Waking Eden (The Eden Series Book 3) Read online

  A safe haven will be created for your human brethren and a barrier formed between the two realms, fueled by your most formidable powers and grief. A reckoning will come, marked by the joining of one who leads and one who bears the mark of a sword twined in ivy. A human will stand as judge, one versed in both races and injured in similar kind to the one wronged this day. The mark ???? will be the key, the tool that will ???? ???? ???? the powers you give freely this day, or that will keep the wall in place forever more.

  So close. She’d wasted nearly a whole day wading through the sketchy drama outlined in the early passages of Uther’s tattered family journal. Some nonsense about the transgressions of Myren men against a human woman that had triggered the whole bloody affair, but this…

  She re-read the last passage. This had to be it. The key to it all. A few, frustratingly vague symbols worn by too many years and second-rate care all that stood between her and all she ever wanted. If the rest of Uther’s family wasn’t already dead, she’d recommend he torture and kill every last one of them for their foolish disregard of the legacy they’d held all these years.

  She gently pulled Uther’s felt-wrapped journal from her satchel. Peeling away the black fabric, she opened the book to the last passage and laid it side by side with the ancient translation from Thyrus’ safe. Tension held her spine rigid, and the ache of days pouring over the texts tugged at the base of her neck. Her arms shook with each cautiously turned page, a dangerous mix of the room’s chill and the hunt.

  One symbol after another, she worked through the older translation. Some easily distinguished from others, some varying only by a small mark or nuance. Time passed too quickly. The sun’s overcast beams shifted through the high window and everything from her waist down tingled with near numbness.

  An open palm with wavy lines above it sat near the bottom of the page, the second of the two images she’d failed to translate. All she’d garnered from the more recent translation was that the symbol represented food, which made no sense.

  She pulled a candle closer and leaned in.

  To strengthen. To provide for. To feed.

  Shifting to her tablet, she set the options to paper.

  Feed. It had to be feed. But feed who?

  Four pages later another word clicked into place. Family.

  The mark of your family will be the key, the tool that will feed ???? the powers you give freely this day, or that will keep the wall in place forever more.

  Damn it. Feed who? She’d reached the end of the translation and hadn’t seen one reference to the last symbol.

  She flipped to the start of the translation again. One image was all she had left, two circles with a box on top.

  Carefully, she turned the page. Then another. She started to turn the third and froze. It was the last on the page. No wonder she’d missed it.

  To convey. To porter. To bear.

  To bear. That had to be it.

  The mark of your family will be the key, the tool that will feed its bearer the powers you give freely this day, or that will keep the wall in place forever more.

  Her heart surged in an eager sprint. If she wielded the key, she could have the powers. No man between her and her desires. No reliance on others to keep their vows. Just because a man had always been the one to command the sum of all Myren powers didn’t mean it had to remain that way.

  A muted thud sounded from the outer room.

  Serena ripped the full translation from her tablet and stuffed it in her satchel. With her mind she navigated the older book to the safe and pushed the door closed with a heavy swoosh as the door latch behind her clunked. She gave the safe’s dial a quick mental twist and perched over her tablet.

  “Hard at work,” Uther said from behind her.

  What in histus was he doing here?

  “I wondered what had you out and about.” He hovered over her shoulder. “Any more luck?”

  A damned treasure trove. Not that he needed to know. She showed him the same heavily parsed section she’d shown him the day before and waved to the wall of books behind her. “I can’t seem to get past this section. I’d hoped Thyrus’ library might offer up some clues, but I haven’t had much luck.” She tucked the tablet in her satchel, careful to keep the full translation hidden. “I think it’s best I move on to the next section and see if it brings any more success.”

  Uther studied her, the shrewd narrowing of his eyes amplifying her pulse to the point it pounded in her ears. “Why aren’t there any books on the table?”

  She flipped the latches on her satchel into place and lifted an arrogant eyebrow. “You’re going to tell me how to do my research now? I don’t see you making any progress on your own. I hardly think you’re in a place to question my methods.” She stood and lifted her satchel. “For the record though, I’d already finished my research and cleaned up before you got here. Speaking of, how did you get past the guards?”

  Uther’s gaze slid along the wall of books, considering, before he met hers and smirked. “Masking is one of my stronger skills. Particularly when there are sufficient distractions that help me hide my presence.”

  “How?”

  “Now you’re questioning my methods?”

  She waved him off and headed to the main room. “Not the same thing at all. You were calling mine into question. I was learning.”

  She was halfway to the door, her heart almost back to a bearable rhythm.

  Uther grasped her arm and spun her to face him. “I won’t tolerate lies.”

  Of course, he wouldn’t. The man had as much sympathy in him as her father. It didn’t matter. The gamble would be worth it in the end if she could find that key.

  She smiled with more confidence than she felt. “Neither will I. Now, if you won’t tell me how you got past the guards, then at least tell me if your tricks would work in a more secure environment.”

  “How secure?”

  She gave him her back and continued her trek to the door and the guards waiting beyond. “I want you to get us in the castle. They’ve got the official translations, and we’ll never get past where I’m at without them.”

  “You want to steal right out from under the malran’s nose?”

  Well, not the translation tables. Something far more important than that. But Uther didn’t need to know that detail. Not yet anyway. She twisted the latch and tossed a mocking smirk his direction. “If you want the power, you’ll have to take the risk.”

  Chapter 30

  Trinity flew toward the Shantos castle, Ramsay within touching distance at her back. A little more than forty-eight hours they’d had all to themselves, and it had been utter bliss. Two sunrises she’d been able to watch with him, vivid corals and pinks lifting over the distant mountains and his black rock cove.

  Their cove, Ramsay had called it. Their home. Compared to the castle, the lodge was tiny. Cozy, but with clean lines. One large open room, a minimal kitchen along one wall, small sitting area in one corner with a moderate hearth, and a monstrous bed along the back wall. Kind of like the loft she’d almost rented in Dallas, but more manly and with a much better view.

  The landscape and the man.

  That mysterious, but oh-so pleasant flutter she’d wrestled with since the day she met Ramsay scampered beneath her sternum. What a fairy tale. In two weeks her life had turned on its head. From lonely librarian with a secret heritage, to a multi-cultural woman with a devastatingly handsome husband.

  No, not husband. Fireann. If she was going to live a Myren life, she needed to get those terms right.

  And family. She had family.

  She twisted and laid eyes on the mark spanning Ramsay’s entire arm. An exact replica of Lexi’s mark and the pendant she’d worn nearly every day since she was ten. Well, exactly the same except Ramsay’s mark had silver and gold just like her Pegasus, though his was accented in the blade and hilt.

  God, but she was happy. Connected. Her soul beaming brighter than the red-rimmed sun creeping up the rainbow
sky.

  “Crazy,” Ramsay half muttered, half chuckled.

  “What’s crazy?”

  He shook his head and gazed down at her. It was weird seeing him with his hair bound, but the first thing he’d done upon waking was to pull his thick hair into a tight ponytail. With a satisfied smirk, he’d proceeded to braid a lock of hers. A custom, he’d explained. One that signified their relationship.

  An almost misty wonderment filled his eyes. “I swear I can feel your emotions. I don’t know if it’s the Spiritu factor in our link, or if I just can’t turn off my Myren emotional radar, but right now I’d say you’re somewhere between a kid with a new toy and Cinderella.”

  She gave in to temptation and touched the sword hilt on his forearm. He wasn’t wrong. Not on either count. “I’m pretty sure I’m feeling yours too, like an echo.” She navigated closer, nearly snuggled with him midair. “You didn’t want to leave this morning, but you did it anyway. For me.”

  “You wanted to officially meet your family and show off your pretty new mark. I get that.” He stroked one tip of the horse’s wing near her shoulder. The gold and silver accents shimmered in the brilliant morning light. “Kind of looking forward to one-upping Eryx myself.”

  She shook her head, a little of her early confusion clouding her happy mood. “I don’t get it though. If Lexi and I are related, why wouldn’t the telepathy work after my awakening?”

  Ramsay laughed and laid a comforting hand at the small of her back. “Stop analyzing it. Could just be we needed to blast a hole in your Spiritu firewall.”

  “So you think it’ll work now?”

  “You could try calling ahead and find out.”

  The castle sat nestled on an ocean-side point, growing closer by the second. Tall mountains looked down on it from one side and lush gardens with flowers in bold, exotic colors surrounded the perimeter. They were nearly there already. Not much point in testing things out now. “Nope, I’d rather keep it a surprise.”

  “Works for me.” He shifted to land and swept her into his arms. “I’d rather Eryx not know we’re coming anyway. He might put me back to work early, and I’m not done playing with my baineann.”

  Her happy laughter trailed behind them, her stomach lagging along with it. Someday she’d be as adept in the air as he was, but right now every aerial shift registered on par with a corkscrew roller coaster.

  The guards positioned outside the main castle entrance pulled the mammoth double doors wide and dipped their heads in acknowledgement. She could have sworn Ramsay puffed his chest out a tad further as they strode past. She’d wondered why he’d chosen the more informal drast this morning, especially with how cold it had been. But with her mark plastered big and bold down his entire arm the pieces clicked.

  “And you think I’m a show off.” She laced her fingers with his and traipsed beside him as he wound through the main hallway. “At least I wore a jacket.”

  Granted it was Ramsay’s jacket, heavy leather with the sleeves clumsily rolled back to free her hands, but it was all he’d had at the lodge to combat the unexpected cold front.

  “Hey, I should get points for having a change of clothes for you. The Great Mother, her moods I can’t predict. If I hadn't worn that to Evad a few weeks ago, we’d have had to roll you up in a blanket like a burrito to get you home.”

  They hurried through the kitchen. A castle worker stood perched on a step stool in the open pantry, stowing a nearly bursting burlap sack on a high shelf. A small fire burned in the wide, skinny brick oven, and the scent of fresh bread filled the room.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  Ramsay lifted his chin toward the back of the castle. “Eryx is up front in his study with Ludan. Lexi’s in the private garden out back.”

  She stopped, pulling Ramsay to a standstill in the process. “How do you know that?”

  His head jerked back as if she’d shocked him, then a slow smile spread across his face. “Their links. You can use ’em to locate where they’re at. It’s kind of second nature once you learn how to do it. Guess we forgot to cover that point.” He pulled her in front of him and aimed her toward the garden beyond. “Close your eyes and give it a shot.”

  “Will she know I’m doing it?”

  “Nope. Not a clue unless you say something.” He cupped her shoulders. “Just open your mind and search her out. You’ll feel it like a tug. Or maybe a compass. Kind of hard to explain.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to relax. Muted sounds pinged in and around the house. Two women chatting somewhere near the foyer. A steady clang from outside, like a hammer on metal. Maybe they had a blacksmith. Did they even need things like that in Eden?

  “Start with me,” he whispered in her mind. “Follow the thread you feel when we talk this way. Feel the presence that goes with it?”

  Instinct urged her to face his voice. “Like your brain is trying to line up with the person.”

  “Exactly like that.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Now look for Lexi. Find your family.”

  She focused on Ramsay’s link and stilled her mind. His had a certain resonation. A sparkling silver thread floating easy in her mind’s eye.

  A blue stream wiggled nearby, soft in tone and so close to gray she nearly missed it beside Ramsay’s.

  Wait a minute. In her mind’s eye, there was another strand near Ramsay’s. This one deeper gray and more restrained in its movement. Peaceful. Calm.

  Eryx.

  “I see it.” She clamped onto Ramsay’s hand at her shoulder and held her breath for fear she’d lose the vision. “Hers and Eryx’s. Because he’s family now too, right?”

  “That’s right. You should see Lena and Reese too, though Reese’s might be a little dimmer.”

  A green strand. Vibrant as Myren grass and set further away, a pale green strand close beside it. The two undulated as though floating in a soft breeze, in perfect alignment. “They’re all different colors. And they all act a little different too.”

  “Because every person is different.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight. “Now follow Lexi’s. See where it leads you.”

  She singled out the blue thread and her thoughts shifted. A kind of mental pointer her body responded to almost instantly. “That way.” She opened her eyes and found herself aimed straight toward the rear castle exit.

  “Nailed it.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. “Now come on. Let’s go meet your sister.”

  She stumbled in his wake. Her emotions rattled in all directions. Sister? She’d let her thoughts fiddle with the idea of family, but sister?

  Ramsay opened the door. The guards at either side snapped to attention, drawing the focus of a cluster of women, all animatedly chatting near the fire pit.

  Lexi and Galena. Orla. Ian’s daughter, Jillian. At the center of their group was Brenna, the sweet little human she’d caught watching her as Lexi had taught her to levitate things shortly after her awakening. Her dark eyes seemed way too ancient for her young body.

  All eyes were trained on her.

  “Time to strut your stuff, Sunshine.” He peeled the jacket off her shoulders and playfully swatted her butt. “Let’s go show the girls what we made together.”

  She swallowed and kept her focus on Lexi as she navigated the twisting sand path. A sister. Wow. She’d barely made it halfway to them when their expressions shifted, welcome smiles morphing to stunned looks. Every one of them had eyes locked on Ramsay’s arm.

  Lexi’s head snapped up as Trinity reached the flagstone circle. Her smile reached ear-to-ear, joy shining from her face to match what danced around in Trinity’s heart.

  Trinity focused on the blue strand and aimed her thoughts. “Surprise.”

  Lexi’s eyes rounded and her mouth dropped open. “I can hear you!”

  Ramsay chuckled beside Trinity and cupped the back of her neck. “I guess my firewall theory was right.”

  Lexi shot forward and wrapped Trinity up
in a tight hug, the impact nearly knocking her off center. For long seconds, it seemed as if both of them held their breath, uncertain what to say. Lexi shook against Trinity and a sniffle sounded at Trinity’s ear.

  “It wasn’t a fluke,” Lexi whispered. “We are family.”

  Oh, God. Not tears. If Lexi cried, there was no way Trinity would be able to contain her own. Her throat was already clogged with more emotion than she knew what to do with. Any more and she’d be a blubbering mess. “Ramsay thinks we’re sisters.”

  Lexi’s arms tightened, and then she pulled away still grasping Trinity’s shoulders. Tears trailed down her cheeks and her eyes were shiny with more yet to fall, but her smile was huge. Pure joy. Bold and as vibrant as the woman herself. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Her vision swam, Lexi and the women behind her going fuzzy as reality surfaced.

  Ramsay stroked her nape.

  Lexi laughed and dashed away a fresh tear. “Now look what I did.” She motioned at Ramsay beside her. “You’re crying and your big bad fireann’s all prickly and ready to cart you off somewhere safe.”

  “She’s right where she needs to be.” He moved closer to Trinity and wrapped an arm around her waist.

  Did he realize the way he grounded her? How much she needed his strength right now?

  “Besides,” he said, “she’s probably ready for some girl talk, and I’m kind of looking forward to showing off with Eryx.”

  “Showing off what?” Eryx strode toward them, a few of his many braids hanging long over one shoulder, metals beads at the end glinting in the sun

  Next to Eryx, Ludan scowled and scanned the women behind Lexi. Whatever it was that had brought them to the garden didn’t look to be warm and fuzzy.