Which meant they’d go there later.And that she was right.
Cyntag smelled of earth and fire and—where in the hell were these thoughts coming from?His energy and heat pulled at her.Were his eyes glowing?She swore something flickered in them, just for a second.
He nodded to the point of the letter opener.“Why are you hesitating?”
She took a step back, bringing the opener to her side.“Because I can’t be sure you did it.”He was right.If he was Mon’s murderer, she’d be dead.
“Very good.You put logic over your anger.As opposed to when you pulled the gun on me or tried to crush my balls.Never let your emotions drive you.”
“I’m not a rash and emotional person.Then again, I don’t usually watch someone I love die or get chased by a supernatural ball of fire.”
He leaned against the door again, though she couldn’t be certain it was to block her escape.He looked so relaxed.Yeah, as relaxed as a lion.“What do you know about the Hidden?”
She blinked in surprise at the question.He was serious; he wanted to know.
“It’s a fairy tale world my uncle made up for me.How doyouknow about it?”She couldn’t imagine Mon sharing that with this guy.Or anyone, really.
“Tell me about this world.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
Fine, she’d humor him.“Centuries ago, there was this Atlantis-like island in the Bermuda Triangle called Lucifera that was governed by gods of Dragons and magick.Because of the weird energy that comes from crystals found deep within the Earth’s surface, along with a planetary alignment and a solar storm, some of the gods were able to take physical human form.They succumbed to human emotions and, as Mon put it, ‘fell in love’ with the people.What he meant was that the gods got with the humans, because they created children.They were called Crescents because they inherited a sliver of their sire’s godly nature.”
He dipped his head in confirmation.“Legend has it that three gods realized procreating with humans wasn’t a good idea.An angel, a Dragon, and a Deuce formed the Tryah and incited a war in hopes that the Crescents would kill each other off.It escalated into a magick war.”
“Alrighty then, glad you cleared that up for me.”
“Happy to do so.Go on, let’s see if you’ve got the rest of it right.”
Feeling like a schoolgirl being tested on history, she found herself striving to recall the details.Which was ridiculous, since it was a friggin’ fairy tale.“The war ended up destroying the island, which forced the humans to the mainland.The naughty gods were trapped in a state of limbo between their plane of existence and the Bermuda Triangle.”
“That’s right.What else was part of Moncrief’s Hidden?”he asked.
“Monsters, demons, elves, that sort of thing, but only Crescents could see them.That’s why they were considered Hidden.”
“Was there no Cyntag in the stories then?”
She wanted to laugh, of all the conceit.“No.”Her gaze slid to the dragon figurines.“Therewasa man who looked like you, but he was only known as the Dragon Prince.He kidnapped a young woman and seduced her to darkness.They fought a great evil together, but he was basically an arrogant butthead, and she ended up killing him.”
His upper lip twitched, not quite a sneer but close.“Seduced her to darkness, hmm?And did this woman have a name?”
“Garnet.”Mon’s sketches of her had reminded Ruby of Alice fromAlice in Wonderland.
Cyntag slowly nodded.“I suppose he was trying to prepare you in his feeble way, giving you the truth without telling you that it was, in fact, true.Except the Dragon Prince would never kidnap anyone.How do I know?He based the prince on me, I’m sure, though I am no prince.”
“ThatI can believe.”
He very nearly smiled that time.“You never made the connection between Garnet and Ruby both being red gems?”
“Of course.I figured since he wrote the stories for me, he gave the girl a name similar to mine.Stories being the key word there, as in make-believe, fictional.Come on.Gods?Dragons?”
“Youarethe girl in the story.When you reached puberty, you should have been initiated into your full power.Moncrief could not do that because he’s not the same type of Crescent as you.You were supposed to move in with people like you to learn their ways.I swore to your grandfather that I would train you, prepare you, and be your protector.But Moncrief wouldn’t cooperate, stubborn old goat.”
He looked up at the ceiling and rubbed the back of his neck where his black hair curled in damp spikes.“You would have been so much easier to deal with then.Malleable.Impressionable.I can see you will be every bit the pain in my ass that your uncle was.”
“You mean I would have been brainwashed.”People like her, he’d said, as though they were in some cult.“You just wanted some young girl under your spell.Eww, you wantedmeunder your spell.”
