Heart of Stone

by Debra Mullins

  “Agreed.” Azotay stroked his chin, traced the scar on the underside of his jaw with his thumb. “Summon the other Elders to meet in my office ten minutes from now. The Stone Singer must have a weakness we can exploit. Bring everything you have on her.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Quillan bobbed his head. “We already know of one weakness. A father-in-law. They are very close.”

  “The father-in-law, is he Atlantean? Maybe we can turn him.”

  “No, my lord. Human.”

  “Even better. Capture him, bring him here.” Azotay started to walk away.

  “There may be a problem with that.”

  Azotay spun back. “What did you say?”

  “The father-in-law. There may be a problem.” Quillan visibly shrank as Azotay loomed over him. “Surveillance from yesterday indicates he may be protected by a Warrior.”

  “What Warrior would dare?”

  “None of ours, certainly. We suspect he might be a member of the lost temple of Mneseus. They’ve been seen in this area in the past.”

  “Mneseus!” Azotay grabbed Quillan by his shirtfront. “Are you certain?”

  “No, no, we’re not, my lord.” Quillan’s hand hovered over Azotay’s, though he clearly dared not touch him. “That’s what I’m saying. It’s all speculation.”

  Azotay hauled the other Warrior closer. “Get me facts!” Shoving Quillan aside, he stormed down the path. “My office! Ten minutes!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  Mneseus. The name echoed through Azotay’s mind, waking dark memories from a cold, forgotten place. A young boy. The mother he adored. The father he longed to please. And him, Prince Perfect.

  His hands curled into fists. Mneseus. He would take pleasure in destroying the temple and everyone in it—especially the prince himself.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Adrian Gray opened his eyes as he came back to himself, his mind, body, and soul at peace with the completion of his meditation. Poised on one leg, the other bent at thigh and knee, and his arms reaching toward the sky, he’d held this last position of the orekatu until he’d finished fully balancing his energies. He’d have to be at full strength for the coming battles.

  He lowered his leg and arms, shaking out his straining muscles, and reached for the towel he’d draped over the rail of the deck. The exquisite precision required of the ritual not only worked his body but also honed his control over the tiniest of movements and enhanced his ability to remain utterly still. Despite the chill in the early morning air, sweat misted his skin. He rubbed the towel over his face, then down his bare arms and chest.

  The peaceful energy of the pueblo settled over him. Whenever he came to visit a friend here, he stayed at this inn for that very reason. Not that it was silent. Beyond the inn, he could hear the high-pitched calls of children as they headed for the school bus stop. The crunch of tires on dirt roads. Birds calling. The barks of the many dogs running loose throughout the pueblo. Absent were the intrusive sounds of the urban city: no car horns, shrilling cell phones, or street vendors. Delicious smells came from the main building of the inn, where breakfast for the inn’s guests was being prepared.

  His stomach growled. Blue corn pancakes, the inn’s specialty, sounded really good about now.

  He slung the towel over his shoulder. Footsteps sounded from the courtyard below him. He froze, listening intently. Though there were three other rooms that had access to the wooden deck of the inn, no one had disturbed him thus far. The deck was on the second floor and was surrounded by trees, so it offered some privacy, but it could also hide anyone sneaking up on him. He stayed still until he heard the murmurs of a male and a female voice, the squeal of a child. One stealthy step got him to the rail, where he was able to peer through the trees to the courtyard. The family of three walked along the pebbled path toward the main house, where breakfast awaited.

  He smiled. No threat there. He headed back to his room, a shower and pancakes on his mind. His cell phone was ringing as he entered the room. He reached for it, but it fell silent. He checked the missed calls list, noted the familiar number, and hit redial, mentally moving blue corn pancakes further down on this morning’s to-do list. If his superior at the temple was calling him, it had to be important.

  The call was answered immediately. “Hey, Adrian. I was just leaving you a message.”

  “Now you won’t have to. What’s up, Von?”

  Von’s voice grew heavy. “A family of Seers was killed yesterday.”

  “Who?” Adrian sat on the edge of his bed. “Not the Montanas?”

  “No, a relative. A cousin of Maria Montana’s, Lorinda Torrez.”

  “What happened?”

  “She and her husband were taking their twin boys out for pizza after basketball practice when their van exploded.”

  Adrian hissed a curse. “Are they sure it wasn’t just mechanical failure?”

  “The van was brand new, and witnesses reported smelling sulfur.”

  “Flame Walker. Damn it.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Von said. “The Mendukati have been training Flame Walkers as assassins for years. Where are you now? Still in Arizona?”

  Adrian got up and began to walk around the room, cooling down his recently worked muscles. “No, New Mexico. The Stone Singer is safe with the Montanas in Sedona. I’m guarding Ben Wakete.”

  “Wakete? The father-in-law?”

  “There’s a strong possibility the Mendukati might leverage him to pressure Faith into helping them. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Glad you’re on that,” Von said. “Because guess who’s in town? Azotay.”

  Adrian halted. “Where?”

  “Your neck of the woods. New Mexico area.”

  “Hell, Von, you got any more good news for me? Maybe an asteroid is going to hit the planet?”

  “Not that I know of. Just keep your eyes open, Adrian. You know how slippery that bastard is.”

  “I’ve heard. Thanks for the heads-up, Von. I’ll keep you posted.” Adrian ended the call. Azotay’s presence on the heels of the death of a Stone Singer and the reemergence of a new Stone suddenly made sense—in a sick, apocalyptic way. The Mendukati were upping their game.

  He scrolled through the contacts on his phone. Finding the number he sought, he tapped to call it and brought the phone to his ear, listening to the ringing on the other end.

  And braced himself to tell Maria Montana that another member of her family had been murdered.

  * * *

  A couple of hours after Faith left with Cara, Darius entered the family tenplu on the top floor of the house. The Montana temple area had been constructed in the traditional Atlantean style with a greenhouse roof to let the sun in and—his mother’s touch—bright, flowering plants thriving in boxes on either side of the large room. To his left lay a door that led out to the rooftop garden where his mother grew herbs and where members of his family often went to meditate, soaking in the rays of blessed Ekhia, the sun, to recharge their powers. Before him stretched an expanse of sand dividing the room. Seven short marble pillars lined a path through the sand, each one holding a colored stone signifying one of the chakras. On the other side of the sandpit, embedded in the far wall, stood the door to the vault.

  Darius set off across the sand, a hum of power sweeping him like some kind of sensor as he passed the pillars. The Agrippa Boundary, a mystical energy field that guarded the vault against intruders, recognized him as both a Seer and a Montana and allowed him to pass unmolested.

  Anyone not recognized by the Agrippa Boundary would experience a nasty surprise as the energy of the standing stones defended the vault, usually sending the intruder flying with a hard jolt of energy. Most did not rise again immediately.

  Darius got to the other side without incident. He entered the code into the keypad of the first security measure and inserted his hand into the reader. When a green light flashed, he looked into the retina scanner. A flash of red into his eyes, another green light,
and the vault lock clicked.

  “Darius.”

  He paused in pulling open the heavy door as his mother crossed the sand. Each of the seven stones flashed as she walked by, as if recognizing her. Which made sense, since she had tuned and set the Agrippa Boundary herself. “Hi, Mom.”

  She stopped beside him and glanced at the partially open door. “You’re getting the stone.”

  “Cara called and said they were on their way back from shopping, so I thought I’d get it ready.” He waited, sensing her turmoil. “Is that okay?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry. I’ve had some upsetting news.”

  He stepped away from the door, her distress swamping him. “What happened?”

  “Adrian called. He said—” She took a deep breath. “He said a cousin of mine was killed.”

  “A cousin? I didn’t think you had any more family.” A sudden burst of guilt from her brought understanding. “But you do.”

  “Of course I do.” She raised damp blue eyes to his. “Years ago my family made the decision to scatter and not contact each other as a way to throw the Mendukati off the scent. It worked, mostly. I married your father, and when you were born, when we realized you were a Seer, he built this house to protect us all.” She stared somewhere over his shoulder, clearly reliving some old memory. From the burned-coffee-grounds-and-chalk taste of her emotions, he knew the memory was a bad one. “You have no idea what it was like, being hunted by them. Homes burned, battles fought, family killed. I didn’t want you to know.”

  He bit back bitter words. He’d forgiven her, mostly, for the secret she’d kept from him and his brother and sister until just a few weeks ago, about the Mendukati and their mission to murder Seers. But now and again, that hurt still flared. “I know you were trying to protect us, Mom, but I hope you can see now that ignorance wasn’t the way.”

  “Yes, yes, we’ve been through this. And you’re right, I do see that now. At least if you know the enemy exists, you can watch for them.”

  “Exactly.” He came to wrap his arms around her. “I’m sorry about your cousin. What was her name?”

  “Lorinda.” She clung to him for a moment, then stepped back, brushing the tears from her face. “We played together as children, but I hadn’t seen or heard from her in over thirty years. She was a little younger than I was. She had a husband, children. They were all killed in the same car fire.”

  “And they’re certain it wasn’t just a random accident?”

  “Adrian seemed sure.” She sighed. “I guess this really is war.”

  “That nut Criten breaking into our house and trying to kill everyone back in September kind of made that clear for me.”

  His wry tone brought a weak smile to her lips that immediately disappeared. “You’re right. I didn’t want it to be true. I wanted to believe that time of my life was over. But maybe it will never be over.”

  “It will be if we stop them. If we can figure out how to use this stone against them.”

  “That’s why we need the Stone Singer. I understand.” She laid a hand on his arm. “I was on my way to talk to you when I got Adrian’s call. I have something to say, but it’s difficult, so I need you to listen.”

  Her inner conflict batted at him like tiny fists, a whirlwind of fear and hope on top of her grief. He let go of the door. “This is about more than your cousin, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. There’s something else I need to tell you, but I don’t know how.”

  “Mom?”

  She turned to face him but didn’t come closer. “You were very angry with me, all of you were, for keeping the danger of the Mendukati a secret from you all these years. I don’t want you to think I’m keeping things from you again.”

  “Keeping what things?” Her turmoil increased, splashing his empathic senses like hot vinegar. “Mom, you’re scaring me. What else haven’t you told us?”

  “Not us. You.” She gripped her pendant in her hand, the symbol of the apaiz nagusi, the high priestess of the Seers. “You know my primary power.”

  “Yes, matchmaking.” The hesitation in her eyes and her trepidation suddenly made sense. “No. Not me.”

  “Do you think I want this?” she snapped. “Matchmaking is very much like empathy, and I have no more choice in what is revealed to me than you do when the emotions of others are revealed to you. And when it involves one of my own children—”

  “No, I’m not buying it.” He turned back to the door, started to pull it open, then stopped again. “Becca loved me. I know she did. You can’t fool an empath.”

  “You’re right,” his mother agreed. “Even though she was not your destined mate, she would have made you happy.”

  “Destined mate.” He gave a harsh laugh. “She left because she couldn’t handle being married to a cripple, and if she couldn’t hack it, the woman who truly loved me, then who could? Who could possibly be my so-called destined mate, especially now?”

  “Faith.”

  “What?” He literally fell back a step. “I’ve known the woman for twenty-four hours. And there’s a whole bunch of reasons why it would be stupid to get involved with her.”

  “I see what I see,” his mother snapped. “Do you think I want this for my son? That he should be matched with a member of the group who murdered my mother? Killed my cousin and her children? I wanted to tell you, to warn you, so you could be careful.”

  “Careful. Everyone’s telling me to be careful.” His mind whirled with the implications of what she was telling him. His mother was never wrong about these things, so if she said Faith was meant for him, then she was, at least on a certain level. “You’d think your power would take into account things such as she used to work for the enemy of the Seers.”

  She threw up her hands. “It is what it is. Just be careful around her. Maybe it will all work out.”

  “You don’t sound too confident about that.”

  She sighed. “I hope I am wrong, that she truly means us no harm. But it’s hard to forget.”

  He reached out to squeeze her hand. “I know, and I’ll be careful.”

  “That’s all I can ask. Perhaps you will know more after you’ve seen her work with the stone. How it reacts to her may tell us whether she can be trusted or not. Either way, I don’t want her at Rafe’s Soul Circle on Saturday.”

  “Wait, what? Saturday? Rafe’s walking his Soul Circle now? Surely he’s not ready yet.”

  “When I told him of the murder of my cousin and her family, he grew very quiet. Very grim. I’ve never seen him like this before. He said that we all need to be at the top of our games to beat these people, that this was necessary.” She shook her head. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s determined. He said that if he’s not ready now, he never will be. He won’t be satisfied until he completes the ritual, no matter the risk.”

  “And the risk in this case is him losing himself to his powers completely, ceasing to be Rafe.” Darius frowned. Rafe’s abilities included channeling a being called the Hunter, a primeval fighter who took over Rafe’s body and could wreak carnage if given the chance. Rafe himself seemed to disappear when the Hunter fully manifested, making it even worse on his brother when he came back to himself. The Hunter held the key to Rafe’s ability to find anyone, anywhere.

  And Darius’s injuries were the direct result of one of the Hunter’s rampages.

  “He says he has better control of it now since he formed the mating bond with Cara,” his mother was saying. “But I don’t know. I’m afraid for him. You saw what happened when Jain Criten tried to kill all of us right in this very room.”

  “Rafe’s Hunter stopped him,” Darius said.

  “With the help of his mating bond with Cara. It took a lot out of both of them, remember? Your brother was in the hospital for days.”

  Her fear washed over him, and he pulled her close for another hug, then leaned back to look into her eyes. “Mom, stop borrowing trouble. Rafe does have Cara to he
lp him. And if I’m willing to trust him—”

  “I just wish he would take more time, practice. Hone his abilities. But he’s sworn to master this, to be able to defend us. I don’t want him to rush. It could be dangerous.” She shook her head again, turned away from him and paced a couple of steps.

  “This war is speeding up a lot of things,” Darius said. “And your cousin’s murder, that brings it closer to home. Try to be positive. What if Rafe is successful and achieves total control over his powers? That could only help us.”

  “I know, I know. I will try to visualize that outcome. Perhaps it will help. Now.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t want to think about any of it anymore.” Her tension eased enough that he felt it as she shored up her emotional control. “Now let’s get that Stone. I never tire of seeing it.”

  * * *

  Close to noon, Faith came downstairs after stowing her new clothes in her room. Cara had insisted on paying, their security escort watching every move but saying nothing. Faith had protested, but Cara had stated that since Faith was there to help the family and had arrived with nothing through no fault of her own, the Montanas felt it was only right they provide her with a few necessities as part of her payment for the job she was there to do. They’d given Cara money to do just that, and nothing Faith said would dissuade her.

  Besides, if Faith tried to use her credit card or get cash out of an ATM, she might leave a trail for the Mendukati to find her. So she had acquiesced. In Albuquerque Darius had mentioned buying her whatever she needed, and it was good to see he kept his word, at least in this.

  She went through the empty kitchen and out the sliding doors to the patio, then stopped. Though it was mid-October, it had been unseasonably warm this week, and Tessa had apparently decided to take advantage. She lay stretched out on a lounge chair near the pool, wearing sunglasses and a white bikini that accented her athletic build and already amazing tan. She appeared to be sleeping, and Faith was content to leave her that way. She started toward the cabana, which she had been told was Darius’s workroom.