Page 18 of A City of Hearts and Feathers (The Order of Anubis #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Z oe spent the following morning going through the downstairs study, trying to find a reference to triple serpents heads. Her father wouldn't have left her a riddle she couldn't figure out, but it was driving her crazy as it looped over and over in her head.

It would have helped if she hadn't been so distracted thinking about almost kissing Kahil the night before. She had done her best not to blush like an idiot when she had wiped the blood off his chest. She knew he was fit, but seeing the tattooed muscle and the fine dark hair in all their glory had made her sweat.

Zoe still couldn't figure out if Kahil was serious or not with his flirting. She had almost thrown all caution to the wind because as much as she pretended he annoyed her, her crush was becoming worse the longer she was near him.

Thankfully, Kahil had spent the day sleeping to help heal his wounds. Zoe had taken one look at him coming out of the bathroom in a towel the night before and had rushed off to bed before she did something she regretted.

Zoe leaned back in the swivel chair and stared at the bookshelves around her. She had no idea what to do or where to go next. How many pieces of the codex were left out there? Why had her father gifted her a fake book? She thought that going to Istanbul would give her answers, not more questions. With every mystery solved, she faced five more.

"Triple-headed snakes dance high to watch the ground I grow," she murmured aloud. "What were you talking about, baba ?"

Zoe's phone began to ring, and she saw that it was her mother yet again. She debated ignoring the call like she had for the past few days, but maybe Anita would have more of an idea of what the riddle meant.

"Finally, she answers her phone," Anita said, sounding just as pissed as Zoe imagined she was going to be.

"I haven't wanted to talk to you, Mother. I don't feel like getting yelled at, especially when I'm the one that's the wronged party," Zoe said, her hand clenching into a fist.

"I was trying to protect you like a good mother should. Can't you see that? I couldn't handle staying in that world without your father in it," Anita replied. Her annoyance had slipped into something more real. "At least tell me that you are okay."

Zoe gripped her phone tighter. "I'm fine. Kahil is acting as my bodyguard until the business with the Sais Codex is over. You could have warned me that I would have to deal with this. You know how I felt about the bookstore. You could have said that it was mine."

"I thought that Oman's brothers would have taken care of the bookstore by now. It shouldn't be your responsibility to fix your father's mistakes." Anita went silent, and Zoe could hear the sound of a bar in the background. Why was she not surprised?

"I told Oman that the stupid codex would bring nothing but trouble," Anita continued, her voice sad. "I begged him not to buy it. He thought that it would be a good way to make money to set the family up for life, and now it's going to get you killed like it did him."

It was a struggle, but Zoe tried to see things from her mother's perspective and not through the eyes of the hurt child that she was. "You should have told me about this world, about my family and the heritage we had in this city. I have felt so disconnected my entire life, and now I know why. I understand that you were trying to protect me, but I can't go back to London and pretend like none of this exists."

"I know, Zoe. I knew the minute you went back to that city that I would lose you forever," her mother said, voice breaking.

"You haven't lost me, Mom. I should have moved out a long time ago, and I am a Kartal. This place is in my blood. I miss baba . I want to finish what he started and find the things that he left for me."

"What things?"

Zoe ended up telling Anita all about the treasure hunt that she was currently on. She didn't mention the attacks on her person because that would only stress her mother out more. Zoe made it sound like her father had left a way for her to safely find the pieces of the codex, but he was going to make it difficult for anyone else to figure out.

"You knew baba best. Do you have any idea what this means, 'Triple-headed snakes dance high to watch the ground I grow'?" Zoe asked.

"Let me have a think. It's so like Oman to create something like this for you. He knew that you were like him more than me and would love the challenge of it." It was more than her mother had talked about him in years. After a long pause, Anita let out a sigh. "I don't know, sweetie. He was never interested in snakes as animals that I can remember. I know he loved the myth about Apollo fighting against Python at Delphi because he used to tell you that story all the time."

"Thanks, Mom. I think I have to keep digging." Zoe tapped her nails against her father's desk. "Please don't be mad at me. I know you like to pretend he never existed, but he is a part of me, and I feel like I need to be here."

Anita made a sound at the other end of the line, and Zoe realized that she was crying. "It's not that I wanted to pretend he didn't exist, baby. It's that I fall apart every time I talk about him. I love you so much. You are my daughter, but he was my whole world. I didn't know how to be without him, to raise you without him. All I could do was protect you in the way that I knew how."

A lump clogged Zoe's throat. The anger that she had felt towards her mother seemed to lose all its fire with those words. "I understand, Mom." And she finally did.

"Please, please take care of yourself. I know that Kerem and Kahil will do their best to look out for you, but don't get complacent. I don't know who killed your father. All I know is that it was somebody close to him. It was why I made sure that I moved you out of that city because I couldn't lose you too," her mother replied.

"I promise, Mom. I will find this codex, and hopefully, I will also find who killed him. We both deserve that closure," Zoe said. They said their goodbyes, and Zoe hung up before she started crying too. She missed her father. He would have known exactly what to say to calm her mother's worry.

Zoe stared up at the bookshelves again, her eyes snagging on the statue bust of Plato that was being used as a bookend. Engraved on the base of it were the words ' Gnothi seauton .' Know thyself. It was a concept discussed in Plato's Protagoras dialogue.

Zoe had asked her father what the strange words meant when she was a child. He had placed his big hand over her heart and told her, "It means to know yourself and to know your heart. If you know yourself, then you will always know what you want. You always know what path is best for you." It was something that Zoe had taken seriously, which was why she had ended up in book restoration over a career that would give her more employment opportunities.

Zoe stared at the words now as an adult, and she tried to think about what she truly wanted. Her heart had always felt like a dangerous thing to trust over her head. Her heart had made so many mistakes with relationships and friendships in the past, her search to feel secure and loved driving her into the arms of the wrong people.

Being inside the bookstore, surrounded by memories of her childhood, Zoe once again felt the love and safety from that time. Maybe her ex-boyfriend hadn't been entirely wrong. It wasn't that she loved books more than people; it was that she had always been looking for this place.

A memory tugged at her, and she looked up at Plato once more. Gnothi seauton was one of the three maxims of the oracles of Delphi—the place where Apollo had defeated Python and where his temple had been built in that battle's honor. Zoe had never been to Delphi, but she had visited a part of it in Istanbul with her father.

"The Serpentine Column," she whispered, the realization hitting her like a lightning bolt. The column had once stood in Delphi before it had been moved by Constantine the Great to Constantinople during his reign. The column was made of bronze, and it was of three snakes twined together.

"The triple-headed snake." Zoe shot to her feet and ran up the stairs to the apartment. She banged on Kahil's door. "Hey, wake up in there or I'm coming in." There was no reply, so she opened the door the smallest crack. The curtains were drawn, but there was just enough light to make out the bulk of him stretched out across the bed.

Don't look, you creeper, she chastised herself. He didn't strike her as a guy who went to sleep with clothes on, and it felt dangerous to find out.

"Hey, Kahil, I think I found out the answer to baba's riddle," she said, trying to wake him up. "If you don't get up right now, I am going out."

There was a rustle of sheets, and a sleepy voice grumbled, "Where are you going?"

"I have this super-hot date. I'm going to go and have sweaty, rough sex with him. Okay, see you when I get back," she called out and then shut the door again.

Zoe was reaching for the hot water kettle to put on tea when Kahil stumbled out of the bedroom, wearing a pair of soft gray sleep shorts. Her mouth dropped open at all the muscles in front of her. His chest was tattooed with a large Egyptian scarab in a hieroglyphic style, surrounded by blue lotus flowers. It was a gorgeous piece that she'd tried not to stare at the night before.

Now, she tried really hard to focus on the tattoo and not the shorts that did nothing to hide the outline of his dick.

"What fucking date?" he said, pushing the long tangle of hair from his face. "You're not allowed to go anywhere without me, Zoe. Especially not out for some cheap hookup with someone you don't know."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the kettle," Zoe replied, gesturing to her ear and giggling at the outrage on his face. She squeaked in alarm when he was suddenly standing in front of her. He was so fast that she hadn't seen him move. His hands were on the counter on either side of her, surrounding her with his warmth and the spicy smell of him.

"You can't go anywhere without me," he said firmly. His eyes were still confused and full of sleep, so she took pity on him.

"Kahil, I just needed you to get out of bed. Although I kind of want to know what it is about me having a date that upsets you so much."

"No, you don't," he replied, the confused expression on his face disappearing into a molten glare.

Zoe swallowed hard, her mouth dry. "I, um… I think I figured out baba's riddle about the snakes."

Kahil let out a frustrated groan. "And this is why you're disturbing my beauty sleep? You want to talk about riddles before I've had tea?"

"I was making you some when you came charging out, all flustered and offended about the idea of me getting some hot sex." She couldn't resist teasing.

Kahil leaned down and ran his stubble softly up the side of her neck. Zoe's pulse stuttered, and her skin pebbled. His breath was hot against her ear as he whispered, "If you have an itch that bad, I will happily scratch it for you, balim . You wouldn't have to leave the house at all. Hell, you wouldn't even need to leave this kitchen."

Zoe's hand stroked over the still healing scars on his side. "Thanks for the offer, big guy, but you are still too injured to give me what I need."

"And you seem to be in a mood to play with fire today," Kahil replied and moved back to stop crowding her. "I'm going to need you to make that tea strong if I'm going to talk riddles with you."

Zoe didn't know if she meant the snakes riddle or whatever had just happened between them. She quickly turned away from him and started making the tea, her hands shaking just a little. She glanced over his shoulder, checking out his ass in those amazing shorts before he disappeared back into the bedroom.

Gnothi seauton , she thought. Unfortunately, she did know what she wanted, and that was going to be a problem.