Page 44 of Nexus
“I didn’t see who it was,” I lied. “I just heard them in passing and thought I’d ask Ruen if he’d heard about it.”
“I don’t believe you,” Lord Gilden said flatly. “I think you know exactly who told you about the gate and you’re protecting them. You will tell me the truth immediately.”
He leaned forward and we became locked in a staring match. I felt like I was falling into his eyes, but it was because of their beauty rather than from compulsion. “If you’re trying to use your dragon mind power on me, it won’t work,” I said after the silence had dragged on for over a minute.
“Not even my kind can ensnare Ms. Sterling’s mind,” Ruen muttered in annoyance.
I was wise enough not to smirk at their failure to control me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
DRAKE SAT BACK IN HIS chair with a disgruntled expression. “I’d very much like to know exactly what sort of creature you are, Saige.”
“Why is it so important for you to know who I overheard that rumor from?” I queried, unable to tell him about my true heritage, since I didn’t know it myself.
“Only a handful of people in this world are aware that the axis-gate exists,” he replied. “The possibility that someone was gossiping about it in a nightclub is ludicrous.”
“What’s so secret about the gate?” I asked. “Is it because it needs a spell to open it?”
His gaze sharpened even more and I felt like I’d been pinned to my chair. I wished I’d kept my mouth shut, but it was too late now. “I might not be able to bend your mind to my will, but you will not leave this room until you’ve told me everything you know about the axis-gate,” he said ominously.
“Is this something Ruen has the clearance to know about?” I asked, hiking my thumb at my assistant.
“Ruen is forbidden from divulging confidential information to anyone without my permission,” he confirmed.
“I don’t know much,” I said, resigning myself to spilling my guts. “I’ve heard the overlords of the nine realms are searching for a spell that will unlock the axis-gate. They’ll supposedly be able to retain their natural forms if they use that particular gate. They apparently plan to invade Nexus and wipe us all out, then move on to conquer the rest of the world.”
Drake tented his hands beneath his chin and stared past me rather than at me. He was deeply lost in thought. “Will you divulge your source to me?” he asked eventually.
“I saw it in a dream,” I admitted.
Ruen huffed out an irritated sigh. “I might have known,” he snapped. “You fabricated this idiotic story to gain attention.”
“I did not!” I denied hotly. “If I wanted to gain attention, I’d wear a short skirt and a see-through top.”
“Like the clothes you’re wearing right now?” he said pointedly and lowered his eyes to my boobs that were barely contained by my bra.
“Hush, Ruen,” Lord Gilden said mildly and the vampire’s mouth snapped shut. “What else did you see in this dream?” he asked.
“You’re going to laugh at me,” I said nervously.
“I promise I won’t,” he vowed. “Tell me everything you can remember.”
I cut a look at the bloodsucker to see he was glaring at the floor. Now that he’d been ordered to be silent, he wouldn’t be able to speak until he’d been given permission to. “Keep in mind that I play a lot of videogames and I have an overactive imagination,” I warned the dragon, then I told him most of what had happened in my vision. The only bits I left out was my sense of loss at seeing his and Ruen’s remains and the gaming console at the end. “My mom’s body was the last corpse I saw,” I finished up, voice cracking slightly in remembered pain.
Ruen was now looking at me and his expression was disturbed rather than mocking. He glanced at his boss and did a doubletake. Drake’s face had paled a bit and he looked almost haunted. “No one knows about the spell that will open the axis-gate,” Drake said in a low voice. “Even I barely remembered its existence before you mentioned it just now.”
Shock at that revelation rendered me speechless for a moment. “Are you saying you’re over five thousand years old?” I asked when I managed to shake off my astonishment. I knew he was ancient, but not that freaking ancient.
He shook his head, which was a relief. “My grandmother told me stories about the last time our world faced ruination,” he said. “Her own grandmother lived through it and barely survived. The overlords back then formed an alliance. They swarmed through the gates on several continents. Although they changed to human guises during their invasion, they were still highly dangerous. They slaughtered everyone they encountered, but their numbers were too small to wipe out humanity utterly. The humans formed hunting parties and managed to drive their foes back through the portals. Strong magic users were able to seal the gates.
“A couple of thousand years passed before the overlords’ sorcerers were able to weaken the spells. Now the magic will allow only one or two beings at a time to pass through the gates. By then, the population of this world had grown. So had the supernatural community. Leaders have been chosen to set soldiers to guard each gate ever since then. We’ve successfully managed to thwart further attempts to invade this world.”
“I take it you’re one of the leaders who was chosen to guard the gates?” I asked.
He inclined his head in confirmation. “I’ve been guarding the gates for several centuries, ever since my predecessor died. There are ten gates clustered in or near Nexus, hence where its name comes from. They’re usually far more spread out than that.”
I’d looked up the definition of what a nexus was and discovered it was a link or a connection. The name made far more sense the information he’d just given me.
