Eve, answer me.Nothing. Just unending silence.
Inanna sat up on the low divan. The strap of her gossamer blue gown slipped off one shoulder. She patted the spot next to her, completely disregarding his question. “Come sit, lover.”
He ignored that. His fingers fisting around the small hoop, he struggled to keep his fury checked. “I asked you a damn question.”
She scowled. “I warned you.”
Pushed beyond endurance as his fear for Eve grew, he hauled her off the divan and thrust her against the wall then snatched a scimitar displayed above her head and pressed the lethal blade to her throat. A thin trickle of blood seeped from the gash. Her laughter echoed in the chamber. “Yes, lover, harder.”
He should have known nothing scared her. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he flung the dagger aside. “Pray to whoever the fuck you do, Eve is not harmed. We’ve waited eons to find her to aid our realm. Anything happens to her—you can be sure the Sumerian pantheon will no longer exist after we’re done.”
Wariness entered her eyes at his promise of Empyrea’s reckoning.
“Don’t fret, lover.” She waved a hand over her neck, healing the wound. “I just made it known to that foolish mortal she stood no chance with you. I didn’t take her,” she grumbled. “Some male—one of your kind did.”
Darkreans.
His gut knotting, Reynner flashed out from the chamber. If the Darkreans touched a hair on her head, Heavens help them, he would make Sebris and his band of assholes pay before he destroyed them.
***
Eve blinked bleary eyes as she came to. And felt like someone had hammered steel spikes into her skull. Gingerly, she touched the painful spot on her forehead and winced. She swiped the blood trailing down her face. Rubbing her hand on her jeans, she glanced around the unfamiliar, musty smelling place. Stringy cobwebs decorated the corners.
A little light coming in from the ceiling-high windows revealed it was still day. The soothing sounds of water drew her attention. Exilum?No, the aerie was pretty—this was dusty, grimy. Vague memories flittered through her mind…she’d been searching for her cell phone in Kataya’s car…a woman warning her…
Inanna.
Eve cursed and inhaled a sharp breath, the spikes in her head digging deeper.
That malicious witch had tried to warn her away from Reynner and then slammed her with a blast of power. A man had picked her up…
Eve looked around again…oh, no, no, no! Her chest constricted with fear. She was in a basement and lying on a thin mattress on the cold, cement floor.
Oh, God, Reynner, he’d be frantic by now—her friends! She pulled her cell from her pocket—
The door to the basement creaked open.
Her heart racing to her throat, Eve pushed to her feet, biting back pain from limbs that seemed to have contracted rigor mortis. Light flooded the now gloomy place, making her blink. Three striking goth-like men with tatts and piercings entered. The one in black jeans and a tunic style shirt stepped forward.
His hair, like polished sheets of nickel bronze, fell from a distinct widow’s peak in careless disorder to brush his shoulders. His angular features appearing carved from the same ice reflected in his onyx eyes. But beneath the cool exterior, Eve sensed the cold calculation as he studied her.
She shrank against the wall.
“That won’t help you”—he nodded to the cell she clutched—“this place is protected with a spell. If you're concerned, we won’t hurt you.” His low tone sent wariness trickling through her. “It seems we have been lacking in manners. When I said keep her under lock—I didn’t mean the cellar.”
“My apologies.” The man with the white-tipped brown mohawk spoke in an even tone—again, devoid of emotions. A hint of black streaked through his amber-blue irises. Wide leather cuffs with strange writings embedded in them circled his wrists. Some kind of tattoos scrolled up his arms to his neck.
So, he was the one who’d tossed her hide in here, then. Eve rubbed her damp palms on her jeans.
“We do not mistreat our guests. Come,” onyx-eyes said.
Despite her wariness, Eve had to know. “Did she ask you to kidnap me?”
His expressionless gaze came back to her. “Who?”
“Inanna.”
“Now why would a goddess want to do that? Did you take something of hers?” A smile curled his lips, one that didn’t reach his detached eyes. “Ah, yes, the Empyrean.”
