by I. T. Lucas
Dark Choices The Accord
The Children Of The Gods Book 43
I. T. Lucas
Also by I. T. Lucas
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS
1: Goddess’s Choice
2: Goddess’s Hope
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Dark Stranger
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Enemy
4: Dark Enemy Taken
5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon
Dark Warrior
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Dark Guardian
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Dark Angel
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Dark Operative
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Dark Survivor
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love
22: Dark Survivor Reunited
Dark Widow
23: Dark Widow’s Secret
24: Dark Widow’s Curse
25: Dark Widow’s Blessing
Dark Dream
26: Dark Dream’s Temptation
27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling
28: Dark Dream’s Trap
Dark Prince
29: Dark Prince’s Enigma
30: Dark Prince’s Dilemma
31: Dark Prince’s Agenda
Dark Queen
32: Dark Queen’s Quest
33: Dark Queen’s Knight
34: Dark Queen’s Army
Dark Spy
35: Dark Spy Conscripted
36: Dark Spy’s Mission
37: Dark Spy’s Resolution
Dark Overlord
38: Dark Overlord New Horizon
39: Dark Overlord’s Wife
40: Dark Overlord’s Clan
Dark Choices
41: Dark Choices The Quandary
42: Dark Choices Paradigm Shift
43: Dark Choices The Accord
Dark Secrets
44: Dark Secrets Resurgence
PERFECT MATCH
Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort
Perfect Match 2: King’s Chosen
Perfect Match 3: Captain’s Conquest
SETS
The Children of the Gods books 1-3: Dark Stranger trilogy—Includes a bonus short story: The Fates take a Vacation
The Children of the Gods books 4-6: Dark Enemy Trilogy —Includes a bonus short story—The Fates' Post-Wedding Celebration
The Children of the Gods: Books 1-6—includes character lists
The Children of the Gods: Books 6.5-10—includes character lists
TRY THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS SERIES ON
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Contents
1. Rufsur
2. Edna
3. Eleanor
4. Kian
5. Richard
6. Jacki
7. Kian
8. Eleanor
9. Rufsur
10. Eleanor
11. Kian
12. Eleanor
13. Kalugal
14. Eleanor
15. Kalugal
16. Eleanor
17. Rufsur
18. Jacki
19. Kalugal
20. Kian
21. Kalugal
22. Eleanor
23. Rufsur
24. Edna
25. Rufsur
26. Eleanor
27. Rufsur
28. Kalugal
29. Rufsur
30. Edna
31. Rufsur
32. Eleanor
33. Kalugal
34. Kian
35. Rufsur
36. Kian
37. Eleanor
38. Edna
39. Eleanor
40. Vivian
41. Kian
42. Eleanor
43. Kalugal
44. Eleanor
45. Edna
46. Richard
47. Vlad
48. Kian
49. Richard
50. Syssi
51. Eleanor
52. Syssi
53. Kian
54. Rufsur
55. Eleanor
56. Rufsur
57. Kian
58. Edna
59. Rufsur
60. Kalugal
61. Rufsur
62. Edna
63. Rufsur
64. Kalugal
65. Edna
66. Eleanor
67. Rufsur
68. Eleanor
69. Kalugal
70. Syssi
71. Kian
72. Edna
73. Rufsur
74. Kalugal
75. Edna
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Copyright © 2020 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Dark Choices The Accord is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
1
Rufsur
It was past midnight when Rufsur said goodnight to Kalugal and Phinas, and although it wasn’t late by his standards, he was tired.
After the four days they’d spent at the clan’s village, a long list of items had awaited them back home, and even though none of it had been urgent, Kalugal had insisted on going over everything before retiring for the night.
Except, tiredness wasn’t the right term for what Rufsur was feeling. It was more a sense of ennui. His room in the mansion didn’t feel like home anymore, and as he closed the door behind him, his bachelor bed looked as inviting as a prison cot, and not because it was uncomfortable. The mattress was top of the line, the linens were hotel quality, and he had laundered them before leaving for the weekend at the village.
But after spending three nights with Edna and waking up holding her in his arms, he would never again be able to sleep alone and be okay with it.
That wasn’t how he wanted to live his life.
Did Edna feel the same?
Was she lying in bed awake and thinking about him?
There was only one way to find out, and even if she was already asleep, Rufsur didn’t care if he woke her up. He needed to see her face and hear her voice, and this time it was possible because she’d agreed to video calling.
Naturally, she’d been worried about the safety of calls made from Kalugal’s network to the clan’s, but h
e’d reminded her that Kian and Kalugal called each other using the same setup. If it was okay for Kian, it was undoubtedly okay for her.
Pulling out his phone, Rufsur kicked his shoes off and lay down on top of the covers.
In a way, their respective highly-encrypted networks echoed his and Edna’s relationship. They could connect, but they would never merge into one.
Was that his and Edna’s future?
No way.
This low-level depression wasn’t like him, and he needed to shake it off. So yeah, it had been tough saying goodbye to her on the clan’s airstrip, but he reminded himself that things were not as hopeless as they seemed.
Now that Edna was committed to finding a solution for them, Rufsur was confident that her formidable brain would come up with something. In addition, their plight was gaining support from both sides.
Even if the goddess refused to pressure her son into forming an alliance with Kalugal, Amanda and Syssi had indicated their willingness to help, and so had William.
On his side, he might have Jacki’s support, and his former crush could prove to be his most valuable ally in his fight for being with the woman he loved. Other than him, Jacki was the only person to whom Kalugal listened to, and if she pushed for unification, her mate would have a hard time refusing her.
Feeling optimistic again, Rufsur placed the call.
As Edna answered and her face came up on the screen, his heart leaped happily. She was in bed, her hair was fanned out over her pillow, and even though she looked tired, her smart eyes were smiling.
“Hello, beautiful.”
“Hi, handsome.” She sounded as tired as she looked.
“Have you been working too hard?”
“I had some catching up to do, and I got home late, but it seems like your day was longer than mine.”
“I called as soon as I could.”
“I’m not complaining. How are things over there? Has the snooping woman returned?”
“There has been no sign of her.”
“Any other suspicious activity?”
“Nothing so far. We are monitoring the streets on both sides of the property.”
Edna frowned. “What does the monitoring entail? Do you pay attention to all the vehicles passing through the streets or only those that make repeated rounds?”
“We keep on file the license plate numbers of all the vehicles belonging to our neighbors and their household employees, and since this is such a quiet neighborhood, it’s easy to identify traffic that is out of the ordinary.”
“What about all the deliveries? Amazon uses private operators, and many of the food deliveries from restaurants are made by Uber or other similar services. Their people use their own private vehicles that have only stickers to identify them. Anyone who wants to blend in just needs to put an Uber or a Lyft logo on their windshield.”
He chuckled. “We are well aware of that, and we are paying extra attention to those.”
“I’m sure you are. It just bothers me that William and Roni didn’t find out anything about that woman. She rented the car at the airport, which means that she’d arrived from somewhere, but her name wasn’t on any of the incoming flights of that day or the day before. A real estate agent taking pictures doesn’t need to conceal her identity.”
“True, and Kalugal is worried about that as well and is trying to puzzle it out. I used the opportunity to throw out hints left and right about how it’s not safe for us to remain here, but he pretended not to get them.”
Edna pursed her lips. “I don’t understand his nonchalance. Even if he doesn’t want to move into the village, he needs to relocate elsewhere.”
“I didn’t suggest that because I was trying to navigate him into considering the village.” Rufsur switched the phone to his other hand. “Jacki came up with an interesting idea, but I’m not sure how we can incorporate it.”
“At this point, I’ll take any and all suggestions, no matter how crazy or trivial.”
“It’s not a game-changer, but it might be one more piece of the puzzle. Jacki pointed out that both sides have a person who is immune to compulsion. Kian has Turner, and Kalugal has her. They could act as a buffer, the way Turner did for Kian during the initial stages of the negotiations between them.”
“That only works for phone communications. If Annani compels Kalugal, there isn’t much Jacki can do about it. She can’t stop the goddess.”
“No, but she can stop Kalugal. I offered to teach her how to knock him out with a well-aimed punch to the face.”
Edna laughed. “That could work as a momentary solution. But then what? Once he wakes up, she will have to knock him out again.”
“I hoped that you would come up with a better idea.”
“Not right now, but I’ll give it some thought.”
“I trust you to come up with something. You are smart and creative.”
“I am smart, but I don’t know about the creative part. I can bake decent cupcakes and cookies. That’s the extent of my creativity.”
He gave her a pouty look. “You haven’t made any for me.”
“There was no time. But I promise to have cupcakes and cookies waiting for you when you return in two weeks.” Edna smiled. “And this time, I will have proper booze for you as well. I asked Shai, Kian’s assistant, to give me the names of his favorite whiskeys, and I ordered a bunch. I also ordered a whole case of Snake Venom beer.”
Rufsur put a hand over his heart. “You really love me.”
“Of course I do.”
“I love you too. And I miss you.” He rubbed his chest. “How about you take your clothes off, and we talk about something sexy?”
“Like what?”
“One of the daring sex adventures you had with Robbie.”
She frowned. “Are you sure? Doesn’t it make you jealous to hear me talk about him?”
“Why would it? It’s not like I was celibate until I met you. I’ve been with countless human females.”
“It’s not the same because you didn’t love any of them. I didn’t have countless lovers, but I’m old enough to have been with quite a few, and none other than Robbie ever mattered to me. I don’t remember their names or even what they looked like.”
“I was in love once.”
Her eyes widened. “You were?”
“Well, I thought that I was until Kalugal talked some sense into me. It was right after we arrived in the United States. On the island, the women I had been with provided their sexual favors in exchange for payment. I’d never been with anyone who actually wanted me, so naturally, I fell in love with the first girl I had sex with who didn’t ask for money.”
“What happened?”
“Kalugal figured out that she wasn’t interested in a one-time payment. She wanted a wealthy husband who would keep on paying. Thanks to Kalugal, I had plenty of money to throw around, so she must have figured that I was a good catch.”
“You are the best, but not because of your money.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you still think about her?”
Rufsur shook his head. “Kalugal brought her up when I told him that you were the one for me. He said that I’d been mistaken before.”
“That’s not fair. You were young and naive when you met that girl.”
“True, but she wasn’t the only one. I was also smitten with Jacki. I wasn’t in love with her, but I was in serious lust.”
Edna grimaced. “Now I’m jealous.”
“Don’t be. It was just an infatuation. I didn’t know what the real deal was until I fell in love with you. What I felt for Jacki wasn’t even a faint echo of what I feel for you. You are the only woman I’ve ever loved and ever will.”
If Rufsur thought that his heartfelt declaration would make Edna happy, he was mistaken.
She was still frowning. “How do you feel about her now?”
“She is like a sister to me, or maybe a sister-in-law since I think of Kalugal as a brother. There really isn
’t anything for you to be jealous of.”
Edna sighed. “You are right. And even if you were in love with her at some point, I shouldn’t get all flustered over it when you are being so accepting of my love for Robbie. You have no idea how much I appreciate you for it.”
He let out a relieved breath. “That’s good to know. For a moment there, I thought that I’d painted myself into a corner with my confession. I really don’t know when to keep my mouth shut.”
“Don’t say that. I’m glad that we can talk so openly with each other about everything. Thanks to you, I can think back to my time with Robbie and enjoy my memories of him. Talking about him with you helps me heal.”
Rufsur grinned. “Good. Then let’s have one more therapeutic session. Tell me about another adventure.”
“I would love to.” Pushing up against the pillows, Edna angled the phone so more of her face was showing. “There was this one time we made love on a lakeshore… Are you sure it’s okay, though? It’s very unusual for a guy to want to hear about his girlfriend’s adventures with a former lover.”