THE EQUINOX STONE (Knights of Manus Sancti Book 2)

by Bryn Donovan

  Val asked, “What happened? Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine, just banged up. Two Tribunal came to the house. He shot one and bashed the other one’s head in with a…mixer?”

  “Please tell me the security cameras got that.” This got a smile out of Nic. “That is legendary.”

  Nic asked, “How’d you kill the bald guy? We found his body first, in the house in front.”

  “I kicked him.”

  “Told you,” Jonathan said to Nic.

  “Where’s the other safe house?” Val asked.

  “Fernandina Beach. We’re not far. We’ve got two other Knights staying there, and Cassie, besides the two you just met. So if we get followed, we’ll be ready.”

  “Sweet,” Michael said. “I hope we do get attacked. I want to see Cassie’s animals.” Jonathan snorted.

  His consciousness was fading fast now. Pain dissolved as darkness enveloped him.

  The change in the car speed and the sound of gravel under the wheels jostled him awake again. Nic stopped the car and hopped out of it, talking to someone.

  “Come on,” Jonathan was saying. “There’s a doctor outside.”

  Michael nodded, fumbling with the door handle. Jonathan slid out of the seat on the other side and held out an arm to help Val, who was blinking and looking around her. Michael got out, cursing as his leg, balls, and wrist hurt him in succession. He could feel the painkiller Nic had given him kicking in, though, softening all his perceptions.

  Someone, it was Cassie, was hugging Val and saying, “I knew you were a badass!” Vaguely, he was aware that the praise might not sit well with her. The house looked familiar in the dark.

  A man greeted them at the door, talking to Nic. “Take her upstairs. I take care of him down here first.” He was dark-skinned and bald, with a deeply lined face and thick glasses, and he spoke with a thick French accent. Nic, saying something to the doctor in French, put his arm around Val’s shoulder.

  “I want her here,” Michael protested, even as Val, who still looked dazed, said, “I’ll stay with him.”

  “The bed is too small for two,” the man said to Val. “You need to lie down.”

  Michael nodded. “Get some rest,” he told Val, but he still felt a slight ache in his chest as Nic guided her away.

  “I’m Dr. Sarr,” the man introduced himself, ushering Michael into the tiny downstairs bedroom. Michael heard Jonathan and Cassie talking in the hallway.

  The doctor tended to Michael’s wounds. An area of tattooed skin about the size of a quarter had been removed from Michael’s hip, and the wound had been seared with a clothes iron. The doctor said it wasn’t large enough to require a skin graft. Val had a wound exactly like his, and she’d have a similar scar. The thought filled him with both regret and a perverse, somber pride.

  Dr. Sarr finished and absentmindedly tossed a blanket over Michael before pulling a chair up to the bed. Immediately, Michael drifted toward sleep. “It is okay if your brother comes in? Yes?” Michael opened his eyes again to see Jonathan hovering in the doorway. He nodded, and Dr. Sarr gestured for Jonathan to enter and sit in the chair in the corner. “He’s going to be okay. I examine his wrist now.”

  The doctor undid the makeshift split. Michael sucked in a sharp breath as he probed it. “This will be fast,” he told Michael. He moved bones back into place with a quick motion, and Michael let out a guttural cry at the pain grinding through him. Jonathan flinched in sympathy. Michael blew out a couple of short breaths, centering himself as the shock dissipated, thankful again that Nic had given him whatever pill he’d taken. It could’ve been worse. “No exercise,” Dr. Sarr said. “And no sex.”

  “How long?” Michael asked.

  “Four weeks.” He wrapped a brace around Michael’s wrist.

  Michael felt tired enough at the moment to sleep the entire time, but still, wasn’t that a bit extreme? “I don’t know if my girlfriend can go without me for that long.”

  The corner of Jonathan’s mouth quirked up. “I’m sure she’ll survive.”

  Belatedly, Michael realized he hadn’t even talked to his brother yet about being involved with Val, though Nic had probably told him. Michael was a different person than he’d been before Urraca Mesa…and even a different person than when he’d first gotten his memories back. He could be in love despite his fears that it would end in doom and tragedy. He’d faced the prospect of losing her, and he knew that no matter what happened, not living in love with her would be the greater loss.

  And maybe, despite everything he’d been through and everything he’d seen, the love he shared with Valentina gave him hope. Hope that they all might find their way to a better ending.

  “Later you get the cast,” the doctor said. “I see the woman now. Come upstairs when you are dressed. You can join her if she likes.”

  Jonathan thanked him as he left.

  “I know you didn’t trust me with her before,” Michael said to his brother as he sat up and grabbed his sweat pants. If he hadn’t been so exhausted, not to mention drugged, he might not have broached the subject, but what little filter he had was gone. “You think I can’t be serious, but—”

  “No. That was before you got your memories back.”

  Had it been? As Michael awkwardly got dressed with one hand, he tried to remember.

  “Here.” Jonathan reached over to help him pull up the sweat pants. “I didn’t trust you because you didn’t know who she was. You were…all libido and no context. But now I’m not worried.”

  “Why aren’t you?”

  “She’s Val. You’d never hurt her.”

  As deeply reassuring as this was, Jonathan’s choice of words made him uncomfortable. “I have hurt her.”

  “Well, that happens sometimes when you’re dating.” The tone of Jonathan’s voice suggested he spoke from experience. “You know what I mean.”

  Michael laid back on the bed. “It doesn’t feel weird to you?”

  “No. I mean, I never would’ve imagined you two together. But it makes sense too.” Jonathan shook his head. “I love you both so much, and if you’re happy…it’s this great thing I never even expected.” Jonathan flashed a smile. “And Cassie thinks you’re an adorable couple.”

  “Have you proposed to her yet?”

  He laughed. “It’s ridiculous, because she knows I’m going to. I want everything to be perfect.”

  “I’d feel the same way,” Michael said.

  Jonathan gave him a keen look. “Are you thinking…”

  Michael snorted. “It’s a little soon for that.” A huge yawn overtook him. “Christos, I’m tired.”

  “Let’s get you upstairs.”

  Carefully, Michael swung both of his feet to the floor. “I love you too,” he said.

  “I know.” Jonathan took hold of his arm to help him stand up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Val woke in a bed with Michael snuggled up to her side, one arm flung across her body. Where had they gone away to? Then she saw the cast on Michael’s wrist, and the wound on her hip stung. Oh.

  They hadn’t taken a fun trip somewhere, as she’d thought for a moment…and she didn’t even know why she’d thought that, since they’d never done that before.

  They were recovering. Because they were alive.

  She raised her hand to her throat, now free of the metal collar, and remembered a Knight picking the lock on it the night before. She touched Michael’s hair and took a deep breath in and let it out. They were in a bedroom with sunshine flooding through the lace curtains.

  Her bedroom. The one she’d had as a small child, in Fernandina Beach. It was a safe house now. Last night, she’d realized this with a shock, and she’d promptly forgotten again.

  It looked different, of course, without her canopy bed or her paintings. The walls were painted yellow now, not pink. Still, it was so pretty. So normal.

  So strange, after what she’d done. Horror crept into her mind. She pushed it away.

  A s
oft knock drew her attention to the half-open door. Nic stood in the threshold. When he saw Michael, he held up his hand and stepped back, indicating he’d leave them alone. Val shook her head and held up a finger, requesting him to wait.

  Gently, she disentangled herself from Michael, who didn’t even stir. She padded on bare feet over to Nic, feeling the protective warmth in his signature. At the school, all day, every day, she’d missed being in the company of people who cared about her, whose feelings softened the edges of reality and gave it meaning.

  The night before, he’d treated her for pain, given her clothes, gotten her to safety, helped her upstairs, and stayed with her until the doctor had seen her. She hadn’t known Nic well before this mission, and now she appreciated him so much. His concern about others’ wellbeing came through in his resourcefulness, his grouchy orders, and his attention to details.

  Now more than ever, it broke her heart to feel the poisonous guilt that coursed through his system. She assumed it was about Simon, Sophie Karazov’s cousin, but she never would’ve raised such a painful subject.

  “Salaam, Nic,” she said.

  “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

  “Happy we’re alive.”

  “That makes a lot of us.” Nic peered over her shoulder at the bed. “Has he woken up at all?”

  “I don’t know. I just woke up myself.” She heard people walking around downstairs and smelled fresh coffee.

  “If you want a bath, go ahead. I told everyone else they had to wait to shower so there’d be hot water for you.”

  Oh, that was sweet. How many Knights were staying in this house? Maybe there were a dozen downstairs, grumpy about being unwashed. “Thank you. I actually can’t take baths for a couple of weeks until this heals up more.” She indicated where her tattoo had been.

  “Ah, that’s too bad.”

  “I’ll survive.” They shared an amused look. “Where’s Ezra?” She honestly had no idea what they’d do with a prisoner. In her lifetime, they’d never taken one.

  “In another bedroom, chained to a bed, with a guard.” When Val winced, he added, “Doctor Sarr stitched him up, and he’s been fed.”

  “He saved our lives,” Val said.

  “It’s better than they would’ve treated one of ours. He even said as much.”

  “Do I need to Read him later?”

  Nic shook his head. “Jonathan’s doing it. Capitán sent him questions.”

  She was glad to be off the hook. But still… “That’s going to take forever. Don’t they have hundreds of questions?” Jonathan couldn’t compress the time the way Val could, and his powers weren’t as strong as hers, either. He was going to be exhausted.

  Nic shook his head. “It’s just the first round. They’re taking him to El Dédalo. They’ll probably Read him a dozen times at least.”

  “I guess he’ll be safe there for now.” She still wondered what would happen to the young man after they’d extracted all the information they could.

  “They’ve already told Samir he’s not allowed to be on the same floor as him.” Nic’s own anger and sadness for past losses flared as he said this. “It’s nice of you to worry about him. But he’s not innocent.”

  None of us are, either. The unease she’d been feeling all morning was getting harder to ignore, but she pushed what she’d done the night before out of her mind. “If Jonathan’s Reading him, who’s debriefing us? I can write a report.”

  Nic smiled. “You don’t have to write your own report. Once you’re both up, I’ll talk to you and record the conversation. If Capitán has questions later, Delphine can debrief you at El Dédalo.” This was one of the reasons he’d come to the room, she realized.

  Michael stirred in the bed. “What?” he asked of nobody, not quite awake. Val’s heart gave a little leap to hear his voice, sounding so sleepy and normal.

  “Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” Nic said to him. “You getting up?”

  Michael rubbed his eyes. “Depends. Is there breakfast?”

  “We’ll get some started.”

  Nic left and Michael got out of bed and gave her a one-armed hug, careful to not pull her all the way against him because of the wound on her hip. He told her she looked beautiful, which she doubted, and excused himself to go to the bathroom down the hall. A few minutes later, as Val carefully got dressed, she heard his loud voice and thought he was in distress. She rushed to the doorway. Michael was singing a pop song, very badly, and she could hear the faucet running. She smiled, remembering the times he’d sung like that as a kid and they’d told him to stop. She’d never try to get him to stop again.

  After they’d gotten dressed, they went downstairs. Both of them took the stairs slowly; Val’s hip was smarting, and Michael’s face tightened, hampered by the same, plus stitches in his thigh and the kick to the groin. Despite his obvious physical pain, his emotional signature hummed, serene, grateful, filled with affection.

  The smell of fried potatoes greeted them before they reached the kitchen, where a Knight stood over the stove. He’d been at the warehouse the day before, the one who’d said he was there to take out the trash. Nic sat at the counter drinking coffee with another Knight, one she hadn’t met before. He was maybe in his forties with copper skin and a clean-shaved head.

  “Salaam, West,” he said to Michael. He sounded American, like Andre Turner. “You kick anyone to death today?”

  Michael laughed. “It’s still early.”

  “Raj is almost done with breakfast,” Nic said. “He’s the only one here who knows how to cook.”

  “The only one who’s willing,” Raj corrected them, sounding annoyed, but as he walked over to Val, he smiled. “We didn’t get introduced last night. Raj Rani.” He extended a hand, and Val took it. “Congratulations on your mission.”

  Val’s throat tightened, but she managed to say, “Thank you.”

  “And Michael.” Raj extended a hand to him in turn. “You know my brother Rahul from Manila.”

  Michael grinned as he gripped Raj’s hand. “Whatever he told you, he was lying.”

  Raj went back to the stove, piled food on plates, and brought them to Val and Michael. “Potatoes, black beans, tofu, tomatoes, zucchini, and some garlic and seasonings.”

  “Thank you,” Val said, all other thoughts fleeing from her mind. She realized she was starving. It sounded and looked delicious.

  “Ugh. Where’s the bacon?” Portia called from the next room.

  Michael and Val looked over. She was lounging on the sofa in nothing but a thin cotton tank top and boy short panties. Val felt a spark of lust from Michael—and then his amusement as he deliberately tamped it down. She smiled to herself.

  “It’s not for you,” Raj countered. “The rest is for Nic.” Raj filled another plate and handed it to him.

  “Good,” Portia said. “You can make me something with bacon.”

  Raj rolled his eyes. “Make it yourself. I already fed Arsen and Aquario. I’m done.”

  “That smells amazing.” Cassie’s voice came from behind them, and they turned to look at her as she limped over on her walking cast. She wore pajamas printed with cowgirls, and Nic smiled when he saw her. “Is there any more of that?”

  Raj sighed. “I’ll make some more.”

  “Let’s go out on the balcony,” Nic said to Michael and Val.

  They sat at the table out overlooking the marsh and, beyond that, the sea. Val’s childhood memories of studying there with her mother came back to her so vividly, it almost disoriented her.

  Nic glanced at Michael’s wrist in the brace. “How are you feeling?”

  “Hey, if you don’t come back injured, did you even go on a mission?” Michael joked. When Nic’s frown deepened, he added, “I’ll be fine.”

  Nic didn’t look reassured. “We’ll talk over everything that happened. Take your time—you can eat while you talk. I’m going to record the conversation, and if there are any questions, the Mage at Saint Augustine will do a follow-up deb
rief. Okay?” Val and Michael nodded, and Nic hit a button on his phone. “Val, you go first. Start with when you got out of the car and headed into the church.”

  Val talked through the events as best she could, answering Nic’s clarifying questions along the way.

  “I don’t know exactly what they would’ve done after the confession,” she said.

  Nic’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “The people at their fake pregnancy center ran away. We’re doing everything we can for their victims. They’ll never have to work a day in their lives.”

  Val wasn’t surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time Manus Sancti had bestowed good fortune to those who’d gone through hell. They had lots of ways to do it. It didn’t make up for the suffering, but it was something.

  “It’s the least they deserve,” Michael said. “Are we doing anything else to the school?”

  Nic shook his head. “The Tribunal isn’t part of the administration. They just infiltrated it to prey on the girls. We’re looking into every Catholic school in the United States, Italy, and Spain for signs of them doing anything similar.”

  It was going to be a grueling next couple of weeks for the Diviners, then. Val considered what kind of tea she might make for Andre and his team. Nic prompted Michael to continue his account, and Michael described the carnage at the church, finding the vestibule, and retrieving the equinox stone.

  Having held it in her hand again, she mourned its loss more keenly than ever. If she’d been an Earth Elemental, she could’ve deprogrammed it then and there so it couldn’t be used against them, but she hadn’t been born with that skill. It had been the main object of their mission, and on that account, they’d failed.

  Michael reached the point where they were ambushed. “I didn’t even see them,” he said. All his good humor from earlier had washed away.

  “You were wounded, the police distracted you, and you got jumped in the dark,” Nic said flatly. “Val, did you get a look at them? Were they the same men who were in the warehouse?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. One of them grabbed me, and I screamed. The needle pierced my neck. I was struggling…” The helplessness of the situation shook her. “But everything was fading, and then I was out.”