Braving Fate (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 1) (20 page)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Watch out, lassie.”

Cadan’s warning came soon enough for Diana to dodge a puddle in the damp grass that stretched between the tumbling ruins. He’d upheld the agreement he’d made last night to take her to Verulamium, and they now walked amongst the stone walls.
 

He’d called his colleague Esha on the phone last night to ask if she could make a portal for them to travel through. Diana could tell he’d been surprised when Esha had agreed. Apparently she was a type of Mythean who could only perform her magic when she had enough power stocked up. The portal spell was a big one, so big that she rarely had that kind of juice.

Fortunately for Diana, this morning she had. Esha was able to create the portal without coming to Cadan’s house. Diana and Cadan had stepped through it in Cadan’s kitchen and out into Verulamium a second later. They had eight hours in which to get back through. This world got weirder with every day she spent in it.

 
“Be quick, Diana. It’s no’ safe for you here,” he said from behind her as they wove their way around collapsed stone walls and piles of rock.
 

“I’ll be fine. Quit being so overprotective and keep an eye out for anything unusual.” She glanced around at the ruins that looked like an old fortress with broken-down walls.

She shivered when the chill morning air cut through her thin jacket. Or perhaps it was the creepy feeling of the ruins that had her shivering. A fine English drizzle turned the sky into a gray, dreary backdrop for their adventure. With the soft grass beneath their feet, even footsteps couldn’t be heard in the silence.
 

Cadan followed close behind her, so near that she could almost feel the heat of him. She’d felt his eyes on her since they’d stepped out of the portal. Even when he scanned their surroundings, he was always sure to have her in his line of sight.
 

“Nothing to be found here, lassie. It’s been four hours.”

No, damn it. She would find something here. Except that she was starting to fear that the secrets of this place weren’t on the surface. Perhaps they were underground, but she was a historian, not an archaeologist.
 

“Just a few more minutes, because I don’t get it. I really recognized this place in the photo. I could
feel
it.”
 

But now that she was actually here, the view was entirely unfamiliar. Perhaps she’d once looked upon this place rather than actually been inside it? The photo had been a long-range shot from the nearby hill. Maybe that was it.
 

“Let’s climb up that hill.” She pointed toward the only rise.

He scowled, scanning their surroundings for danger. His broad shoulders were tense, the muscles of his arms in sharp relief. Cadan clearly liked things to go his way, and this wasn’t what he’d have chosen.

 
“Really, lassie? Isn’t it bad enough we’re out here with only these bloody tiny walls for cover? You want to climb up that hill there, in the open for all to see?”
 

“Which all? We’re alone here. Come on.” She headed off toward the hill. He’d catch up.

He did. Too soon. She hadn’t made it a few feet before he swept her up in his arms and swung her around to press her against one of the stone walls. His big body was hot against hers while the cold stone pressed into her back.
 

“Have a care, lassie. I’m this close to swinging you over my shoulder and carrying you back to my home. Doona be charging off like that again. You’ll stay near me.”

Though his tone was harsh, his grip on her arms gradually loosened. As he stared down at her, his dark brows drew together and something fierce flashed in his eyes.
 

“Either kiss me or let go.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that, but she meant it. He had to make up his damned mind.

He scowled at her, but she almost—
almost—
thought she saw longing. Then he released her and looked away as if the moment that had passed between them had flown away on the wind, or never existed at all.

Her heart didn’t sink. Not even a little.
 

“To the hill, lassie.”

She turned from him and headed toward the hill. If she could get to the top and look down—

A small sign caught her attention and made her breath catch in her throat. There, nestled against the western edge of the fort with a bit of bright green grass tufted at the base, was a sign that read Watling Street. In a daze, she walked up to it, the big hill in the distance forgotten. She could vaguely make out the sound of Cadan calling her name, but the buzzing in her ears drowned it out.

Watling Street.
How had she not noticed this before from the books?

“The hill, lassie?”

“No, Cadan.” She reached out with a trembling hand to touch the sign. It wasn’t old, just a tourist marker, and one she’d never seen before, but it marked the remnants of a road that was two thousand years old. “You’ve got to see this.”

She looked over to see him striding through the ruins toward her, his big body moving gracefully among the tumbled stones. She caught sight of his eyes when his gaze landed on the sign. Surprise and also something like dread? But it was gone in a flash.

“You recognize Watling Street, don’t you?” She certainly did. Any scholar in her field worth their tweed coat would recognize Watling Street.

“It’s a historic road.”

“Not just any historic road. A Roman road. Scholars think that the last big battle between the Celts and Romans took place near Watling Street.”

There—it flashed across his face again. She was definitely on to something. And he’d definitely been lying.

“A warrior queen led the battle, but she lost.” A chill ran over her skin. “That battle was famous for having women as the last line of defense. They fought with the men.”

She looked around the place with new eyes. She
had
seen this place, then, but she’d probably never been inside. To go inside as a Celtic woman would have spelled disaster, the kind that she’d now feel if she’d been there. No, she’d probably looked upon it from afar, maybe even from on the hill.

“I was one of those women, Cadan. But which one?”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Diana trudged up the wide wooden stairs to the second floor of Cadan’s house. They’d just returned from the ruined Roman fort and she was beyond ready to fall into bed. Even the wind had more energy than she did; it roared as it hit the house and dragged along crevices formed by windows and eaves. It would carry a storm, she was almost certain, and that suited her mood perfectly. Maybe it would drown out the chaos in her mind.

She finally had a lead. If she hadn’t been the warrior queen—which she wasn’t, since there was nothing regal or particularly warriorlike about her—she must have been one of the soldier women who’d chosen to make up the last line of defense between the Romans and the Celtic children and homes. She did have that dream about protecting her daughters, after all. She could almost see it. It...fit. A bit like an awkwardly large coat, but it fit.

Diana flicked on the light switch as she walked into her room. Just as she reached the bathroom door, a voice from behind said, “Nice sword.”

Shock dropped her stomach to her toes as her fist tightened on the sword she’d taken to Verulamium. She whirled around to see a lanky, dark-haired woman reclining in the big wing chair in the corner. The chair had been out of her line of sight when she’d entered the room. A scruffy black cat lounged by her side.
 

“Who are you? How did you get in here?” She worked to make her voice brave.

“I’m Esha. And this—” She pointed to the cat who’d started to clean himself shamelessly. “—is Chairman Meow.”

Diana’s heart slowed its gallop. “You’re the one who made the portal for Cadan and me to go to Verulamium.”
 

“Yep.”

“Why are you here?”
 

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Not Cadan?”

“No. You, specifically. He’s not going to come up here anytime soon, right?”
 

At her words, the cat lowered the leg he’d stuck up into the air while grooming and sauntered toward the door to peer out.
Double weird.

“I don’t think so, but you never know.” Diana decided not to be afraid of the woman who’d done nothing but help her. And who, most important, wanted to speak to her specifically. As if she had information. “Why did you want to talk to me? Do you know who I was?”
 

“I don’t know any details, and even if I did, I’ve been warned against giving you too much information. But I think I have some clues about your task. And those, I am gut certain you need to know.”

“How? And why are you telling only me and not Cadan?”
 

Esha eased the door closed. “Cadan and Warren—that’s Cadan’s boss, by the way—both know who you were. Cadan won’t tell you, Warren won’t tell me. The only other people who know are Aerten, Warren’s boss, and Lea, the Historian. You met her when you first came to the university, remember? Anyway, Aerten is too high ranking for me to contact, but Lea is my friend and gave me a few pertinent details.”

Diana felt a scowl crease her forehead at the confirmation that Cadan and this Warren guy were keeping things from her. Any control she tried to exert over her life was slipping through her fingers and they weren’t helping. “Why?”
 

“Because I asked her.”

“No, I mean why do you care who I was?” Diana doubted that Esha was a Good Samaritan intent on helping her discover herself.

“Something in the Edinburgh underground has gone wrong. Really wrong.”
 

Diana listened with a growing
oh shit
feeling as Esha explained her ability to sense evil and the afterworld hell that was trying to break loose from somewhere in Edinburgh’s underground.
 

“What hell did you say it is?” Diana asked.

“Erebus. I think that fixing the portal could be your task, and that you should come to me as soon as you remember who you were.”

“Why do you think it’s my task?”

“Because of which hell it is, and because of what Lea told me about your life. She said you’re a professor from America.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Diana asked.

Concern shone in Esha’s amber eyes. “I’m sorry, Diana. I don’t know if you actually knew her or not, but your colleague Vivienne Lawrence was abducted to Erebus a few days ago.”

The air rushed out of the room in a great gust, leaving Diana to sway on her feet. Vi? Abducted to the Roman afterworld?

“What?” Diana pressed her hand to her chest, trying to calm the sense that she was drowning.

“You knew her? I’m so sorry. Her soul was taken to hell while her body stopped at the portal. Her body couldn’t cross over because she’s mortal. She’s in a coma.”

“No. A coma? She can’t be. She’s safe in America, teaching my classes.”

“Maybe that’s where they nabbed her. They thought she was you, perhaps.”

Oh, God.
She was directly responsible for Vi’s abduction. And her
coma.
 

“She won’t wake up?” Diana asked.

“Not unless her soul is returned. And even then, I don’t know if it’s possible to revive her. Most mortals wouldn’t have survived. They’d die immediately at the portal.”

Diana stumbled backward to the bed. Sat. The sword tumbled from her loose fingers.

“I can get her back. How do I get her back?” A panicked sob strangled in Diana’s throat at the idea of Vi’s soul trapped in hell.
 

“I don’t know if you can. I don’t know why they took her, but it’s a clear link to you and suggests that this is your task. If it is, maybe there is some way you can save her.”

Diana nodded blindly. She could do this. She had to do this.
 

“If you can figure out who you were,” Esha said, “and if it turns out that the portal is your task, I can help you with it. I would bet a million pounds that this is why you were brought back. I shouldn’t be helping you, but I’ve never liked following the rules.”
 

Diana drew in a shuddering breath and looked Esha in the eyes. She looked tough, and she looked serious. And she had some major connections in this crazy new world. She’d need her. Vi would need her.
 

Especially if Cadan and this Warren guy were going to go all alpha male on her and stand in her way. She was going to need an ally.
 

“All right.” Diana forced her voice to be level as she held out her hand. “Deal. And…thank you for telling me. For helping me. For trusting me.”
 

“It was shitty news. I’m sorry.” Esha looked down at the Chairman, who’d nudged her with his head. He was looking pointedly at the door. “Someone is coming up the stairs. I’ve got to go. But hurry. This is only getting worse. Do whatever you can to figure this out. Whatever you can.”
 

Esha pressed a card into Diana’s palm. Then they disappeared.

Diana was staring blindly at the floor when Cadan knocked on the door a minute later.