Page 32 of Into Darkness (Night Prowler 6)
New Vienna. City of her childhood, city of dreams. All her life had been nothing but dreams. And here, finally, was reality.
Boy, did it suck.
“Are you sure you want to go to this Assembly meeting, Hope? You look pale.”
The concern in his voice and eyes was genuine, but now Lu realized it for what it was: brotherly. “Yes,” she answered dully, turning away. “And I told you before, my name’s Lumina.”
I’m the monster who broke the world.
ELEVEN
Everyone had been milling around, talking quietly in small groups, until Magnus and Hope—Lumina, he corrected himself—were about ten meters from the entrance to the cave where the Assembly regularly gathered. He knew it wasn’t only their footsteps echoing on the stone that had cut off the conversation so abruptly.
It was Lu. Her presence was electric, as tangible and shocking as a hand slapping his face.
Walking beside him, she was pale and silent, her lips set to a grim line. He thought she looked slightly ill, and had to fight the urge to pick her up and carry her back to her bedchamber. That urge was simultaneously fighting the urge to get as far away from her as possible, because he also had another—and very powerful—urge to kiss her. More than kiss her, but he wasn’t allowing himself to dwell on that.
That would come later, when he was alone in bed.
He felt his control unraveling, each and every second he stood by her side. To be honest, he felt a little ill himself. He had no idea how he’d manage to live in the same vicinity with this woman, the siren of his dreams.
It probably would involve a lot more trips to search for lost kin.
They entered the cave. This one was high ceilinged, with a spectacular display of mustard-colored stalactites bristling from above. He’d chosen it as the Assembly place because it was quiet, dry, and away from the main population; with a species that could hear a flutter of wings and determine without sight if it was lark or crow or pigeon, one had to take precautions.
“Friends,” said Magnus into the expectant hush. “As you can see, fortune has favored us.”
He watched them watch her, saw their amazement, their gladness, their relief.
And beneath it all, their fear.
His chest tightened, seeing that. Though they had good reason to be afraid, he hoped Lumina didn’t notice. He turned to her. “My Lady, may I present the members of the Assembly to you?”
She looked at him askance, clearly baffled by the title and the formality. He had to press his lips together to keep from smiling. He led her forward, his fingertips just grazing her elbow, and the introductions began.
He wondered what they must look like to her as each was called, coming forward to curtsy or give a slight, respectful bow. There was Xander, Morgan’s husband, black clad and bulging with both muscles and weapons, swords strapped to his back, knives on his belt and boots. An assassin, he normally had that assassin’s flat killer gaze, his eyes glowing amber, but when he looked at Lumina there was only kindness there.
Next came Christian, still tall and handsome as he’d always been at close to sixty, with his wife, Ember, a shyly smiling, petite brunette. Lu stared at the woman, astonished to find a human in this place.
She wasn’t the only one.
Jacqueline, known as Jack, came next. Her red hair was as fiery as her personality, befitting the woman who’d founded the Dissenter movement. Once a famous reporter in the disbanded United States, she now headed the small but ferocious group of humans dedicated to overthrowing the IF’s rule and living peacefully with the Ikati, otherwise known as Aberrants.
Jack’s husband was the very nonhuman Hawk. Former Alpha of the Manaus colony that had been destroyed in Brazil—ground zero of the Flash—his mixed feelings for Lumina were clear as he stepped forward with a glower. Dark-haired and brawny, he was close in age to both Christian and his half brother Xander. Like the other two males, he still had all the potency and magnetism of his youth.
“My Lady,” he said curtly. He stepped back, lips thinned. Lu shot Magnus a worried glance, but he just nodded and continued with the introductions.
Demetrius and Eliana were next. Originally from the Roman colony that had been abandoned after the Flash due to security concerns, they were the most feral of the group. Both of them were clad in their usual black leather ensembles, complete with trench coats and matching guns strapped to their thighs and waists. At over six and a half feet, Demetrius stood the tallest of all the males, his shaved head, brow piercings, and neck tattoos lending him a sinister air, but only when he wasn’t looking at his wife. Lithe and porcelain-skinned, with choppy black hair dyed mostly blue, Eliana was adored by her warrior husband, and it showed in his every glance.
“Salutem, domina,” Eliana murmured. Lumina started, and Magnus caught her eye.
“I didn’t know I spoke Latin, too,” she said under her breath.
Too?
A fine sheen of frost began to form on the walls, blossoming with a crackling whisper as the temperature in the cave simultaneously dropped. Magnus turned just in time to see Honor glide silently into the room.
“You weren’t going to start without me, were you?”
