by Jules River
TRES
Ancient Warriors, Modern Women, Waking Desires
Jules River
First Edition, October 2015 Copyright©
2015 by Jules River All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced nor used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission or the publisher except for use of brief quotations in a book review, interview or article. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgements
There were so many truly amazing people to thank. First off, my undying gratitude to author Kennedy Claire for telling me I could do it, then she encouraged and helped me every step of the way.
My lovely Aunt Virginia Messec stepped into the very difficult role as editor; she fact checked, smoothed out all the kinks and turned my good idea into a pretty great piece of work, with the help from her talented husband author David McLemore, thank you both, I am forever grateful. It would not be what it is without you.
My lovely mother Jayne Robertson and sister Lisa Ellison thank you for reading every version, giving back invaluable input, and always being there for me. This would have been a daunting task without my family and friends.
To my inspiration and backbone, my stud of a husband, the “real” Warren, and my two biggest critics, editors and cheerleaders my lovely daughters, thank you.
To the wonderful people who supported me by reading this book thank you. This is for all of us that want to add a little more foreplay and romance to spice up our everyday lives. May all of you achieve your life's dreams.
Prologue
Germania, AD 315
Four days after defeating Roman General Titus Quintus Dives Demetrias, the warrior chieftain Warin, respected and feared as “The Fist That Protects,” received a missive regarding a pending attack. With his brothers, Dunstin and Cenric, he set out to meet at an abandoned castle near the Elbe River, a two-hour ride from their encampment.
When they arrived just past midday, the door of the burnt-out fortification hung open to a dilapidated hall where the high ceilings crumbled and birds roosted in the rafters. The smell of beeswax overpowered the dank musk of the structure, and as they stepped inside the warriors found a circle of burning candles on a large granite platform.
In the center of the ring of candles lay a piece of parchment. The brothers had a bad feeling, but drew their weapons and moved forward cautiously to read the parchment. As soon as they entered the circle, chanting arose from the darkened rear of the hall. As one, the brothers turned to the sound, and stood side by side with weapons at the ready.
Tingling.
That’s how it started. They felt tingling throughout their bodies.
While their minds fought furiously to identify the danger, their limbs became heavy and frozen. A hooded figure came before them, and slipped the drawn weapons from the warriors’ hands, one by one. They were helpless to stop him.
Their heartbeats became sluggish as thickening blood pumped ever more slowly through their veins, as if it were mud flowing through their bodies. In but a moment, the mud turned to clay, and the clay to marble.
All the while the chanting never ceased, until the warrior brothers were as solid as the stone platform upon which they stood.
The hooded figure, with a grim smile upon his youthful face, turned and disappeared into the mists of time.
Chapter 1
“Come on Mira, answer the phone, I just found something wonderful!” Faye sighed impatiently as the call went to voicemail. “Hi Mira, Faye here, just found one of the ‘Big Three’ and you decide not to be available, anyway call me.”
She hung up, mumbling, “Fine, Lyra will find out first.”
She speed-dialed her twin, “Hey Lyra, I did it!” Faye said in hushed tones, “I found the dagger. It has the word ‘Three’ in Latin engraved on it. It was crazy, I found it on the black market, big surprise there, in some hole in the wall in India. I almost had to fight my way outta there!”
Lyra, in her typical, no-nonsense manner, stated, “Where are you now, we need to meet, does Mira know?”
“I'm about to catch a plane out of India, headed to New York -- oh hold on, Mira's calling.” As she switched over to Mira, her big sister instructed, “Get on a plane to Germany now!”
Faye sarcastically replied, “Hi, Mira, nice to hear from you, too. By the way, I've got the dagger.”
“Hello, Faye. Great!” Mira started in a sickeningly sweet tone, then she snapped, “Now get on a plane to Germany! I have procured a castle that contains the statue. I'll text you the details.”
Faye hung up, then switched back to Lyra. “Well, ‘Ms. Large and In Charge’ just told me to get to Germany right now. She found the statue.”
“I know, she just texted me, see you there.” Lyra clicked off, abruptly hanging up on Faye in her usual annoying habit.
“Well, how do you like that,” Faye grumbled to herself. “They couldn't even bother to be excited!”
***
Mira stood in front of the life-size marble statue of three gorgeous warriors. It was stunningly realistic, every line, every muscle on their bare chests and every detail of their faces stood out in perfect relief. They appeared so alive, it seemed as if they would respond to her touch. She could not resist reaching out, running her fingers along the fiercest one’s face, down his neck and onto his huge muscled chest before flattening her hand over his heart. She half expected to feel his heart beating. She gasped as she realized how warm the marble felt and quickly pulled her hand away, thinking she must be losing it, but she did have a feeling things were about to get exciting. She turned and walked away. There was much to be done before her sisters arrived.
***
Warin, the warrior Mira had touched, felt such pleasure it was painful as he watched her walk away. It had been years since a woman had touched him or his brothers in their current forms, but they had never experienced feeling when touched before, and for her to be such a raging beauty. . . His reverie was suddenly interrupted when his Brother Dun’s thoughts came to him. You felt that, didn’t you? How did it feel? She's a real beauty. Good thing you’re already rock hard. They all chuckled in their minds.
Something different is happening. It has to do with this woman, Warin told his brothers.
I hope her sisters are as lovely as she. I bet we can feel, too, Cenric speculated.
Warin and his two brothers, Dunstin and Cenric, had been cursed seventeen hundred years ago by a vengeful Roman sorcerer, for reasons they still could not understand, even after all these centuries had passed.
The curse turned their bodies to marble, but left
their minds aware. They could see what was in front of them, and hear what was within hearing. But they could not feel when touched, until now. It was a special kind of hell. The brothers could also hear each other’s thoughts. That is all that kept them sane these many long years, that and the hope of freedom.
Over the years they had learned German and English and a smattering of other languages through glimpses of the world as it moved on around them. Then, three decades ago the warriors had been placed in the private office of their previous owner, an office which held the latest technology in abundance. Suddenly, they had television, music, and computers. They had nothing else to do but learn and absorb all the changes the world had made.
It now sounded as if they were owned by the beautiful Mira and her sisters. That gave the warriors hope. Mira seemed to know something of their curse.
***
As Faye and Lyra pulled up to the castle, they were filled with quiet excitement. The sisters were getting closer to their goal, a journey set upon by their late father, Dr. David Banks, a renowned archaeologist. Twenty-five years ago, when Mira was a baby, Dr. Banks had found an ancient codex when he was excavating a medieval site in Rome. The book told of a sorcerer’s curse on three brave warriors, how they were tricked, and how the sorcerer stole their weapons as their bodies turned to stone. The sorcerer was later robbed of the weapons – the sword, the axe, and the dagger – and they were scattered across the globe. As the curse played out the warriors would remain frozen until they were reunited with their weapons. This was the mystery Dr. Banks could not resist trying to solve, and with his death, his daughters had continued his cause.
They now had the statue and the dagger. If only their father had lived to see how close they were to undoing the curse. None of them were sure they believed anything would happen, but their father had spent most of his life trying to reunite the artifacts. So the daughters would work to find the remaining weapons, and if nothing happened, they would donate the collection to a museum in honor of their father.
Mira met her sisters at the door with a hug. They were often snarky with each other, like sisters could be, but they were very close. The driver brought the luggage in while the quiet, capable-looking housekeeper directed the bags upstairs; then they were introduced to the dedicated household staff.
Mira took her sisters down the steps to the private study. The study was a spacious room with vaulted ceilings. The floors were smooth marble tiles with earth-toned Persian rugs scattered about. The walls were mirrored, giving the windowless room an even larger feel and magnifying the treasures within. Several oversized televisions and computer monitors were attached to the walls on either side of the entrance. Two desks, a dozen feet apart, faced each other on the back wall. In the center of the room large and luxurious cream velvet sofas, separated by an ornately carved low table, formed parallel sides of a roomy seating area that, with the addition of twin leather club chairs on opposing ends, still managed to feel cozy.
The warriors were angled in the far corner of the room, flanked by other pieces of priceless art and objects. The clever placement of statue, furniture and mirrors ensured the entire room could be viewed from any angle.
As soon as they walked into the opulent study, Faye and Lyra stared for a stunned moment before they drifted over to the statue. They circled the figures, just fascinated by the superb detail of the fine-looking warriors caught in a pose, at the ready, each with an arm raised with an empty hand that looked as if it should be gripping a weapon and fierce looks upon their faces. They could easily make out wrist and bicep cuffs as well as the tops of daggers sticking out of their boots and strapped to their thick belts. The first one even had on a large ring. They were shirtless, but had what was probably supposed to be leather strapped across their chests, most likely to hold their larger weapons. The detail was exquisite, with even the eyelashes and facial hair visible. The warriors’ stone eyes seemed to shine with intelligence, as strange as that seemed. One could easily imagine them being dipped in a thin layer of white chocolate, the detail was that amazing, too amazing really.
Just as Mira was drawn to one warrior, Faye and Lyra were also drawn to a different man, and each sister seemed unable to keep from reverently touching the statue that beckoned her touch.
Faye reached for Cenric's face, which appeared to have a five o'clock shadow on his strong jaw, as Lyra reached for Dunstin's exceedingly bulging bicep just below his arm cuff. She wondered what type of metal made the cuffs.
The twins gave each other strange looks before Faye said, “Do they feel warm to you?” Mira and Lyra agreed, “Yes.” Mira speculated, “Maybe there is something to this curse.”
Faye ran her hand down Cenric's back and exclaimed, “Wow! Just, Wow!” as she licked her lips hungrily, then realized what she did, “I mean look at the craftsmanship. Can you imagine what they would look like in real life?”
Lyra grudgingly pulled her hand away from Dunstin's chest, which she had been skimming with her hand, and flippantly replied, “They would be big, taller than average, if you like that sorta thing. Yes, the craftsmanship is remarkable.” she tried to downplay their attractiveness and her reaction to the statue, especially to the one particular warrior. She was drawn to him in the oddest way.
After they all pulled their gazes away from the warriors, the sisters sat down on the couches in front of the statue. Faye pulled the dagger from her shoulder bag and unwrapped it from the velvet covering. Lyra took the dagger for a closer examination, being very careful with the blade.
Lyra inquired, “You said you almost had to fight your way out with the dagger?”
“Yes, I would have, for sure. Good thing I took Jake and Dale with me. They stepped in just in time. I’m sure those guys were planning on double-crossing me,” Faye explained.
“Our regular security company guys that we use, Jake and Dale from Texas?” Mira asked. Faye nodded, then Mira went on with a dreamy look on her face, “Jake is my favorite. I just love those Texas guys.”
Faye and Lyra said simultaneously, “Don’t we all.” Then the three of them burst out laughing, before they got serious again.
The dagger was wicked-looking, as long as her forearm and open hand combined and with an extremely sharp blade and an ornate handle. Engraved on the blade near the hilt was the word ‘Tres.’
Mira looked at the dagger and explained, “The dagger is of Germanic origin, however, the engraving is clearly Latin. Which doesn’t make sense because they were mortal enemies at that time in history.”
Faye piped in, “Unless the curse has something to do with the engraving.”
“Yet another mystery,” Lyra said, “Only time will tell, hopefully.” Then she got down to business. “I have several leads on the sword and the axe; fortunately they are relatively close. There is a silent auction four nights from now in Brussels, and the next morning I have set up an appointment with a private dealer in Amsterdam. Then later that evening a museum in Prague is ready to make a trade of some of its artifacts in storage. They all have something that could be one of our pieces.”
Mira decided, “Faye and I will go.”
Lyra agreed. “You two can handle that while I stay and take care of other business. I will have a tech team coming to update, well, everything. Just looking at the desks, I can tell those are some seriously outdated computers, and I must have high-speed internet. If I have time, I will also work on trying to figure out what the three tasks are that must be done to keep the warriors free once and for all, or whatever is supposed to happen.”
They all agreed with the plan, then decided they would go freshen up before they came back with a bottle of wine to catch up with each other; they had each been in different locations for the past few weeks.
***
Cenric and Dunstin were the ones who suffered after Faye and Lyra ran their eager hands over them.
Dunstin asked his brothers excitedly, Did you hear that? They are actively searching for our weapons and they
know of the curse! And IF you like that sorta thing!?! Oh! She LIKED it all right!! Just wait until I'm free, that ill-tempered, sexy, long-legged wench will admit she liked it!! Oh, did her touch feel good.
Warin sighed, I'm sure it did, Dun, now calm down. You’re giving me a headache. Who are these security guys from Texas? But more importantly what are these three tasks that must be completed to keep us free?
Cenric possessively stated, I don’t know, I‘m sure we will find out, but the temptress with curly hair and green eyes is mine. They have renewed my hope of freedom. Did you see my dagger? I could almost feel it in my hand again. I can still feel her hands on me, that’s for sure. Just think, they could be back in just a few days with the axe and sword to free us. Then, what, we have tasks to complete so we can stay free?! He sounded eagerly hopeful as well as thoroughly put out.
Yes, Cen, they could, or it could take longer. Have patience. After all, we have waited this long. They are well on their way to getting us out of here, they obviously plan on helping us with the tasks, and neither of you will touch the eldest one. Warin staked his claim without missing a beat.
***
Mira was the first sister back to the study; she carried a bottle of wine and glasses. She was glad to see Lyra was next to return, as she wanted to speak to her alone. “So what’s up with Faye and that cage fighter she has mentioned? Have you heard anything about that situation? I know he is fighting tonight, that’s what reminded me.”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. What is her deal? Yeah, I mean the guy is hot and a real badass, but he was accused of beating up his last girlfriend,” Lyra said. “I met him once, he did seem really sweet, but you never can tell. All I know is she went out with him with a group of friends a couple of times. She even went to watch him fight not long ago.”
