“Will do.” Darius moved to unlock the cell.
Before Quinn could take a step out, Sasha ran in and threw her arms around him, locking her legs around his waist. His heart surged into his throat the second he touched her. Finally, I’m home. His arms slid around her, familiar and comfortable as he inhaled the scent of her hair.
They clung to each other. After so much time, Quinn still felt like Sasha made his world right. The thought should have alarmed him. He was pretty sure he was hopelessly in love with Santi, but Sasha was home. She was … Sasha.
“Who is she?” Sasha asked as her gaze fell on Santi.
Please understand, Sash. “This is my … girlfriend, Santi,” Quinn said carefully. He met Santi’s gaze, begging her to understand even though he couldn’t explain how he could love them both at the same time.
“Hi,” Santi said softly. “He forgot to tell me you were beyond gorgeous.” The hint of pain in her voice knifed right through him.
How can I get through this without hurting either of them?
Sasha slowly slipped out of Quinn’s arms and stared up at him. A little piece of his heart broke at what he saw there. She was no longer the girl he’d grown up with. No longer his childhood sweetheart. They’d both moved on and become different people, set on different paths now.
So what are we to each other?
“You have a girlfriend? You’ve been off in some kind of prison camp, have obviously been through hell, and you come back with a girlfriend? While I’ve spent the last eight months dying inside, you’ve been hooking up?” She gave him a shove and Quinn stumbled back.
Anger is good. I can deal with angry Sasha. That’s our thing anyway. I just can’t deal with hurt Sasha.
“Sasha, it’s not going to change whatever this bond is we have now,” Quinn said.
“Wow, she’s pretty feisty. I like her,” Santi said.
Sasha shot her a glare that could have melted glass. “I—”
“Can we argue later, Sash?” Quinn asked. “Right now, I’m just really happy to see you.” He reached to cup her face. The gesture was so familiar. He’d done it a thousand times—with Santi and with Sasha, and he could tell Santi didn’t like it. At all.
Caught between two strong-willed women. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Come on, you two,” Darius said. “Santi … uh, you should probably stay here.”
“Fine by me; I’m exhausted. It’s been a really long … year.” She stretched out on the bed with a yawn.
Quinn met her gaze and she smiled. They were okay. We’ll be okay.
He trembled beside Sasha as they Followed Allie and Darius through the hallways of their childhood home. The memories of this place were distant to him now. He would need to explain that to Sasha soon. She had to understand how that night at the ball felt like a million years ago to him now.
“It’s okay. You’re home now,” she whispered. “Life isn’t going to go back to the way it was before. We’re not those people anymore, Quinn.” She squeezed his hand. “But we can build a new future. A new normal.”
Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. She gets it. He took a moment to really look at her. There was a hardness about her that wasn’t there before. Sasha was as changed as he was.
“What’s this?” Gregg met them at the door to his office, the phone halfway to his ear.
“Sorry, Dad,” Darius said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Gregg’s jaw dropped. “You too?”
“I sense lots of group Syntrophos classes in our near future,” Darius said.
“We’re going to go.” Allie pulled Darius toward the door. “We’ll talk tomorrow, Sash.”
“What’s a Syntrophos?” Quinn asked.
~~~
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
Sasha: Fall—The New Moon
Kelleys Island, Ohio
“Say something, Da,” Sasha said.
Gregg stood at the bar in his office, staring into the amber liquid in his glass. He glanced up at her, his eyes filled with sadness.
“I should have seen this coming. This explains everything I’ve watched you two struggle with in your relationship.” He sighed as he crossed the room to sit in his worn leather chair. “I should have recognized it and prepared you for it.”
“What does this bond mean, Gregg?” Quinn asked. “In all my studies, I’ve never heard of a Syntrophos bond.”
“Quinn, you have loved my daughter since the moment you met her,” Gregg said. “And you’ve been torn apart for eight months. I can imagine how gut-wrenching that has been for you both. Especially with not understanding the nature of the relationship that has been building between you for years. And I don’t think either of you realizes how long those eight months have been for the other, nor what you’ve been through in that time.”
“How could you possibly know about Michael?” Quinn asked.
“He attacked Aidan tonight,” Gregg said.
“Aidan?” Sasha jumped to her feet, worried something terrible had happened to her brother.
“He’s fine. We were able to save him in time but we’ve taken Michael prisoner. He won’t be hurting anyone with his gift ever again.”
“What did this man do to you?” Sasha glanced at Quinn. There was no doubt he was different. Older somehow. Has this time away been more than it seems for him too?
“The first three months at Soma were a nightmare.” Quinn sighed. “Michael was one of the ‘trainers’ there. His psychological gift made those three months feel like five years of torture.” Quinn turned to Sasha and took her hand. “In my mind, I feel like I’ve been away from you for nearly six years, Sasha. That last night at the ball … it’s a distant memory for me.” His voice trembled with regret.
“It’s been nearly four years for me,” she whispered, squeezing his hand gently. She couldn’t imagine the torment he’d suffered. How difficult it likely was for him when he realized those years didn’t actually happen.
“How?” Quinn gasped.
“The Senate sent me away to train as a Chola assassin. I was gone for six weeks, but time moves slowly in the Chola Valley. To me it was three years. Three very long years.”
“The Chola Valley? I’ve read about that place. Sasha, the training there is brutal.” Quinn pulled her into his arms and held her. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
“It seems we’ve both had a very long eight months.” Sasha buried her head in the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of him like a childhood memory.
“I’m so sorry about Santi. I never wanted to spring that on you so suddenly.” Quinn pulled away.
“I understand. You go through something like that with someone and it changes you both.” Sasha couldn’t fault him for moving on.
“Jayesh?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know,” she whispered. “He’s not free.”
“He is a good man.”
“You know him?” Her eyes widened in surprise.
“We’ve met.” Quinn smiled.
“You’ve both suffered more than any of us will ever know or understand,” Gregg said. “But you’re home now and it’s time for some healing. Learning to cope with the Syntrophos bond will be difficult, but I suspect it will also be an immense relief to you.”
“What is it, Da?” Sasha asked. “It feels so much like I imagine the Complement bond to be.”
“But there was no choice,” Quinn added. “It just happened.”
“Aye, that’s the way of the Syntrophos bond. It tends to build under the surface for a time before it comes upon you like a storm. The Syntrophos bond began with the earliest queens of Indriell. The queen’s council was made up of the Syntrophos, who were the heads of their noble houses. They acted as her council, but they were also her army.”
“So it’s a battle bond?” Quinn asked.
“In a way, yes.” Gregg nodded.
“That would explain why we are more successful as sparring partners th
an as romantic partners,” Sasha said. But Quinn was so much more to her than just a right hand in battle.
“We’ve often suspected that Sasha has a genetic link to Indriell nobility,” Gregg said. “With her hair threaded with gold, and the strength of her power and talent, if Indriell still stood today, she would likely have grown up as the companion to the first princess. Eventually she would have become the first of the queen’s council. A woman like that would have had a strong Syntrophos standing by her side and the two would have taken charge of the queen’s royal council.”
“But what does it mean for us? Indriell no longer exists, so what does a Syntrophos do?” Sasha asked.
“Today, the remaining Syntrophos keep it hidden. You will need to learn to mask the bond you share so it cannot be detected. The Senate can never know about your bond, Sasha. They are just waiting for a reason to take you away from us. If they discover you and Quinn are a bonded Syntrophos, they will take you both.”
“Then learning to mask this bond will be a priority,” Quinn said. “I will never again let anyone take my freedom—from me or from Sasha. It’s not an option.”
“The Syntrophos bond is an intimate thing,” Gregg said. “It will rarely make sense to anyone outside of it. And until one of you bonds with your Complement, we won’t know which one of you is the anchor.”
“Anchor?” Sasha asked.
“The Syntrophos bond involves three people. The Anchor is the glue that holds you all together. The Anchor will have a Syntrophos and a Complement who will be closely linked as well. The Anchor’s Syntrophos and Complement will often be each other’s best friend and their worst enemy. The Anchor will feel torn between their love for both. Like he or she isn’t enough. Until the third wheel, so to speak, bonds with their own Complement, the relationship can be extremely rocky for all involved. Jealousy will always be a part of the bond. When the fourth joins you, he or she will bring a balance to the relationship but they will never be part of it. The fourth is destined to sit on the sidelines of the bond.”
“So this bond would explain why we love each other so much, but no matter how much we want it, the relationship never works.” Sasha could almost feel her worldview changing.
“It will take years for you two to come to terms with what this bond means for you,” Gregg said. “Only you will ever be able to define what you mean to each other. We always categorize the people in our lives. Family, friend, lover, enemy. A Syntrophos doesn’t fit into any of those boxes.”
Quinn nodded, a small smile beginning to light his face. “That explains a lot.”
Sasha felt the first stirrings of relief and she was so happy to see Quinn’s similar reaction.
“The only love you will ever know that supersedes what you two have now will be with your Complements. The Syntrophos bond is a very different kind of love, but it is still love. You will feel the need to express your love in a physical way—and I don’t mean sex. I like to think of myself as a modern man, but I’m not having that conversation with my daughter.”
“Dad!” Sasha groaned, mortified.
“I’m glad to see I can still embarrass you.” He smiled. “You grew up during your time away, Sasha. I wasn’t ready for that. And I’m not ready for this either. For the Syntrophos who aren’t bonded with a Complement, it is very easy to let that love become a romantic relationship, as you two have attempted time and again. The way you gravitate toward each other in a physical way will never go away. You’ll always feel the need to touch. Your romantic partners will never understand that, but your Complements will in time. That’s where the jealousy will come in. But at its core, the Syntrophos bond is a very innocent kind of love.”
“So … loving two people at the same time is inevitable?” Quinn asked.
“Aye.” Gregg nodded. “And you’ve no need to beat yourself up about it.”
“I will do my best not to come between you and Santi,” Sasha said softly. “But it won’t be easy.” Her eyes clouded with tears. She didn’t want to share him. Not now that she finally had him back. But at the same time she could understand how torn Quinn was feeling. In a sense, she felt like she’d finally gotten her heart back, but there was a little piece of her that was with Jayesh. She had no idea what her future would hold with him, but she owed it to him to find out.
“And I will do my best to explain to her how much you mean to me,” Quinn said.
“We will spend a great deal of time over the coming weeks discussing the Syntrophos bond. We will bring Santi into those lessons if you’d like,” Gregg said.
“Thank you.” Quinn nodded.
“Wait,” Sasha said. “Allie and Darius?”
“Aye.” Gregg smiled. “Allie and Darius too.”
“That’s … unexpected.” Sasha giggled. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh.” But she suddenly found the thought of Allie at the center of so much boy drama absolutely hilarious.
“Poor Aidan.” Quinn laughed, slipping his hand around hers.
“Poor Darius.” Gregg grinned.
“She’s going to drown them both in the lake.” Sasha threw her head back and laughed. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to finally understand her feelings for Quinn and how he would always be one of the most important people in her life. Knowing that would never change made it easier to think of him with someone else—easier to think of herself with someone else.
Jayesh.
~~~
EPILOGUE
Livia: Fall—The New Moon
Kelleys Island, Ohio
“Oh good, you brought the brat.” Livia paced the length of her cell. It was the only way she could mask the panic she was feeling.
How did I get myself into this? Marcus is going to slaughter these people. And it’s all my fault.
Livia turned, setting her eyes on the girl who was the source of all her trouble. Allie met her gaze with defiance. This was not the same girl Livia had met eight months ago. That girl had been a shadow. A child who hadn’t yet come into her own. She’s found her footing since then.
“Do you know why you’re looking for me?” Allie asked, her voice clear as a bell.
“Of course. But I won’t be telling any of you that.” Livia looked Allie up and down, scouring her face for clues. What is it about this girl? What am I missing? She was certainly powerful, and if Livia’s suspicions were correct, Allie was also very important. But there was something more—something Livia hadn’t figured out yet.
“Not the reason your boss wants me. Do you know why you are so intrigued by me? Why time and again you come looking for me?”
“What do you know?” Livia paced as close to the magnetic bars as she dared.
“You’re my sister.”
Of all the things the girl could have said, this was not what Livia expected.
“Not possible.” Livia reached for the necklace at her throat. The memories that had plagued her for years came back to her now. Memories of another life. Another family. Livia had a life once. A life before Marcus.
“Of course … Alivia,” Gregg whispered. “I haven’t thought of her in more than a century.” He stared at Livia like she was a missing piece of his family. “Do you remember when you were taken?” he asked. “You were so young. I can’t imagine you could remember much of your natural mother and father.”
“I was adopted. I’m no natural born.” But the vague memories and dreams that tormented her sleep were proof that what he said was true. What had Marcus robbed her of? What might her life have been like if he’d never taken her from her … family?
“You remember a woman with hair like mine, don’t you? You said it the moment you laid eyes on me in that warehouse last year when I was the one behind bars. I remember her too, just vaguely.”
“The necklace … let me see it,” Livia demanded.
Allie tugged a chain from under her coat and held it in the light.
Livia did the same, removing a long chain tucked under her jacket. The pendants were nearly
identical. The serpentine figure around Livia’s necklace was more clearly an ouroboros than Allie’s, but the pendants were eerily similar. And eerily like the Soma brand, except the serpent curved into a figure eight rather than a circle.
Allie’s mortal mother, Lily, had given Livia the necklace when she’d visited her in New Zealand more than eighteen months ago. Along with a story that didn’t seem quite right. That trip was the catalyst that started all of this—Livia’s obsession with Allie.
Livia hadn’t discovered the answers she sought that day, only more questions. Questions that led her back to Allie again a year later.
“It makes no difference.” Livia lifted her chin. She couldn’t let these people see how shaken she was. “I was raised by the man I call father. That is all that matters.” Livia turned her back to them. She couldn’t look into Allie’s eyes for another second. She was too ashamed of all she had done. There was no way this girl could ever understand that Livia did it all to keep her mother safe.
Do I really have a sister? A little sister that needs more protection than she realizes?
“I don’t know you. I don’t know who you work for. I don’t know anything about you, but you’re my sister,” Allie said.
Livia closed her eyes, swallowing back her emotions just as she’d been taught all her life.
“She isn’t worth the effort, little one,” the big blond man said. He was right.
“She’s my sister,” Allie insisted.
“You saw what she did to Ming and Jin?” he said.
Livia wished she could take it back. Her gift was an abomination, but it was the thing Marcus loved most about her—her ability to sever the Complement bond. It made her physically ill every time she used it. Taking a life that way … ruining another life at the same time … it was unbearable.
“She broke their Complement bond. And to make it even more unnecessarily tragic, she murdered Ming Lao in front of their daughter.”
“To be fair, I was aiming for the other one.” Livia whirled around, masking her fear with defiance. “It’s usually easier for the woman to survive without her Complement, especially when she has natural children. I was trying to be nice.” Livia let as much venom and sarcasm into her voice as she could.
Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3) Page 31