He’d voiced what I’d been too afraid to say aloud, and now I felt like I was about to throw up. “So who could’ve made it?”
Crickets.
A sickening thought struck me, and I licked my lips, but my mouth was so dry that it did no good. Reaching for my coffee cup, I took a drink of tepid latte. “There’s no way that this could be like the Hathor statuette, could it? There’s not some unexpected trip to the past scheduled in the near future, where I go back and create this thing with the sole purpose of destroying Nejerets—specifically myself—is there?” My voice rose in pitch as I spoke, and a slight tremble started in my hands. I let go of the coffee cup and pressed my palms against my thighs in an attempt to control the shaking.
Re-Nik took such a long time to respond that my stomach twisted into a nauseating tangle. “No, my Alexandra, the scenario as you’ve suggested it is impossible. Only if you had complete access to Apep’s sheut would you be able to create something like this watch,” he said, tapping the box’s shiny lid once more. “And Apep’s sheut is only compatible with humanoids carrying the Y chromosome.”
Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind, I realized he’d just told me one of my children would be a boy by necessity of the sheut that would be bound through every particle of his being.
“So, either the future carrier of Apep’s sheut is responsible for this,” Re-Nik said, “or Nik, here, is not the only Nejeret to have been born with his own sheut.”
“But I thought you kept that from happening,” I said, panic and disbelief battling for control in my chest. “You policed the timeline yourself to make sure no other kids were born of two Nejeret parents.”
Re-Nik stared at me for several seconds, and then he shrugged. He shrugged. His only response to the possibility that he might’ve failed in one of his self-proclaimed most important tasks and allowed the birth of a Nejeret with the ability to destroy our kind absolutely was a damn shrug.
I was at a complete and utter loss for words.
“So … maybe this is a long shot,” Kat said, breaking the tense silence, “but isn’t it possible that this is just a coincidence?” Her focus skipped around to each of us. “Like, couldn’t someone have made this—I don’t know—two hundred years ago or whatever and Dr. Ramirez just stumbled across it and assumed it was for you because of your name and everything, but maybe it was really for someone else with the same name?” She deflated visibly, slouching back in her chair. “And now that I’ve said that out loud, I’ve heard how stupid it sounds.”
“Not stupid,” I said, giving her knee a squeeze under the table. “Just optimistic. It’s good to be able to see all the possible angles.”
I split my gaze between Dominic and Re-Nik for several long seconds, then settled my focus on the more ancient of the two. I was confounded by his apparent indifference to how this might’ve happened, but I put that aside for the moment. “While figuring out who did this is definitely a top priority, I think getting rid of the danger is probably a smidgen more important at the moment.” As Dominic reached into his trouser pocket for his cell phone, my eyes snapped to him. “Do not call Marcus right now.”
His dark gaze burned into me, his sharp features tense. “He needs to know.”
“Not yet.” I took a deep breath and set my jaw, preparing for a prolonged stare-down. It was a tactic that usually worked on Dominic on the rare occasion that we were at odds with one another. Not this time. As he inhaled to argue further, I cut him off with, “It’s pointless to tell Marcus now. We’re too far away for him to be able to do anything but worry.”
I could see Dominic’s determination wavering.
“We’ll go back to the car and I’ll sit in there like a good little Meswett until Neffe gets back, and I promise I’ll tell Marcus everything as soon as we get home. But if you tell Marcus now, he’ll demand that we return immediately, and Neffe won’t be able to finish her research on poor little Tarsi …” I stared into his eyes, pleading with my own. I couldn’t stand the idea of Tarset being frozen in time for a second longer than necessary. “Dom, please.”
Finally, Dominic gave a single, slow nod. “But if we sense even a hint of danger, we’re leaving immediately.”
“I believe the only threat to Alexandra on this day is sitting on the table,” Re-Nik said, pointing to the slender box with his chin. “Clearly whoever planted the watch on Dr. Ramirez intended for it to find its way to Alexandra, and we can safely assume that their objective was not simply to kill her, but to remove her from existence entirely.”
I frowned. “Isn’t that sort of the same thing?”
“No, my Alexandra, it is not.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Had you touched the pocket watch, in time, it would have been as though you’d never existed at all.” He leaned forward, elbows on the table and fingers steepled together. “The past would have rearranged into a pattern absent of you entirely. And considering your recent trip into ancient times, anyone can see that the ramifications would be enormous.” He nodded slowly to himself, his eyes squinted in thought. “But had you touched the watch, it would have taken quite a while to unravel the threads of your existence completely and weave those that remain back together in a new pattern, so …” He nodded again, more definitively this time. “It seems fairly obvious to me that you are quite safe right now, especially from whoever laid the trap. The deceiver has invested in this particular offensive.” He looked at me, certainty written all over his face. “Killing you would be counterproductive, at present.”
I blew out a breath and slouched back in my chair, mimicking Kat. “Well, isn’t that a relief,” I said sarcastically.
“Yeah, not so much,” Nik said, his sarcasm matching mine. His eyes had returned to their natural pale blue once more, his features transformed to his harsher, standoffish expression. He reached out and dragged the box closer to him, then lifted the lid once more.
“Nik!” I all but shouted as he lowered his hand to the beyond-deadly pocket watch. “What are you doing?”
He glanced at me, his eyes steely. “Neutralizing the threat,” he said, his hand hovering over the watch.
I saw a flash of quicksilver beneath his palm, and then a translucent film of pearly At seemed to wink into existence around the offending device. He’d encased the watch in solidified At.
I stared at the thing, eyes wide with wonder. The ticking—the feeling of dread, of revulsion, of wrongness—was gone. It was like the oxygen had been slowly draining from the room, but now it had been replenished and I could finally—finally—take a blissfully deep breath.
Despite my overwhelming relief, I flinched when Nik curled his fingers around the watch and picked it up. “Nik, are you sure—”
“It’s perfectly safe now, Lex.” He flashed me a devilish smirk and winked. “Promise.” His good humor lasted only so long. His eyes widened when he looked at the back of the pocket watch, then narrowed to irritated slits. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said, flinging the watch back into its little depression in the case facedown.
“It’s your name!” Kat exclaimed to Nik, having read the engraving upside down.
“No,” I said softly. While the letters N, I, and K were engraved into the smooth black metal on the back of the watch, they didn’t spell out “Nik.” I sighed, suddenly very tired. “Not NIK—it says KIN.” The same group who’d stolen the sphere containing Apep, his twisted soul. The same group who’d shot Dominic. The same group who’d turned Kat’s mom against Nejeretkind completely.
I looked at Kat in time to see the color drain from her face. “You don’t think it was—” She swallowed roughly, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried again. “You don’t think my mom was a part of this—of trying to—to erase you, Lex, do you?” When she opened her eyes, twin streams of tears streaked down her cheeks.
In that single moment, I didn’t feel fear or worry or the urgent need to run and hide. Like Re had said—the danger, for now, was
past. At the moment, I only felt a deep-seated sadness for the young woman sitting beside me. For the pain and guilt this was causing her. For the longing I could see in her eyes—that of a little girl crying out for her mother to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. For not being able to reassure her of her mom’s innocence.
So I did the only thing I could think of. I slid out of my chair, crouched beside Kat’s, and wrapped my arms around her, giving her what little comfort I could while she cried.
9
Exist & Live
“Thank you,” I said to the four other people in the Range Rover. Dominic had parked in the roundabout driveway, just before the entrance to the house, but I wanted each of them to know how grateful I was that they’d kept their word—and their silence, where Marcus was concerned—before we got out of the car. “Really—” I met each of their eyes, even Dominic’s in the rearview mirror. “Thank you.”
I glanced down at my hands, fidgeting with the hem of my shorts. “And, um, you might want to steer clear of the house for a couple hours.” Passion had never been an issue where Marcus and I were concerned, and usually I viewed that fact in a very, very positive light, but that same passion made our relationship just a touch volatile at times. And I had no doubt that the conversation Marcus and I were about to have was going to be one of those times.
Neffe ended up being the only person to actually get out of the car with me at the house, Nik and Kat opting to remain with Dominic until he’d parked in the huge detached garage nearby.
“You don’t have to come in with me,” I told her as we walked up the broad paved steps leading up to the front door. “I’m perfectly capable of handling him on my own.” The tension tightening my shoulders and making my neck and head ache suggested otherwise, but I ignored it. Brave face and all that.
Neffe snorted. Apparently she didn’t believe me either. “I’m heading straight down to the lab.” She glanced at me sidelong. “It’s soundproofed.”
I inhaled deeply, but a sudden spurt of anxiety made me feel like I couldn’t exhale all the way. “Good idea.”
As I reached for the door handle, the knob turned and the door opened. I had to swallow a yelp. “Marcus!” I said too brightly. “We’re back!” I leaned in and kissed him, and before he could wrap his arms around me in a full embrace, I slipped past him through the door and started across the entryway to the grand staircase. “I’m beat.” I paused to glance at him over my shoulder, hoping my expression contained more come-hither than holy-shit. “Warm bath?”
His features were unreadable, his golden eyes equal parts black pupil and brilliant iris. In other words, he looked normal, for him. So far, so good. “Where are Dom and Nik?”
I forced a carefree smile. “Parking in the garage. Kat’s with them, too.” I shrugged. “Dom said something about a lesson …”
Marcus blinked, his face still expressionless. “I see.” His focus shifted to his daughter, who had almost successfully made it across the entryway to the door leading down to her lab in the basement. “How did it go today, Neffe?”
“Fine.”
His eyes narrowed minutely. If I hadn’t been watching for it, I wouldn’t have noticed. It was the first sign that he knew something was up.
Get out of here, Neffe! I did my best to relay the mental shout with my eyes, but one look at Neffe told me she was already on the same page. The last thing I wanted was for her to get caught up in the shitstorm that I was about to hurtle into headlong. After all, she’d only been following my orders—and I’d had to remind her of her oath to me to get her to agree.
“What did you discover?” Marcus asked his daughter as he shut the front door.
“I think I’ve identified the poison, but it’s too soon to tell for sure,” Neffe said, patting her insulated tote and once again heading for the door to the underground lab. “I’ve got a few time-sensitive samples, though, so …” She opened the door and paused in the doorway, looking back at her father. “If I’m right, Father, I should have the antidote ready in a day or two. I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything.” It didn’t sound like a question, but it was one.
Marcus nodded, just once, and his eyes remained on the doorway even after Neffe had shut the door.
“Marcus?”
“Tell me,” he said without looking at me.
I opened my mouth, then blew out a breath and shut it again. In several steps, I was standing before him, my fingertips touching the barely-there stubble on his defined jawline. I turned his face to me. “Promise to let me finish before you say or do anything.”
I felt his jaw tense. His eyes locked on mine, black-rimmed gold and blazing with intensity.
“Promise me.”
He gave me the same stiff, single nod he’d given his daughter, and I didn’t push him for more. In his present mood, doing so would be an exercise in futility.
I took hold of his hand, lacing my fingers through his. “Come here, sit down,” I said as I led him across the entryway toward the foot of the stairs. He had an annoying habit of staring out of windows when we argued, and I was determined not to try to reason with his backside this time. I sat, pulling him down with me, and set my shoulder bag on one of the stairs a few steps up.
“Remember when I said I didn’t sleep well last night?”
Again, Marcus gave that lone nod.
I sighed, searching his eyes. I hoped I’d made the right call by not alerting him earlier, but the danger had already passed. I told myself that several more times before continuing. The danger had already passed, hadn’t it? “Well, it all started with this dream I’ve been having …” And then I told him. Everything.
To Marcus’s credit, he kept his promise. He didn’t say a single thing while I spoke. Hell, he didn’t move beyond the steady rise and fall of his chest, the intermittent blink, or the slow tensing of his whole body.
As I neared the end of my recap, I reached into my bag and pulled out the box containing the pocket watch. “And here it is,” I said, handing it to Marcus. “The watch is harmless now, so feel free to examine it to your heart’s content.”
I watched his face, his eyes, his lips, his jaw as he opened the box and picked up the pocket watch, looking for some hint of his anger level. He turned the watch over several times, then he set it back in the depression that had been made for it, shut the lid, and placed the box on the stair above us.
“Are you finished?” he asked quietly and, with a slow blink, raised his gaze to meet mine.
Shit. His pupils were so dilated that only the thinnest rim of gold was visible around the black. And I knew from experience that only two emotions caused such a physiological reaction in him—extreme desire and absolute fury.
In a lithe movement, he stood and strode away from me. He took smooth, purposeful steps into the nearby sitting room and, true to form, planted himself before a window, his back to me.
“Marcus …” Using the staircase railing, I pulled myself up to my feet but couldn’t work up the nerve to follow him into the sitting room. “I’m alright. Nothing happened.”
Silence. No words. No movement. Just stillness. Just him, staring out the window.
“And before you start ordering me around, I’m putting my own damn self on house arrest, so you can save your breath.” Not that I was really worried about him saying anything at all right now. God, when he got like this, it was like talking to a statue.
The house’s main floor had high ceilings, but all the space in the world wouldn’t have been enough to alleviate the stifling tension mounting all around him.
“Marcus,” I said, my voice hardening. I took a single step toward him, then promptly developed a severe case of lead feet. I repeated his name, irritation lacing my voice.
Still no response.
“Damn it, Marcus.” My hands balled into fists, my nails digging into my palms despite their short length. “I’m fine, I’ve already agreed to stay put, so I’ll be perfectly safe while you and your peo
ple hunt down these Kin assholes.” I paused, hoping for some sort of a response. A simple sidelong glance would’ve been better than the cold shoulder he was giving me. “What else do you want me to say?”
“Nothing.” The single word ratcheted the tension up to suffocating levels.
Mounting frustration got the better of me, and I practically shouted, “Is it that I didn’t tell you right away? Is that why you’re mad at me?”
“I’m not,” he responded, his voice quieter than mine, but his words just as sharp. His shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath. “I’m not mad at you, Lex.” His enunciation was precise, impeccable, and each syllable set my nerves more on edge. “I want to tear apart those responsible for the incident today … I want to feel their bones snapping in my grip while my hands are coated in their blood.” He bowed his head, and his voice grew quieter. “But I’m not angry; I’m terrified. I want, more than anything, to lock you away in a cage of At keyed only to me so I know that nobody will ever be able to get to you. Nobody will ever be able to even attempt to hurt you again.”
I held my breath for a few seconds, waiting to see if he would say more, then exhaled and crossed into the sitting room to stand behind him. I slipped my hand into his and leaned against his back, pressing my forehead against his shoulder. “That would be no way to live.”
He was quiet for a long time. Seconds passed, maybe minutes, and we stood there, apart and together. We were always apart and together, it seemed.
Finally, he swallowed audibly and said, “But at least you would be alive.” At last, he turned his head to the side and stared down at me. “At least you would exist.”
Lifting my head from his shoulder, I searched his darkened eyes. There was a hint more gold now, but his pupils were still unusually large, not to mention uncommonly glassy. I’d never seen Marcus cry—hell, I wasn’t sure the ancient former god I’d bound myself to for the rest of eternity could cry anymore—but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a tear break free at that moment.
Dissonance: An Echo Trilogy Novella (Echo Trilogy, #2.5) Page 6
