Page 97 of Obsidian Dream
“Don’t lie to me, Wildfire.”His voice went through her, demanding but sensual.She leaned against him, listening to his heartbeat as he gently placed her on the couch.He tucked an errant curl behind her ear before he slowly stood.
Dressed in dark pants and a white shirt, he appeared out of place in the antique room.His emerald eyes flashed neon as he slowly looked her over.His eyes narrowed dangerously as he focused on the gauntlet.
The best defense is offense.She’d learned that recently from Dante’s playbook.“There is something else out there.I could sense something when we arrived, but it was like it was behind a wall.Just out of my reach.Now.”She tilted her head as she rolled with the pain, not bothering to hide it.“I can feel it.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“Someone ancient.”Rieka sat up on the couch, her throat dry as she stared around the room.“And who has power.It could be Ninhursag.”
A tick started on Dante’s jaw, the only hint of his annoyance.
“We need to make sure we stop them from unleashing carnage.We have a chance of slowing it down,” she whispered.
The visions were always the same, an extension of what Sypha had told them just after they had regained consciousness.The voices from the ancient gods had fallen silent before they had left for Egypt, but in Rome, they had grown increasingly louder and more insistent that she listen and obey.Open herself up to the power they promised to bestow upon her.Instead, the dreams had become so real that she had seen them when she was awake.
Falling cities.Massacres.It always ended the same, with the subjugation of humans and Atlanteans.
Transforming into Pandora and being responsible for the awakening of the O’hurani and some of the Anki, was not what she had wanted her legacy to be.
“It has already started,” Rieka added.And just like Pandora’s box, once it had been opened, there was no going back to the way it was.She would not stop until they were no longer a threat.
“What are the voices saying?”
Rieka chewed her lower lip—she had been hoping Dante wouldn’t ask.It actually made no sense.Only every third or fourth word was in a dialect she recognized.She fidgeted, but it didn’t fool Dante.“All I can understand is O’hurani and heart.Everything else is in languages I don’t understand.”
“What did Talik and Khalida find?”
“An artifact.Chaucer has been sent a digitized version and is attempting to decipher it.Kade thinks they can locate Ninhursag at Palatine Hill.”Dante looked through the window.“The House refuses to cooperate with the limited information we can share.”Ice tinged his voice, the only hint of emotion he ever shared.“I have thirty Atlanteans I can trust who will support us.”
Rieka whistled softly.The denial wasn’t a surprise.They couldn’t exactly inform the House that an ancient sect of gods was awakening and wanted to remake the world into something a lot less palatable to the Atlantean and human population.Not without having to explain who the Anki and the O’hurani were.She might not entirely agree, but until they worked out how to stop the Anki, adding worldwide hysteria to the mix would not help them in the short or long term.Not all the Houses could be trusted to work together for the greater Atlantean good, let alone want to also help their human counterparts.“Do you have a plan?”
Dante smiled, the light reaching his eyes.“The thieves guild still owes me a favor.”
Chapter Forty-Three
KHALIDA
