"She has bespelled me," Theo said, his breaths a little too quick in coming.
"No, son. She has not," Aktor advised, leaving me more and more confused, because shouldn't he be the enemy? Why was he defending me now?
"We really have to get going," Isadora announced into the strained silence. "They'll send guards out to check the surrounding area when they determine Pyrgos no longer harbours you both."
"And she's coming with us?" Theo asked, indicating me with a nod of his dark haired head.
My shoulders drooped and suddenly Sonya was beside me, wrapping an arm around my frame.
"Aktor said it might be rough, but I had no idea," she whispered. "What's happened to Theo?"
Theo's head turned slowly to look at my best friend and for a moment I saw worry and indecision on his stark features. Of all the people to convince him that something wasn't right with him and not me, it was a human. A human he probably couldn't even remember.
"Where are we going?" he asked instead, sounding more calm now, but I could see a muscle tense in his jaw. "Auckland is no longer safe?"
"No, we've been based in Wellington, but Isadora had to return to Auckland for a family obligation and I chose to accompany her just in case. As it happens, it paid off."
"And I go where Aktor goes," Sonya declared proudly.
"There's a story there you need to tell me," I muttered.
She just beamed back at me from behind dusky blonde locks. I also noted that Aktor's face softened on her words.
"We've become close, Miss Eden," he supplied. "I'll tell you all about it once we're in the car."
He indicated a large dark sedan parked just across the grass clearing we were on, at the edge of a silent suburban street.
"Then we should go," Theo suggested, taking a step towards the vehicle, his eyes lingering on me for a second and then purposely turning away when he saw he'd been caught out.
Everyone started heading towards the car but I grabbed Isadora's arm before she made it too far. Her eyes darted down to where I gripped her and stayed there until I released my grasp.
"Just tell me this, can he be trusted?" I whispered.
"They can hear you, you know?" she replied waspishly.
"Tell me," I said, losing patience.
"Yes, he can be trusted. He could always be trusted."
I wanted to question her more, but it wouldn't have made a difference. Isadora had spoken, she was already walking away toward the car. I took one last look around the empty street we were on and wondered if I'd ever return to my home city again. Or if this was it for me. Outcast.
I could add more names to the list but right now I really was wearing my emotions on my sleeve.
The car was bigger than I expected. A limousine in fact. Black tinted windows hid the rear seating compartment, and Aktor suggested everyone get in there while he drove up front. He even donned a driver's cap, pulling it down low over is face.
I was the last to slip through the open back door, finding Theo sitting too close to Isadora and Sonya sitting on the opposite seat eagerly awaiting me. I slid in next to my friend and immediately realised my mistake. Theo was directly opposite me, when he looked up he was looking straight at my face.
He glanced out the side window, the muscle in his jaw still flexing.
I turned sideways and took in my friend. She'd lost some weight and there was a heaviness to her now that bubbly Sonya never had. Her eyes looked older, she wasn't even chewing on the strands of her hair. She sat still, smile in place, but there was a darkness just behind the façade.
"What happened?" I asked, knowing the question was more pertinent than I'd at first thought.
Sonya let a long breath of air out. Then reached for my hand and laced her fingers with mine.
"They came when I was shutting up the shop," she started, her eyes turning haunted and distant. "Two months after you'd left," she added. "If it wasn't for Aktor." And then she stopped, unable to get any more words out, tears filling her big blue eyes, her bottom lip trembling.
I glanced over at Isadora, who had been watching silently from her side of the car.
"The Rigas?" I demanded, aware that Theo had stilled.
Isadora nodded. "His guards, in any case."
I let a controlled breath of air out, turning back to my friend.
"How bad?" I whispered.
"Bad enough," came her reply.
"You know what they are? What I am?" She nodded and from the corner of my eye I saw Theo cock his head, his eyes boring into the side of my face. "Can you see the Elements?"
"No. But Aktor explained. And then I met Isadora." She leaned forward and stage whispered, "You were right, she can be a real bitch."
Theo let out a snort and then looked chagrined. Isadora glared at him and shifted a little away in the seat. It would have been perfect, but Theo reached for her hand, entwining it in his, and lifted it to his lips in apology.
"She's not the only one," I murmured, getting a raised eyebrow from him.
"So, Aktor?" I asked in a louder voice, making sure the butler could hear from the front seat.
"I traded my soul and your freedom for your friend, Miss Eden," came his careful and steady reply. "Did I make a mistake?"
I shook my head, which I hoped he saw in the rear view mirror.
"I thought you betrayed us," I commented, feeling so blastedly tired all of a sudden.
"I know," the old man replied. "And in a way I did." Pain etched into every word.
"I don't remember any of this," Theo remarked from his statue like position across the car.
"We'll work on getting your memory back," Isadora soothed.
It should have been me. I should have been reassuring my Thisavros. I should have been receiving the soft smile and squeeze of his hand in mine. It should have been me.
Isadora's eyes came up to mine and held my gaze. Neither of us said anything, the car a cesspit of unwanted emotions, moving silently through the darkened Auckland streets.
A private jet waited for us on the tarmac, fuelled and ready to go as soon as we boarded the plane. I walked down to the back of the cabin and sat myself down in a corner seat, fastening my belt and closing my eyes as soon as the engines roared to life, vibrating through the fuselage. Sonya had tried to sit with me, but she'd soon realised I just needed some space. In the end I had the rear part of the cabin to myself as the rest of them got reacquainted, attempting to tell Theo what had been happening in the political realms of Pyrkagia.
Like me, I think he was more concerned in the personal ones, his eyes darting down towards where I sat more than once during the flight. I spent the duration half sleeping, half aching, half watching the man who seemed so far out of my reach.
We landed in a crosswind, not unusual for Wellington. The rest of the passengers making suitable murmurs of concern as we crabbed our way through the sky towards the floodlit runway. For some reason it felt like a welcome, as though Wellington itself had reached out and tickled the underbelly of the airplane making it jump and jerk and sway.
A smile spread my lips as the wind buffeted the plane, when I opened my eyes he was watching me again. A remoteness that didn't belong there mixed with a longing that used to mean something, but now just proved how far we'd pulled apart. Not intentionally. Neither of us would have wanted this. And I was tired, if I was honest, with the interference of everyone else in my life, in our lives.
We'd battled prejudice and a long history of hatred to get where we were. We'd defied kings and laws, opened our hearts up to ridicule and the doomed prediction of failure. We'd done it all so we could be together.
And I suddenly realised we had failed. They'd been right. Theo and I weren't meant to be together.
"Come now, Miss Eden," Aktor said to my side. "It's not that bad."
I turned to find the old butler sitting beside me, I hadn't even heard him arrive. Athanatos don't age like humans, but we do age. Slowly. So very slowly. So, Theo's father looks older t
han him and so does Aktor, both near in age to the ancients, the original Ekmetalleftis created by Aetheros. Twenty-five thousand years old Theo had told me Aktor was. So he had wrinkles, and walked with a slight stoop. But I knew him to be as powerful as the man he served. He may not have been a prince born into privilege like Theo. But Aktor had power from age. A vast age.
Kind hazel eyes stared back at me, hints of amber and jade in the mix. Just like Theo's. All Pyrkagia look alike. Just like all Gi and all Aeras look alike. I was a mix of the two, Gi and Aeras, a bastardised version that was only coincidence.
"He's confused," Aktor said softly. "You can imagine how difficult this is for him. He can't remember you, but he said when he touched you in the cave he felt things too real to be mere fantasy. I assume he felt his Thisavros."
I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes. I couldn't talk about this. Not with anyone, and especially not with someone I used to consider a good friend, kind and knowledgable, and above reproach.
I understood what Aktor had done. I even applauded it. Sonya is like a sister to me, he did the right thing bargaining for her life. But here we are, Theo sitting down one end of the cabin whispering to his old flame, Isadora. And here I was, alone and forgotten sitting with the hired help.
That was a slight exaggeration. Aktor wasn't just the hired help. He was considered family. And let's not forget, he was remembered. I realised a bitterness had taken root inside me that I was futilely fighting, but lacked the strength to win.
"We also understand how hard this is for you, Miss Eden," the old man went on. "We'll try to make this as painless as it can be, but, my dear, what tries to break us, does make us stronger."
"Who's we?" I whispered.
"Isadora, Sonya and myself."
Isadora. This was exactly what that bitch wanted. It couldn't have gone better for her than if she'd tried.
"Oh, and Nico is also waiting for us," Aktor advised. "So, come on. He's dying to see you."
I stood up stiffly, my body beyond weary now.
"Between you and me," the butler whispered conspiratorially as we made our way down a now deserted cabin aisle, "I think he has a crush on our Sonya."
I snorted. I was sure it was exactly what the old man had been after.
"I thought she had a crush on you," I remarked.
"Therein lies the rub, my dear," Aktor said with no small amount of amusement. "But don't you think I'm a wee bit old for your friend?"
I really started laughing then, realising I may have harboured deep seated feelings of disappointment in what Aktor had chosen to do, regardless of the necessity of his actions, but I knew he and I would get to the other side, still intact. As for Theo and me, I had no such hopes.
We were still laughing as we stepped off the bottom stair, walking out onto tarmac at Wellington Airport. A car sat not too far away, so we'd obviously made it to the private hangars off to the side. Everyone was standing beside the vehicle waiting for us, I had the impression they'd been waiting a while. How long had Aktor let me sit there after they'd all disembarked before he spoke?
A shadow peeled off from the group and walked towards us, becoming recognisable in the dim light the closer he came. The spitting image of his cousin, Nico wore the good looks with a roguish air, rather than a sophisticated one. He ran a hand through his messed up dark hair and smiled down at me.
Then asked, "Don't I get a hug?"
I shrugged my shoulders. Nico was the least of my adversaries. He'd opposed our relationship in the beginning, even going so far as to try to hand me over to the Gi when they first came looking. But it had all been for his beloved Pyrkagia. And if I wasn't mistaken he was now an outcast too.
I was sure Pyrkagia would always hold his heart and allegiance in some form or other, but the man was definitely on the out with the King.
I opened my arms and he rushed in, lifting me off the tarmac and swinging me around in a bear hug to rival all others. I was breathless and laughing hard enough to almost pee my pants by the time he deposited me on the ground with the confusing and whispered words of, "Watch this."
Then he kissed me hard. On the lips, in front of everyone, shocking me so much that I just stood there, like the moron I obviously was.
There was a buzz of noise in the background, then I was wrenched away from hard, hot arms and landed on the hard, cold tarmac at my feet instead.
And I looked up in time to see Theo beating the crap out of his cousin. Isadora yelling in the background trying to tear them apart. Sonya blinking and ducking behind an amused Aktor who simply watched on without saying a word.
Finally, when Theo had decided Nico had learned his lesson, or maybe his arms were getting tired from all that swinging and punching, he stood up and took two steps away from his cousin. Then he sucked in air like it was his last chance at survival and began to shake his head.
"Fuck!" he burst on a desperate exhalation. "I have no idea why I just did that."
I held my breath, thinking it had to be the Thisavros connection. Thinking maybe this was the turning point and everything would make sense to him again.
He swung around to face me and pulled at his usually well groomed hair as though losing his mind.
No. It wasn't making any sense. My breath left me in a defeated rush.
"Who are you?" he pleaded.
Nico spat a wad of bloody spit on the tarmac beside him, making Theo and I both look at where he still half lay.
"She's your life, you fucking idiot," he slurred, flexing his jaw and making it click. I grimaced at the sound of bone re-knitting. "I was hoping to wake you the fuck up."
"It didn't work," Theo ground out. His eyes came back to my face; I'm not sure what he saw there. I know I was feeling a little lost. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just don't know you. And I...." Another grip on his hair as though he was being tortured. Or the words were being tortured out of him. "And I need you to stay away," he finished, turning on his heel and marching toward the car.
Ignoring everyone, he slipped into the front passenger seat, eyes forward, face hard.
"So, that went well," Nico said climbing to his feet.
"I did warn you," Isadora snarled.
"Oh, fuck off, bitch!" Nico spat back, making my eyebrows rise halfway up my forehead.
"A lot has happened, Miss Eden," Aktor said softly at my side. "Perhaps you and I could go find a late night coffee house and have a wee chat."
"I'll drive Bitchy, Moody, and Sexy back to the house," Nico offered, receiving a glare from Isadora, nothing from Theo ensconced in the car, and a shy smile from Sonya.
"Very good," the butler said, waving them all off, and before I knew it, I was standing alone on the tarmac with a man who had already sold me out once and I realised, belatedly, that he was probably about to do it again.
How could he want me to stick around, if it hurt his master so?
"All right," I said with what little strength and courage I had left. "Let's talk."
The Earth let out a wretched wail, the ground rolling beneath us with its force, that matched, I was sure, the agony inside my heart.
And then it started raining.
Chapter 4
Here I Am
Water ran in torrents through the gutters outside the small café's window, bits of twigs and leaves and trash washing away down the overflowing drains. Cars splashed through the puddles causing arcs of cascading spray to cover the few pedestrians who were brave enough to face the downpour.
It hadn't stopped raining since the airport and it didn't look like it was going to stop.
The Earth sighed; a sad, resigned sound.
I was frowning when Aktor made it back to the table with a plate of sandwiches and two steaming mugs of coffee. The café was one on the main stretch of road in Newtown, slightly worn around the edges like the old weatherboard bungalows popular in this suburb. The coffee smelled good, though, and my stomach appreciated the sight of food.
"Help yoursel
f, Miss Eden. They are for you," Aktor advised, pushing the plate towards me and then stirring sugar into his coffee with a casualness that belied the tension filling the small space of the shop we were in.
"You're not eating?" I asked, aware the polite conversation was a prelude to something much darker and sinister indeed.
"I have eaten this evening, my dear. I dare say, you have not." He sipped his latte, unassuming hazel eyes staring at me from over the top.
I picked at a sandwich, wanting nothing more than to eat one, but unable to stomach anything with this oppressive weight hanging over my head.
"Why are we here?" I asked, alarmed to hear the warble in my voice.
"To give Theodoros time to cool off," Aktor replied softly. "And for you and I to rebuild what was once solid and is now, I should think, quite unstable. We need each other, Cassandra."
Oh, I hadn't heard that name for far too long. Theo's name for me.
I blinked, picked up a sandwich for something to do, and took a bite. My stomach thanked me.
"You know," Aktor said, looking out the window at the passing cars and pouring rain, "ever since he was young, Theodoros has never shied away from saying what's on his mind. I had admired it, until this evening. Thought it a sound quality to have in the cut-throat arena of Ekmetalleftis politics. He could so easily have been cowed by his father, but instead he grew a thick skin and the ability to speak his mind regardless of consequences." He sighed, the Earth mimicked him.
"I would have thought some circumspection wouldn't have gone astray," I remarked, taking another bite of the sandwich. I still couldn't really taste anything, but the motion of biting, chewing and swallowing seemed to calm.
"Indeed, and he has that ability when necessary. An ability that lets him pick and choose where best to speak his mind. Unfortunately, his world view is skewed right now, correct? He thinks you nothing but a stranger, and a threat at that. A Gi for all intents and purposes, who possesses Pyrkagia when she should not. Therefore we are subject to his verbal fits."
"Verbal fits," I repeated numbly. That's one way to call it.
The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3) Page 4