Page 45 of The Tribrid Princess and the Taste of Chaos (The Rossi Legacies #7)
Jayce
O f all the ways to fuck up, this is my most careless slip-up, ever, and it probably held the most weight.
And it didn’t go missed; she clocked on. She’s staring at me wide-eyed, her heart thundering.
“I just meant I care-”
She places her fingers to my lips. “Don’t ruin it with denial,” she whispers. I wrap my hand around her wrist, kissing her fingertips before wrapping my arms around her and holding her close.
Maybe Carter is right, that we all need to taste failure at some point… but for me, it’s not something I’m used to. I gave it my fucking all, and I failed.
Who was he? He wasn’t a demigod, even if he was fucking strong. I could look him in the eyes, unless there was magic suppressing him. I don’t know. I don’t fucking know, and I hate that.
And that blade…
I don’t even want to look in the mirror. The scar will forever remind me of what happened this night.
She wraps her arms around my waist, her hand trailing down my back, leaving a path of pleasure in her wake. Her touches, like always, are seductive, enticing and fucking distracting, but I fucking love them even if they fuck with my head.
We simply stand in silence, and right now it’s exactly what I want, to simply hold her, bury my nose in her hair, inhale her scent that is like a fucking drug, calming me.
I know I’ll continue to feel like shit, and I’m going to have to up my fucking game. Right now, making sure she feels ok is my priority. I’ve already caused her a lot of distress.
“Talk to Ahren soon. I don’t want to have to hide,” she mumbles, and this time I smirk as I take her shoulders and move her back.
“You’re in a bit of a rush. Tell me why exactly you want everyone to know?” I ask, taking hold of her chin and brushing my finger along her lower lip.
Her eyes glimmer red as she snakes her arms around my neck, pressing herself against me completely. “Because I want to be with you unapologetically, without having to hide like we’re doing something wrong.”
I lean closer, my nose brushing against hers.
“I’ve heard the thrill is fun, making sure no one catches you…
as you exchange stolen kisses…” I murmur, kissing her lips just as I hear someone press the button from outside.
The door slides open, and I step back, making Sienna stare at me wide-eyed as she too quickly moves away from me.
It’s none other than Leo, whose eyes flick between us before he inhales the smoke of his cigarette. “Right... let’s get the details down.”
An hour later, I walked Leo through everything that had happened. He has pictures of the destruction, and I have to admit it’s insane to think we did that.
“He really was fucking strong. The damage you did is fucking intense. I’ve run an analysis of the data from your Schattensicht.
The infrared readings were off the charts.
You were generating massive heat signatures.
And the electrical current? Unprecedented,” Leo says as he slides a few hologram charts in mid-air so we can see them all at once.
I step back, assessing the levels against standard levels.
“We’re talking energy levels well beyond the norm. That was a fucking power storm, but there’s nothing much on your opponent aside from him blocking you. I don’t know if I’m right, but there may be a chance someone helped him block his own aura or even with protection spells. There’s just nothing…”
“Why, though? Unless they don’t want to be found. Or they know exactly what these devices are,” I say, jerking my head towards the Schattensicht.
“I don’t know, but we have his voice on record. I’m running it through CIA and M16 databases. Let’s see if we find a match.”
“That’s illegal, init? What if you’re caught?
” I ask, taking hold of the top of a chair and sitting on it, resting my arms on the top of the backrest. It’s just the two of us in his underground cave.
Azura had taken Sienna away, saying she needed a bath and rest, and I agreed with her; she needed to rest.
“I won’t be.”
“And how are talks going with these agencies? I mean, with what’s coming, they will need to be alerted to what’s going on out here, right?”
“Yeah, we’ve had some talks. Currently, it is in top-secret discussions, but it’s a slow process. I mean, I’m a fucking werewolf, and I’m having a hard time believing half the shit that I say,” Leo admits grimly.
I nod. Trying to tell the government bits without telling them everything isn’t fucking easy.
“And Dante? When is he getting back?” I ask as I study the charts, analysing them against a few others. Royce is one of them.
“Not sure, he’s still trying to find the location of Skotos,” Leo murmurs, smoking his cigarette.
“And what about Nur?” I ask.
Leo shakes his head. “Nothing more than it being in Egypt. You know the worst fucking part about all of this is how much shit is based on hearsay. Give me facts and I’ll give you fucking answers,” Leo mutters.
Egypt…
Just the mention of the place makes me feel a pull, and I frown.
“Nur is buried in the sands of Egypt. We find the Deimos Temple, and we find it all,” I say suddenly, not knowing why the fuck those words were so adamant on spilling out of my fucking mouth.
“Intuition?” Leo asks, not fazed at all.
“Maybe.” I brush the pad of my thumb over my nose, feeling the scar.
“The book that was taken. Pull up the images I sent you,” I say, standing up as Leo swipes a few screens, and they appear in front of me on a hologram screen. I stand up, staring at the words; words that were once unreadable, now pop off the screen.
“The words… they…”
“You can read them?” Leo asks.
“Fuck yeah, I can,” I murmur, my eyes skimming the page.
“They’re some kind of directions… From where the sun rises to scorch the brow of the jade-eyed sphinx, setting behind the twin peaks of burning sand. There, shall the desert winds reveal the path hidden in the dunes of the Egyptian desert…”
Leo’s typing as I speak, images of Egypt popping up all around us as I continue.
“Follow where the heat hangs heavy, no shadows dare linger. Rising from the sands is the temple that will only reveal itself when the blood of the Deimos is drunk by the ground itself. In the temple of the Deimos King, you will find what you seek. Blood worthy of dune, blood worthy of truth, blood worthy of Amun.”
“Amun…” Leo types it in when the door behind us opens to reveal Azura and Sienna, both in pyjamas, each holding two mugs of hot drinks.
“Amun?” Sienna asks, her eyes flicking over the holograms. “You can read it?” Her eyes widen as she passes me a mug.
“Thanks,” I say. She looks gorgeous in a long-sleeved, fitted black top and wide-leg pants. I can tell she isn’t wearing a bra beneath her top, and it’s fucking distracting. “Yeah, I can read it.”
“Amun was known as the Creator God, God of all creation. Later on, people began combining Amun and Ra as one, but they were two individual entities at the beginning,” Sienna explains.
“The Creator God, Amun is Zeus,” Leo murmurs, and I gulp down my drink.
Sienna nods. “I think so, yes.” Her eyes sparkle as if something just made sense. “The temple! The temple from my dreams! I was going to tell you, then something came up!” she says to me as if that makes sense.
“The temple in my dreams has this symbol, and the last time I was there, the priest said that this temple belongs to the one who shall be touched by Zeus himself. It was sandy. It could have been in Egypt!”
“Ok, you need to back up, dreams?” Leo asks sharply.
“I think it was a vision,” Sienna says dismissively, her eyes trained on Leo, but… she’s lying.
Why? Nothing about her expression or her heart rate changed, but she’s hiding something.
“Ok, so you saw a temple with this symbol?”
“Yes, very similar. The priest said ‘Zeus’, so that was what was throwing me off, but the text must have been from long before my vision, when Zeus was known as Amun,” she explains, as if it all suddenly made sense to her.
“Right, so let me get this straight. You think Jayce is favoured by Zeus?” Azura asks as she reads the translation Leo had typed up.
“Not think – I know. When Jayce fought that man, it was like he was channelling Zeus: his strength, the lightning bolt-like energy around his arms. It makes sense!” Sienna says. “The book us girls have-”
“The one no one else can touch?” Azura wrinkles her nose.
“Yes, as we know, the ancient civilisation of Egypt was established around 3200 BC, whilst the earliest recorded Greek culture is from around 2000 BC or so. In that book, it said that the gods first ascended to earth around Egypt, that they drank from the Nile, and that was where they first lived.” Sienna sips her drink as we all stare at her, waiting for her to continue, but she takes her sweet time before she continues.
“Then, of course, they spread out, seeing and leading over other civilisations, and where one god is forgotten, the god becomes known by another name. In this case, Amun goes by Zeus just as Ra is Helios.”
“That makes sense, so the Deimos line is favoured by Zeus, the Solaris line is favoured by Helios. Then what about the Asheton line?” Leo asks, frowning deeply.
Azura steps forward. “I think the Asheton line is Selene’s. The Blessed Wolf is a healer. The moon has healing properties. I don’t know if the term would be ‘favoured’, but that’s my assumption.”
“A smart one,” Leo says, wrapping his hand around her throat, and I look away before they begin locking lips. It’s fucking gross.
“Right, so this passage, I think it tells us the location of…” I trail off, my brows furrowing.
“Jayce?” Leo looks at me, but the way his eyes are sharp, I wonder if that’s the case.
“What if that man somehow knew I was the Deimos King? Did they need me to awaken to find this place? They took the book, meaning they were looking for something, and then they came for me? It can’t be a coincidence.”
The room falls into silence before Azura breaks it.
“Well fuck,” she breathes as Leo stares at the screen, frowning in concentration.
“Question is, what the fuck are they trying to find?”
“Soooo…. Sienna, you’re in this room. Jayce, you are in that room.” Azura points down the hall.
I cock a brow. “Cool.”
It’s a short while later, and Azura told Leo off for keeping me, saying we had a long night. “A long way away, got it?”
She’s so fucking annoying. Aunty Kiara and the boys have left, as well as the witch who helped; it’s just the two of us here.
“Night…” Sienna says to me, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears.
“Night,” I reply, casting Azura a glare as she stands there smirking.
“Sorry, I’ve got to play chaperone,” she puts on a dramatic, posh tone.
Shaking my head, I leave them both outside Sienna’s room and enter the room I’m given. My jacket is folded on the chair, but aside from that, the clothes and shoes I’m wearing were given to me.
Walking over to my jacket, I pick it up and look inside it. Wallet, keys, and the bag of jewellery. I smile slightly, glad it is at least safe, even if my bike is gone.
Sighing, I sit down on the bed and drop backwards onto it, staring at the ceiling.
Today was fucking surreal…
I massage my temples as the news spins around my head.
Egypt...
The chance that they more than likely need me to translate the book is making me uneasy.
What’s in that temple? What are Sienna’s dreams about? What is she hiding?
Right now, I have my Schattensicht, and she has her phone, but I can’t risk Leo knowing what we’re texting one another.
If my assumptions are correct, she’ll show up here in…
I glance at the time on my Schattensicht.
Any second now. Five… Four… Three… Two – there’s a knock on the door, and I sit up.
“Come in,” I call as I get up and walk over to the door, as it opens to reveal Sienna, tugging at the sleeves of her top, pushing her breasts together in a seductive way.
“Hey… Can I sleep with you tonight?” she asks softly, her cheeks burning and her heart thundering loudly.
I smirk, grabbing her hips and yanking her close. I lean down and kiss her lips ever so lightly. “I was expecting you.”