by Meg Xuemei X
Ashburn reached her, his strong arm around her slim waist. Instantly, the magnetism between them increased, rippling the water. The sea nymphs’ song weaved in, irresistibly enthralling, blanketing them like the finest silk. This time, Lucienne didn’t resist. She was tired of fighting. It felt incredibly good to finally give herself over to the sweet calling.
She clasped her hands behind Ashburn’s neck and flew with him like a floating feather in his arms.
Lucia. He wasn’t talking, but she heard him.
He grazed his thumb over the bottom of her lips. She leaned toward him, squirming with the need to be kissed. But he hesitated.
Did the feverish want in her eyes scare him? How could he deny her passion?
With a torn look, he removed his thumb from her lips and pulled her up toward the distant light.
The mesmerizing dream would end in the light above.
Don’t go, she pled. Let’s swim away. Away from the troubled world.
She understood the nymphs’ song like no one else—the portal of Eterne lies inside Poseidon’s Gate under the deep sea.
Come with me, Ash. But Ashburn dragged her toward the light with great urgency. There was a dark, strange look in his eyes she didn’t like.
She struggled to break free. She wasn’t ready to go back to the world above and bear all the burdens and grief.
Ashburn tightened his grip on her until they burst through to the surface.
Then her guards were around them. Two of them carrying scuba masks paddled toward her.
The spell shattered.
Resting on the ring buoys, Lucienne gasped for air and Ashburn coughed hard.
“You shouldn’t have come for me,” she said when she caught a breath. “You can’t swim. And I won’t drown.”
He gave her a look that said you almost did. “I thought I heard a song,” he said after he stopped coughing.
Lucienne felt the hair on her arms standing up under her wetsuit. What happened under the water wasn’t a fantasy. She’d been hexed. Something had tried to drown her with its seduction.
“I heard it, too,” she said.
Ashburn drew a sharp breath. “How could it reach you underwater?” Fear and suspicion pivoted darkly in his eyes.
Because I let my guard down again. She had allowed her feelings for Ashburn to overcome her. The force detected her weakness and struck.
“Under no circumstances will you let your guard down,” Jed always said. “You’re the Siren. Your enemies, apparent or disguised, are everywhere.”
And now her list of enemies had expanded to include ancient forces that had been awakened by the Eye of Time.
“What about the song?” she asked.
“It wanted me to let you drown,” he said.
“But you told me TimeDust wants to preserve me.”
“It does,” Ashburn said. “But a subprogram that used to link me to Seraphen still plans to eliminate you, believing the world will be saved once you’re gone. TimeDust regards it a malware but is unable to remove it.”
“So they don’t get along,” she said. “Never tell that to anyone.”
If her men—especially Kian—knew about Ashburn’s subprogram, they wouldn’t leave anything to chance. Having seen what Seraphen could do, they would take out Ash in a heartbeat to keep her safe.
“Both programs coexist in me. I’m always a danger to you,” Ashburn said. “I shouldn’t stay too close to you. I almost cost you. I almost let you go.”
“But you didn’t,” Lucienne said. “And we’ve gone through this. How can you be a threat to me when you’ve saved me many times over? Seraphen said I was your death trap, too, but here I am, standing by you as your friend.” She watched the edge roll off him. He didn’t want to leave her either. Lucienne was relieved. He just needed a little encouragement once in a while. “And you promised to help me break the curse and—the bond.”
“Is the bond between us such an unbearable curse to you?” He looked pointedly at her. His hand withdrew from her waist. The lack of his touch immediately left a void in Lucienne.
“You said TimeDust set its mind on driving us together. You said you wouldn’t go down that path with me. Didn’t you say that?”
“Things have changed,” Ashburn said ruefully. “Things have gotten more complicated.”
What had changed? The game or his plan? She didn’t know. But she knew she was even more confused than when she started. When she first met him, he was all about avoiding her to stalk TimeDust. Then she killed his protector and almost died, and he shifted his attitude. Instead of insisting on staying away from her, he followed her to Sphinxes to let his feelings for her run their course—his new approach to stopping the apocalypse. How could their feelings run their course naturally when the Lure was entangled with them from the beginning?
“Miss Lam,” said Adam Maestrom, one of the guards around Ashburn and her in a protective ring, “we have refreshments and a hot shower for you and your friend on the Witch.”
Marloes’ lieutenant knows how to talk. Lucienne regarded the wavy brown-haired guard. She read his file. He used to be a sniper and a pilot. “We could use some refreshments, Lieutenant,” she said.
Looking relieved, Adam gestured to the team on the Witch, and they immediately prepared to get Lucienne on board.
Ashburn summoned his ride. Spike materialized in its lighted motorcycle form and lowered itself half under the water. Ashburn perched on its back, then lifted Lucienne to sit in front of him.
“Miss Lam,” a guard called, “I don’t think you should try the boy’s machine again.”
“Spike won’t throw me off with its rider aboard.” Lucienne turned to the guard with a sharp expression. “And don’t tell me again what I should or shouldn’t do.”
Adam shot the guard a warning look.
Ashburn also threw the guard a glare, obviously not liking the fact that the man, who looked only a couple years senior, called him ‘boy.’
Lucienne sighed inwardly. Her new guards didn’t know how to act around her, and their captain was to blame. The woman didn’t care if Lucienne was comfortable. Marloes thought she was doing a great job as long as she kept the girl in one piece.
Spike landed on the Witch’s deck. Lucienne got off and strode toward the wheel, where Marloes stayed on the floor beside a sailor, still paralyzed from the Meridian point.
“Captain Marloes,” she called.
Marloes gave her a baleful look.
“We need to lay down some ground rules if we want to get along.” Lucienne pressed a Meridian releasing point under Marloes’ shoulder blade. “First, never point a gun at my friends.” She rose and extended a hand to the captain.
Marloes hesitated. Lucienne saw menace in the captain’s hard eyes, as if the woman wanted to tackle her. Lucienne held her glare, daring her to try. Marloes at last took her hand, stood up, and shrugged.
“Thank you, Miss Lam,” Marloes said. “We can go through the rules anytime you like. As your guards, we also have a protocol: your safety is everything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Captain,” Lucienne said. “My safety is not everything. Sometimes my duties and responsibilities come first. You’ll have to learn to be flexible.”
“No, Miss Lam, there’s no flexibility around it,” Marloes said. “To your guards, to Kian, and to every soldier in Sphinxes, your well-being is everything.”
“We’ll see,” Lucienne said, flickering an unhappy glance at Marloes.
“I vowed to give my life to you, Siren,” Marloes added matter-of-factly as Lucienne jogged toward Ashburn. “You won’t get rid of me until I’m dead.”
Lucienne didn’t answer or look back at the captain. Her eyes roamed over Ashburn’s torso as he was drying his body with a towel provided by a guard. Her heart did a funny dance when he turned to her.
“Meet me in the saloon?” she asked, trying to be inconspicuous as she watched him put his sweatshirt back on. “The guards will show you w
here.” She then disappeared below the cabin.
There was a room reserved for her on the Witch, with spare clothes, toiletries, and a perfume she never wore.
When she came out of the shower and changed into a blue dress shirt and bold-curve jeans, Ashburn was waiting in the saloon, which extended across the bridge deck with panoramic views.
His silver hair was damp, and his face was serene and perfect. At her approach, he turned from the window and smiled at her.
Sauntering to the bar, she pulled out two tall glasses and started mixing strega, Dolin Dry, lime, cardamom, and fennel bitters on top of crushed ice. She pushed a full cocktail toward him and took a sip from hers.
Ashburn studied the drink.
“Stranger on Mars was the first cocktail I learned,” she said. “I don’t fix it for every stranger.”
“I usually don’t drink when I’m flying,” Ashburn said. “But if I don’t try yours, we’ll forever be strangers.” He took a swig.
Lucienne waited for him to compliment her.
Ashburn frowned. “It’s bitter.”
“Pungent,” Lucienne said. “It’s supposed to taste like that.” Then, over Ashburn’s sour expression, she said with a giggle, “You have a sweet tooth. I can make you a Summer Breeze.”
Ashburn took another sip of Stranger on Mars. “Actually, it’s growing on me.”
Halfway through their drinks, Ashburn asked Lucienne about her childhood.
He’s fascinated with how I grew up. No one ever asked her much about her childhood. Then she realized she’d never had one. All she had was training, scheming, competing, and surviving. She still remembered the hatred toward her because she was the only girl from the
Siren’s line. Her own family had named her the Abomination.
Sitting here drinking with Ashburn, the last thing she wanted was to talk about her family. She was never comfortable talking about herself either. “Don’t you have the memories of my early life?” she asked.
“I want to see things from your perspective.”
“My childhood isn’t interesting,” Lucienne said, taking another sip. “However, I have a question for you.”
“Yes?”
“You put a tag on me in your databank.”
“I know you don’t like it, but I need to know you’re safe.”
Secrecy was in her blood, though her every move was watched by friends, guards, and enemies alike. If she asked Ash not to do that, he would anyway. So she told him, “I’m flattered, and I appreciate you being honest with me. I’d deeply appreciate it if you could also tag Vladimir Blazek and help me locate him. I know he’s hiding in international waters, but my crew can’t pin down whether it’s Arctic Ocean, Pacific, or somewhere else. We need to narrow it down.”
“I told you I wouldn’t help you with him,” Ashburn said.
The warm coziness retreated from the room.
“Fine, I’ll find him myself.” Lucienne bit her lip. After an awkward pause, she asked, “But will you at least tell me if he has betrayed me? Is there a part of him—in his memories—that still thinks kindly of me?”
“I’m not interested in what he thinks. He isn’t my responsibility.”
“You won’t tell me because you’re jealous.” Lucienne’s temper flared. “I thought envy was beneath you.”
“Thank you for thinking highly of me,” he said, “but nothing is beneath me. I’m not a saint. Like your precious Blazek, I’m also a red-blooded male who has feelings and needs.” His eyes were no longer bright silver but gunmetal gray. “Even with that damned TimeDust in me, I’m still a man.”
Lucienne was taken aback. When had he become possessive? “What happened to you, Ashburn?” She reached for him. “We made a pact. You’ll help me break our programmed bond. That doesn’t mean I’ll choose him. I—”
Ashburn cringed. “Nice try, Lucienne, but I’ve learned from others. Your charm doesn’t work on me.”
Lucienne’s face reddened. Humiliation, hurt, and anger whirled in her eyes. She wasn’t manipulating him. She was only trying to smooth things out between them.
“How original!” she snorted. “Now you see me just like everyone else sees me. Where did your promise of ‘get to know you as you, not through other people’s impressions’ go?”
“Will you ever let me?” Ashburn said. “Whenever I get close to you, you put Blazek between us. You think he still belongs to you?” He let out a breath. “He’s adaptive. I'm not. I can’t move on. I’m a one-love-of-my-lifetime type of guy.”
Did Ashburn just tell her that he would love her forever? Lucienne’s heart pounded, but her head only got muddier. “Are you suggesting,” she asked, stomach churning, “that Vladimir has moved on after betraying me?”
The Czech traitor had found a new love. That was what Ash was trying to tell her.
“I'm not suggesting anything.”
“Maybe you never intend to help me break the curse,” Lucienne said. “I’ve had enough of your excuses.” She imitated Ashburn’s previous pitch, “I can’t go down that path. TimeDust wants us to have all the answers and lead us to apocalypse.” She resumed her own bitter tone. “That’s the most ridiculous lie I’ve ever heard. The bottom line is you won’t lift a finger to help me because—” She stopped. Her chest heaved. She didn’t expect that he would get her emotions so worked up. She wasn’t upset that he refused to tell her Vladimir’s whereabouts. That, she half expected. She was more tipped over by the fight between them and the verification of Vladimir’s disloyalty.
Ashburn stared at Lucienne. His gaze moved to her lips. Lucienne knew when her anger flared like this, her cheeks usually went pink and her lips moisture red. He faced away from her, as if hating himself for being so drawn to her. “I’m sorry I don’t use my database for your every whim,” he said, “but I have to endure a splitting headache to sort out a single individual’s thoughts out of the billions I hear all at once.”
Lucienne remembered his complaint about the pain being worse than a thousand needles sticking into his brain when the Eye of Time installed TimeDust in him.
“I pay the price to tag you to make sure you’re safe,” he said. “I’m not willing to pay the price for him.”
“Why?” she asked. Edge and anger left her. “Why does TimeDust punish you when you access it? Isn’t it meant for you to use?”
“It was designed for the power of collective consciousness, not for picking up an individual’s memories for my personal benefit,” Ashburn said. “I don’t know why. It must have to do with its terrible agenda.” Over Lucienne’s questioning look, he added, “I have no idea of the role of the collective consciousness in my head. All I know is, the Eye of Time wanted to make me a vessel. I have all the powers in me, but I can’t control them.” He looked at her bitterly. “What do you care? All you’ve ever wanted is to decode the TimeDust so you could find the path to Eterne and reunite with Blazek.” He rose from the bench. “Thank you for the drink.” He turned and headed toward the deck.
Lucienne bolted from her seat. “Ash, wait!”
Adam came down from the deck, a phone in his hand. “Miss Lam, it’s Chief McQuillen.”
“I’ll call him back.” Lucienne chased Ashburn to the deck.
Ashburn swung his leg over Spike.
“Ashburn!” Lucienne called.
He didn't look back. As Spike soared into the sky, panic rose to Lucienne’s throat. She hadn’t meant to drive him away.
“He won’t leave,” Marloes said.
Lucienne hadn’t noticed the captain standing beside her. “How do you know?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“His look means nothing,” Lucienne said. Vladimir used to look at her like that, too. And only several weeks later, he had driven a dagger into her heart. “Love is fleeting.” Once she had been foolish enough to want to hold onto it.
“To fine men and women,” Marloes said softly, “love and loyalty never falter, never fade, and nev
er die. Like Kian’s love for you.”
Lucienne’s eyes moistened. No matter how many boys left her, she’d always have Kian. Her gaze dropped from searching for Ashburn in the sky and found Adam.
“Kian,” she said after taking the phone from the Lieutenant.
“It’s Finley, Miss Lam,” Finley, the only survivor from the Brazil raid, answered from the other end. “Duncan is captured.”
Lucienne swallowed. “And Juliette?”
“Blazek set the trap and ambushed them. Duncan let himself be captured to save the others. Juliette escaped, but we lost several men.”
“How many?” Lucienne asked, feeling cold air around her.
“Three.”
“Who?”
“Marian from the UK, Anton from Boston, and Sergei from Australia.”
Lucienne bit her lip until she tasted blood. She knew them all.
Finley broke the silence. “Duncan had Juliette pass a message to you: if he didn’t make it, then you’d know for sure Vladimir Blazek is a traitor.”
“Where’s Kian?”
“In a meeting with the officers,” Finley said. “He needs you to stay in Sphinxes.”
That was why he let Finley call her from the jet, so she couldn’t argue with him about joining the rescue mission.
“Put him on,” said Lucienne.
A few seconds later, Kian answered in a tired voice, “Hey, kid.”
Even though her heart contracted with worries, his voice comforted her more than anything. Despite his harsh words toward her the other day.
“Have you slept lately?” she demanded.
“I’m fine,” Kian said. “I’ll get Duncan back. No matter what happens, you must stay in Sphinxes. Will you promise me that?”
“If you promise to return home safe,” said Lucienne, “and to bring Duncan with you.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Across from the underground Defense Room was Kian’s second office.
Lucienne saw fury and devotion welling in Duncan’s gray eyes as she walked into the outer office. He sat on the edge of an armchair, surrounded by senior military officers. Several mugs of coffee were scattered on a vintage whiskey-barrel table.