They're moving around the room fast but it's all fading away. All I'm aware of is my child suckling at my breast ... Elise.
"You named her," Logan says. "Remy says you whispered her name to her."
Tears fall down his face. They stain my own too.
Chapter eight
Archer
"Thank you for meeting me Manco," I say as he walks into the empty restaurant.
I bought the place for the night. It's small but refined. They think I'm nothing more than an eccentric billionaire who doesn't like to eat with other people. Truth is it's located close enough to our border as to be considered neutral territory and was the only place I could get him to agree to a one-on-one meeting outside the Council chambers.
Manco is the King of the Greens. He's slightly shorter than I am, his wide nose has a hump where it's been broken before. His face has tribal scars, his hair is straight black and cut in a bowl style. He wears a business suit to offset the roughness of his overall appearance but it only makes him look incongruous.
He doesn't enter alone. A small, pale-faced man who I would call worm-like walks just behind him whispering in his ear as they walk. His clammy skin exudes a sense of sliminess. He never looks at any one thing, his eyes are always in motion and he never makes contact for more than an instant. I take an immediate dislike to the man.
We agreed to meet alone and I have honored that agreement. I decide to let the insult slide. I've chosen a table at the rear of the place but have only arranged for two chairs. As they come closer I move around and grab another chair placing it beside the one I intend for Manco.
"It would seem there are matters to be discussed," Manco says. "It would be wrong of me to ignore a friend in need."
"The Chef here is quite excellent, would you care to order?" I ask.
"No, we ate on the flight here. I am quite full. You Takuan?"
The pale man shakes his head negative without speaking. I watch his eyes for a moment darting around the room. Unease fills me. This man is very dangerous.
"Well, to business then."
"Ah Archer, I do appreciate your ability to cut straight to the point in any situation," Manco says smiling.
"As you have probably heard, the approved scouting into the Whites territory proved to be fruitless. Well let me correct myself, we did not find my missing man."
"Ah my friend, this is sad news indeed. Logan was among the finest of our kind. He is such a skilled warrior. I'm sure he is fine though. Who could wish to bring harm to he who is among the noblest of us all?"
Takuan leans in and whispers in Manco's ear then resumes darting his eyes around the room. Manco listens and then nods without taking his eyes off of me.
"Well to that end, I have my suspicions," I say.
"Suspicions or proof?"
"Suspicions. Proof should be in my hands soon."
"But if they were not in the territory of the Whites then where?"
They. He said they. You son of a bitch, you're in on this.
"I have reason to believe, though I'm sure without your knowledge, that he is being held inside your territory."
"Impossible," he says slashing the air in front of him with his hand.
Takuan leans in, whispers furiously, then resumes his seat but now he's smiling with his darting eyes.
"Oh?"
"Yes, if your man was in my territory, I would know it. Surely you're not implying I am a sloppy leader? I know what happens in my lands. How could your man be in my territory and I not know it ..." he trails off as Takuan leans in whispering more.
Manco nods, frowns, then nods again.
"Unless, of course," he begins.
"Yes?" I ask.
"Unless your man actually went rogue? Perhaps he invaded my territory? Without your knowledge I'm sure but if he was to have that would be an unpleasant predicament. Such a situation could so easily be misconstrued."
"I'm sure that's not the case," I say gritting my teeth.
"Of course you would not think that's the case, I would never imply that you were involved in such a scheme. If you were to have knowledge of such, well it would be tragic."
"Well we can rest easy since that is not the case," I say.
Takuan leans in whispering once more. Manco nods with a sad look on his face.
"It would be a tragedy wouldn't it? Have you seen the news lately Archer? Takuan tells me of a report about a Seal Team that was lost during a training exercise. Such tragedies in this world today. These things happen, even in training, an entire team lost. Who would believe such could happen?"
He stares at me with cold, dead eyes as he says words with a silver tongue. Anger pulses through me with each beating of my heart. He knows. He not only has him but he knows we sent the extraction team.
You son of a bitch.
"It is a strange world in which we find ourselves. When one is backed into a corner though, there is no telling what will happen," I growl.
"Yes, this is true. So true. Well, thank you for your hospitality," he says rising from the table.
I rise with him putting my hand out for him to shake. He stares at my extended hand for a moment longer than would be proper then takes it. I grip his hand firmly, firm enough his own grip goes lax.
"You're most welcome," I say. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon."
"Of course old friend."
The two of them head for the exit. As he touches the door handle I call out to him.
"Have you seen my half-sister lately?" I ask.
He tenses. I see the lie clearly in every line of his body then his hand convulses on the door.
"Marathe? No, I'm afraid I haven't seen her in some years."
"Oh? Too bad. I have a gift I wish to give her. I had hoped you might know how to contact her. We've lost touch I'm afraid."
"Well, family is very important. I wish I could be of assistance."
The door chime rings softly as it closes behind him. Remy walks out of the kitchen.
"Did you hear it all?"
"Yes," he says.
"He knows. He fucking knows where she is!" I grab the table and throw it across the room. It crashes behind the bar shattering glass and a mirror. I push my anger back down. I can't take this. I have to have her back.
"I agree," Remy says unperturbed.
"Call the Council. Set a meeting."
"We won't have the votes," he says.
"We have to try," I say collapsing back into the chair. "I'm running out of options Remy. I have to get them back. Both of them."
Remy nods then walks out of the room.
Chapter nine
Jennifer
"So Elise is my child?" I ask again.
"Ours," Logan says.
"And I never had ... before?"
"No. That was the first time you were pregnant."
My chest constricts as I contemplate this. Maybe I knew it. I felt drawn to Elise from the moment I met her. A connection that I didn't understand but it's real. A mother knows her child. Yet, if I died in childbirth, how does she know the things that she does? She knew how I like my coffee, what colors I like, too many little details.
"How did she- how does she deal..." I don't know how to put it into words.
"She studied you. She was a teen when she found Archer's diary."
"Archer's diary?"
Logan nods. "He keeps a record of every detail from each of your lives with us. He started that long ago hoping that it would help us find a way to change fate. He believes that if we find the right thing to change we can break the cycle."
"That sounds very, Archer," I chuckle thinking of him.
Archer is meticulous. Controlled. Determined and unwavering on a path. The very things I love about him are also the things that drive me nuts. Obsessive is a mild term for Archer.
Yeah," Logan laughs. "It's his nature."
"She was only a teen when she found it? What happened then?"
"Well as you can imagine Archer wasn
't happy. Elise though- she studied that book with a passion and an obsession that could only be mirrored by Archer. She wanted to know everything about you.
She read it multiple times. Then she began questioning everyone that had ever known you. No detail was too small. Her curiosity was burning. She and I talked long about you and about her desire to know you. She told me then that it made her feel closer to you. It warmed her heart knowing that you would be back."
"But ... I didn't know it was her. How hard it must be for her. She was with me but I didn't know who she was!"
A cold, empty ache settles in my guts. My daughter. She waited on me like any servant. Where she deserved hugs and kisses, welcome and love, I gave orders. What kind of mother does that? How could I not know my own child?
Logan shifts moving me so that we are looking into each others' eyes.
"Don't blame yourself. She was very happy to work as your servant. Each time you come back, your memories return slowly. If the process is rushed it doesn't always end well. She knew that. It was her idea to insert herself as your handmaiden. She wanted to be close to you while not risking your sanity by revealing the truth."
I shake my head. "But, I felt it. A connection to her..." tears choke off any more words and I'm sobbing against his chest.
He comforts me the best he can but nothing can assuage my guilt. I left her. I didn't recognize her.
"You have a very rare opportunity to know her," he says.
I nod, drying my tears, the well running empty.
"Yes. If we ever get out of here," I say.
"Well there's that. I'm sure Archer will be here soon."
Later that night we hear noises in the hall that wake me from sleep. I sit up in bed. Logan is already up trying to see but the door has some kind of one way glass on it. We can't see out.
"Is that bullets?"
Logan nods silently. He motions for me to come stand behind him to one side of the door. The noise continues then there's a very faint sound of screaming. Suddenly silence falls. We stand waiting for anything but nothing happens. Logan's shoulders slump as he hangs his head down.
"Damn," he says at last.
"What was that?"
"Rescue. Failed."
We go back to our bed snuggling up to each other. I'm cold. Cold inside and out. Rescue failed. Was Archer there? Is he hurt? Each beat of my heart is pain. What if he's out there in the hall, wounded and needing me. I'm stuck here just a few feet away and he's lying there alone. Would he call my name? What am I doing lying here in Logan's arms while my husband is dying?
My breath shudders in and out. Logan wraps his arms around me pulling me tight. We lay until at last I fall asleep. Nightmares plague me. Archer calling for me. He's wounded, needs me, but it's dark and I can't find him no matter how I run and search. Then Elise is there pointing an accusatory finger at me.
You're no mother.
I wake with a start alone on the bed. Logan is stretching in the middle of our cell. The ripple of his muscles as he works distracts me from the fear of my dreams. Focusing on that my heart rate slows back to normal and the cold sweat on my skin dries. I watch and appreciate the beauty of his form as he moves. One motion leads easily into the next.
He stops, staring past me. Following his gaze the wall behind me which was cold stone a moment ago is now clear and transparent. Elise stands on the far side her hand pressed to the wall. Tears run down her bruised and slightly swollen face. Her arm has bruises too showing clear imprints of where someone gripped her roughly.
"Lady?" she asks.
Leaping across the bed I press my hand against hers but I'm blocked by the wall I can't see. I grow lighter at the sight of her, my heart expanding and filling with all the love of a mother for her child.
"Elise!" I cry out. "I love you!"
Her eyes widen, her lip trembles. "You... you remember?"
Tears burst from my eyes. "Yes, love. Yes!"
"Oh Mother!" she's crying now.
Logan walks up behind me. The bed creaks as he climbs across it to sit. Neither Elise or I speak for a time, tears choke off all possibility of words. I stare at my daughter and wonder how I didn't know the moment I saw her.
"You look so much like me," I whisper my throat still tight.
"You're of the same genetic line," Logan explains. "You keep coming back to the same bloodline."
"I'm so sorry I didn't remember. I'm so sorry I left you alone. I'm ... I'm sorry!"
"Mom," Elise says laughing. "It's fine. I've had a great life. I'm just so happy to get to see you as your daughter. I've wanted for so many years to tell you ... I love you Mom. You're amazing, I've studied your lives and you've given me so much. Thank you. Thank you for being so amazing."
Tears flood again as I shake my head. My daughter. My beautiful daughter.
"Are you okay Elise?" Logan asks. "Have they harmed you?"
"No. I'm fine Dad. They banged me up a bit, nothing I can't handle."
"That's my girl," he says pride beaming in his words and on his face.
"So many things I want to say I can't think of ... I love you!" I say again.
Elise's face lights up with her smile. She wipes at the tears laughing. "I love you. It's so good to say that, I've wanted to tell you for so many years!"
The door behind her swings open. Marathe and two guards walk in. The guards rush forward grabbing Elise roughly by the arms. She fights them as they pull her to the center of the room forcing both of her arms out to the side.
"NO!" Logan and I scream at once.
"Let her go Marathe," Logan says his voice dangerous.
Marathe walks around Elise slowly eying her up and down. She steps in tracing her fingers along Elise's face.
"Such a pretty girl," Marathe says. "I dreamed once of having a girl. After Mateas, a Princess would be wonderful."
"You harm my daughter Marathe and I swear to you, I will make you suffer," I growl.
Marathe walks behind Elise stepping in close to her, staring at me over her shoulder.
"Oh will you?" she taunts me. "From your cell? Is that any way to treat the person who facilitated this reunion of lost souls?"
Logan slams his fist against the wall. "This is not a game Marathe!"
"Oh Logan, but it is. It's all part of the bigger plan. You're both just too small minded, too self-centered to see it. This is necessary."
The knife in her hand glitters appearing from nowhere. It slices through Elise's throat in a single motion and the blood pours out of her.
Chapter ten
Archer
"This is unacceptable!" Manco says from his position at the Council desk. "Are we to be accused with no request for evidence? What proof does Gold lay before this esteemed Council of any of these claims?"
"I have told the Council-"
"Told, yes! Told is all you've done. Proof is what we have requested. As I requested it in our private meeting. You are simply trying to sway the Council to override what I already told you. Your man is not in my territory."
Dracul stares at me without a word from his chair in the middle. He should be my ally in this. Silver could go either way, Green is against me, Black should be an ally. Blue I'm not sure. Are they a part of this conspiracy that I sense growing?
"Wise words. This Council granted you one breach of territory on minimal proof. You were allowed to invade White's territory with an exploratory force due to their long absence from this Council. What word do you bring back to us of this?" Cyrus the Silver King of Asia says.
"The expedition produced less than expected results but-"
"Ah, less than expected? What does that actually mean?" Neville, King of the Blues of Australia, asks leaning forward. The heavy inscribed gold plate around his chest clanks as he does.
"My missing man was not there," I answer. "But we found evidence of-"
"Evidence that leads you to believe he is in South America?" Cyrus interrupts.
"No we found evidence that leads us
to believe that White is trying to awaken the ancients."
"What evidence?" Dracul asks leaning forward. "Why is this not presented to this Council already?"
"It is being examined and studied by Remy. He wanted to form a final evaluation before we put it before the Council."
"Because you do not believe this Council is capable of evaluating this material on our own? We need your interpretation of it? Is this not further evidence that you seek to manipulate this Council to your own ends?" Manco accuses.
I stare at him completely at a loss for words. The implications of what he's accusing me of are far reaching. He leans back in his chair with a slight smile on his face. Anger sits in my gut like a ball of fire waiting to flare up so I push it down.
"That is a serious accusation and an insult. This Council knows very well I would not take such an action."
"Do we?" Cyrus asks. "Archer, this invasion of White followed by a request to invade Green is beyond unusual."
"I understand that."
"Is it not true," Cyrus' Queen says speaking for the first time. "That this is really an internal matter to the Golds? Is not all of this nothing more than a stunt pulled by your sister Marathe?"
The ball of fire explodes. I breathe deeply counting to ten then back down before trying to answer. Marathe. The mention of her name, her hand behind all of this, makes it hard for me to maintain control.
"She is my half-sister," I say.
"Given, but that does not answer the question," she says.
"Yes. There is evidence to indicate she is involved with the disappearances."
The Council members begin shouting one over another. I lock eyes with Dracul pleading for him to weigh in, to give me some sign or some kind of help. His face remains impassive as Council members rise to their feet.
"My formal request," I say raising my voice to be heard. "Is for permission to enter Green's territory. To secure my Queen, my man, and return them to my own territory. This would not be an act of war but one of rescue. I would request that Green escort myself and my team through their territory and open their bases to me for inspection."
The Council members shout louder and louder until it seems they will come to blows. Dracul rises from his chair turning to stare at the men and women to either side. Then slowly he hits his gavel against the desk.
Loving Two Dragons (Awakening Cycle Part 3) (BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance) Page 4
