Soulceress (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 2) (29 page)

She meant it.
 

But Warren didn’t know how to fix this, because he wouldn’t risk her. At some point, he’d become less concerned about himself and more about her. But this was the worst kind of argument. The kind in which each understood the other’s perspective, but wouldn’t budge. It would all come down to which one reached Aurora first. But would one of them do something that the other couldn’t forgive?

“Let’s go,” he said, and turned to the door. They weren’t going to see eye to eye, so they might as well get to work.
 

“Fine.” Esha swept out the door in front of him into the cold morning air.
 

The gloaming lent a haunted aura to the city, especially once the disorientation hit him. They’d only walked a hundred yards up the narrow street when he noticed that the shade was following them again. Unlike the shadows that hovered in the windows and watched, or attacked mindlessly at the museum and temple, this one seemed to have its own agenda. But damned if he knew what it was. It had helped them twice, though, which was damned strange.
 

“We’re close,” Esha said.
 

His muscles tensed. He’d had no idea how close or far they were, which was weird as hell. Worse, the city’s magic made him feel less capable of protecting Esha, and he hated it.
 

His hand went to the dagger in his boot when they stepped out into the square. They crossed quickly to the temple and Warren said, “Let’s check for side entrances.”

They circled the entire building, through the small alley on the left side, the street at the back, and another small alley on the right. But there were no more entrances.

“Looks like we’re going up,” Esha said when they reached the front of the building.

Warren nodded and they began the climb. Once again, they made it up the stairs without incident. When they reached the landing that led to the great wooden door, he spun around to face the square, waiting for the shadows to charge again. It was eerily silent.

“They’re not here,” Esha said. “Maybe we destroyed them.”

He hoped so. They turned warily back to the door, and he pushed it open, this time having no trouble as he had yesterday at the museum. Damn, it felt good to be at full strength again.
 

They stood at either side of the door, behind the walls in case Aurora was within, and peered inside. The huge windows allowed light to shine in brilliant streams onto the rainbow marble. The ceiling soared overhead, arched stone as magnificent as any he’d ever seen. Stone pillars and arches supported it, creating aisles and walkways that led up to a huge platform at the other end of the temple. No question, the soulceresses of old had been talented and advanced beyond the ken of Mytheans and mortals.

“I don’t think she’s here,” Esha said. “But this is the place. I’m sure of it.”

“We’ll search it.”

They crept inside. Warren kept the dagger in his hand, ready for whatever flew out of the shadows at them. They walked along the silent aisles, looking for any kind of clue, but found nothing. It didn’t take long for him to agree that the place was truly empty. Aurora wasn’t here.
 

They reached the platform and began to climb. The air tingled, and he swiveled his head around, searching for the threat. A great crash thundered through the temple and a huge slab of ice slammed down between Warren and Esha, forming a transparent wall. Another crash, and slabs fell all around him, creating a giant maze of ice.

“Esha!”

She was trapped on the other side of the ice, but suddenly, there were dozens of her, emerging from the great frozen wall in front of him. The apparitions stomped toward him, gazes intense and mouths set. They converged upon him, pushing him back, tearing at his clothes and hair.
 

He struggled against them, shuddering at the tingly chill of them, but hesitated to strike out with his dagger. What the hell was this? Some kind of magic, but for what? One could be the real Esha, enchanted by Aurora. He couldn’t try to kill them for fear of that, but they were strong. He’d be on his knees soon.

“Warren!” Esha screamed. She pounded on the great ice wall, her fists stinging with the cold. The Chairman scrabbled at the glass, his claws carving gouges that were no match for the thick ice.

“No! Stop!” she cried when apparitions of herself attacked Warren. She thought they hesitated when she screamed
no
, but they picked up again, dragging Warren to the ground. But he wouldn’t fight back, not more than pushing them away, at least. Did he think she was one of them?

This had to be Aurora’s magic. Until now, the shadows had always tried to repel him alone. Now, the magic let her in but barred him. Aurora really did want to see only her, but she didn’t have to hurt Warren.

“Aurora, stop! Don’t hurt him!”

The apparitions continued to attack, so Esha screamed again. Finally, she thought she heard the bored echo of a voice saying, “Oh, fine.”

But the apparitions stopped, and Esha breathed a sigh of relief. Warren leapt to his feet and ran at the wall.

“Esha!” She couldn’t hear his words, but she could read his lips as he pounded on the ice, fear for her plain on his face.
 

“I’m fine!” She screamed, then caught sight of a shadow behind Warren. “Behind you!”

Warren spun around and faced the shadow. It was the mysterious shade who’d helped them until now. He’d be safe with the shade. She read no evil in it, not the way she normally did, and had an overwhelming feeling that the two of them could face whatever came at them.

Knowing that she had no way to escape the ice except to turn around and continue across the platform, she did so. Her muscles tensed as she walked across the marble expanse that was now surrounded on all sides by ice. A great table, inlaid with marble of all colors, stretched across the back wall. Behind it was an archway that led into a small antechamber.

She skirted the table and cautiously stepped through the archway. The breath was sucked from her lungs, and her vision blacked out as she was pulled through space.

CHAPTER THIRTY

When Esha could finally breathe again, she opened her eyes to see that she was standing in the middle of a beach party. No, make that a beach
orgy
. Scantily dressed mortals were dancing—writhing, more like it—to thumping music pumped out of speakers the size of her car.
 

Hot sun sparkled on cerulean blue water that lapped in small waves at a white sand beach, so different from the frozen land she’d left behind. She turned to see that she stood next to an expansive marble patio, and behind it, a huge white mansion with gleaming glass windows.

What the hell? This was so not what she had been expecting. She glanced around for the Chairman. He wasn’t there.

Holy shit. He’d been left behind. Her heart pounded faster. She was at half power without him. She readied herself for anything and pushed her way through the tanned, sun-oil slicked bodies of the partiers and stepped up onto the patio. The acre of white marble surrounded a huge pool, within which floated one woman on an enormous pool raft.

The woman leaned up and flicked her sunglasses up onto her head. “You’re here!” She hopped off the raft and climbed out of the water in seconds. “Clear out, bitches, the party is over!”
 

She waved her hand and the crowd disappeared. Another wave, and the music turned off. Silence crashed around them.
 

It all happened so fast that Esha’s head spun. The woman—who looked
so
familiar—strolled toward her. Esha gaped, remembering too late to snap her jaw shut. Aurora was as bright and golden as the sun. Golden skin, golden hair chopped short and tousled around her head, and most importantly, golden eyes that were far too familiar.
 

“Holy shit, we’re related,” Esha breathed.

“Of course.” Aurora spoke as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. But it wasn’t, not until you looked at their eyes. Their bodies shared no similarities. The other soulceress was shorter, with a more athletic build. Where Esha was a contrast of pale and dark, Aurora was golden.
 

Except for the black shadows that writhed around her, a mist that resonated with evil. They were the soul shadows of Warren and others. Esha didn’t have any of those.

But her eyes. One look at her eyes and it was clear as the sparkling water surrounding this island that they shared a parent.
 

“How?” Esha asked.

“We’re half sisters. Same mother.”

The breath whooshed out of Esha’s lungs, and she stepped back. No matter the broad smile that stretched across the face of the woman approaching her, she exuded danger and power.
 

Danger especially. As much as she wanted to believe the best of this woman—her
sister
, for gods’ sake—she wasn’t stupid.

“Where’s my familiar? And Warren?”

“Back in the temple. Safe, since it seems you would no’ come until I ended the magic. I thought it was quite clever.”

“Why’d you enchant the portal so it didn’t allow my familiar?”
 

“I figured you weren’t out to hurt me, but if you were, I dinna want you having the extra power. You aren’t out to get me, right?” Her sister arched a golden brow.

“Probably not, but I’m not sure yet.”
 

“Fair enough. Want a beer?” Aurora plucked one out of a cooler.
 

“Um, no, I’m good, thanks.”
 

“Come on.” Aurora stood in front of her with an infectious grin that threw Esha off balance. She popped the top off the beer and stuck it out so that Esha had to grab it. “Took you long enough to find me. Let’s go sit in those lounge chairs, get to know each other.”
 

Esha stood dumbly, the beer in her hand, as she watched her sister saunter off. They were going to chat, with beers on the beach? This was too strange—it couldn’t be right.

Esha’s muscles tensed, ready to flee or throw a fireball or do whatever it took to protect herself. But she couldn’t flee without the Chairman, there wasn’t really anywhere to hide, and unless Aurora made a move on her, it wasn’t smart to start something she wasn’t sure she could finish. She decided to play along. And maybe Aurora wasn’t as bad as her shadows might suggest.

She followed Aurora to the lounge chairs that overlooked the sea. It was hot as any of the hells, so Esha stripped off her jacket and sweater until she was left in only a tank top, then warily lowered herself to the lounge chair next to Aurora’s. She glanced around surreptitiously for Aurora’s familiar and finally caught sight of a sleek black cat lounging by the pool.

“Where the hell are we?” Esha asked.

“In the aether. I created this place.”

Wow.
It took some serious power to do that. But she’d been locked up for hundreds of years. How’d she know to add all the modern amenities, like the pool? Her magic must be greater than Esha had realized, which freaked her the hell out. “Why’d you enchant a portal to bring me here? Why the whole runaround to find you?”
 

Aurora shrugged and raised her purple-umbrella drink to her lips. “I wanted to find you, no’ Warren. He’s trouble for another day. When I sensed your presence at that damn place they imprisoned me, I wanted to meet you. But I had to be certain that it was you who found me and no’ anyone else at the university—hence the
howf
, a place that only another soulceress could enter, and this city, a place that only another soulceress could find.”

“Why me? And why didn’t you just appear to me?”

“I wanted it to be on my terms, my turf. I won’t be caught by the university and thrown into that prison again. And I’ve never really met another soulceress before, except our mother, so of course I wanted to meet you. And I wanted to see you specifically because there’s a lot I need to know about the modern world, and you’re the only one I can trust… since you’re like me.”

The breath whooshed out of Esha’s lungs. Trust? The only one who really trusted her was Ana. Warren too, she was starting to believe. Now Aurora?