“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I thought I heard something.” He looked unconvinced. “I’m just jumpy after everything that went down earlier. That’s all.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “I want to sit and stare and forget until it’s time to get ready.”
He gestured toward my normal perch on the ledge. “Can I join you in that endeavor?”
“Yeah. Sure,” I said as I walked past him to the ledge and sat down. I took a quick glance at the ground below to make sure Gabe wasn’t lurking, but I knew he wouldn’t be. He’d made his point and left, just like he’d wanted to.
TS sat down beside me in silence and stared out over the city, as did I. It would have been amazing if I could have ignored all the questions rattling around in my mind about Alek and Gabe—and even TS—but I couldn’t. My mind raced a million miles a minute until I squeezed my eyes shut and begged it to stop.
When I opened them again, I found myself staring at TS’ profile, the angles of his face highlighted in the eerie light of the full moon. It was then that I saw something I never had before—or maybe I just hadn’t noticed it. Peeking out from under his collar was an iridescent swirl that shone slightly when it caught the light. It was below the skin, like a tattoo, but it was unlike any tattoo I’d ever seen. Even magical ones.
Before I realized I’d moved, my fingertips traced the delicate pattern.
TS looked over at me, startled at first, and then his expression went blank—unreadable—just like his energy.
“What is this?” I asked.
“A marking,” he replied. “One of great magic.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that, but why have I not seen it before? Is it new?”
“Possibly. I no longer keep track of them.”
“What do you mean ‘keep track of them’?”
He shrugged. “They are forever changing—expanding.”
“Do you have a lot of them?” I asked. “Because I’ve seen you without your shirt on, and I don’t remember ever seeing any.”
He smiled, just a press of his lips. “Would you like to see them now?”
I stopped myself from answering too quickly—looking too eager. Though I’d never really considered my actions with TS before, I was hyperaware of everything I said and did in that moment. How it would be perceived. How much it might give away.
“Sure.”
Without hesitation, he stood up, balanced on the ledge, and pulled his shirt over his head. It fell to the roof, but I hardly noticed. I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight that was TS. Intricate patterns swirled across his entire torso. He lifted his arms out at his sides and turned so that I could see his back. The patterns wove around every inch of his flesh like an incredibly well-thought-out tattoo of gold and light and magic.
I soon found myself standing as well, wanting to get a closer look at what lay just beneath his skin. Just as I went to touch him, a cloud drifted in front of the moon, cutting off its light. The markings disappeared in an instant.
“They’re gone,” I exclaimed, running my hand across his chest. There was nothing sexual about my touch; I was too shocked to think about that. But once the shock wore off, I pulled my hand away and sat back down a little too quickly.
“It’s the moonlight. The magic reacts to it.”
“That’s why I didn’t see them the other night in my room,” I said, remembering our topless standoff.
“Yes. And they’ve only recently started to expand to areas that I cannot easily conceal.”
“How much of your body is covered?”
His expression went grim for a beat, but then he regained his composure. “All but my hands, neck, and face.”
“Wow…that’s crazy. But why? Why does it happen?”
“They’re a side effect of my powers.”
I stifled an uncomfortable laugh. “Better than the smell of charred flesh and smoke that mine seem to leave in their wake.”
He hesitated just long enough for me to notice. “Perhaps.”
I wanted to know more about his markings, but I could tell—even if I couldn’t sense—that the subject wasn’t his favorite. Maybe they were a constant reminder of things he’d done in the name of the PC. Maybe it was even worse than that. I knew what it was like to have wounds picked at. I didn’t want to pick at his.
“Well…they look good on you, if that helps at all.”
He sat down beside me and smiled. It was shy and boyish and endearing. What I would have given to freeze that moment in time and just stare at him—a window into the soul of a younger TS.
“I owe you an apology—for earlier,” he said softly.
I tried to steady my expression so it wouldn’t give me away. He didn’t owe me an apology at all. In fact, it was very much the other way around.
“TS, it’s fine. Just—”
“I jumped to conclusions about how you suspected what you did.”
“And those conclusions were totally reasonable.”
“But wrong.”
“Yeah, well. You can’t nail it all the time. Not even you.”
His smile fell away.
“Doubt is such a cancer in a relationship. It eats away at it, consuming what once held it together until there is nothing left but lies and accusations and pain. There is no recovering from that.” He stared at me with beseeching eyes. “Honesty is the only way to keep the doubt from taking over. I need you to always be honest with me.”
“I really try to be. With you more than any of the others.” His smile slowly returned. “But there are things about you I don’t know—or understand. Will you tell me?”
Reservation floated from him to me, enwrapping me in an ominous blanket of energy. I wanted to shrug it off, but it clung too tightly.
“What do you wish to know?”
“Sometimes—when things get…tense between us—I can’t feel your energy. Right now, it’s as clear to me as you sitting at my side. Those other times, it just seems to disappear. I want to know why.”
“Perhaps I do it subconsciously to protect you.”
“No. I don’t think that’s it.”
“Magic and power work in different ways with different beings, Phira. Maybe ours are not compatible in some scenarios.”
“I don’t buy that theory.” As I leaned forward to scrutinize his expression, I felt that cloak of reservation slide away to nothing as his expression went blank. “There! You see? You just did it.”
“Did what?”
“Shut me out.”
“I’m not doing anything, Phira…”
“But you did—I mean, you are. You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
His perfectly impassive countenance remained unchanged.
“Why do you assume this is my doing?” he asked, leaning away from me.
“Why did you assume I’d gone to Damascus?”
“You see, this is what I’m talking about. This is the sickness we cannot allow to grow between us.”
“So you expect me to tell you everything, and you’ll tell me only what you think I need to know? You know who that reminds me of, don’t you?”
The furrow of his brow was answer enough. “I am not your father, Sapphira.”
“Then stop acting like him.”
“Your father withholds things intentionally. I would never do that.”
“But you would withhold them unintentionally?”
His expression darkened. “I did not say that.”
“But you won’t deny it either.”
“Because I will not lie to you.”
Interesting…
“At least not intentionally, right?” I added, my tone acerbic. “I’ll try not to do the same.”
Except I already was and I knew it. That reality made me feel like shit. Silence slowly wedged itself between us, driving us miles apart until TS spoke, pulling us back together. An attempt to fix what he undoubtedly feared was broken.
<
br /> “Do you know why they call me The Specialist?” he asked. I turned to find him staring back at me, warmth in his eyes.
“Because you’re special?”
“That’s a given, Phira, but not the reason.” A tentative smile tugged at his lips, an attempt to lighten the tension between us. I fought against it at first but lost in the long run. His ability to calm me knew no bounds. “Anonymity is crucial to my existence. There is only one in this world that knows my true identity.”
My eyes went wide, the shock I felt undoubtedly painted all over my face.
“One? Only one person knows who you really are?” I asked. He merely nodded in response. Any anger I’d just felt was shoved out of my body, leaving disbelief in its wake. “Shouldn’t you be The Con Artist then?”
“Perhaps, but it’s harder to abbreviate.” His smile widened, and I took the bait.
“Well there is that…”
“You’re wondering why I’m telling you this now.”
“You read minds too!” My sarcasm was duly noted, judging by the furrowing of his brow. Perhaps I’d laid it on a tad too thick. “Yes, I’m trying to figure out why you’ve chosen to tell me this now.”
“To trust someone with my true name is to trust them with my life.”
“Then I guess you must really trust the person who knows it.”
He nodded. “I do. Your father is worthy of such trust.”
“Wait—my dad knows? He’s the one?”
“Yes. He had to know. Our arrangement demanded it.”
That sentiment gave me pause—and an opening for a question I’d longed to hear the answer to.
“And what exactly is your arrangement?” I asked, my second attempt to understand why he worked for my father.
“That I serve the PC.”
“And you get a fun little nickname? That seems fair…”
He hesitated for a second, clearly ruminating over my question. “As I’ve said before, it gives me freedom, in a sense. It also gives me protection.”
“Protection?” I asked, doing nothing to hide the incredulity in my tone.
“Yes. Protection.”
“TS, are you not aware that you’re a total fucking badass? I mean, seriously. I’ve seen you in action. Ninety-five percent of the supernatural population should cower at your feet.”
“And the other five?” His brow quirked with curiosity—or amusement. I couldn’t quite tell.
“I don’t know…I just thought I should leave room for the possibility that someone out there could maybe best you. How’s ninety-nine percent?”
He laughed. “What about you? Could you bring me down?”
I squirmed just thinking about it. “I don’t know.”
“If you had to, I mean.” His expression went dark for a moment, and my blood ran cold. “Could you take me out if it was necessary?”
“I don’t know, and it hardly matters because it’s never going to come to that, TS. It’s a non-issue.” I stared at him while my heart dug its way back up into my chest, having fallen into my stomach at the idea of harming TS. I felt sick just thinking about it. “You still haven’t answered my question, though. Why would you need protection?”
“Let’s just say that some would choose to wield my gifts in a way that would be dangerous. Your father and I are both very aware of that fact. Because of this, we agreed to join forces long ago. I’ve not looked back since that day.”
“And then you got stuck with me, and you were like, ‘yeah, Sean…not so sure about this deal anymore’.”
The look on his face told me my self-deprecating humor wasn’t as funny as I thought.
“I did what was asked of me. I kept you from harming yourself or others—at any cost.”
“And still continue to,” I added.
A weak smile. “I don’t have to try nearly as hard now.”
“You’re welcome for that, by the way,” I replied, winking at him before turning away from his weighted stare. An awkward pause drew out between us, spanning moments or hours—it was hard to tell. I searched the Chicago skyline for something else to talk about before we left to prepare for our night’s mission. Something to break the unbearable quiet that had fallen upon us. But I found nothing. Instead, I felt TS put his hand on mine, forcing my attention to him.
“Atesh,” he said quietly, as though the wind could carry that word somewhere dangerous. “My name is Atesh.”
Atesh… Strong and beautiful, just like him.
“Why are you telling me this if it puts you in danger?”
“Because you need to know that I trust you—even more than I do your father. I trust you with my life, just as you’ve trusted me with yours.”
“I do trust you. I have for so long now I don’t even remember when I started to. Even when I resented your presence, I still trusted you at my side.”
“Now you should trust me even more.” His hand lingered atop mine for a second longer, then pulled away. “We need to go get ready now.” With that, he turned toward the rooftop door, leaving me overwhelmed and confused.
I got up to follow him. With every step I took, I felt guilt creeping in. Guilt for lying to him. Guilt for not sharing the same amount of trust with him as he had with me. But even in that guilt, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that TS was hiding things from me. I wondered if telling me his name was an attempt to disguise that truth; to placate me so that I wouldn’t dig into secrets he didn’t want uncovered. If so, he was right about one thing: secrets and lies would gut our relationship, just as he feared they would. That wasn’t an option I could live with. But he wasn’t the only one with secrets that could end us. The truth of Damascus would do just that. He’d been very clear about what would happen if I went to the troll again. I had little doubt that he’d follow through.
“Phira,” he called over his shoulder as he held the door ajar. “Everything okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just nervous about the party. And I’m worried about Alek.”
“It will be all right, Phira.”
I looked at him and forced a smile. “I believe you.”
He pulled the heavy door fully open, the groaning sound it made nearly eclipsing the words TS whispered to himself as I approached.
“I pray that’s true,” was the last thing I heard him say before he disappeared inside.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I stared at myself in the mirror, admiring my transformation. I looked like a lady, someone refined and high-class. Basically everything I wasn’t.
It was close to the time we were due to leave, so I went downstairs to meet TS. When I walked into the living area where Nico, Cooper, and my other uncles were congregated, everything stopped. They all just stared at me like I’d walked into the room naked—and thanks to Muses, I wasn’t too far from it.
“That’s quite a dress, Phira,” Cy said, his eyes wide with shock. “Where’s the rest of it?”
“Apparently Muses couldn’t afford it.” I took that opportunity to shoot my creepy uncle a nasty look. The gesture earned me a smile.
“If you are to be used as bait, then you must look like bait, niece.”
“Well mission accomplished on that one,” Cy said, exhaling hard. “I’m just glad your father can’t see you right now.”
“I’ll send him a selfie later and tell him who my stylist was.”
That earned me a laugh.
“Phira,” Nico said, walking over to me, “are you ready for this?”
I nodded.
“How is Alek doing?” I hated that I had to leave without seeing him back to normal again. Without knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was okay.
“He’s fine. He’s resting. Cooper thinks he should be awake when you return.” Nico’s expression darkened. “Something for you to look forward to.”
“Remember, you need to use stealth while acquiring the stone,” Muses said, “and you cannot be caught in the process. Use whatever feminine wiles you can muster to accomplish
this.”
“I don’t believe he will have it on his person,” Ferris added. “He’s too smart for that. It’ll likely be in a private room. Possibly a safe.”
“That sounds promising…”
I will take care of it if need be. Just worry about finding it.
”Once you find it, get out of there,” Nico said. “Text me and let me know you’re on your way.”
“Okay. I got it.”
Silence fell over the group for a moment.
“Nico and I will be waiting around the block,” Cooper said, coming to stand next to my brother. “We’ll be there if you need us.”
“It’ll be fine. Really. Nothing is going to go wrong. And even if it does, I’ll have TS and Nyx to deal with it. She’ll just lay the whole building to waste, and he’ll make it look like it never happened. No biggie.”
They smiled at me and shook their heads. Then I heard the door behind me open and turned to find TS standing there in a tux. What a sight that was to behold.
“I think it’s time to go,” he said, striding across the room toward me. “Shall we?” He extended his arm out toward me, and I took it. With my hand in the crook of his arm, he led me to the exit. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“To go on an illicit scavenger hunt at the Northside alpha’s house? Of course I am.”
At that, he smiled.
Without further delay, he ushered me out of the room and down the stairs to the floor where the vehicles were parked. He opened the passenger’s door to some fancy sports car and stepped back to let me in. It was so low to the ground I had to assess it for a second before attempting to climb in.
“At least I won’t rip my dress trying to get into this thing.”
“A small blessing indeed. I’m sure Muses had that in mind when he chose it.”
I looked up at TS to find mischievous eyes staring down at me.
“He did pick the dress, didn’t he?” A flare of amusement lit his gaze before he closed the door and walked around to his side of the car. “You sneaky bastard…”
“Muses picked it,” he said as he folded himself elegantly into the seat next to me. “And I seconded his selection. It will suit its purpose well.”
“And yours too,” I muttered under my breath.
Dead Zone (Blue-Eyed Bomb Book 3) Page 20
