Assassin's Honor (35 page)

           
"I'd never met anyone quite like him. He was strong, handsome, bright, and witty. He was the first non-Sicari I'd met who realized my people had migrated from Rome with the Cathars to escape Praetorian persecution. He scoured the hills near the excavation site in search of anything that might prove his theory. I was with him when he found this cross in a nearby cave." Atia sighed and stared at the cross with a wistful expression.

           
"You loved him very much."

           
"Yes," Atia answered. "I think a part of me always will. He was my first love."

           
"Did you ever tell him how you felt?" Her question seemed to startle the other woman. Atia immediately shook her head.

           
"No. I was nothing more than a friend. I wanted to tell him, I just never found the right moment. And when I did, it was too late." Hesitation crossed the Prima Consul's face as her gaze met Emma's across the table. Suddenly aware of how difficult it must be for the woman to share her story, Emma tried to make it easier for the woman.

           
"Was it because he met my mother on the same dig?"

           
"He told you about me?" Atia gasped.

           
"Not exactly."
Emma shook her head, her fingers sliding the translation of her father's coded message out from under all the papers. "He told me to find you. Your story just filled in some of the missing puzzle pieces."

           
Amazement making her eyes widen, Atia stared at her as she took the translation and proceeded to read it. Worry replaced her surprise as she lifted her head. "Dolcis Mater Dei, then he did find the Tyet of Isis. He left it for you in this hiding place he mentioned."

           
"No, I don't think so. I was with him and Mom at Dawwar . . . before their murder." Her muscles grew taut with the pain that always accompanied the memories. She focused on the days before the murders and shook her head. "I don't think Dad would have been able to hide his excitement if he'd made that kind of a find."

           
"Then what do you think he left for you?" Atia's puzzled frown held frustration as well.

           
"I don't know.
His notebook, maybe?
I haven't seen it since he died, although I've not really looked for it either." She winced as she remembered all the boxes with her parents' belongings in the garage at home. Boxes she'd never gone through.

           
"His notes on the Tyet of Isis?"

           
"More like a collection of notes and observations about the Sicari--"

           
"Notes on where to find the Tyet of Isis?"

           
"I suppose." Emma shrugged. "He never let me or anyone else
touch
it. I tried to convince him to go digital, but he refused."

           
"Digital files are easily found and accessed. One's life work can easily be stolen. Notebooks can be written in a personal code, something David excelled at," Atia said with an absentminded expression as she pointed to the translation. "Where is this secret cubbyhole your father mentions?"

           
"In his . . . my office."

           
"Christus."
The Prima Consul lightly smacked the tabletop with her palm. "If David did know the location of the Tyet of Isis and left that information for you, someone else might find it before we do."

           
"I don't think anyone's going to find it."

           
"You don't
understand,
piccola mia. The Praetorians are looking for the Tyet of Isis, too. If they think it's in your house, they'll literally tear it apart looking for it. Whatever's in that hiding place, we have to find it first. It's imperative that we find the Tyet of Isis before the Praetorians."

           
"Why? Ares said no one knows what it is."

           
A dark scowl on her face, Atia stood up to pace the floor. One hand on her hip and the other waving Emma's statement aside, the woman drew in deep breath. "Ares isn't the Prima Consul. I know things he doesn't, and the Tyet of Isis isn't just an artifact. It's the key.
A key that in the hands of the Praetorians has the potential to destroy your world and mine."

           
"Then there's only one thing we can do," Emma said with a sense of foreboding. "I have to go back for it."

           
"Impossible," the Prima Consul snapped. "Your death was staged over a week ago. Even if we gave you a disguise, going into that house during the day is too risky. Someone might recognize you, which would undo everything Ares and the Order have done to keep you safe."

           
"All right, then we go in at nighttime.
No one sees me, and we're free and clear."

           
"It's not that simple--" Atia objected with a sigh.

           
"Are you trying to tell me the great Sicari spy network can't manage to sneak me in and out of my own house in the middle of the night?" Emma rolled her eyes at the woman.
"Puhleeze.
I've seen what you people can do. If I don't go, something might get missed."

           
"Not if you tell us where the cubbyhole is."

           
"My father left the message for me. If something's out of place or missing, I'll know it. I'll know if there's someplace else in the house I might have to look. Your people won't. You need me, and to be quite frank, the sooner I make good on this blood bond with Ares, the better."

           
"Is it the debt you owe Ares you're so eager to dispense with or is it that you wish to run away as fast as you can from him?"

           
"I pay my debts." Emma kept her voice neutral as she averted her gaze from Atia's perceptive one. "But I choose how to pay them."

           
"Don't judge him too harshly, Emma. Like you, Ares likes to pay his debts. He's under the misguided impression that he owes me. He knows the Tyet of Isis is important to me, therefore it's important to him."

           
"And I'll help you find it. But I'll do it on my own terms, not as Ares decrees."

           
"As you wish."
Atia nodded her head with a look of thoughtful assessment on her face. "Since you're determined to retrieve whatever your father left you, I should direct my spy network to make arrangements for you to return home long enough to secure the object."

           
"Thank you." Emma exhaled a sigh of relief as she stared down at her father's handwriting.

           
Doing battle with Atia had been far easier than it would have been with Ares. She needed to go home, not just to find what her father had left for her, but she needed to say goodbye. Everything she'd ever loved was gone, and now she was losing the last tangible part of her old life. It might be foolhardy to go back, but she didn't think she'd find a safe haven ever again.

           
"And the cross?"

           
She jerked her head up. Atia's expression was dark with emotion as she looked down at the artifact on the table. There was a longing in the woman's face that Emma could identify with. It was similar to the ache she felt for Ares.
A desire for something more from him.
The thought made her pull in a sharp breath. Hearing it, the Prima Consul sent her a questioning look. Striving to hide her revelation from the astute woman, Emma shook her head.

           
"It's yours. I have no desire to intrude."

           
"Thank you." Relief lightened Atia's features and she gave a sharp nod of her head. "I'll go make arrangements now for your trip back to Chicago."

           
The woman's relaxed demeanor made Emma realize how hard it must have been for Atia to consider sharing such a private moment of her life with someone who was virtually a stranger. The Prima Consul passed her on the way to the door then stopped.

           
"You do realize Ares will do everything he can to keep you from returning to Chicago. The blood bond is a pact between the two of you that has a greater meaning than just a debt. If the bond becomes intimate, it can have far-reaching consequences."

           
She was grateful the woman was behind her. She was certain her expression revealed far more than she'd like. The memory of Ares thrusting into her the other morning until they were both satiated sent her heart skidding along until it crashed into her chest. And she definitely didn't like the idea that the woman might have suspicions about just how intimate her relationship with Ares was.

           
As much as she loved being in Ares's arms and experiencing the heat of his touch, the idea of someone even suspecting the two of them had been intimate was unwelcome. She'd suffered enough humiliation at Jonathan's hands. She wasn't up for a repeat performance where Ares was concerned. Especially when this time it had meant more to her than she'd expected it to. Not to mention that it had meant nothing to Ares. She rose from her chair and turned to face Atia.

           
"If you're worried I might weaken the Sicari bloodline, don't be." She sent the woman a haughty look. Atia narrowed her gaze, her expression unreadable.

           
"I sincerely doubt you'd weaken our bloodline,
cara
. But you might be surprised by how much it could strengthen yours."

           
God, the woman had the ability to be as cryptic as her godson. "It's irrelevant. Ares views me as a responsibility. And I can think of better ways to spend my time than dealing with his arrogant, sometimes Neanderthal behavior."

           
Atia's laugh of amusement startled Emma and she stared at the woman in surprise. The Prima Consul smiled. "The man can be arrogant, but I know my godson quite well. When he sets his mind to something, he accomplishes it. Where you're concerned, Ares isn't quite sure which way to turn. But something tells me you'll solve that problem for him soon enough."

           
With that, Atia left the library. As she watched the woman leave, Emma frowned. What had the Prima Consul meant about strengthening her bloodline? She glanced around the library and saw the researcher she'd seen earlier shelving books. Quickly winding her way through the tables, she halted next to the young man, who looked up with a smile.

           
"Yes, signorina?"

           
"I was wondering if you had any books that discussed the Sicari blood bond."

           
"We have a couple, signorina." The researcher nodded his head. "Come, let me show you."

           
Setting his books down on a nearby table, the young man headed toward one of the sections she'd explored yesterday. He stopped and brushed his fingers across the spines of a row of books on one of the lower shelves. Obviously not finding what he was looking for, he straightened and frowned.

           
"Is something wrong?"

           
"I'm not sure, signora. There were two books detailing the vena vinculum here just the other day.
Now they're both gone."

           
"Has someone else asked about them recently?" A surge of irritation sped through her. Why did she think Ares had taken the books? He'd been vague about the whole damn bond thing from the beginning.

           
"Actually, Councilman Cato asked if we had any information on them a couple of days ago. I simply pointed him in this direction. I didn't see him take any books, though."

           
"All right, thank you." Emma sighed with disappointment and a bit of guilt for automatically assuming Ares had taken the books.

           
"I can let you know when they're returned if you like, Signorina Zale."

           
"That would be great, thanks." She smiled at him and turned away.

           
The fact that he knew her name didn't surprise her. As the only alieni on the estate, she stood out like a sore thumb. With a grimace, she gathered her things and stored them on the shelf Atia had told her to use. She frowned as she glanced around. For all its size, the library suddenly seemed small and confining. The minute Ares talked with Atia, he'd come looking for her. Without thinking twice, she headed for the closest exit. She knew she couldn't avoid the inevitable, but at least she could find some peace in the outdoors until she was forced to face Ares.

Chapter 15

           
"DOLCIS Mater Dei.
You actually agreed to her demand?" Ares snarled as he leaned across the delicate desk in his godmother's office until his face was only inches from hers.