Page 92 of Eternal Surrender

“Who do you think Dominion is?” Marcus asked us.

“He’s very dangerous,” Rachel answered.

I took a step closer to her. “Do you know why Lord Crowther wants him?”

“Aiden’s father told him that Dominion will wipe out Sovereign.” Rachel covered her mouth. “I overheard them talking.” She seemed to have a moment of clarity, her gaze falling on Marcus. “I overheard men from the Stone Masters arguing with Lord Crowther to let me go.”

Marcus gestured his uneasiness to us and whispered, “What if they let her go in order to follow her?”

Jacob raised his hand to reassure us. “We used every precaution when we found her. No one knows we’re here.”

Rachel pressed her fingers to her lips. “When will I be able to see Orpheus?”

“Soon,” I said.

Seeing ‘Find Dominatio’ written on the cell was the first time I’d ever come across it. I wondered who might have written it and why. I recalled seeing Jacob’s reaction when he’d seen it.

“You sure you don’t know who Dominion is?” I asked Jacob. “Or where we can find him?”

Choir music carried into the chamber as Mozart’s Requiem in D minor resonated, embracing us with its subdued intimacy.

“Jacob?” I pressed him for an answer.

Jacob loosened his clerical collar, his attention seemingly drifting off to another time, another place. “Rachel needs our full attention,” he said. “Let’s not get distracted by hearsay.”

Marcus’s grip on my arm broke my concentration and he guided me toward the back of the chapel. “I’m her brother,” he said. “It was my job to keep her safe.”

“You can’t blame yourself,” I said.

“Rachel’s always been ditzy but never made stuff up,” Marcus defended her. “She really believes she was captured.”

Jacob was close behind us. “Clearly the poison’s affecting her,” he told us.

Marcus rubbed his face in frustration, trying to ease the tension. “She’s not making any sense.”

I squeezed his shoulder, doing my best to comfort him.

“Rachel believes the Stone Masters aided her escape,” Marcus continued. “She made it sound like the Stone Masters and Sovereign are now enemies.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Jacob asked.

“Fifty years ago,” Marcus said. “That was the last time I heard from her. She wrote to me from Scotland.”

I leaned back against the wall. “Paradom mentioned the Stone Masters, too.”

Marcus waved that off. “We have that list of names of new members.”

“What list?” Jacob asked.

“How about telling us what you know, first?” I asked him.

Jacob gestured he knew nothing. “What’s this list?”

“We obtained a flash drive with the names of new Stone Lords,” I said, though wasn’t sure I should have shared that with him.

“Where is it?” Jacob’s tone was tense.

“Secure,” I answered. “What do we know about the Stone Masters?”