the entire room full of late night coffee drinkers jump in their seats with fright.
"I think we should go," Aktor advised. "If this is because of you, we should draw it away from these people."
"And if it isn't?" My bet was definitely on the side of "not."
"Then we'd best surround ourselves with powerful allies," Aktor returned.
Either way, an order to get up and leave.
But leaving would be going to wherever Theo now was. Seeing that distant look in his eyes. Seeing the closeness he now had again with Dora. Neither were welcomed right now.
Aktor hailed a cab, which appeared out of a mist of freezing rain drops, and within seconds we were riding the storm with the other crazy people out on a night like this in Wellington.
"It's a shocker of a storm," the cabbie remarked jovially.
"Yes, quite unexpected," Aktor offered.
"Of course they got it wrong on the weather channel," the guy added. "Meant to be sunshine until the weekend."
"I wouldn't recommend a trip to the beach," Aktor deadpanned.
"Not bloody likely in this," the cabbie agreed and then thankfully fell silent to concentrate on his driving.
"We've commandeered a rather large house on the hillside at Oriental Bay," Aktor murmured quietly at my side. "Lovely views of the harbour and a defensible position."
Strange how my life had become.
"There's space for everyone, so we shouldn't have to trip over each other's feet," he added.
But what he really meant was trip over Theo's feet. Or maybe Isadora's. Either would likely cause sparks to fly.
"I'm too tired to do any tripping," I assured him.
"I dare say you are," he murmured sadly.
We remained silent for the rest of the short ride, winding up Hay Street until we came to large white double sided gates. The taxi pulled over in front of them, but within seconds they swung open and the car's headlights illuminated a short but well cared for driveway. He rolled the vehicle forward and a large expanse of manicured grass, floodlit with strategic lighting, spread out on either side. The odd Nikau Palm and Cabbage Tree dotted here and there, and right in the centre of the driveway, a return surrounding it, stood a Moreton Bay Fig Tree.
The house was all white, rather like Pyrgos itself, but whereas the Rigas'
mansion was based on colonnaded Greek architecture, this house was modernism at its best. Glass and metal sat in angular juxtaposition, all blazing brightly making the rain drops dazzle as they continued to fall outside.
The cabbie whistled as he pulled to a stop in front of the door.
"Always wondered what it looked like behind those big old gates," he said, turning in his seat to get a better look at us, I think.
"And now you know," Aktor replied, slipping a twenty into his hand. "Keep the change," he called out as he followed me from the car.
I'd ducked up under the overhang and watched as the taxi pulled away and the rain kept pouring and the gates shut all on their own behind the car.
"Whose house was this before?" I asked Aktor as he slowly walked up the stairs, age evident in every single step he took.
I wondered if an Athanatos had ever died of natural causes, like becoming too ancient.
"It had been on the market for quite some time. We were lucky," he said, opening up the front door and ushering me inside.
Warmth hit me as soon as I crossed the threshold. Then the sight of extravagance soon followed.
"Did it come fully furnished?" I asked, staring at the marble statues and gold gilt framed mirrors and thankfully copious brass potted plants. Artwork adorned the walls, modern and bright, but still oozing expensive.
"Yes. Again, we were lucky. I had to leave everything we had back at Theodoros' house."
I'd loved that home in Mountain Road. Especially my little forest of trees in the front yard.
"I understand," I said, running a hand over a side table made up of at least five different types of highly polished inlaid wood that I could see.
"I'll show you to your room," the butler said, once more effecting his normal persona. You could tell the man felt more comfortable already.
I dutifully followed taking in a formal sitting room on one side, a more casual parlour, fire lit, on the other. A library, a den, an office and even more rooms out of sight but down the side of the wide curving staircase we started to ascend.
"I wonder where everyone is?" Aktor mumbled to himself.
I was too tired to answer, even if I had been able to think up something worthwhile to say.
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