Page 78 of A Dawn Of Blood

“But what’s in Egypt?” Raven asks.

“The Library of Alexandria,” Nimueh replies flatly.

The witch just looks at her for a second, her eyebrows raising.

Then, all of a sudden, she laughs like I’ve never heard her laugh before, the sound so smooth and warm and musical, it transfixes me.

Others join in. “What’s so funny?” Nimueh asks.

I don’t even glance in her direction. I’m finding myself hungrily soaking up the witch’s features, all lit up with amusement as she slides her forearms down the table. Her lips tug into this wide, gorgeous smile that seems to make my heart stop beating. Teasingly, she drawls, “How about the fact thatthat onegot destroyed even beforeyouwere born, Nimueh.”

“The part that’s above ground, sure,” I hear Nimueh say, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the smile.

Then, all of a sudden, it vanishes, leaving behind a pang of disappointment. I watch her eyebrows pull down. “Wait, what?” she mutters.

And I know something’s just happened, and I’m trying my hardest to stop staring at her, but before I know it, instead of imagining something disgusting and bringing myself to start paying attention, I find myself spacing out more than ever before, imagining the two of us alone somewhere.

In my mind’s eye, she’s walking up to me with that look in her eyes that’s like a caress. She stands on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around me, then pulls away just enough to give me that smile.

The image makes my heart swell in a way that’s at the same time thrilling and painful.

It’s only once they all start getting up that I snap out of it. The meeting seems to be over and I don’t even know what conclusion they’ve come to.

It’s with narrowed eyes and filled with this resentment that I watch her walk back to her desk with Raven, because the meeting seems to be the least of my concerns. After all, despite all the tactics I’ve been employing to counteract the effects of her relentless attention — keeping myself busy, staying as far away from her as possible, avoiding even looking in her direction, I’ve just found myself succumbing to her magic.

Which means I might have to execute the plan sooner than I thought.

Chapter 57

The Brucheion, also known as the Royal Quarter of the city of Alexandria, proves to be just as bustling, unbridled and breathtaking as I thought it would be. We’re on a mission here, but we don’t need to hide like we normally do, so I have everyone — Nuala, Lorcan, Raven, Dryden and Cain — stop in the middle of a square solely because it’s so damn beautiful.

I crane my neck to beam at them, my gaze automatically darting to Cain, who’s standing as far away from me as possible without activating the collar magic. He looks away. My smile slides off. As usual, there’s nothing in either his stance or his expression that would suggest anything but perpetual, relentless alertness to his surroundings.

But lately, he’s been making me feel more anxious. It’s like he’s grown more tense, as if he’s not even breathing around me, and when I catch him looking at me, it’s with this resentment in his eyes that he’s doing it.

Then again, he’s just standing there, and weareall on a mission.

So, determined not to let my vague hunches and personal troubles ruin this day for us, I make myself really look at the sight before me. “Gods,” I mutter, the smile returning with a vengeance, “you can literally see traces ofallthe cultures that used to mix in this city. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Jewish, Persian…”

“Thanks for the history lesson,” I hear Lorcan drawl. “Now can we find someplace to get some whiskey on the rocks before this heat makes me lose my goddamn mind?”

It’s with a smile that I turn to look at him. “You know, Lorcan,” I start teasingly, “it’s probably owing to thehistoryof this city that it’s remained part of the Free World in the first place. So if you want a glass of whiskey, I’m afraid itwillcome with morelessons.”

“That’s alright,” he answers flatly, “death by hyperthermia suddenly doesn’t sound half bad.”

Smiling, I shake my head, turn on my heel and keep leading the way, sensing Raven fall into step with me. “But it trulyisgreat, isn’t it, to be able to walk around freely like this,” I hear her say.

And I guess I’m really feeling the freedom in the air, because her words make me stop again, turn to look at them all and smile. “By the time we’re done with the big mission, people,” I tell them, “Free and Enslaved Worlds will be a thing of the past. It’ll just be…” I look around, my smile only growing wider, “the world.”

When I turn my eyes back onto them, I catch Cain staring, that resentment in his eyes. Then he lets out a loud, bitter scoff and looks away.

I frown. I sometimes catch him glancing in my direction, but I never normally get a reaction, not even when I address him directly.

He seems to takeeveryoneby surprise, though. But despite the fact it’s not exactly benevolently that the others are looking at him, I fail to stop myself from acknowledging this exceedingly rare instance of breaking the silence. “Everything alright, Cain?”

“Yeah, big shot,” Dryden drawls, a mix of contempt and caution in his voice and stance, “anything you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

I shoot him a pointed look, telling him to butt out of it.

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