Oceanborne (11 page)

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Authors: Katherine Irons

Tags: #Romance, #Paranormal, #Fantasy

BOOK: Oceanborne
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“Yes, yes,” Petros insisted. “Here is the site. How many times does Anso bring you here. This.” He pointed at the water with a blackened and scarred thumb. “Down here is your shipwreck.”
“You're wrong,” Stefanos argued. “We've missed the site. This bottom isn't the same, and Dr. Elena had a close call with a shark.”
“You're white as a sheet,” Hilary said, staring at her. “Irene. Bring a blanket for Dr. Carter.”
“What happened?” Irene asked, hurrying toward them.
“The wreck isn't down there,” Stefanos repeated. “The captain must have come out without his glasses or he had too much ouzo last night.”
Petros shook his head. “No. Here. Here is right place. Anso is good captain.”
“Well, if this is the site, where the hell is our Phoenician wreck?” Elena asked
. And what did I see down there?
 
“I think you two need a little more practice,” Orion said to his sister and her friend Leda. “I'm sure she caught a glimpse of me. It nearly scared her to death.”
“If she saw you, it was your own fault,” Morwena said. “You asked us to make certain the boat anchored in the wrong place. We did that, didn't we? It's not easy to disturb the workings of humans' electronic machines. Especially when they are above the surface of the sea.”
“Next time I need a favor, I'll ask priestesses who aren't junior grade.”
Morwena scoffed. “And who else would become involved with your schemes when Poseidon threatened to imprison you and Alexandros in pack ice for two hundred years?”
“He didn't threaten to seal us in an ice tomb. He threatened
severe consequences
,” Orion corrected.
“He was angry because Caddoc told him that you were having sex with the earth walker,” his sister said. “And you know the penalty. He didn't have to say it. You know how he is when you disobey him.”
Leda smiled at him. “I don't know why you risk your career to play with humans when there are plenty of Atlantean girls who could make you happy.”
Above them, the ship's motors started, and the vessel turned back toward Crete. The ruse had worked. This time. Orion doubted if he could convince Morwena and Leda to do the same thing a second time. He'd have to do something more radical to keep Elena away from Melqart's wreck.
“You're right,” he said, returning Leda's smile. “You did what I asked you. We stopped them today. Thank you. Now comes the hard part. Don't be tempted to brag about what we did here.”
“We're not stupid,” Morwena said. “We know we'd be in trouble for helping you defy Poseidon and break the law.”
Orion signaled to Nohea. Within minutes, the big dolphin came, her calf close by her side. Accompanying Nohea were more than a dozen male fighting dolphins, and a patrol of Orion's most trusted men. “Take the princess and Lady Leda back to the summer temple,” he said. “Guard them as you would Poseidon.”
“Can't we stay here with you?” Leda asked. “We have exams coming up. This is much more interesting. I'd like another look at your human female, although I'm not sure what you see in her.”
Morwena seized Nohea's collar and swung up onto her back. “Come on, Leda,” she said. “Make him angry, and we'll never get to do anything fun like this again.”
The soldiers closed in around the two girls.
“Take the safest route,” Orion told the captain. “If you see anything suspicious, don't try to confront the horde. Put as much distance between them and you as possible. If a scale on Morwena's body is disturbed, I'll have your head on a squid pole.”
The captain grinned and saluted. He would see the girls safely back to Atlantis and no word of what had taken place today would ever pass his lips. Orion waited until they were gone before making for shore. He wanted to be in the harbor when Elena's boat docked. What he would do when he got there, he didn't know, but he'd think of something. He had to.
CHAPTER 11
A
s the captain and first mate brought the
Antolia
into the harbor, Elena went over and over the dive in her mind, trying to decide what had just happened. It was obvious that, regardless of Anso's protests, he'd brought them to the wrong spot. They'd go out again tomorrow. He'd correct his error, and when they went down, the wreck would be waiting for them as before. That was the way it had to be. It couldn't have simply vanished. Even if the storm had heaped sand over the ribs of the sunken vessel, it wouldn't have disappeared completely.
What that didn't answer was why she'd had such a scare. The water conditions had been poor, true, but she'd made many dives when the visibility was that poor. The water at the Nile sites had been so muddy that it had been hard to see her own hands in front of her face. What had she imagined that she'd seen? A fish-man? A creature out of a child's fairy-tale book? She had to have been hallucinating, but she had the strangest feeling that this wasn't the first time her mind had played tricks on her recently. When she tried to remember, the details were hazy. It was frustrating. She wasn't on medication, she'd never done drugs—she hadn't even smoked weed in college. That left an undetected brain tumor and early onset Alzheimer's as possibilities, neither of which made for pleasant contemplation.
There was no history of mental health problems on either side of her family, not unless you counted her father's belief that he'd discovered the lost continent of Atlantis. Elena sighed. Thinking of her father always made her sad. How different her career would have been if he hadn't pursued a dream so stubbornly that it had taken over his life. The myth of Atlantis was nothing more than a tall tale, and he'd had to be in total denial to believe that an entire civilization lay beneath the shallow waters of the Aegean Sea without anyone finding it until the late twentieth century.
Yet, Randal Carter had believed his own fantasy, so much so that he'd brought in scholars and news media from all over the world to validate his discovery. And when his farce had been revealed, when divers and photographers found nothing of interest, let alone underwater roads, temples, and palaces, a lifetime of brilliance had gone up in flames. Her father had faced ridicule and accusations of fraud. He'd been asked to resign his professorship and his works had been pulled from university shelves all over Europe.
She'd been too young at the time to understand what had gone wrong, but she did remember the last conversation she ever had with him, in a park in Edinburgh. “Whatever your mother tells you about me, don't believe it,” her father had said. “I'm not crazy. Atlantis is there. I saw it. I touched the marble columns. They were as solid as the cobblestones under your feet.”
She'd looked into his eyes, the exact shape and color of her own. “But, Atlantis is a myth. My teachers say so,” she'd replied, wanting to believe him, hoping that he'd prove them all wrong.
“Was Troy a myth?” He'd bent and hugged her and his soft beard brushed her face. “I've never lied to you, Elena,” he said. “I'm not about to start now. Atlantis was once as real as Paris, and when I have the proof, even your mother will have to believe me.”
“And you'll be together again?” she'd asked. “In the same house?”
“As much as you and I would like that, it may not happen,” he'd answered. “Not everything can be mended.”
“But I can still see you,” she'd begged. “I can still come to Turkey to the new site? On my summer break? You promised.”
He'd nodded, his eyes sad and bloodshot. “You can still come, and this year you'll have your own tent. You'll be an official expedition member with your own credentials. You have my word on it.”
Tears clouded Elena's eyes. She had never gone to Turkey that summer. Two weeks before school ended, her father had chartered a boat and gone searching for his fabled Atlantis again. He'd been lost at sea when his ship foundered in a storm not far from here. His body was never found, and
Carter's folly
had become a catchword in classical archeology circles.
The
Antolia
bumped against her mooring post, pulling Elena back into the present. She felt tears on her cheeks and hastily wiped them away. She glanced around, wondering if any of her crew had noticed, but they all seemed to be watching Stefanos as he pulled the Zodiac alongside the ladder.
“Dr. Elena? Do you want to go ashore now? I'll stay and see that the dive equipment is …”
Stefanos was still talking as she followed Hilary and Irene into the inflatable. Once they were seated, Irene took the tiller and guided the Zodiac onto the beach.
“Another day lost,” Hilary grumbled. “So far, this summer's been a bust.”
“Hopefully, tomorrow will be better,” Irene said.
Irene and Hilary had developed a close relationship, despite the differences in their ages and background. It wasn't like Hilary to take so to a student. They'd been spending a lot of time alone together in the last few weeks. Elena wondered if they were romantically involved. Certainly, she'd never seen competent but plodding Hilary Walden so animated. Although why tall, blond, and attractive Irene Georgiou would be attracted to a chubby, sixty-something woman with thick glasses and a stammer, Elena couldn't imagine.
Irene was laughing at something Hilary had said, and Hilary was beaming. Elena didn't feel like accompanying them to the house. She wasn't in the mood for small talk, and she didn't want questions about today's disaster that she didn't have answers to.
She needed to be alone to think. And if she went back to her room, she knew she wouldn't be able to resist taking the antique gold ring out of the wall safe where she'd secured the coin from the wreck site. She'd weigh the gold ring in her hand as she'd done last night. She'd held that and the diamond ring that Greg had given her, one in each hand, wondering at how two such similar items had come into her possession in such a short time … and wondering which one she valued most.
“Coming, Elena?” Hilary asked. As usual, the older woman hadn't bothered with sun block, and her already ruddy complexion was the color of a pomegranate. By morning, she'd be blistered or peeling, a perfect match to her flaming purple-red hair styled, as always, in a no-nonsense, ultra-short bowl cut that Elena suspected the woman did herself. “Anna promised us
moussaka
tonight.”
“You go on ahead,” Elena said. “I have some errands I want to run. I'm not certain how long it will take, so don't hold dinner for me.”
“What do you think, Dr. Walden?” Irene teased. “Does she have another hot date tonight?”
“Let's meet with Stefano at eight in the morning,” Elena said, ignoring Irene's mention of Greg. “After a good night's sleep, we can plan out what's next.” Elena didn't know where she would go, someplace where no one knew her … where she could just walk and think.
She hadn't gotten far when a strikingly attractive man stepped out of an alley. No, attractive wasn't the word, more
smoothly dangerous
. Picking up handsome strangers on the street was the last thing on her mind, but if she were up for it, he'd be the one. But, somehow, she had the feeling that she knew him, but she couldn't place from where.
“Dr. Carter. I've been looking for you,” he said in perfect English.
Elena looked at him, but kept walking. He was devilishly handsome with a classic Greek face, blond hair, and unusual green eyes. “I'm sorry, you must have me confused with—” she began.
He threw up his hands and flashed a killer smile. “Wait, please, I'm not out trolling for rich American tourists. We've met before, and we share mutual friends.”
She stopped and studied him more closely. He was tall and sleekly muscular, dressed in expensive shorts and sandals, a short-sleeve button-up shirt, and his face had a hint of a five o'clock shadow. No jewelry, not even a watch, which was good. The gold chain fashion accessory on European men definitely turned her off. His hair was yellow blond, carelessly styled, but meticulously cut. “Go on,” she said.
He lowered his voice and turned, shielding her from passersby. “I heard that you're excavating a shipwreck, very old, promising. But bad weather has delayed your progress.”
“I'm not sure what I can do for you, Mr… .” She offered a faint smile.
“You don't remember me? I'm crushed. Cairo? Fall of 2006? Professor Abrams's dinner party? I remember you. You made quite an impression.” He offered his hand. “Forgive my lack of manners. I'm Orion Xenos.”
He did look familiar, but she couldn't quite place him. “You don't look like a scholar, Mr. Xenos.”
“Orion, please.”
He had the slightest upper-class British accent, although she guessed that he was Greek or Italian. His eyes were quite unusual. Looking into them almost made her dizzy. “I'm sorry, I'm at a loss.”
“I've come upon something that I think might be of great interest to you.”
Suddenly she felt disoriented, overly warm, and definitely lightheaded. “What business are you in?” she asked suspiciously. “I don't …”
“But you'll make an exception,” he said. “Please, I've frightened you. That wasn't my intention.”
He was going to walk away. Oddly, she didn't want that. Her knees felt weak, but the thought that he'd go and she'd never see him again was disturbing. She found herself falling into those beautiful green eyes. “I don't understand,” she said. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing from you. I want to show you something. It's not far. I'm not going to carry you off and sell you into white slavery. You're perfectly safe.” He looked around at the crowded street.
“I don't go off with strangers,” she said. “Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “Because I have nothing to sell. My mother did warn me about bold American women, but you hardly seem the type to attack me without provocation.”
She found herself smiling at him, her instincts urging her to trust him. “Maybe I do remember you. Are you one of Dr. Abrams's protégés?”
He shook his head. “I was swimming in relatively shallow water, just beyond the outskirts of town. I saw what appears to be a marble stela with traces of Linear B writing.”
“Not surprising off Crete,” she said. “I would certainly advise you to report it to the antiquities bureau.”
“Not only Linear B but hieroglyphs and a third section of inscription unlike anything I've ever seen before. This could be the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone, and I wanted to give you a chance to inspect it before—”
Her eyes widened. He had to be mistaken or lying. It wasn't possible. She fought to control her excitement. “Why me, Mr. Xenos?”
“I'm too small a fish.”
“Excuse me?”
“You're the daughter of Randal Carter. You're respected in your own right. If this tablet is what I think it may be, you deserve the credit.”
“I do?” She regarded him with suspicion. “And what's in it for you, if you don't want a finder's fee?”
“I want to be part of your dive for the Phoenician ship. I want a place in your expedition. One successful project will do wonders for my career.” He grinned. “And I was very impressed by you at Dr. Abrams's dinner.”
She knew it was crazy to agree to go. She should check out his credentials first, phone Dr. Abrams. She should let her colleagues know where she was going and with whom. It was common sense. “I can get the Zodiac from our charter. I'll need my diving equipment.”
He shook his head. “You won't need it. It's not that deep. We can free dive. The stela is no more than a hundred feet off the shore, in perhaps twenty-five feet of water.”
“Not far from Rethymo, you say?”
“Ten minutes' walk.”
She shrugged. He was a rogue, certainly, but he appeared harmless. “Just so you know I never carry credit cards or money.”
“I suppose that means that dinner's on me.”
 
What Orion was about to do was wrong. He knew it was wrong, but he fully intended to do it anyway. Elena had to go willingly into the sea with him. He had to gain her trust, and to do that, it was necessary to lie to her. The stela he described did exist. He'd shown it to her in the chambers beneath the cave where they had almost been devoured by shades. It just wasn't here, a hundred feet off the beach. Fortunately, his illusion had worked and she'd forgotten that they'd first met when he'd climbed into her Zodiac and that he'd seduced her.
Or had he? Did oral sex count? That was a good question. He'd given Elena pleasure without taking his own. He'd wanted to make love to her in every way. She was a fire in his blood that he couldn't quench. He couldn't sleep for thinking of her; he remembered her scent, the curve of her mouth, and the feel of her soft skin against his. Once they were in his world, perhaps she might offer herself willingly to him. To take advantage of her would be an act he could never forgive himself for. If only she weren't so tempting …

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