made Councilman fifteen years ago.”
“Yeah, Tobe mentioned the Ankh are big news when they’re in town.”
“Mmmhmm. Well I drew a crowd. As soon as the Neith discovered I was training with them the phone calls started and the centre got pretty busy, fast. When Cyrus showed up I thought the walls would cave in with all the excitement.”
“I thought we were supposed to be keeping a low profile?”
“Don’t worry. Cyrus has it covered with McLeish. The Neith not in the immediate family just think you’re a regular old Ankh. A newbie. So expect lots of staring.”
“No,” Noah agreed, raking a hand through his hair. “You know how Chris senses things?”
“Yeah?”
“Well in among the crowd he sensed something… he sensed betrayal.” Her heart began thudding in her chest as a wave of dread flooded over her. “About me?”
“He doesn’t know, but it’s got Cyrus and Val and I pretty paranoid.” An annoying prickle of impotence gnawed at her. “So what? Christopher can’t tell us who? Or what?”
“Nope. He’s going to keep alert though, keep digging.”
“Great,” Eden sighed. “I knew this couldn’t possibly go smoothly.” Noah smiled kindly. “Smooth isn’t exactly the Ankh way of life.” They grew silent, that comfortable, comforting silence they shared when they were friends. Eden glanced up at him from her place on the bed and their eyes met and held. She missed him. Part of her wished she had never found out who he really was just so she could go on living in ignorant bliss as his friend. Or more. A flush of heat took hold of her body at the thought and she pulled her gaze away. She still wasn’t used to being able to desire Noah for Noah and not just for his soul.
And she had to keep reminding herself that she was mad at him and had no right to want him.
“So what is this?” she grumbled, lifting the bag onto her lap.
“Uh, just some… stuff.”
Eden ripped open the top and reached in to the gift bag. What she pulled out made her heart triple beat. The latest copy of
“They had it at this bookstore on Princes Street. I went down there after training.” All these stupid, stupid emotions got caught in her throat, burning and choking her and making her want to cry. She couldn’t look at him. She was afraid he’d see how he made her feel and jump on it as the weakness it was. “Thanks,” she replied gruffly. “Appreciate it.” Noah didn’t say anything for a moment and then he heaved a sigh. “Sure,” he said in a somewhat defeated tone. “No problem.” At the sound of him opening the door Eden finally drew up the courage to look at him. He smirked back at her unhappily. “I’m glad you didn’t cut your hair.” And with that he left; leaving Eden to feel as if he had cut a gaping hole out of her chest and taken it out the door with him.
Chapter Ten. Merrit MacDouglas
Despite her inner turmoil, and the ironic fact that Tobe, like her ‘Nana’, was a ‘cover-hogger’, Eden fell into a deep sleep, exhausted by the full day she’d experienced. So it was with a groan and a scowl she had obeyed Cyrus’ whispers to get up, sliding out of the bed quietly so she didn’t wake October up. It was light outside but one glance at the alarm clock on Tobe’s bedside cabinet told Eden it was early. Bemoaning the early wake up call, Eden silently grabbed some clothes and headed off to the bathroom for a shower. She tied her wet hair up into a messy bun, with no worry that she’d catch a cold in the chill morning air. Without a word she followed her guardian out of the house and into the most crisp air she’d ever breathed in. It flooded her lungs, and widened her eyes, enveloping her in energy and newness. The sun hung low in the sky, not hot enough to bank the shivers, but warm enough to cast a glittering glow over everything, present enough to fill Eden with an unexpected feeling of contentment.
A spring morning in Scotland had just made its way up the ranks as one of her favourite things ever.
“What are we doing?” she asked, pulling on a thin sweater over her t-shirt.
Cyrus smiled at her. “Going for breakfast before training.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Just the two of us.”
She liked that. Trying not to grin like a little kid heading off to the ice cream parlour, Eden found stride with Cyrus. As they made their way out onto the main street, she enjoyed the quieter flow of traffic, the smell of fresh bread and coffee in the air. She enjoyed the comfortable silence between her and her guardian. Cyrus had long legs and Eden quickened her step to match up with him again.
Becoming aware of people staring at him as they passed, Eden ran her eyes over him, trying to work out what they saw. Like every other day he wore an expensive sweater moulded to his fit body.
Today the sweater was black. But instead of the usual tailored trousers, Cyrus wore black jeans and a pair of walking boots, both of which were probably designer. He reeked of wealth. Is that what people saw when they looked at him? Or was it just that he was good-looking? Or was it that ‘I wouldn’t mess with me if I were you’ aspect in his eyes?
As if sensing her stare, Cyrus slanted a look at her, smirking. “What is it?”
“People are staring at you,” she answered promptly.
He laughed softly. “They are also staring at you.”
“They are?” Eden glanced up and sure enough caught the eye of a young woman who very quickly lowered her gaze and hurried by them. “What’s that all about?”
“Contrary to popular belief, humans are not stupid. They sense there is something different about us.”
“Hmm.”
She didn’t say much after that. Instead she patiently waited for Cyrus to buy her coffee and a bagel and lead her to a quiet bench. Clearly there was something he wanted to discuss. As she settled in next to him, her eye caught the silver ring on the middle finger of his right hand. Noah and his father wore the same ring. It was a masculine silver square with an ankh-shaped onyx stone inset into the centre. Valeria and Emma wore a smaller, more feminine version of the ring. Eden wondered if all Ankh wore one.
She nodded at it. “What is that?”
Cyrus’ mouth quirked up as he followed her gaze. He shifted his hand in the light, the black stone winking in the morning sun. “I sometimes think you read my mind, Eden.”
“Oh?”
Eyes smiling, Cyrus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring, exactly like Val and Emma’s. “All Ankh wear the ring. It began with your mother believe it or not.” At the mention of Merrit, Eden’s heart began to beat faster. Suddenly she wanted to know everything about the warrior she had never met, the warrior that had captured someone like Cyrus’ heart. “My mother?”
He nodded, his eyes growing sad. “She gifted me with it in 1678. We were in Rome at the time, hunting an extremely powerful soul eater. He had taken a piece of soul from one of our kin, a young Ankh, Joseph. Not only did we need to stop this soul eater, we needed to get Joseph’s soul back.” Eden blinked, shaking her head. “Wait, you can do that?”
Cyrus nodded patiently. “There is so much to tell you, Eden. So much.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to burden you with too much information too soon.”
“No, no,” she argued. “Just hit me with it. I want to know all this stuff. I can take it. I promise.” She waited as Cyrus took a bite of his bagel and a sip of his coffee, glancing around casually to make sure they were still relatively alone. “Alright. If you kill a soul eater in the vicinity of someone who has lost a piece of soul to the said soul eater then the victim’s soul returns to his or her body.
Joseph’s soul made this particular soul eater incredibly strong, so it was doubly imperative for us to find
