Chapter thirteen
We walk through a giant warehouse in silence, enter an elevator, and begin a path to a basement level, but I don’t ask about Celine or anyone else for that matter.
The walls might have ears and eyes, and I have a survival instinct that says to keep our conversations of consequence private. “Where in Denver are we?”
“Downtown,” he says, offering nothing more, which may or may not be a way of telling me I’m right. Someone might be eavesdropping.
“Underground,” I say, stating the obvious but digging for whatever information he will offer.
“You always go underground when you hide from demons,” he explains, “but that’s not enough. You seal the area with gold and magic.”
“Gold is a tickle to Jeremy,” I say, repeating his words.
His lips quirk with what might be amusement. “A powerful spellcasting is not.”
I don’t even try to process the whole spellcast comment. I focus on what I know and understand. “But you’re trapped underground,” I argue, disliking this idea. “You’re in a tomb where you could die.”
He arches a brow. “Tomb?”
“Tomb,” I repeat, thinking of Celine, who reads as insecure, power hungry, and threatened. And I do not want to get cornered by her down there, not when those instincts Micah says I have for other Seers are screaming with warning. I have no doubt she’s the reason Micah told me to stay close to him.
“Try a shelter you survive inside,” Micah replies, snapping me out of the Celine headspace. “Get used to it. This is your world now.”
We’re all the sum of all our beginnings, I think. Mine took me on a wicked ride for reasons I do not yet comprehend. The car halts and the doors open. Micah steps into the hallway and holds the door for me.
I join him in the narrow passage waiting on me, just wide enough for me and Micah to travel side-by-side.
The path we travel is long, stretching a mile at my estimation, and I wonder what is above us.
A high-rise? An extension of the warehouse we’d entered?
We cut left at a fork and pass a good ten doors before we cut left again and enter a private hallway that ends at a sealed, high-tech door of some sort. I glance up at Micah. “My prison?”
He reaches behind me and presses his hand to a panel, effectively caging me between him and the door as it buzzes open.
I don’t enter. I rotate and face Micah, my hand somehow landing on his chest. “What is this place?” I demand, yanking my palm away, but not before I feel the heat of his body and the charge of his heart.
“My quarters,” he says, those blue eyes piercing mine. “The only way anyone gets in here is when I invite them. Consider yourself invited.”
I swallow hard, the idea of an invitation to this man’s private quarters stirring a confusing mix of emotions.
I cannot deny that I’m attracted to him, but I’m worried I’m offering trust too easily.
“I don’t think me staying with you will sit well with some of the others. I think I need my own room.”
“If you mean Celine, I warned you about being challenged. You’re safer here with me, Ember,” he says. “This is me protecting you, not undressing you, and for the record, I don’t undress women who don’t want me to undress them.”
There’s a hint of heat in his voice, a natural intimacy between us that tugs us closer without ever moving, and I caution myself to slow down.
My situation is vulnerable, even if I do not intend to be myself.
And a small part of me fears being captive without ever knowing it’s happening.
Isn’t that the story of my life? “Is every door here secured in such a manner?” I ask.
“No,” he says. “Leaders and Crystal Seers are the biggest assets and targets, both internally and externally, which requires an extra level of protection. Let’s go inside.”
I turn and enter yet another hallway, but this one is short. A few steps in and I enter a rather spacious living room of brown leathers and fine wood, while an open kitchen complete with an island is to my right. I have no idea how any of this furniture got here unless it was magic.
Micah joins me in the living room, and the small room is suddenly smaller, the intimacy between us swelling and blossoming while the rush of power he brings with him somehow throws fuel on the flame.
I wonder what “power” translates to exactly.
I wonder what it will for me. “We’ll stay at this location long enough to rest and ensure Jeremy isn’t an imminent threat,” he says, perching on the arm of the couch, which places us at eye level.
“Then we’ll head to my primary headquarters, which is equipped with the best resources.
And we’ll need the best if we’re going to figure out exactly what Jeremy is up to.
For now, though, let’s talk about Oliver. ”
“What about him?” I ask cautiously, a ball of concern in the center of my chest. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Let’s keep him that way. Is he going to try to hunt you down?”
“Damn it,” I whisper, worried that’s exactly what he’ll try and do. “I think he’ll try to find me. And now I’m worried.”
“We’ll distract him until you can call him, if you think you can make him stand down. If you can’t, silence and magic are the better options.”
“I’ll make him stand down,” I say, but I know in my heart I’m going to hurt him when I push him away, no matter what my reason. “If you could put a pretty girl in his path he can fall in love with, that would be amazing,” I add, only half joking. “Got any magic that can make that happen?”
“He’s in love with you,” he concludes.
“We’re just really good friends, but maybe. Probably. I need him to be safe. When can I call him?”
“Let me have my team monitor him and see if it’s necessary. If you say one wrong thing, it could set him off, and I don’t want him on Jeremy’s radar.”
“No. God, no. And that makes me think of someone else. There’s a private investigator, too. I have him looking for Jeremy.”
“Hulk. I know. I gave him a wad of money and sent him to Alaska to find Jeremy. I told him I was the brother of one of the victims.”
He thinks of everything, it seems, but now it’s my turn to ask the questions. “Can we talk about Celine? What was that out there?”
“Expected. Celine has been a problem for a while now. There’s a shift in her I’m uneasy over.”
“Shift?”
“Yeah. A shift. You’ll understand what I mean when you control your assets. When you feel uneasy with someone, there’s a reason, even if you don’t know why yet.”
“Can Seers be corrupted?”
“Technically yes, but to date, it’s never been known to happen. Jeremy probably snatched you as a baby in hopes he could get past your defenses.”
“Is Celine corrupted?”
“I think it’s more that I sense she’s corruptible than corrupted.”
“I see. What did you do to her?”
His eyes light with interest. “Who said I did anything to Celine?”
“I did. I sensed—something.”
“I reminded her who’s in control.”
The brutal side of him, I think. It exists just beneath his surface and I wonder what empowered her to believe she could cross him. “What is her role? She said she runs this facility?”
“On a temporary basis and only out of necessity. We protect humans across the globe. The world is broken into eight domains that eight Crystal Seers, called Overseers, manage. With large territories, we all have a leadership team beneath us. Anytime an Overseer can place another Crystal Seer in one of those roles, it’s both required and smart.
There simply aren’t enough Crystal Seers to go around. ”
“And then I came along.”
“Yes. And while today might have seemed like an over-the-top reaction to your presence, her anger over you started months ago, when you came onto my radar, and I made you my sole focus.”
“Because you’ve been watching me for months.” It’s not a question. It’s simply what happened at this point.”
“And you know why it had to be that way.”
“Is that why you feel familiar?”
“No, Ember. That is not why I feel familiar.”
“But you do.”
“As do you to me.”
“Why?”
“That’s complicated,” he says, “and I’m not certain I even fully understand it. What else do you want to know that’s not that?”
“Why don’t you know?”
“What else, Ember?”
“Fine,” I say, frustration etched in my response. “Celine thinks I’m replacing her. I feel that’s a problem.”
“Which is why she doesn’t know your assets are suppressed. And we’re not going to allow that to be a long-term problem.”
I hug myself again. “I don’t want to be weird and invasive, but—”
“Yes,” he says, not making me finish the question I wanted to ask and dreaded speaking.
“I was at one point involved with Celine, but it’s been over for a long time.
She forgets I can sense her intentions. They always forget.
She thought that fucking me meant she wouldn’t be replaced.
An Overseer must always put the safety of the domain and those we protect above all else. ”
Whatever is in that woman’s heart, she’s buried the love she feels for him too deep for him to find it.
Then again, he senses things, he senses her intent.
All I know for certain is that whatever happened between them, he’s done.
That’s clear. “Now I really think me staying here will enrage her, Micah.”
“Stay for your safety and for me. Go for her, but keep in mind, she’s out there waiting on you.”
“Okay. Thanks for that. I’ll stay.”
His mouth, which is intriguingly brutal, hints at a smile and something darker beneath his surface I wish I could read. “As it should be,” he approves, pushing to his feet to tower over me all over again. “You can use the shower first. I’ll see if I can find someone with clothes to fit you.”
I don’t think when I do it, but I reach out to touch him, my hand settling on his chest, the awareness between us a spark and a flame. “Please don’t,” I say, and feeling as if I’ve overstepped, I pull my hand back only to have him catch it in his and between us.
“Please don’t what?”
“They hate me here, Micah. I don’t want to take anything from them.”
“She hates the idea of you. They do not. You’re a mystery to us all, and we’re all intrigued. Me included.”
There is heat in his eyes and warmth in my body. “I think you know more about me than I do.”
“We are not thinking of the same things, then. You need to try to rest, and I’m going to give you the space to deal with all I’ve told you.
You haven’t. And maybe you won’t for a long while, but you need the chance to figure that out yourself.
I’ll be back soon. My room is your room right now.
Treat it as such.” He releases me, and for a beat, he just stares down at me, as if he wants something, maybe to say something.
But then, he’s gone, walking toward the exit with that predatory quality to the way he moves, a warning that he is dangerous, and I don’t seem to care.
Just as he’s about to disappear, though, I have one of those questions he’s invited, and it’s not a gentle one. “Micah.”
He rotates my direction, the newly dried strands of his black hair caressing his chiseled facial structure, his eyes bright. “What is it, Ember?”
“Who tried to kill me at the courthouse?”
“It was an Eagle.”
“One of the Eagles who reports directly to her?”
“There’s no proof of that connection. The Seers operate under the Select, our form of government, and I petition for reports on the matter from all domains.
There are eight domains across the world, each headed by a Crystal Seer.
I’m the Overseer of the seventh, and largest, domain.
No one outside of my domain knew about you.
And none of the other seven Overseers claim to know this Eagle. ”
“Then why do you think he’s an Eagle?”
“He bore the unique eagle tattoo on his wrist that the Eagles are given at birth.”
“And where is he now?”
“Dead, Ember. He was killed in his home. They called it a robbery gone wrong.”
My throat goes dry. “Can Jeremy actually track me now without my magic? Or is he tracking you to get to me? What I’m trying to ask is, if I leave here without awakening my assets, if I hide, would that end this? Or would Jeremy find me?”
“Yes. He’d find you, and so would I.”