by Sandy James
Ix Chel gave her long skirt and angry swish. “We tire of the conflict between you two. I beg you to remember how we came together. How we hoped our warriors could do good in this world.”
Rhiannon folded her arms under her breasts and raised her chin. “I merely pointed out that I have stood over far too many graves that were dug to inter a Fire Amazon. I meant no disrespect.”
Freya turned her back but thankfully held her tongue.
Sparks stood as still as a statue through the goddesses’ entire exchange, so still Rebecca feared the Guardian might faint.
“How you doing?” Rebecca asked.
Sparks dismissed her with a shrug.
Megan hadn’t shed any tears, either, standing in the same stoic silence as the woman she admired.
Ganga held a hand over the open grave. “Today, we bid our farewells to a great Amazon. Cross over to the next life, Trishna, and know we shall keep your memory in our hearts.”
Rebecca let a sob slip out, not even bothering to silence it when her goddess shot her an embarrassed frown. The tears came as she mourned the loss of a sister she never had the chance to know.
Ganga turned, pressing her palms together and bowing to the Amazons. “I depend upon you to find justice for the brave woman we lost today.” She disappeared in a shimmer.
Ix Chel spared them a weak smile and a nod before she too left the grave.
Freya went to Megan and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Do not fear Rhiannon’s words. You are Fire, Megan. You are the strongest of the Amazons.” And then Freya was gone.
Rebecca waited for Rhiannon to toss back a retort, but without so much as a farewell she left in a flash of light.
A resigned sigh slipped out. Perhaps one day she would be worthy in Rhiannon’s eyes. But not today.
Sparks took a step to the edge of the open grave, held her palms out and shot flames so intense Rebecca had to turn her head and take a step back. The streams of fire made an inferno of Trishna’s coffin. All anyone could do was watch as the pine box burned.
After several long minutes, Sparks fisted her hands to stop the fire. “Trishna hated the dark. I promised that I—I couldn’t leave her in that box. I couldn’t—” She shook her head and hurried away from the grave.
* * *
Rebecca waited for the arrival of the other Amazons. The trees were whipped into a frenzy worthy of Rhiannon by the rotation of the helicopter’s blades. She shielded her eyes against the flying dirt and leaves. The blinding lights coming from the craft illuminated the dark courtyard.
Her sisters were on that flight, as was her Sentinel. Her new Sentinel.
She pushed that thought right out of her head, not wanting it to spoil what she hoped would be a time of bonding with the two new women. Two women who, along with Megan, shared her destiny.
Megan was so excited, small sparks shot from her head in bursts of red and white. Rebecca reached out and grabbed her hand. Megan nodded, then a frown crossed her face as she glanced over each shoulder. She was looking for Sparks. Rebecca had been doing the same thing all day.
After Trishna’s service, she’d indulged in a nap. That nap turned out to be more nightmare than restful sleep as Trishna’s gruesome death scene repeated in her head. She doubted she would forget a moment of it for as long as she lived, nor would she forget what a revenant could do if allowed to get too close. The image of Trisha’s throat torn open had sent a shudder through her. The scars on her own shoulder would serve as a stalwart reminder.
When she’d pulled her weary body from her bed with the setting of the sun, she felt uneasy. Not sure if the feeling came from the lingering remnants of her nightmare or from one of the other Amazons, she’d wanted to find Sparks, needing to see for herself how her mentor was handling the loss of another sister.
Sparks’s cabin had been empty, the bed untouched. She had to be in Avalon—if she left the compound, she wouldn’t be able to find her way home. Although the Amazons were Jin’s targets, they were protected by Avalon’s magicks.
Surely if Sparks was in danger, Rebecca would feel it. Yet their bond had become more and more distant, seemingly by the minute. Before she could search the camp, the pulsing sound of the helicopter had drawn her to the courtyard.
Rebecca’s stomach churned in rhythm with the thrumming beat of the rotating blade. How would the new Amazons fit in at Avalon? How would the new Sentinel change her life? Resisting the urge to run and find Artair so he could soothe away her fears, she squared her shoulders, straightened her spine and strengthened her resolve.
She knew what the new Amazons looked like, having spent hours talking with them online, coaxing them to continue the charade of swapped identities. Gina and Sarita had always seemed plenty game to follow through. Teasing the new Sentinel gave Megan more pleasure than anything—other than a good sword fight. The diversion was probably going to come to a swift conclusion once the helicopter touched down. Johann would figure the whole thing out once fireworks popped out of Megan’s hair and fingertips.
He piloted the helicopter, something she hadn’t expected having never considered the extent of the Sentinel’s talents. He’d confessed to Artair that he lacked prowess with a sword, and perhaps helping Johann would let Artair see his own value. Maybe he wouldn’t feel like an antique as she knew he did whenever he’d used her computer. He hadn’t even allowed one to be installed in his cabin.
Beagan and Dolan appeared, morphing from rabbits to stand next to her. The instant the chopper landed, they hurried to the door, their short stature giving them no need to duck the whirling blades.
Dolan opened the door, and Gina Himmel exited first, her short brown hair defying gravity as the wind whipped it every direction. Dressed in one of the sports jerseys that seemed to be her usual choice in attire, today she declared her allegiance to the Indianapolis Colts. With an enormous smile, she tossed her bag to Dolan, ducking as she moved toward Rebecca and Megan.
Gina embraced them both, spreading her long arms wide, grabbing each by the neck and pulling them against her shoulders. Taller than Rebecca had imagined, at least a good six feet, she appeared every inch the tomboy.
As soon as Gina let her loose, Rebecca turned back to the helicopter to watch Beagan grab a duffel bag from Sarita Neeraj.
Water swung her lean legs out and ducked her head as she pushed herself away from the noisy chopper. How she ran through the grass in her stiletto heels, Rebecca would never understand. Her short denim miniskirt was almost immodest, but if Rebecca had legs like that, she wouldn’t hesitate to show them off at every opportunity, either.
She’d never seen anyone as beautiful as Sarita, including the goddesses. Exotically olive-skinned, her long ebony hair falling past her shoulders, her mere presence evoked pictures of the Taj Mahal—India embodied.
As short as Gina was tall, Sarita embraced Rebecca first, then Megan. Since conversation was impossible as Johann made the blades spin faster, lifting the helicopter from the ground, Rebecca motioned them to the lodge.
She hadn’t expected them to be so young—young enough to make her feel ancient in comparison. She was the senior member of the new generation, and she desperately wished Sparks was there to provide a sage voice.
“Rebs?” Megan touched her shoulder.
She released herself from her thoughts to make conversation. “I’m sorry, Megan. What did you say?”
“Want a drink?” The redhead held up a bottle of Jack Daniels. “I figured we could all use something to take the edge off.”
Rebecca shook her head, wishing the changelings weren’t so accommodating for all of Megan’s sometimes reckless wishes. “Fine. Just one.”
Megan threw her a grin. “They’ve agreed to keep our little secret with Johann.”
“I want to see how long it takes Einstein to figure it out on his own,” Gina said with a laugh. “You’d think the red hair would give it away, but…” She shrugged. “The man’s so damned smart, it might be nice to kno
w something he doesn’t for once.”
“He’s sure to figure it out soon,” Sarita added. “A little bit of mischief never hurt anyone. So, Rebecca,” she said to Megan, “How about that drink? I could use a stiff one.”
“I can always use a stiff one,” Megan replied with a wink. “A drink would be nice too. Besides, I think we missed my birthday. I’ve kinda lost track of time.”
Rebecca suddenly realized her May birthday had come and gone.
Thirty. I turned thirty.
Of course that milestone didn’t seem so horribly ominous any longer when compared to the three centuries Artair had lived or how old she had the potential of being. Yet the reality was that she’d reached such a portentous age. People were supposed to be grown-ups when they turned thirty.
She didn’t feel very grown-up, and she sure didn’t feel sufficiently wise to have any answers for the nagging questions weighing on her mind.
The four women piled into Megan’s cabin. Megan grabbed the shot glasses that had been conveniently left on her nightstand, twisted the top off the whiskey bottle and filled the glasses. Gina flopped down on the bed, Sarita grabbed the desk chair, and Megan stood next to Rebecca.
Raising her shot glass, Megan said, “Welcome to Avalon, Air and Water.”
Rebecca threw back her shot of whiskey, grimacing at the fiery trail it blazed down her throat. The alcohol did little to help her already roiling stomach. When Megan moved to fill the glass again, Rebecca held her hand over it. “No, thanks.”
Megan’s lips pursed for a moment as if she was going to tease Rebecca, then her face softened as she gave a brusque nod.
“What did you do before you became, you know, one of us?” Megan asked Gina.
“I wanted to be an astronaut, but… Let’s just say my personality didn’t suit their standards. I’m an air-traffic controller. Um—was an air-traffic controller.”
“So, in other words,” Rebecca said, “you went from one high-stress job to another.”
Gina laughed, a smile lighting her tanned, oval face. “I don’t miss it.” She flexed her biceps. “I love working out. I love the way it feels to fight like some warrior of old. The first time I beheaded a three, I was so high on the adrenaline rush, I didn’t come down for hours.”
“What did you do, Sarita?” Rebecca asked.
“I trained animals at SeaWorld. Seals are my favorite.” Her voice held the hint of a British accent. “They’re smarter than some people I know.”
Megan shook her head. “Good God, we were really Amazons all along, weren’t we? Rebecca was Mother Earth, nurturing those silly, little rugrats. I was Fire, getting off on the endorphin rush of being a cop.”
Sarita’s laugh was as pretty as her face. “I’m amazed you weren’t a firefighter instead.”
“Yeah, well—I seriously thought about it,” Megan replied. She nodded at Air. “Gina wanted to take to the skies, and Sarita played in the saltwater.”
“Amazing,” Gina said. “And now we’re here, ready to save the world. My aunt would be proud.”
“Aunt? You had an aunt too?” Megan’s face grew serious. “I never knew my parents. Do you think that’s because we were supposed to be Amazons?”
“I was raised by my Aunt Kay.” Rebecca wondered, as she often had, who her real parents were. Since she’d been called to Avalon, she’d assumed that the mystery of her birth was tied to being an Amazon. But who was her real mother? Did Rhiannon know? “Artair told me she was one of Rhiannon’s high priestesses.”
“I was raised by my Aunt Carla,” Gina said.
“My Aunt Kamala,” Sarita chimed in.
“Aunt Tasha,” Megan added. The cabin grew quiet. Megan poured herself another shot of Jack Daniels and quickly drank it. “That’s just too weird. Do you think our goddesses are our birth mothers?”
Gina and Sarita both stared at Megan wide-eyed.
Rebecca had already asked herself that question. She’d dismissed the notion of Rhiannon being her birth mother, figuring that if that was the case, she would have been born a goddess or a demigod instead of an Amazon. Although she did have another idea. “Maybe Aunt Kay was more than just a priestess. Maybe she was my mother too.”
Megan poured more whiskey for the other Amazons and threw back another shot. “Something’s not right there. I can’t imagine my Aunt Tasha being my mom and not telling me. She never lied to me—even when what she said came across as blunt or mean. No, there’s another story there.”
Rebecca nodded, as did the other Amazons. They were courting plenty of trouble as it was, and she figured this mystery might just open up another can of worms that was best left capped for the time being.
While it was important to bond with the other Amazons, the day had been too trying. She needed to relax, and she needed some peace and quiet. “You ladies have fun. I’m checking weapons, then I’m heading to bed.”
Rebecca quietly left the cabin, closing the door behind her.
It wasn’t a lie, not really. Judging from the knowing smiles her sisters’ threw her as she’d left, they’d understood. There was someplace else she needed to be.
The only place she felt safe.
Chapter Sixteen
Rebecca sank her exhausted body into the deep, hot water, trying to relax and wishing she’d passed on the whiskey. All the alcohol had done was give her a headache.
Leaning her head back on the soft moss, she pushed the memory out of her mind and tried to concentrate on her main worry.
Sparks.
Something in her had changed, had snapped when Trishna died. Could Megan, Gina or Sarita feel it too?
As a Fire, Sparks had always been more than a little intense, but Rebecca sensed an urgency in her now that bordered on irresponsible. The funeral pyre she’d made of Trishna’s coffin served as an example of what Sparks could be like when out of control. No wonder, considering two Amazons were dead, and the rest had bull’s eyes painted on their chests. They needed to stay together and draw strength from each other before Jin picked them off, one by one. God, she wished she could find that bastard, figure out who he was working for, and then bury an arrow in both their black hearts.
Sparks must have left Avalon. What if Jin found out she was alone and exploited her vulnerability? They hadn’t figured out how Jin got his hands on Maria or Trishna, and the thought of Sparks at his mercy was horrifying.
With a resigned sigh, Rebecca closed her eyes. Artair’s face formed in her mind.
All she wanted was for him to appear, to have him wrap his arms around her and comfort her—to have him help her put her fears aside, if only for a short time. She needed him. Even knowing how selfish it was to want him with her, to want him to stay, she still needed him.
“Becca mine?”
“Artair?” She might have been dreaming until she realized what he wanted by coming to her—the exact things she wanted from him. Things they couldn’t find in the rest of their motley crew. Things they’d never truly found in the real world.
Companionship. Comfort.
Love.
No matter what she wanted, she refused to bring Rhiannon’s wrath down on the man she loved. She refused to make his desire to leave the Amazons more difficult. And she refused to hand him her heart on a silver platter, knowing it would shatter the moment he left.
Before the words of denial could fall from her lips, he’d already stripped off his plaid and eased himself into the hot spring.
She had to make the right choice. She had to leave.
“Stay away from me, Artair. I mean it, just—just—don’t.” She jumped to her feet and treaded through the waist-deep water, her traitorous legs leaden and stiff. Her toes brushed the steps, and she scrambled to crawl out of the spring.
Quick as a cat, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her back hard against his chest. “Oh, I’ve tried, lass. I’ve tried so hard to stay away from you. But I cannot.” He brushed her braid aside and buried his lips against the uninjured s
ide of her neck.
Any protest she might have offered was smothered by the feel of his warm mouth moving over her sensitive skin. Every inch of his body pressed against her back, heat and muscle so intimately molding to her, his erection hard against her buttocks.
Artair smoothed one hand over her stomach, splaying his fingers over the bare skin as the other rose to claim a breast. A gasp fell from her lips as his palm covered and caressed her through the thin, wet material of her bikini top. Her heart slammed so hard he surely felt it as he cupped her breast in that loving hand.
“You are mine. You’ve always been mine. From the moment I came to claim you. I can nae longer deny what I feel, how I want you, how I need you.” He ran his tongue around the ridges of the ear he’d been whispering in, sending waves of heat coursing through her body, shredding her resistance and pushing aside her doubts.
When he touched her, there was no future to tear them apart. Only here. Only now. Only the two of them. Rebecca arched back, wanting more, needing more.
“And I do want you.” He pressed his arousal against her. “Can you feel how I desire you?”
Could he possibly know how very much she wanted him? How she’d ached for him to come to her? How she needed his love?
No! She wasn’t going to be selfish—she wasn’t going to want who she couldn’t have, who she shouldn’t have. “But Rhiannon—”
“Shh,” he whispered in her ear, his breath sending desire running over her heart. “This is between you and me, nae anyone else.” The hand he’d rested against her belly moved lower, sliding under the waistband of her bikini before claiming the part of her that ached to feel him deep inside. “Tell me you don’t want me as I want you. Tell me, Becca mine, and I’ll leave you be.”
“I—I—” But she couldn’t give voice to the lie. I want you, Artair. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life. “I can’t tell you that.”
His breath rushed from him, hot over her neck. Until his strong exhale, she hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her to turn him away. As if she ever could.