I wanted to cry.
Ammon, on the hand, was ecstatic.
“Finally!” he boomed. “My Izzara has returned to me.”
Sara jumped, startled by the noise and almost fell in the water. Ammon grabbed her before she could go in. “Phoebe,” she yelled.
I ran toward her, but she was apparently so freaked out that she pushed Ammon away and started running away from the pool.
We didn’t make it to each other in time. Ammon grabbed hold of her back then twirled her in the air with pure joy.
“My Izzara,” he said over and over as he dragged her back up the stairs, ignoring her struggles as she called my name.
I ran after them, without a second glance at that stupid Well and whatever truth it might have shown me.
Fourteen
We had reached the dining room again when Ammon shouted and caused an avalanche of activity. Sara and I clung to each other now that he’d finally put her down. We were still pretty messed up by what we had seen.
That is, she and I were troubled. Ammon was ecstatic.
“We need to celebrate,” he said as trays were brought in. His servants moved all around us but he never took his eyes off Sara. As decanters were placed on a side table, he leaped to do the honors himself.
He poured three glasses, then paused. “This is just for now, for us. But soon we will have the biggest celebration, to mark this good fortune in the proper way.”
There were so many things happening that I retreated back to the essentials: Breathing, smiling, blinking.
Hard work.
Ammon returned to Sara’s side. “My dearest, I want to give you something, a small present to mark this day. So tell me, what do you desire?”
I was close enough to hear her rapid breath and see the pulse beating at her neck. He had to know how uncomfortable she was.
She glanced at me before she spoke. “For you to not be angry with Phoebe.”
He seemed surprised, then frowned.
My body tensed. Please not another mood swing.
The cloud that covered his sunny smile was blown away quickly.
“My darling, I thought it was clear that I’m not.” He turned that bright smile on me. “I’m forever grateful to you, Phoebe the Shining One, the Protector of my love.”
Sara and I both blinked.
His eyes held softness looked at me. Almost the same softness as when he looked at Sara, but different. “I realize now that you were also prophesied by the Oracle. The protector of Izzara, keeping her safe, bringing her back to me.”
He moved to stand in front of me. “You are the one who gave me life again. Without Izzara, I was only existing, an empty shell. And for that, I will love you forever as a sister.” Again he bowed and kissed my hand, then rose and my cheek as well.
Sara gaped, a hint of betrayal in her eyes as she stared at me. “Are you finally going to tell me what’s happening?”
I opened my mouth but Ammon cut me off.
“The Oracle promised me that my Izzara would return to me, and after many, many lonely millennia, you finally did,” he bowed and kissed Sara’s hand. “But there was more. She also foresaw that you wouldn’t travel alone, but with a protector. Our beloved Phoebe.”
So I was back to being ‘beloved’ again. That might be a silver lining. Perhaps we might still get out of this alive. But with a man so fickle, unstable even, who knew what the future could bring.
“And now the drink,” he beamed, raising his glass. “To my Izzara. Welcome home.”
“Who the heck is Izzara, and what does this have to do with me or Phoebe?” Sara had reached her limit. Her raised voice caused all activity in the room to cease.
I tried to tug at her arm, to signal her to calm down, when Ammon’s face darkened.
“Leave us,” he shouted into the room.
Servants scattered like roaches, quickly disappearing.
Ammon took a deep breath, rolled his neck, and sat his glass down. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands across his face.
I backed up and pulled Sara with me.
When he lowered his hands and opened his eyes, his gaze was soft again. “Of course,” he said. “You’ve been through an ordeal, and you don’t remember yet.” He looked at me then and laughter came back into his eyes.
“And of course you didn’t remember!” He laughed long and hard, then grabbed his drink and raised it. “Drink, my darlings. We have much to celebrate.” He gazed fondly at Sara. “I will take you to see the truth soon.”
I inhaled sharply, fear running ice cold through my veins again. Sara stared at me then Ammon. Anger, confusion, and hurt all flashed across her face.
“I want to be there when you go,” I said to Ammon.
“No,” he said flatly.
“Why not,” asked Sara.
He caressed her face with his free hand. “It will be a private moment between us.”
“Exactly,” I said before I could stop myself.
Sara wasn’t stupid. But she surprised me with her sudden acting skills. She ducked her head shyly and said, “I’ll only go if Phoebe does. I don’t really know you yet.”
His lips tightened briefly. He looked at me and said, “I understand. But Phoebe can tell you that you won’t be in any danger.”
Yeah, I could. But I wasn’t going to lie. I was saved by her responding, “Please. I’m sure you mean well, but I just want her with me.” She clutched his arm and gave him her best wide-eyed, innocent gaze.
He crumbled before it, like so many others.
Sighing, he nodded. “Very well. Your protector will come with you.” As if he’d just realized something, his face cleared. “Yes, yes. That’s exactly how it should be.” He raised his glass, laughing. “A toast, to the return of Izzara and her protector.”
I hesitated only raising the glass to my mouth, but not actually drinking until after he did. The liquid was something completely unknown to me. Not that I had a vast knowledge about drinks, but I knew it was some kind of alcohol and pretty sweet.
It wasn’t bad, just weird.
He sat down his drink and took Sara’s hand. I could see she didn’t want to but seemed afraid of not playing along.
“Now, I want you, my love, to see your resting place. Where you have kept me company for thousands of years.”
Oh no. I felt sick. I couldn’t believe this was happening again so soon. I thought we’d have more time. A chance to escape first.
“Where I rested?” Sara asked, curious.
I wanted to scream at her. She shouldn’t encourage him.
He nodded. “The most sacred place for me. Where I watched you sleep and waited for your return.” He gave a rueful smile. “I mistakenly took Phoebe there, but now you should see.”
Sara cast an accusing glance my way.
“You were unconscious,” I said quickly. I didn’t add that in my defense, he’d also blackmailed me to go there, threatening to withhold treatment from her if I didn’t. I’d have to save that for a time he wasn’t around.
She looked hurt.
I mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry’ as Ammon held out his arm to her.
“Shall we go?” he asked, and she nodded, her face resolute now.
Ugh. I knew that look. She was going to be stubborn. I still had to try. “I’m sorry, but don’t you think it’s too soon? We’ve already had one long trip and Sara is just getting over her illness.”
He turned to me. “The protector still does her job, but so have my healers. And she is home now, so your job is over.”
My job would never be over, asshole.
“However,” he continued, turning back to Sara whose expression was now confused. “If you would rather rest, I would be honored to escort you back to your room. I’ve waited so long for you that if I must wait a little more, it will be bearable if you need it.”
She looked at me and I tried to plead with my eye for her to take his offer. She looked back at him and I could see her wavering.
/>
Yes, please, let’s go.
Her mouth turned down but she nodded. “We will go after I rest a bit.”
I held back my sigh of relief in the face of Ammon’s disappointment. To him, I said, “It’s better this way. It may be a shock for her and it will be better if she’s rested.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Thank you, protector Phoebe. You remind me to curb my haste. I’ve been blindly obeyed too long, it has made me forget others sometimes in the face of what I want.”
I forced a smile. “No problem. I know you mean well.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Acid shot into my stomach when he closed his eyes for a moment and touched the back of his neck. What now?
Sara gave me a ‘what the heck?’ glance. I just shook my head quickly.
He was all smiles when he brought his arm back down and opened his eyes. “Shall we go?”
He escorted through the corridor that I now recognized as leading to the room where we’d been kept. While he was busy charming Sara, I carefully noted everything on the way. We’d need to have landmarks when we made our way out of here.
Unfortunately, he passed right by the door I recognized.
“Isn’t that our place?” I verified.
“You will have new quarters now, befitting your station,” he said.
Crap, crap, crap. How would Caleb find us?
Sara must have had the same thought because she looked back at me, her eyes wide with fear. “Ammon,” she said quickly. “I would rather stay where I was.”
He stopped short. “But I’ve sent word to have a better place for you. That chamber was only a holding place.”
“Yes, but I was comfortable there. And my clothes are probably there,” she spoke quickly and I nodded vigorously.
His lips pulled down and she hurried to say, “And it’s where we just met, isn’t it?” She followed that up with a shy smile.
Man, she was good. I wondered what she’d been doing in Arizona all this time.
He chuckled, and gave her a quick hug. “Very well, if it is so important to you. Go rest and collect your things. You can move into the other quarters later.”
My knees nearly gave out from relief.
Once inside, I hugged Sara and whispered in her ear, “There are monitors in this room. We must be careful.”
She jerked back from me. “What the hell, Phoebe?”
Cursing was an indication of just how upset she was. Sara barely said darn, much less anything harsher. I tried not to, as well, but sometimes a good f-bomb is the only thing that satisfies.
“Please, Sara. There is so much to tell you, but first, have you seen Caleb recently?”
Her lips trembled as she shook her head, no.
She walked over to the dais/bed/examining table and sat down, hugging her arms over her waist. I sat beside her and at first, thought she was going to tell me to leave, then she leaned over and put her head on my shoulder.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered. “Did he think we were in danger because of Ammon?”
I moved my hand over my face, as if rubbing it and murmured under it, “Probably. He’s insane.”
She took a shaky breath. “I hope he’s all right,” she said, on the verge of tears.
It took me a fraction of a second to realize she must mean Caleb and not Ammon.
I nodded. “Me, too.”
I got up and she clutched my arm, eyes wide and afraid.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Just checking if the door is locked.”
Her eyes got even bigger. “He locked us in?”
I shrugged to indicate I didn’t know and went to check.
Sadly, the answer was yes. “I guess we’ll have to wait until Caleb gets back. Or Ammon does.”
“Where is he taking us?” she asked.
“You really don’t want to know.”
But I sat down, and urging her to lie down with me to pretend we were going to sleep, proceeded to tell her all that I had seen.
There was still no word from Caleb by the time Ammon arrived.
Sara had found her clothes, which had been stored in the closet and had gone inside it to change out of the gown. We had no idea how many cameras were placed throughout the room.
Equally distressing, was that Ammon wasn’t alone when he arrived. He had two men with him, one I recognized as one of the healers who had attended Sara, and another I hadn’t seen. A younger man, with short, wavy hair and a full mouth.
They both seemed uneasy.
“Do we need extra protection?” I asked.
Ammon’s lips tightened. It appeared he didn’t like the question.
Apparently, neither did either of the men because they paled beneath their tans. However, he ignored me and turned to Sara, eyeing her jeans and t-shirt with less than enthusiasm.
“You’ve changed? I thought you were lovely in the gown.”
I could see she was frightened. Surely, he had to see it too.
“I…I just feel more comfortable in my own clothes.”
After a few beats, he nodded, apparently detecting the truth in that. “I see.”
He straightened and expanded his chest. “But soon you will be clothed as splendidly you deserve.”
She gave him a weak smile and he returned it with a look of fond indulgence.
With that, off we went to the chamber of horrors. At least, that’s what I called it in my head. Ammon would probably lose what little was left of his mind if I said that aloud.
When we finally reached the area where he’d shoved me behind him before, the two additional men became more and more agitated.
Ammon retrieved a strip of cloth from his belt then nodded at the older guide.
His attendant quickly covered my eye with a rough, clammy hand and jerked me close to him. He smelled of the sharp stench of fear and some type of antiseptic. I kicked out at him, but he shoved me against the wall and pressed his wiry body against mine, keeping me in place while Sara screamed my name. I could feel her trying to free me when she was pulled away.
“I’m sorry my love, but neither you or Phoebe can see what is about to happen.” I could hear her struggling as he spoke. “You must trust me. It is for your own well-being.”
“Then explain it to us,” she shouted.
At the same time, the sound of footsteps running away echoed across the cave.
I was nearly knocked over when Sara was shoved into us. “Take them inside, now,” Ammon commanded.
The guide who’d help me struggled to hold onto us both.
“Stop, now,” Ammon shouted at the younger man who had run away.
Off to the side, I could hear that dry, husky slither starting that I’d heard the last time I’d been here. Just before Ammon had shoved me behind him and warned me not to look. Icy fingers of fear tripped up my spine.
“Sara, maybe we’d better do as they say.”
“You’re serious?”
I nodded. Panic constricted my throat when the younger man fell to his knees in front of Ammon, screaming.
“Please master, take the extra instead,” he begged, pointing at me. “You have Izzara now. You don’t need that one.”
Extra?
Well, heck. I guess I just couldn’t get away from that designation. I’d been the “other one” since I was a kid.
But what the hell? What did this guy want to happen to me that he was too afraid to face himself?
“Your judgment has been called, Nikoru, and you have been found wanting.” Ammon’s voice held no sympathy.
As the slithering grew louder, so did the man’s sobbing.
“Take them away, now!” Ammon shouted at the guard holding us.
But it was too late.
Sara and I both screamed as a nightmare glided into view.
My mind couldn’t accept what it was seeing. The guard tried to usher us into the other chamber but, with Sara gone hysterical beside me and myself frozen in fe
ar, he had a hard time of it. His own body’s trembling didn’t help either.
What I had earlier imagined was a woman with a snake, turned out to be a woman who was a snake. At least, the lower half of her was. Rather than legs, below her hips was a massively muscled, scaled, black and red snake-like tail that extended at least twelve feet behind her.
Her face was nearly human, but not. The mouth was all wrong, stretching nearly from ear to ear. Large, slanted, poison green eyes stared our way above a small, slitted nose. A necklace similar to the one Ammon wore covered most of her bare breasts.
“So, you bring me payment at last,” she hissed.
“I do.” Ammon put a sandaled foot on the blubbering Nikoru’s head and shoved him face down onto the stone floor.
The man lost control of his bowels and bladder.
I could understand. I was in danger of doing the same. Sara swayed and our captor let go of me to catch her before she fell.
He glared at me as he carried her deeper into the chamber holding Izzara’s body.
My mind screamed at me to move but my feet were rooted. The snake woman’s upper body swayed and she looked full at me.
I was immobilized by that venomous green gaze as a fly in a web.
“She is not for you,” Ammon stated, noticing where her gaze went. “She has done no wrong.”
“Are you sure?” she hissed, slithering closer. “I smell guilt.”
He kicked the younger man toward her. “This one is guilty. He has lied and tried to cheat me out of my prize. He tried to keep the truth of my beloved from me.”
“Hmmm, yesss.” She arched back the leaned over the hysterical guide. “He will suffice.”
Ice filled my bones as her jaw slowly unhinged. Wider and wider until she bent over the man and pulled his head into her mouth.
My frozen legs finally loosened. I ran into the chamber where Sara now lay on the ground in front of Izzara’s body.
Fifteen
Seeing them both, one in front of the other in the same pose, only increased my terror. The utter wrongness was overwhelming. I made my way to Sara’s side on legs that gave out once I got there. Dark spots filled the edges of my vision. I tried to push them back. I couldn’t afford to faint now, I couldn’t…
Reluctant Gods (The Awakening Book 2) Page 14
