Page 3 of The Dark Labyrinth

"We missed you too," Penelope replied. She turned to Alexis. "And I like your beard. Are you sure you don't want to get back on the boat?"

Alexis's eyes sparked with humor as he kissed her and led her to the entrance way into the villa. The doors opened to the Archives.

"What in the world?" Aelia said. She shut the door and opened it again, and it was still the Archives.

"It would seem the villa missed Penelope, too," Alexis replied.

Aelia rapped her knuckles on the door frame. "Really? You can't let her even take her shoes off and have coffee?"

Alexis nudged Penelope through the door. "Go,cara mia. I'll bring the coffee to you."

"And some of whatever Zo is baking?" she asked.

"Of course."

The door closed behind Penelope, leaving her in the warm, calm silence of thousands of books. She touched her hand on the column with the symbol of history at the top of it.

"I missed you too," she said, and the stone heated under her hand.

If you had told her a year ago that she would be living in a sentient, magical villa and in charge of an even more sentient Archive that housed the rarest books to have ever been produced in the known world, Penelope would have laughed herself sick. But here she was, and she wouldn't change a thing about it. She walked through the stacks, letting her fingers trail over the spines of the books and the labels hanging from the scrolls.

The office that the Archives had constructed for her already had its doors open for her by the time she reached it. On herdesk sat a large sandalwood box. She opened it and smiled at the robe that was folded neatly inside of it. Just because she didn't like Christmas didn't mean she hadn't considered a present for Alexis.

Penelope had discovered the design of the robe in one of the books about the Citadel on Atlantis. It was a traditional robe that only the leader of the magicians could wear. Since Nereus's death, he was the one that all the others looked to for guidance. He was a natural leader and the most powerful of them all.

Besides, he loved hisentarirobes, and this was the only design that Penelope doubted he had. It was a gorgeous blue that matched his eyes and was embroidered with the golden design of the book and trident of the magicians on the back of it, as well as blessings written in the Living Language on the cuffs.

"I picked it up yesterday for you," a deep voice said from the doorway of her office. "The timing of your arrival is impeccable, Archivist."

Constantine strode in like he owned the place. Penelope didn't take offense to that because Constantine went everywhere the same way. He couldn't help the air of authority he had acquired through thirty plus years of being a general and an emperor and had never shaken it. People naturally deferred to him, and their eyes followed him wherever he went. Penelope would have found it intimidating, except Alexis was the same way.

"I appreciate that, Con," Penelope said, and he drew her into his broad chest for a bear hug. "I can't believe you're still hanging about here with us."

Constantine rubbed his bearded chin. "I'm not bored enough to move on yet. It's been good to be able to see everyone after so long, and we almost lost Elazar in the fight."

"He is okay, Con. Alexis got him out of the fire," Penelope said softly.

"It's not only about the fire. I enjoy his company, so I wanted to stay." Constantine's blue-gray eyes softened. "He's getting old, Penelope."

She suddenly understood his apprehension. Elazar was Zo's mortal and elderly son, and his loss would be inevitable. None of them knew if Poseidon's magic that Penelope had inherited had changed her own lifespan like the magic explosion that had contributed to the destruction of Atlantis had made the survivors so long-lived. Only time would tell. But Elazar was different. They all knew without doubt he had a mortal lifespan.

"I'm glad he decided to stay with us, too, and I can't wait to go through the library he brought with him," Penelope said.

Constantine chuckled. "You think our Zo was about to let his baby go back to Israel to live alone again? Elazar knows his father well enough to accept the inevitable without a fight."

"Dare I ask how the new kitchen turned out?"

"Perfect as usual. Zo has always had excellent taste in all things," Constantine said with a soft smile.

Penelope bit her tongue so she wouldn't ask him if he included himself in that sentiment. It was hard to tell whether or not Constantine noticed Zo's centuries-old crush, and Penelope sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to try and point it out to him.

Constantine turned to look over his shoulder. "You had better hide that box, darling. Alexis is coming."

Penelope shut the box and casually slid it under her desk. Constantine moved into Alexis's path through the doorway to strategically block her from view. "I hope you brought me coffee, Alecto."

"I didn't know you were down here, harassing my beloved," Alexis replied.

"I wasn't harassing her. I was merely enquiring if she had enough of you yet and was ready to upgrade to an emperor."

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