So Still The Night

by Kim Lenox

  A raised stone wall, just a foot or so high, circled a gazing pool. There was nothing else. No secret path or magic tower. She put down his things on the stones and sat, disappointed.

  A gentle breeze rippled the surface of the water, momentarily warping the reflection of the full moon. Orange and silver ornamental carp twisted below the surface, their scales glinting in the moonlight.

  Her reflection peered up, a sympathetic confidante.

  “What am I going to do?” she whispered, her heart swollen and tender. “I love him. Oh, yes. I do. And I’m miserable without him.”

  Her mirror image smiled, appearing to bare teeth. Absently Mina touched the back of her head and found her hair, though mussed from the day, still pinned in place—nothing at all like the long, dark hair that swirled below.

  A hand sprang from the water and jerked her by the wrist, toppling her face-first into the black water.

  The shock of cold forced the breath from her lungs. Instinctively she inhaled. Air, not water, invaded her mouth and her nose. Hands on her wrists pulled her down . . . down . . . down. The moonlight grew faint. Mina struggled. Writhed. Kicked to free herself.

  A pale face hovered. A sharp, painful pressure—teeth—clamped down on her nose, ending with a ripple of dark hair and a flash of silvery scales. Two hands pushed her and jostled her through a hole—a tunnel. Her feet found purchase on solid stone. Stairs. Eyes wide, she reached for an orange, wavering glow.

  Mina burst free of the water. She collapsed, gasping, onto a flat expanse of a mosaic floor. She embraced the blue and white tiles. Her hair. Her skin. Her clothes. Completely dry.

  Mark crouched over her, unsmiling. “What are you doing here?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “She bit my nose,” Mina exclaimed.

  His eyebrows went up. “I see the teeth marks.” He pried away her hand and smoothed the padded tip of his index finger over the tender spot. “She didn’t break the skin though.”

  “What is she?”

  “She’s . . . a woman.” He shrugged, nonchalant. “In the water.”

  Mina pushed up to sit. “I expect a better explanation than that.”

  He stood. “She’s an outcast Nereid, biding her time until she can go home.”

  “A Nereid,” she repeated in disbelief.

  But of course, she did believe.

  He extended his hand and hoisted her up. “For the time being, she’s the keeper of this spring. She’s not supposed to let just anyone come down. She must have liked you.”

  A cavern of close-set stone blocks spread above them. Two multitined candelabra lit the darkness. The tiles under their feet formed a large octopus, its coiling tentacles spread out in all directions. Against the wall lay a narrow pallet, strewn with blankets. The mineral scent of springwater filled her nose.

  “What is this place?” Her voice echoed faintly.

  “A Roman bath, long ago covered over by the city.”

  “Can you hear the Dark Bride’s voice down here?”

  Mark smiled tightly. “Not so much.”

  Mina gasped, her heart burgeoning with hope. “So you can stay here, protected, until the wave is finished?”

  “Something like that.”

  She wouldn’t talk to him any more about her father, the Eye or the Dark Bride. There was nothing more to discuss. When the wave was over, he would hunt. And as a result, he would either live or die.

  “You’re not angry with me for coming here?” she asked.

  “Not as angry as I ought to be.” Candlelight reflected off his jaw and the hollows of his cheeks.

  Mina moved into his shadow and touched her hand against the center of his shirt.

  “Don’t, Mina.” He backed off a step.

  She dropped her arms to her sides. “I came looking for you for a reason.”

  He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “I wanted to be with my husband.”

  He looked down and closed his eyes. “You were right when you said one day . . . one day I’d have to leave.” The muscle in his neck moved as he swallowed. “I don’t stay, Mina. I never have. I could never be the husband you deserve. Even if I come through this, eventually I’d have to go. It’s not right that I keep you from all the things that will bring you happiness.”

  “Happiness.” She smiled, and her vision blurred with tears. “This moment . . . being with you, brings me happiness. It’s enough.”

  Mina backed toward the pallet. With trembling fingers she unfastened the buttons at the front of her bodice.

  “Alexander Helios, son of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, be my husband. Be my safe place now, tonight, and let me be yours.”

  His lips parted on a breath. “You . . . know.”

  She nodded. “Your vexatious sister, whom I’m afraid I don’t care for all that much, paid me a visit tonight and told me everything.” Mina pushed the garment from her shoulders. “She wants you to know she’s gotten her orders to kill you.”

  Mark didn’t so much as blink. Instead he watched, fixated as she removed her bodice and untied her skirts. “I’ll concern myself with her tomorrow.”

  Held within his hot gaze, she barely felt the chilled air of the underground chamber.

  With a soft curse, he closed the distance between them and seized her by the waist, lifting her against him, carrying her to his bed. She curled around him, inhaling his scent and burying her hands into his hair. Gently he knelt and laid her atop the blankets. He tore the shirt from his shoulders.

  “My wife. My beautiful wife.” Braced on rippling arms, he lowered himself atop her. “You’re the only one. In all my life, you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. The only woman I’ve ever wed.”

  “Wake up, sweetheart. It’s morning.” Mark lay propped on his elbow, looking down at Mina’s flushed, sleeping face.

  Naked, she buried her face against his neck. “Can’t we just stay here?”

  “You know we can’t.” He bent to press a kiss to her temple.

  The time had come for him to leave Mina and go out into the city. They dressed in silence, each helping the other with the fastening of buttons. A moment later and they stood at the edge of the stairs. Black-blue water rippled and slapped against the stones. Mina’s nervousness was obvious.

  “Here.” Mark pressed a coin into her palm. “Give her something shiny on the way up. She likes pretty things.”

  With a squeeze, he led her down the steps. “Are you ready?”

  Mina nodded.

  “One. Two. Three.”

  Together they sank beneath the surface. Familiar with the narrow dimension of the tunnel, he guided and pulled her through. Once inside the column of the well, they ascended. Early-morning light revealed the Nereid’s lithe outline against the gray stone. Like an ancient princess, bound forever to a watery tower, she circled them, stirring the water with her silvery tail. Yet her eyes were wide, and she shunned Mina’s proffered gift. Instead, she pointed upward.

  Mark looked. Mina’s hands clenched on to his shoulders.

  On the surface above, a face peered down, a black patch clearly visible.

  With a strong series of kicks, Mark conveyed Mina to the surface. She grabbed on to the ledge, and he hoisted her up. Leeson’s open hand reached down. Mark gripped the palm, and with a press of his boots against the stone, climbed out. Water sluiced off his clothes, his skin, leaving him dry.

  “Your lordship, you’ve visitors,” Leeson announced.

  “Dangerous visitors?” Mark inquired darkly. “Or visitors with whom I should like to . . . visit?”

  “Both, I’d say.”

  Mark’s curiosity aroused, he took Mina by the hand. For the first time, he took his wife into the house he had hoped they could share as man and wife. A house in progress. One with many improvements to be made.

  “Where?” Mark inquired.

  “He’s in the study.”

  Mark drew Mina aside. Leeson waited near the study door, his gaze f
ocused toward the entrance hall of the house. It was early yet, and no workmen had arrived. The hallways and rooms lay silent.

  Mark drew his fingertips along Mina’s jaw. “Thank you.”

  It was all he could say. Bigger, more daring words skidded to a halt at the back of his throat. She nodded.

  He bent, kissing her sweetly along the corner of her mouth, and then full on. A possible good-bye. She realized it too, he saw, for she blinked away a sudden glaze of moisture in her eyes.

  Mina left Mark with reluctance. She feared at any moment he would be gone, and she would be left with only memories. Upstairs she washed. Their trunks had been delivered from the Savoy. Fixed on tasks of normalcy, she stood in her undergarments in the expansive dressing room and put away her things. When she reached for one of her black mourning dresses, she paused. No. Today she would wear the blue gown Mark had purchased for her. Fighting colors. The color of his eyes. Once dressed, she returned downstairs.

  From the study came a volley of shouted curses. The wood, the chandeliers, shook with their intensity. Something crashed against the door and fell with a secondary shatter. She flinched. Was she to simply stand here and listen? Should she attempt to intercede?

  A young woman appeared from the direction of the kitchen. Dressed in a smart, dark blue traveling suit, she carried a round silver tray with tea service. An easy smile lifted her lips. “You must be Lady Alexander.”

  Slightly shorter in stature than Mina, the woman was, quite simply, beautiful. Pale hair twisted in intricate coils at the base of her neck. Ringlets gleamed, perfectly turned, at either side of her face.

  Crash. More bellowed cursing.

  She didn’t so much as flinch. Instead she asked brightly, “Would you care for a cup of tea?”

  Mina followed her into the drawing room, directly across the entrance hall from Mark’s study.

  The smaller, blond woman lowered the tray to a table. With a turn of her shoulders, she greeted Mina again. “I’m so thrilled to meet you. Mark, married? You can’t be just any woman, to have captured his heart.”

  Mina smiled. She had captured his heart. After their night together, she had no doubt of that. Days after their marriage ceremony, they’d without a doubt truly become man and wife. Despite the pending danger, the glow of love arose warm in her cheeks.

  She drew closer to the woman. “It’s clear you know who I am, but I’m afraid I’m a bit in the dark as to your identity.”

  She laughed. “Of course. How impolite of me. I am Elena, Lady Black. Lord Black is my husband.”

  “Lord Black.” Mina tensed. Mark had mentioned the elder Guard on a number of occasions, always with the understanding that when he returned from the Inner Realm, it would be to assassinate him. Selene had already claimed orders in that regard. Were they all circling now, like vultures?

  “Oh, dear. I can see I’ve upset you.” Elena’s smile dropped. She lowered herself onto the settee and patted the cushion beside her. “Please sit.”

  Mina did sit, but only because the room spun so wildly about her. With a frown, she met the other woman’s eyes.

  “Why are you and Lord Black here?”

  “Because they’re going to help me,” Mark said from the door.

  Another man appeared behind him, just as tall as Mark. His hair was darker than night. Intense, gray eyes settled on Mina. A chill shot through her as if by that mere glance, he assessed her completely, inside and out.

  “Fine choice, Alexander.”

  Mark winked at Mina.

  Mina frowned, perplexed. “What do you mean, they’re going to help us? You’ve always told me Archer was to be feared.”

  Archer elbowed Mark. “You said that? I’m flattered.”

  Mark rolled his eyes.

  Elena touched her hand. “Archer petitioned the Primordial Council to delay Mark’s assassination orders. They refused and granted Selene’s request.”

  “I think it’s terrible,” Mina said, scowling, “that a sister would volunteer herself to assassinate her own brother. Her twin, no less. She came to the house last night just to taunt me with her vicious orders.”

  Mark interjected, “But we as Shadow Guards are expected to be vicious. Fearsome. Ruthless. I understand the challenge and bear her no ill will.”

  Archer nodded in agreement, and held up a piece of parchment stamped with a triangular, black seal. “However, due to special circumstances, they’ve granted Elena and me permission to offer whatever assistance we can to Mark.” He deposited the document onto a side table, and moved to stand in front of the bay window.

  Mina’s gaze veered between her husband and the darker Guard. “What special circumstances?”

  “Because six months ago, Mark sacrificed himself to Transcension in order to save Archer,” Elena revealed in a soft voice. “Not only Archer, but his sister and me, and the entire city of London. He sacrificed himself for the good of many.”

  “You’re exaggerating greatly,” Mark retorted. His cheeks flushed a ruddy, masculine shade.

  “I’m not exaggerating,” she murmured to Mina. “If not for your husband, Archer would not be here today and neither would I. The Council, despite their caution, is grateful. Archer persuaded them to reward Mark with this final chance.”

  Mark drew closer and touched his hand against the back of Mina’s neck. “The chunks of missing time . . . they were caused by the Primordial Council. They utilized focused waves of Amaranthine power to debilitate me during the times when I’d grown most vulnerable to the Dark Bride, effectively preventing me from being used toward her dark purposes. They’ve delayed the effects of my deterioration.”

  Archer nodded. “Because they want you to survive.”

  “Then why the order for his assassination?” Mina blurted angrily.

  She stood and went to the table, where she retrieved the parchment Archer had left behind moments before. She lifted it to read, but the characters blurred . . . and disappeared. She blinked and in the split second after she opened her eyes, glimpsed the bold, dark strokes again, but just as before, they vanished too quickly for her to examine them. Turning over the page, she brushed her fingertips over the wax seal and the deeply imprinted image of three lotus flowers. She turned back to her companions. “Tell me, please—why?”

  Archer explained in a patient tone, “Because beyond all else, they must protect the integrity of the Inner Realm. They can’t take the chance this final effort to save Mark will fail. Selene is aware we are here on Mark’s behalf. She’ll be watching and waiting until the last moment possible to execute her orders.”

  Mina pressed a hand to her forehead. “I don’t like that woman.”

  “She’s an acquired taste,” Elena assured her. “I think under different circumstances, you’d come to love her as I have.” Her lips broke into a smile. “Have you met any of her pets?”

  Mina nodded. “Mrs. Hazelgreaves, in fact.”

  “Darling,” Archer interjected, “we’ve no time for chitchat.”

  Elena pressed her lips together. “He’s right. We’ve got to find your father. All of our Amaranthine intelligence shows he’s here in London, searching for the Eye.”

  Mina sighed, relieved. “So we know for certain the Eye is here?”

  Mark responded, “That’s right, sweetheart.” In a quieter voice, he added, “Your father, unfortunately, has been used.”

  Mina’s face drained of warmth. “What do you mean?”

  Archer’s expression became stark. “We’ve made certain observations from the Inner Realm. Traced the paths of individuals through history, and found disturbing patterns. This Tantalyte movement has been ongoing in stealth for quite some time.”

  “But my father . . . you say he has been used. How?”

  “It’s like a game of chess, played out over the surface of the earth,” he responded. “But with people and powerful artifacts.”

  Elena added softly, “This has gone on for centuries, beneath the awareness of the Primordia
l Council.”

  “Is he . . .” A sudden tightness in her chest cut her off.

  “Evil?” Mark supplied. “Not at all. His motives are pure. But like a long line of others, he’s been targeted because of his strengths and interests, and insidiously presented with information. Without knowing, he’s acted on behalf of Tantalus.”

  Archer nodded. “He’s a puppet. Tantalus manipulated a long succession of events—again, over centuries—to put those scrolls in his path. Tantalus needed a mortal to translate them and lead his followers to the Eye.”

  Mina stared at Mark. “In his desire to uncover the truth, he’s actually been helping to execute some centuries-old strategy?”

  “That’s right,” Mark answered evenly. “In this world there exist relics of phenomenal power. Relics that, when brought together in a precise fashion, can be used toward good or evil.”

  “And this Eye is one of them,” she surmised.

  “That’s right,” he confirmed. “Clearly, the mirror didn’t start out in London, but somehow, over time, it made its way here. Archer tells me the Primordials are still trying to determine how. At any case, we’re not sure what the ultimate intent is here, but it can’t be good. We’ve got to find your father before they do.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?” she urged, curling her hands over his and squeezing. “Go.”

  Archer smiled grimly. “It’s time we go out into the city. We’ll divide the districts amongst us. Elena, though not a Shadow Guard, can help in the search as well.”

  “Elena’s not a Guard?” Mina asked.

  “I’m an Intervenor.” Elena smiled. “I am skilled at healing, and when appropriate, I intervene when mortal lives are unfairly threatened with an early demise.”

  Archer continued. “Between the three of us, we’ll find him. There’s mention in the London Times today that city workers discovered a portion of the old city wall by Ludgate Hill, near Little Bridge Street. Roman in origin. I want to investigate the wall. You never know, the Eye might have been concealed there centuries ago.”