Ashes of War (Sons of War) (7 page)

Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her temple and whispered. “Prying into others’ thoughts is rude.”

She laughed. “Not if I’m protecting my father from heartache. And don’t dare deny your feelings to me.”

“Brat,” he teased. “Get some sleep.”

He rose and left the room and searched for Markus, fighting the urge to follow Ash’s scent. If he went to her now, they’d end up naked and panting. Ty needed to focus on regaining his memory and finding a weaver. Maybe then he’ll be able to prove Elizabeth was indeed lost to her desires and not the devoted goddess she made her father believe she was.

He didn’t need the complications of a mate to distract him.

****

Ash whirled, thrust her leg up and kicked out, nailing the large sandbag hanging in the back of the gym. The kick was hard enough the chain suspending the bag snapped and it dropped to the ground.

Damned dragon. Stupid-ass male.

He knew they were mates and chose to ignore it. She shouldn’t be surprised, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. And why? Because she dared to let hope enter her heart. Hope she’d save his life while healing his broken soul.

Footsteps from behind made her whirl around to face the intruder. Elle stopped half way across the gym on her way to her studio. Ash relaxed and straightened. “Sorry. I was blowing off some steam and you startled me.”

Elle’s gaze flicked to the punching bag on the floor, then back at Ash. “I see that.” The female narrowed her eyes slightly as if studying Ash. After a few moments, Elle said, “Can I ask you an odd question?”

Curious, Ash nodded. What could it hurt? She didn’t know much about the other woman other than she was the daughter of Nyx, goddess of night. Plus Ash could use a distraction. “Yes, as long as it’s not offensive.”

Elle’s shoulder dropped and a faint smile lifted her lips, clearly sensing Ash’s playfulness behind her words. “Can I paint you?”

Okay, Ash didn’t see that coming. “Why? I mean, I think I’m flattered, but why me?”

Elle shrugged and started toward her studio, which was one half of a room she shared with Zavier. Distracted to her satisfaction, Ash followed the dark haired demi-goddess. “Do you paint live subjects often?”

Pausing at the door, Elle glanced back at her. “Not usually. I’ve only done two others.”

The catch in her voice made Ash’s heart skip a beat. A sad, but dark sensation shuttered over her skin. She feared she wouldn’t like the answer, but she asked the question anyway. “Who were the other two?”

With a heavy sigh, Elle turned away and opened the door. “My parents, the night before they died.”

Fuck
. She had to ask. “I’m sorry…”

Elle shrugged and motioned to the love seat against the far wall. “Have a seat and be as comfortable as you’d like.”

Ash did as the other woman asked and laid on her back with her knees over the arm to allow her legs to dangle. Watching Elle set up the canvas and easel, Ash couldn’t help but wonder about her. “You and Gwen grew up together?”

A smile stretched the corners of Elle’s lips. “We became instant friends in the third grade.”

Warmth bloomed in Ash’s heart, while at the same time loneliness settled in. She’d never had a friendship as strong as Gwen and Elle’s. In fact, the only close relationship she had was with her mother. Artemis never let her out of her sight as a child.

With a slight sigh, Elle continued talking as she settled onto a stool in front of the canvas. “My parents died when I was sixteen. Gwen’s parents took me in and treated me like their own daughter.”

The longing welcomed sadness back in. Ash studied the other woman and without thinking about it, said, “I never knew my father.”

Elle stilled and met her gaze. Her mouth dropped into a frown. “Your mother never told you?”

A humorless laugh burst from Ash. “Artemis? I love my mother more than anything, but she is a goddess in every sense of the word. The one time I asked about him, she said he was dead and it pained her to speak of him. I never asked again.”

Picking up a pencil from the workbench, Elle started to sketch. “I sense you didn’t let it go.”

“No. I tried to search and ask around. But no one seemed to know or just didn’t care who he was. It wasn’t until I was given access to the archives when I was given to job to…well spy on the Sons of War.” Ash stared up at the ceiling, feeling like a traitor for the admission.

“The gods have their reasons for sending you. From what I’ve learned in the short time of being here, they don’t trust the dragons.”

Ash turned her head to watch Elle. She was right. The gods had good reason not to trust the sons of Ares. Even the god of war wasn’t well liked by the others.

After a long silence, Elle asked, “What did you find in the archives?”

Stunned, Ash considered not telling the woman. What would it hurt to tell her?
Nothing.
“I found a name of a god banished to earth to live as a mortal. It’s usually the punishment for treason. Yet, his crimes were not noted.”

“Why not?”

“Not sure. It could mean the oracle either didn’t know, which is highly unlikely, or she was forbidden to record certain facts.” Ash was betting on the latter. If Zeus didn’t want others to know something, he’d forbid the oracle from noting it.

Elle stopping drawing and studied Ash for a few moments. “What is it about the name stands out to you?”

Instinct, mainly
. “The fact no one ever spoke of this god, not even in the human historical or mythological literatures. It was as if he never existed.”

“Well, go find out who he is, then.”

New purpose, or at least a new focus away from the mess of emotions surrounding Ty, filled her mind. She could search out this god while the dragons sought a weaver. It would give her the needed space away from Ty. A break for her to clear her mind and focus on how to save Ty’s life while solving another mystery plaguing her thoughts since finding the file the oracle directed her to.

“Thanks, Elle. I think I’ll do that.”

Chapter Nine

“So how long have you kept Amissa a secret from us?”

Ty set his jaw at Markus’s question. “She is my daughter and mine to protect.”

Markus leaned forward from behind his desk and growled, “We are your brothers and her uncles. We
all
will protect her.”

“She has a guardian.” Ty sighed and laid his head against the back of the couch. “She was safer away from us. Plus I didn’t know how you’d take it if you knew she was Sophia’s daughter.”

“Fuck, Ty.”

Yeah, he failed to share who her mother was when he told his brothers about Amissa the day before. “It was a one-nighter before she mated with Garrick.” He went on explaining his and Ash’s theory on how Sophia wanted both and could only have one or the other.

Markus fell silent and Zavier took the moment to speak up. “The real problem here is Eros. We need to find a weaver to unlock Ty’s memories so Ashlynn can present her case.”

Seth glanced from Zavier to Ty, then to Markus. “I think Z’s been keeping his own secrets.”

Zavier grit his teeth and spoke through them. “Those secrets are not mine to share.”

Ty snapped his head up and let out a growl so loud it rumbled the windows in the room. “Enough! Why the fuck are we arguing over this? I have a death sentence over my head for killing Eros’s daughter. I doubt he’ll even listen to whatever evidence we come up with anyway.”

Markus cocked a brow. “He has to go through a trial.”

Ty let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, he’ll go through the trial and most likely twist everything Ash brings up.”

“Then we have to be prepared when the time comes.” Markus tapped his fingers on the desk, then added, “Gwen and I will leave in the morning to search for the weaver. Amissa and Cyrus are welcome to stay here.”

Nodding, Ty said, “I know. I thought I was protecting her by keeping her existence a secret. Now Eros knows…”

Zavier cursed, drawing Ty’s attention. “The imperials attacked her home.”

Seth finished the thought. “Which means Garrick knows about her.”

The same thought kept running through his mind. A number of possibilities ran inside his head. The top two being Garrick could have one of his weavers create a locator spell, but Ty wasn’t sure how his brother would get ahold of anything personal to find Amissa. Unless he didn’t need something from Amissa, but Ty. The second possibility would be Eros aiding Garrick in the search. The later seems more plausible since Eros would use whatever reason he could to get what he wanted.

“What could Garrick have that Eros wants?” Ty wondered out loud, not directing the question to any in particular.

Yet, Markus answered. “There is the divine dagger from Elle’s painting.”

Only Ty didn’t remember seeing the dagger or Garrick with it. If he did have it, Ty doubted his brother would just hand it over to Eros or any of the gods. No, there had to be something else the dragon possessed valuable enough for Eros to desire.

“You know…” Seth began as he paced in front of the windows in the study. “Eros could just being using Gary to get at you. If he succeeded in capturing, or even killing, Amissa, it’d push you over the edge.”

Drake growled. “Proving to the gods you are indeed insane. Amissa stays here.”

If Garrick or anyone else touched Amissa, there would be no holding the dragon back. The world would definitely see what it truly meant to deal with an insane dragon.

Suddenly, the room around him dissolved and he found himself standing in the cold, too-clean room of his captivity. When his vision cleared, he saw himself strapped to a table in the middle of the room. Scanning his surroundings, he noted several large cages around the outer edge of room. A few of them had prisoners in them, but he couldn’t get a clear visual on them.

The door opened and Elizabeth entered holding an amber jar in one hand and gloves and a dropper in the other. As she approached the table, he thrashed and growled at her, trying to get a hold of her, but the chains binding him made movement nearly impossible.

“So strong, yet so weak,” she purred as she set the items she carried on the tray next to the table.

Fury and buried pain flooded his senses as he watched her remove the lid and dip the dropper inside. Memories of the agony those drops caused him surfaced. With a roar, he leapt into the air toward her, but instead of tackling her to the ground and stopping history, he went right through her. Like he wasn’t really there. But he was there. He could see everything in the room.

A scream cut through the room, shaking the cabinets and pictures on the walls. Pain exploded in his head and his right eye as if he was being tortured all over again.

“Ty!”

He heard his name, but couldn’t make his brain work enough to lock onto the voice.

“Ty.”

The second voice was different, more commanding, yet softer. Markus. The voice belonged to his brother. Slowly the pain eased and he opened his eyes. The sudden bright light of the study stung his eyes, telling him someone—maybe him—removed his shades.

Seth’s face came into view, blocking the light. “Dude, you scared the shit out of us.”

Scowling, Ty realized he was flat on his back on the study floor. His brothers hovered around him like he was an injured hatchling. He pushed to his feet and when he briefly lost his balance, Markus reached out. Shrugging out of his reach, Ty shook off the wave of dizziness and left the study. There was only one person he wanted to have touch him.

He needed to find his mate.

Chapter Ten

Ash materialized behind an automotive shop in a small mountain town in Georgia. Her nerves were like live electrical wires, making her stomach twist in knots. Taking a deep breath, she forced her legs to move. The man who owned the shop might not be her father. She could be wasting her time with silly childhood hope.

His name was Evan Martin.

It didn’t sound much like a Greek god’s name. Then again, it was an alias he used to live among humans. His real name was Evangelos, according to her research. Besides, the oracle was never wrong.

Rounding the corner to the front of the garage, she cloaked herself with an invisibility spell her mother taught her when she was a teen. She wasn’t ready to face the man. First she had to be sure he was her father.

Evan made an appearance at one of the bay openings. Ash’s heart stilled for a brief moment as she stared at him. His black hair brushed the tops of his shoulders, but when he lifted his gaze in her direction, he stole her breath. His eyes were identical to her own.

With a single thought, she teleported back to her hotel room in the nearby town, Dahlonega, and sat on the edge of the bed, her hand over her mouth. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Okay, Ash, calm down and think.

Rising to her feet, she left the room to head down to the restaurant connected to the hotel. She needed to think, but didn’t feel like being alone. A public place would help, she hoped. So many questions whirled in her mind. Did he know he had a daughter? Did he even want one?

She shouldn’t have come. Damn, she was such a chicken.

Ten minutes after taking her seat, the all too familiar presence of a dragon drifted into her awareness. A moment later, Ty sat in the chair across the small round table from her, his lips set in a thin, firm line. Ash sipped her herbal tea and sat back in her chair.

“I expected you sooner,” she said after lowering her cup.

He leaned forward and growled, “Can we go somewhere more private?”

Well, there was a first. He’d actually asked. “I came here to think.”

After she set her cup down, he reached and gripped her wrist and tugged her closer. “I will not ask again.”

Yep, he was pissed. Movement behind him caught her eye. The waitress slowly advanced toward them, concern making her brows dip. Ash smiled wide and leaned into Ty, nipping his bottom lip. A low growl rumbled from his throat. His dragon was so close to the surface, she felt him reach out to her without the use of her empathy.