Floating closer so she levitated only a foot behind the reporter, Serena dropped her mask.
The videographer snapped taller, and the crew, who’d been focused on the small television in front of them, jerked their heads upright and gasped.
“What?” The reporter spun and stumbled back a step.
Oh, this was good. Perfect and oh so very public. Serena smiled. “Don’t be afraid.”
The woman noted the air between Serena’s feet and the ground, and her eyes popped wide. She glanced back at her partner. “Are you getting this?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He motioned her to go with it.
Of course he wanted her to go with it. It was television, sensationalism at its finest, and Serena had every intention of giving them their money’s worth. “You know who I am?”
“You’re the woman who’s been taking people to Eden,” the reporter said.
“I am.” Through her peripheral vision, Serena noted one of the two support staff snapping pictures and videos with their phones. “I don’t mean to frighten you, but I can’t wait anymore. The time to bring down the wall that separates the Myren and human realms is growing short. There are those who would keep Eden from you, but I’m against that. Humans deserve their birthright.”
Downshifting to a serious demeanor, the reporter inched closer. “You’re still looking for the person you described to Tilly Rhinehart?”
“I am. Without her, humans will never find their true home. That’s why I’m here today. I need help. To get it, I’m willing to make an offer.” Serena zeroed in on the camera and focused her influencing gifts on those who watched. “Those I’ve brought to Eden have shared how glorious our lands are. They’ve witnessed Myren powers. I’m willing to share those gifts. Whoever locates Brenna Haven and brings her forward will not only be the first to cross over into paradise, but will be granted all the powers of the Myren race.”
The reporter’s mouth opened and closed twice before she managed to speak. “You can do that? Powers are transferable? Flying, disappearing, and all the tricks with the elements?”
“They’re more than tricks.” Serena opened her palm face out to the side and sent a flame arching over the vacant space on her right. “They’re quite formidable and very real. Not everyone can dispense these gifts, but I can. And I’m willing to do so in order to secure the birthplace of all humans. Your rightful land alongside your Myren brethren. This is what our Creator has always wanted. We cannot let one renegade and those who support her prevent it.”
With one last influencing push, Serena focused on the camera. “Find Brenna and bring her forward. Spare no effort and trust no one. Only the Great One knows what lies ahead.”
She shot high into the sky, slowing her ascent so the cameraman had ample time to track her flight.
Right on time, a gray mist swirled over the reservoir, its size twice that of what was actually necessary. Walkers and joggers along the lake’s edge stopped and gawked at the sparkling creation. A few hustled closer to the perimeter and tried to follow, but they came up short when they realized they’d have to swim, or walk on water, to get there.
Perfect. Utterly fantastic as far as visuals went.
She felt more than saw Uther move into the portal, his energy pinging against her senses.
Serena hesitated at the entrance, turned enough to cast a benevolent and beseeching look at those who gathered, then pushed her thoughts toward the camera. Follow my guidance. Find her. Spare no one. Not friends or family.
She spun with a dramatic flair and let the portal swirl shut behind her.
Chapter 29
Brenna tightened her grip on Ludan’s hand, the faint tremor she’d first sensed an hour ago growing in its intensity. Three grueling hours he’d worked. Every second of it she’d stood beside him, never letting go as he plowed the memories of Maxis’s highest ranks.
She glanced at Lexi behind them. She’d long ago given up pacing and now sat with one heel perched on the edge of a wooden chair. Her other leg jangled a nervous rhythm that matched the pinched worry in her eyes.
In the corner, Eryx exchanged low, terse words with a warrior she’d never seen before. He looked up, caught Brenna’s stare, and scowled.
Motioning to Ludan with a slight nod, she whispered, “Something’s not right.”
Eryx dismissed the man beside him and prowled closer, assessing Ludan from head to toe in one fast sweep. “Stubborn shit, he’s low on energy.” He glanced at Lexi. “Get Ramsay and Reese in here.”
Jolting into action, Lexi took off down the hallway, Jagger fast on her heels.
“I don’t get it,” Brenna said. “We’re in Eden. How can he get low on energy?”
“Doesn’t matter how much energy there is if your body’s too maxed out to process it.” Eryx splayed a hand between Ludan’s shoulders.
Ludan inhaled sharply, and his shoulders snapped back.
Brenna pressed closer, checking Ludan’s glazed and unfocused eyes. “What was that?”
“A boost. Ramsay, Reese, and I will feed him what he needs.” Eryx offered her a small, assuring smile. “Trust me, he’ll be fine. Unless he doesn’t find what he’s after. Then we’re all in for a tirade.”
Ludan released his grip on the man in front of him and stepped back. He shook his head as though to clear it and scanned the room until he locked eyes with the guard off to one side. “Any more?”
“That’s the last of them,” the guard said.
Ludan grunted and waved the Rebellion man away. He might not be making a big deal out of what Eryx was doing, but given the way his balance wavered, he clearly needed Eryx’s energy.
“Anything?” Eryx grumbled.
“Nothing.” Ludan’s glower darkened, and the muscles along his neck and shoulders flexed. “They’ve all seen the guy Angus referred to. Worked with him and followed his commands once Maxis made him strategos, but not one shared a link. No one showed memories of him before their time in the Rebellion, or outside Rebellion activities. It’s like the son of a bitch just popped out of nowhere.”
The son of a bitch in question being Uther Rontal, the man they all suspected was the one helping Serena.
“Anyone else? Any details with Serena?
“Just her with Maxis. Nothing that caught my attention.” Ludan spun, knocking Eryx’s hand free. “You’ve checked all of Maxis’s haunts?”
Eryx crossed his arms, irritation and barely leashed impatience setting deep groves along his brow. “His manor, his Rebellion camp, the training ground…yeah, I think we’ve got it covered.” One eyebrow kicked high. “Unless you got another locale we can check.”
Ludan shook his head and paced the cell, rubbing the back of his neck. “No. Nothing outside of those.”
“Then we’ve got it covered.”
Ramsay strode through the doorway with Lexi, Jagger, and Reese close behind him. “We’ve got a problem.”
Eryx huffed an ironic laugh, hung his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“No, a big problem,” Ramsay said. “Serena upped her game. The warrior stationed with Ian in Tulsa just reached out and said Ian wants us there ASAP.”
Ludan planted both hands on his hips. “Wants us there for what?”
“Details. He said shit’s coming in too fast for him to stop what he’s doing and come here. Said we’d do better to see it for ourselves anyway. To tell you the truth, the man I’ve got with him is a rock-solid warrior, and even he sounded a little off.”
“Great.” Eryx glanced at Ludan. “You coming or staying?”
“We’re coming,” Brenna said before Ludan could answer otherwise, and started forward.
Ludan clamped onto her wrist and stopped her mid-stride. “It’s not safe.”
She jerked her hand free. “Serena doesn’t know where Ian lives.”
“Actually, she does,” Ramsay said. “That’s where she and Maxis swiped him to begin with.”
“Okay
, fine,” Brenna snapped. “She knows where Ian lives. It’s not like I’m planning on moving in.” She locked stares with Ludan, all the anger, frustration, and fatigue she’d smothered the last few weeks bursting free. “I’m the one in danger. That means I get to have a say. Trust me, I don’t want to end up with Serena any more than you do. I’ve been a prisoner and I’m not looking for a second helping, but I do want to know what kind of shit she’s stirring up for me now.”
The room fell silent.
Brenna exhaled what was left of her tantrum, and her shoulders sagged with relief. God, that had felt good. As in liberating, hear-me-roar good. Why the heck hadn’t she done it sooner?
A snicker sounded on her left.
Lexi quickly covered her mouth, but the fact that no one else would meet Brenna’s eyes and the way they fought back smiles said they weren’t too far from doing the same.
“What?” Brenna said.
Lexi grinned, completely unrepentant. “That was beautiful. You just threw down with your man and used a pretty swear word to go with it.”
“You’re a bad influence.” Eryx’s words were scolding, but the tone was both playful and sweet. He grinned, wrapped an arm around Lexi, and focused on Ludan. “What’s your play?”
“Do I really have one?
Eryx shook his head. “Not really. Once they get a stubborn streak, you’re screwed.”
Ludan studied Brenna, then sighed and held out his hand. “Then I guess we’re going.”
“Smart move.” Eryx headed out the door with Lexi beside him. “Reese, I want you to stay here. Find Galena and keep her at the castle. Until I get a better angle on what Serena’s up to, I don’t want her out alone.”
They hurried out of the training center and met Trinity at an isolated stretch of land beyond the arena. The trip to Evad took less than ten minutes, but the loss of Eden’s energy weighted Brenna with a bone-deep lethargy. She gripped Ludan’s hand to keep from face-planting at the portal’s tricky exit and stepped into Ian’s backyard.
Oddly, the house wasn’t all that much different than the one she’d grown up in. Even the August heat and humidity was the same, nearly stealing her breath. The yard was sparse but tidy, nothing more than slightly browning grass from the heat and lack of water, and an unadorned cement patio. “Aren’t you worried about the neighbors?”
Eryx opened the sliding glass door and chin-lifted toward the eight-foot privacy fence. “We keep the portal and ourselves masked on the way in and out, but that goes a long way toward covering the risk.”
“Are you kidding?” Lexi hooked her arm through Brenna’s and guided her into the house. “The neighbors are probably so glad they don’t have to look at Ian’s craptastic landscaping anymore he could have an orgy back here and they wouldn’t care.”
Inside, the house held the same early-eighties feel as its exterior, though the carpet looked as new as the fence. The living room wasn’t huge, but it was long with a built-in bookcase taking up the exterior wall. To the right was a small eating area with a kitchen at the far end.
“Dad, they’re here!” Jillian’s always chipper voice cut through Brenna’s perusal. She snatched a remote off the coffee table and aimed it at a flat screen mounted high on the wall. “Sorry, he’s running down something new on the computer. You’re not going to believe what Serena’s done this time.” She switched to one of the recording devices, then punched a few more buttons.
A news crew splayed across the screen and seconds later Serena shimmered into view.
“No way.” Lexi glanced up at Eryx, then to Jillian. “Are you kidding me?”
“Oh, it gets better.” Jillian upped the volume.
Every eye stayed rooted to the screen. No one moved, too dumbfounded by Serena’s ridiculous claims and grandstanding.
Ian ambled down the hallway just as Serena whirled and disappeared into the portal. “Can you believe that shit?”
Ramsay still hadn’t peeled his eyes away from the television. “I can’t believe she had the balls to do it.”
“She’s nuts,” Lexi said.
“Yeah, well, it’s working.” Ian motioned toward the kitchen and wound his way through the bodies in his direct path. “I need more coffee. Anyone else want a cup?”
Eryx trailed him, but the frown on his face said it was for details and not a midafternoon caffeine fix. “What do you mean it’s working?”
“I mean there’s some crazy activity going on. It started right after she pulled her stunt with calls coming into all the major networks. They’ve got everything from people claiming they’ve found Brenna, to people stating Serena paid them a personal visit.”
Ramsay settled in a chair behind the kitchen table. “That’s a pain in the ass, but that’s not crazy.”
Ian rinsed his cup in the sink. “No, but it got the networks talking about it even more, which helped get Serena’s message out.” He poured a fresh cup, slid the carafe back in place, and faced the group. “Now, tell me this. If you were hunting for a woman who looked like Brenna, what target-rich environment would you pick for women in their early twenties?”
“Shit.” Lexi wrapped her hand around Eryx’s and squeezed, her usual vibrant skin tone blanching to a sickly white. “Colleges.”
“Exactly.” Ian leaned back against the counter. “At the one-hour mark, there were reports of breaking and entering in almost all the major universities and college cities. Dorms, apartments, homes—everything was fair game. And we’re not just talking about people who know each other, we’re talking about people busting into residences of complete strangers.”
Trinity padded up behind Ramsay and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “How many people are we talking about?”
“A lot. Not everyone, mind you, but a lot.” He pounded back a slug of his coffee. “You familiar with Black Friday?”
Trinity nodded.
“About like that, only with higher stakes. Police are reporting increased robberies and violence, and we’re only four hours in. The more that happens, the worse it seems to get.”
A booming masculine voice sounded from behind them. “That’s because it is.”
Ramsay shot to his feet, and everyone else spun toward the visitor.
The Black King stood at the kitchen entrance, his demeanor austere and cold. He dipped a minute nod toward Eryx and floated deeper into the small dining area. “Serena’s in league with the rogues, and the goal they’ve sought to accomplish is at hand.”
“You didn’t think this was good information to share the first dozen times Trinity paid you a visit?” Ramsay shot back.
“The Spiritu are bound by the laws of the Great One. What you’re seeing now—the riots, the chaos, the disregard for decency and kindness—is what happens when the balance is not kept.”
Trinity’s gaze slid to one side, her focus distant. “No action taken without a balancing sacrifice.” She zeroed in on the Black King. “The rogues figured out we couldn’t get an even trade on information if they offered up a sacrifice.”
“I wouldn’t call it a sacrifice,” the Black King said. “Falon’s mate, Patrice, had already been isolated as a result of his sentence. The ridicule she suffered made her position worse. For her, offering her life was more defiant retribution.”
He faced Eryx. Even with Eryx having a good three or four inches on him in height, the king’s presence seemed to fill every nook and cranny. “It will get worse. Without the steadying presence of the light, the atmosphere will shift, bringing with it storms and darkness the likes of which our realms have never experienced.”
“It’s already here.” Ian pushed away from the counter and set his mug aside. “Just before you guys got here, meteorologists from Europe were reporting unexplained weather phenomena. Clouds and electrical storms that rolled in out of nowhere.”
“Where’s Serena?” Eryx demanded.
The Black King stared back at him. “If I could tell you that, I would have done so days ago.”
Ery
x prowled toward the Black King, not the least bit intimidated by his powerful aura. “Are you shitting me? She’s single-handedly screwing all our races, and you’re going to stand there and tell me you can’t share?”
“I’m telling you there are destinies to be followed. Choices to be made by those deemed worthy by the Great One.”
The room went still and quiet. Every gaze save the Black King’s slid toward Brenna.
“No.” Brenna staggered backward, her feet instinctively seeking space and fresh air.
Ludan stepped in close behind her and coiled his arm around her waist. His breath was warm at her ear, low, but solid. “You’re not alone. Not in this. Not anymore.”
The Black King’s lips curved in a slight but pleased smile. “Indeed, she is not. And while it may seem otherwise, I assure you, all the information you need to triumph is yours. All that’s left is to listen.”
Chapter 30
The sun glowed bright through the solar tubes into Ludan’s underground room, but Brenna still hadn’t stirred. The old, unhealthy habits she’d learned with Maxis were breaking. Slight shifts others might miss, but Ludan hadn’t. Not the fact that she’d taken to experimenting with her wardrobe, or how she’d gone head-to-head with him the day before. He’d bet she could count on one hand the number of times she’d stood up to a man in her life and still have fingers left over, but she hadn’t so much as flinched with him.
He eased onto the bed beside her and smoothed a strand of her dark hair off her cheek. Her skin was so much paler than his, a soft, creamy color unlike the deeper tones of most Myrens. The hard years under Maxis’s control might have built the calluses she detested on her hands, but every other inch of skin he’d sampled was soft and smooth.
Dipping close, he skimmed his lips across the path his fingers had taken. “Brenna.”
Her eyelids fluttered open, her dark gaze unfocused and relaxed from sleep. Vulnerable and honest. She grinned, let her eyes close again, and snuggled under the blanket.
Eden's Deliverance (The Eden Series Book 4) Page 24
