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Her own clothes, the ones she’d been wearing when I had pulled her from the water, were draped haphazardly across the back of the small loveseat, still damp to the touch. They’d never dry by morning like that, so I gathered them up to hang them properly. Halfway across the room to the closet, something slipped from the pocket of her pants and clattered across the floor.
I paused, eyes darting to her sleeping form to see if I’d woken her, but she hadn’t moved an inch. In fact, if I focused, I could just detect the hint of a feminine snore. I smiled at the sound.
That smile faltered when I knelt to pick up the thing I’d dropped. I recognized it before my fingers ever touched it, and a wave of cold dread washed over me. Every muscle in my body went taut.
It can’t be.
My fingers were shaking as I picked the necklace up off the floor by the chain, careful not to touch the gruesome pendant.
What the hell was Never doing with it? I glared over at the bed, feeling all at once like the whole evening had been a set up.
Gods, what if it wasn’t just tonight. What if everything had been, from the moment my men had found her on the beach. Was she working with Anya? Or Petra?
I resisted the rising urge to stalk over to the bed and shake her awake, but only because I needed to be certain the necklace was what I thought it was before I made another move. I left her sodden clothes in a pile on the floor and got dressed quietly, then I slipped out into the night with the necklace.
The moment the door shut behind me, I lifted the pendant up to the nearest torch and sucked in a sharp breath. It glowed orange in the light, the same color as my eyes. The same color as the source of my power.
Damn.
I let it fall into my other hand and hissed when it came more alive, glowing brightly and pulsing rapidly, in time with my heartbeat. Balling my hand into a fist, I squeezed my eyes shut. For the first time in centuries, I was whole. The part of me that Anya had ripped from my chest all those long years ago was finally back in my possession.
So why did it feel like I was being torn open in the slowest and most agonizing way possible?
“Everything all right, sir?”
I jumped at William’s whispered question, a testament to just how lost I was feeling. I wasn’t the kind to startle easily.
“No, I don’t believe it is.” I held my hand out and showed him the necklace, still glowing brightly.
His eyes flew wide, and he rushed forward, cupping his hands around mine protectively without actually touching. “Is this what I think it is?”
I nodded.
“Where did you find it?”
That was the kicker, wasn’t it? I pressed my lips into a thin line and jerked my head toward my bedroom door. “She had it.”
“What?” His shocked gaze shifted to the door, then back to me. “You don’t think…”
I shook my head and pulled my hand away, tucking the pendant safely in my pocket. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Oh, Atlas, I’m so sorry.”
I let out my breath in a short huff, trying to dismiss his concern. “Like I said, I don’t know. I have no idea how she got it or why she had it, but I have every intention of finding out once she wakes up.”
He nodded slowly. His voice shifted seamlessly from the concerned friend to the stalwart first mate. “In the meantime, we do have some business to attend to.” He was an amazing first mate, but he was an even better friend for knowing how to handle me in a situation like this.
“What’s happened?” I asked, rolling my shoulders back and shoving thoughts of Never from my head. Not that I had much luck with that. I could smell her on me, all over me.
“Leo is here to see you.”
My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline and I glanced up, just to make sure I hadn’t missed the rising of the sun. The deck was still cloaked in darkness, save for the eternal torches scattering their flickering light across the dark wood, and the sky was exactly as it always was that time of night, with its ancient stars glittering in the distance.
“He did come alone, correct?”
William nodded once. “Yes, sir. He’s waiting in the war room.”
I pulled in a deep breath and let it out on a heavy sigh. “Very well.”
