She smiled.
“Of course you know what you are saying,” he muttered. “But do you really believe it?”
She shrugged. “I could be wrong. The great mystique of the city is that no one knows. Artemis shares my view as did my father.”
The look he gave her expressed exactly how much credence he put into Artemis’s endorsement.
“You are basically saying everything in the Bible, everything we believe about creation is false.” He shook his head as if unable to comprehend such a reach.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she protested. She closed her eyes, wishing she had just remained silent.
“Then what are you saying?” he asked. “You’ve certainly gained my attention now.”
She scooted to the edge of the settee so that she sat forward. She glanced over at him and rubbed her forehead wearily.
Before she had put absolutely no stock into what he thought about her, but now she loathed the idea of him thinking her a hysteric. She wanted him to take her seriously. To respect her. Even if it would only last as long as their voyage to Spain.
Her head pounded harder, her stomach twisted into knots. She didn’t want to betray him. Deceive him. She had come so close to blurting everything out. Everything. She knew he would help her. He was not the man she had thought him in the beginning.
But that was the problem. Artemis’s earlier statement had opened her eyes to the danger she was putting not only Ridge, but to his brother and Kavi and Udaya. People she loved. She would die before allowing them to come to harm.
“India?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and mentally shook herself. Ridge was waiting her explanation, and all she could think about was the potential consequences of being honest with him.
“There are a select few who believe that all did not begin with Adam and Eve, rather they were a new beginning. A fresh start. And that there existed on earth a population before Adam and Eve. Before the fall of Lucifer.”
Ridge frowned. “I don’t pretend to be a biblical scholar, but I thought it was widely accepted that Adam and Eve were the first humans.”
She said her next words carefully. Her intention certainly wasn’t to offend the viscount, but she wanted to make her point. “It is widely accepted by those who accept the teachings of the Bible. Christians. But there is a huge population out there who are not Christians. Whose religion and civilizations predate the rise of Christianity.”
“Yes, I see what you mean. So it boils down to personal belief system. But that is hardly an exact science.”
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “I am merely pointing out, that besides the small group within the Christian circles who don’t believe Adam and Eve were the beginning, there is a whole world out there who don’t think so either.”
He nodded. Then he stared long and hard at her. “From what I’ve gathered about you so far, India, you are hardly one to form an opinion based on ideology. What makes you think Pagoria predates the origins of the world according to Christianity?”
Her cheeks warmed at his subtle praise. In his world, he admired practicality above all else, and by his admission, he thought her a practical sort.
She leaned back again and turned her head so she could look him in the eyes. Instead of condemnation or disbelief, she saw only curiosity. Interest. A desire for knowledge.
“It would take the entire night to outline and articulate all my thoughts, so I’ll try to be brief. I’ve known that there existed a school of thought that suggested the world was created long before Adam and Eve and that Lucifer, a favored angel, had dominion over the earth and its inhabitants.
“When Lucifer fell, that is he rebelled against God, he was cast into hell with one third of the angels, who apparently were loyal to him. God then destroyed the earth with a great flood. Some time after that he began the process of rebirth. Recreating the animals, the plants, the trees, and lastly, people. Adam and Eve.”
A thoughtful look crossed Ridge’s face. “But then how could a city possibly...unless...are you saying that Pagoria existed in the time when Lucifer reigned on earth and was destroyed in the great flood? Is that why there is so little information about it?”
“Actually no,” she said slowly. “I believe it somehow survived.”
His gaze narrowed. “You don’t, that is your father’s idea that the city somehow still thrives, you don’t believe that do you?”
“Why wouldn’t I share my father’s beliefs?” she asked mildly. “But whether it died or still lives, it hardly matters. After all, if we find it, we’ll answer that question, won’t we?”
“You’re right. It is of no consequence.”
His tone suggested he readily dismissed the idea that Pagoria still lived, and she said nothing further to dissuade him of that notion. To do so would only reveal her deception, and she had no intention of putting him in any more danger than she already had.
“But how did you reach the conclusion that the city could possibly have existed so long ago?” he asked.
