Leto had known James for a century. Though he had the appearance of a mild, humble man, at times he spoke like an ancient warrior, like someone who knew what battling was, how hard it was on the dedicated soldier, how much discipline was required to get through each day, especially when the days were filled with war. At other times, like now, he talked like a man who had served on a council for centuries. He was two men, but perhaps everyone was.
Leto drew in a deep breath. “If there is even the smallest chance that I could turn the army, or any part of the army, I’ll do it. I swear it on my life.”
James stepped toward Leto and clapped him on the shoulder. “I know all that your service took from you, every ounce of hope at times, and how far into despair your activities plummeted you. But that life is over, and this new one has begun. So don’t hold back, Leto, not in any sense. We have a chance now. We have a chance.”
Then James smiled, a very broad smile, and a sheaf of papers appeared in his hands. “Remember all those files you stole for us?”
Leto glanced at the papers. “Yes.” His heart began to vibrate softly, as though he already knew what James was about to say.
“Well, right here are the private cell phone numbers for every Division and Regiment Leader of Greaves’s army. We broke the code for you, so you needn’t worry about that. Also, we suggest you start with the divisions out of Mongolia Two and Australia Two.”
Leto took the papers and his heart began to sing. Here was justification, something specific that could be drawn from his years as a spy, that could help the ones he’d betrayed. He could bring a fully operational army and lay it at Endelle’s feet.
“Hot damn,” Endelle said. She even slugged James’s arm. “You finally came through for us.”
James did the unthinkable. He reached high, planted his hand on the back of Endelle’s neck, drew her toward him as he reached up, then planted a kiss on her lips.
As she recoiled in protest, James laughed then vanished.
Endelle wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “That little bastard. I’ll get him for that. And why the fuck did he just take off? I have a thousand questions he needs to answer. One day, I’m going to sit on him and force him to cough up all the information I want, and Sixth Earth can just suck it.”
Transformation
Begins in the soul.
—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 9
After James left, Thorne suggested that he and Leto move to the command center so that Alison could work with Grace on her obsidian flame skills.
But as Thorne headed back to the central rotunda, Grace took Leto’s hand, holding him back. “This is fantastic news.”
He nodded. He had a wind-blasted look. “I just can’t believe it.” He glanced at the papers in his hand. “Well, I know what I’ll be doing for the next few hours.” He met her gaze again. “To think I could win them over.”
Grace was ready to agree, but it was Endelle who came forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “The man who gave that speech at the opening ceremonies of the warrior games could win back the entire army, given enough time. Shit, Leto, I’m fucking glad you’re home.” She looked down at her feet. “Hold on a second.”
She folded off her stilettos and what do you know, Leto was actually taller than Her Supremeness. She held out her arms. “Welcome home.”
As Leto returned Endelle’s embrace, Grace put her fingers to her lips. Her eyes burned like crazy. She wasn’t even jealous, but then she could count on one hand the times Endelle had demonstrated anything close to something as impractical as sentiment.
When she let him go, she still gripped his arms. “I hated that you left when you did.”
“Did you truly believe I’d gone traitor?”
She shrugged. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you really have seen everything. But I was damn glad when James finally showed up and told Alison here what was going on with you.” She smiled. “All right, go get me an army.”
He chuckled, but instead of just leaving, he turned to Grace and dipped down to kiss her. She kissed him back, wanting him to know how proud she was of him.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Endelle barked. “Do I have to get a hose?”
But for some reason, this only made Leto move into Grace and take her more fully in his arms. Maybe he was just trying to provoke the scorpion queen, but Grace thought it was genius. She let him kiss her for as long as he wanted. After all, the man had just gotten the validation he’d needed for the past century.
She sent, You know if anyone else had built that army … She let her thought rest.
I know. He deepened the kiss and held her tighter still. Celebration came in many forms.
When he finally did pull back, Endelle was rolling her eyes.
“Get to work, beast-man.”
Leto saluted her and left.
Grace wondered if Endelle meant to watch her work with Alison, but once Leto left she said she had a meeting with Marcus and that she’d be at her administrative HQ for the rest of the day if she was needed.
Grace had no idea what her session with Alison would be like, but was a little surprised when Alison made a space on the white shag rug by pushing the nearest chair and a couple of the smaller tables off to the side. After pushing the coffee table into the couch, she then sat down cross-legged on the rug and asked Grace to join her.
As Grace seated herself opposite Alison, she felt a certain amount of relief that Alison was taking the lead. She had helped Fiona a few months ago to find her channeling gift.
Grace’s heart was beating hard all over again at the thought of exploring her obsidian power. Somehow, it made the potential of the triad more real.
The only thing she knew to tell Alison, however, was what it had been like for Leto to open her power up, how he’d had to reach deep into her soul. She added, “I suppose I should tell you that from the time I was young I had the ability to read souls, to see into the deepest parts of people and to find their essential goodness, to discover all they were meant to be.”
Alison tilted her head, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I think I understand. That’s why you were able to leave with Casimir, isn’t it? You saw all that he could be.”
Grace nodded. She experienced waves of Alison’s compassion flowing toward her, and some of her nervousness subsided. She took a deep breath and promised herself she would hold nothing back. In order to do what needed to be done, especially with speed, she would have to share her deepest thoughts and concerns with the woman opposite her.
But then Alison, through her empathy, made the process so easy.
Grace spoke first of Casimir, of having read his soul in the Convent when he’d brought a death vampire attack against Leto on behalf of Greaves. “That was when I first realized that I had two brehs.”
“It must have been frightening.”
“And overwhelming, because I was so drawn to them both. But while on Fourth with Casimir I looked into his soul. I saw all that he could have become but for the horror of the early centuries of his life. He’d been used as a sex slave. I think, or at least I would like to believe, that my real purpose in his life was to lead him to Beatrice’s pools of redemption. He changed so much after his first baptism. He was becoming a new man. Every day I saw a difference.”
“And now?”
“I worry that he’ll die.” Grace shared all that she knew of Casimir’s destiny, how it was linked to both Grace and Leto. “Before I chose him, I saw his death. But we asked Beatrice if the future might be changed. She said only if he completed her program.”
“But he didn’t?”
“No, and for that I feel sick at heart. I felt compelled to return to Leto yesterday, and now here I am. And of course you know the rest, that Casimir is serving as Leto’s Guardian of Ascension.”
Alison nodded. “We don’t always know the twists and turns of our paths. And thank the Creator for that. If I had known what would tran
spire during my rite of ascension, that I would be required to battle Leto with sword in hand, I probably would have crawled beneath my bed on Mortal Earth and stayed there.”
At that, Grace laughed. “You’re exactly right. We would all do that.”
Alison searched her eyes. “What I sense from you is the tremendous courage that you have shown in coming forward to join the triad. I’m very proud of you. It’s not easy having so much natural power yet not wanting it. That was exactly my life from the first time, as a child, that I dematerialized. I was human, and there was no one in my mortal life to help me or to guide me. So I do understand what it is not to be made of warrior material yet saddled with more power than you ever wanted.”
Grace released perhaps the deepest sigh of her life. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that. My twin and Thorne were always ready for any adventure. But I liked my books.”
Alison smiled. “I so get you, Grace. I really do. And it also couldn’t have helped to share a convent cell with Marguerite, who is also in Thorne’s mold.”
“I admire her so much; I guess because she has all the pluck I never will.”
But Alison only smiled. “Let me tell you something. Pluck comes in many forms. Just because you’re not a wildcat doesn’t mean that you don’t have pluck. Your being right here with me, for instance, is huge. You’re just different, that’s all, and you have a different role to play.”
Grace couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard such wonderful encouragement. “Thank you for letting me see myself in a new way.”
“You’re welcome. Okay, so let me understand. From everything you’ve told me, I take it that you’ve held back exploring your soul-reading power, correct?”
“Yes. But now I believe it’s the key to my obsidian flame power. When Leto opened my power, it was very different from what Fiona and Marguerite experienced. He had to go deep into my own soul. The problem is that I’ve spent much of my life learning not to invade the lives of others in that way.”
“So it feels like an invasion.”
“It’s too much knowledge. It overwhelms me with a sense of responsibility and at the same time a feeling of complete impotence, as though I can really be of no use.”
“Maybe that’s the key. Maybe your gift has a use, in the same way that both Fiona and Marguerite have specific purposes for their gifts separate from obsidian flame.”
Grace shook her head. “I can’t even begin to imagine what I could possibly do with this soul-reading gift.”
“Well, why don’t you begin with me? Why don’t you read my soul, as an experiment, and we’ll see where it leads us.”
“You’re okay with that?”
Alison smiled. “Of course. I trust you implicitly.”
Grace’s brows rose. She had never been more surprised. “But you hardly know me.”
“You forget that I’m empathic and that I’ve been trained to know people just by conversing with them. Also, in your case, I know you by your reputation. Marguerite always praises you to the skies, and Thorne has you on a pedestal. In that sense, I’ve come here today greatly prejudiced in your favor.”
Grace couldn’t help but smile, and yet she felt she didn’t deserve such praise.
“That look you have right now is the one I want to understand the most. I can sense how unworthy of life you feel. Maybe through this process, I can help you with that.”
“Maybe,” Grace said. But she realized there was a good chance that Alison was about to learn the hardest truth of Grace’s life.
Still, there was nothing for it. “All right, then,” Grace said. “Give me your hand and let me read your soul.”
When Alison extended her hand, Grace took it. She closed her eyes, and after at least one deep breath, she fell into Alison’s mind. She felt Alison’s hand jerk beneath her own. She pressed on through her mind to the deepest layers, letting herself fall until she was swimming in the absolute beauty of Alison’s self, her soul.
She grew very still, until she realized she was being drawn toward the source of Alison’s ability to heal the mind. The source felt like a door with a lock and for which she somehow had the key.
Using her intuition, she extended her power into the lock, like a blue flame key, and the door flew open. Grace then drew Alison’s healing ability into her body in long sweeping waves, a complete sharing. Once the process was complete, she drew out of Alison’s soul and her mind. Leaving her was a very strange rubbery sensation. She blinked. Alison smiled, but she shook her head.
“What exactly happened?” Alison asked. “I mean I could feel you, but what were you doing?”
Grace sat staring at Alison. She was filled with a sense of wonder at what she had just done. “I believe I acquired your ability to heal the mind.” She related all that she had experienced to the last detail.
Alison grinned. “What an amazing gift this is. I mean, if I understand it, you could acquire any power. Any power. Just think about that. The implications are astonishing. But we should test it.”
At that, Grace smiled. “But how could I test your ability to heal the mind.” Then it was as though Grace knew, and she put her hand on Alison’s forehead and let the healing waves flow.
The experience was like having something warm at the center of her palm.
Alison closed her eyes and sighed. Her shoulders even dropped a little. “Oh, that’s wonderful. So that’s what everyone else feels.”
“Yes, it is,” Grace said. “I’ve felt it from you many times, like soothing warm waves just easing over the mind. That’s what happened when you came to help me at the Seattle warrior games.”
Alison opened her eyes. “Wow. And thank you. I actually feel more relaxed.”
“So you think this is it, then?” Grace asked. “That I can acquire abilities?”
“I do.”
“So, now what?”
“I think you have to work this out with obsidian flame.”
Grace realized she had taken the first step toward forging the obsidian flame triad. For just a moment, she wondered if she should go forward. She felt as though she had come to a crossroads—but she could still retreat if she wanted to. She could return to a former life and ease back into her more spiritual pursuits.
Yet even as the thought went through her mind, she knew she couldn’t. In the same way that she was the sort of person who could commit happily to life in a convent for a hundred years, she knew she wouldn’t go back. She had made her decision while on Fourth Earth to embrace her calling as obsidian flame, and so she would.
She mentally contacted Fiona and Marguerite and arranged to meet them in half an hour at the Militia HQ workout room. With the arrangements made, Grace walked Alison to the landing platform. She was headed to Endelle’s office and would let Endelle know the results of her time with Grace.
After Alison left, Grace hunted Leto down to tell him her news. She found him in a quiet corner of one of the lesser-used rotundas. He had James’s papers on his lap and his phone in hand. “How’s it going?” she asked.
He looked up at her and smiled. “Incredible. It didn’t even occur to me how things would be for my warriors when I left.”
For his warriors. Grace loved the sound of that.
He leaned forward slightly and took her fingers in a light clasp. “How’s it going with Alison?”
“I think we’re done.”
“You’re done? So soon?”
She nodded then told him what had happened. Leto’s brows rose. “You can acquire any ability?”
“That’s what it feels like to me.”
“Huh. Like the ability to fold masses of people?”
This time her brows rose. “You mean like warriors?”
He nodded slowly.
“Oh. Well.” She squeezed his fingers. “Looks like I have some work to do with obsidian flame.” She told him where she was headed. “You can let Thorne know what’s going on as well. I know he has a role in obsidian flame s
o we might need him. I’m just not sure.” She glanced behind her.
“I will.”
“Walk me to the landing platform?”
He rose so fast from his chair that she took a step back and laughed. He put his arm around her and squeezed, then put them both in motion. She felt very young right now, like she was just a girl with her boyfriend and he was walking her to class. It was a nice feeling and in this moment, not far from the truth.
Her class, however, involved obsidian flame.
Once near the platform, Leto kissed her. She let the kiss linger.
I don’t want to let you go, he sent, his lips hovering just over hers.
I don’t want to leave.
The kiss deepened until she was swaying. Finally, she had to push him away.
He drew back and smiled ruefully. She always forgot how beautiful his eyes were until she was this close. They were the color of clear blue water. She gave him another quick kiss, and because she had the feeling if she didn’t just take off, she’d stay for another hour with her hands fondling his biceps, she ran up the landing platform ramp.
He waited where she had left him, smiling and looking better than ever, more relaxed, more at ease.
She waved as she dematerialized and was still waving when she arrived at Militia Warrior HQ.
The Militia Warriors on duty looked at her with serious expressions then nodded as she started down the ramp.
She hadn’t been to HQ in a long time and had to get directions to the workout room. In the past couple of years, the complex had been expanded; it actually took her several minutes to walk the distance to the room. No folding whatsoever was allowed within the complex. In previous years, before the addition of the current state-of-the-art security system, death vamps had been known to fold inside the facility and take the lives of dozens of Militia Warriors, often before anyone even knew what was happening.
Now the whole complex was locked down tight.