The Dark-Hunters (24 page)

She shook her head. “Nope.”

Julian allowed Grace to lead him around the various tanks as she read the foreign writing to him that explained the different breeds and habitats.

Gods, how he loved the sound of her voice when she read to him. There was something so comforting in it. He draped an arm over her shoulders as they walked. She placed her arm around his waist, curling one finger in his belt loop.

The gesture warmed him. And it was then he realized he lived for the feel of her body close to his. And he’d like it a whole lot more if they were both naked.

When she smiled up at him, he felt his heart pound out of control. What was it about this woman that touched him in a way no one ever had before?

But then he knew. She was the first woman to see
him.
Not his looks, not his body, not his warrior’s prowess. She saw inside his soul.

He’d never known such a person existed.

Grace treated him like a friend. And she was genuinely interested in helping him. Or at least she seemed to be.

It’s part of her job.

Or was it?

Could a woman as wonderful and kind as her ever really care for a man like him?

She stopped at another plaque. Julian stood directly behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She idly stroked his forearms as she read.

His body on fire for her, he leaned his chin down to rest on top of her head as he listened to her voice and watched the fish swim. The smell of her skin invaded his head as he longed to be back at her house where he could strip her clothes from her.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Grace. In fact, he didn’t think he’d ever wanted one the way he did her. He wanted to lose himself inside her. To feel her nails scoring his back as he made her scream in release.

May the Fates have mercy on him, but she was under his skin.

That’s what truly scared him. For she held a place inside him that could hurt him in a way he’d never been hurt before.

She, alone, could finally break him.

*   *   *

It was almost one before they left the aquarium. Grace cringed as soon as they went back outside where the heat assailed her. On days like this, she wondered how anyone had survived before air-conditioning.

She looked over at Julian and smiled. Now he was someone who could finally answer that question for her. “Tell me, what did you guys do to survive days that were this hot?”

He arched an arrogant brow. “This isn’t hot. If you want hot, try marching an army across a desert, wearing armor with only half a bladder of water to sustain you.”

She cringed for him. “Now that sounds hot.”

He didn’t respond.

Grace glanced over to the square, which was packed with people. “Do you want to see Selena while we’re out and about? She should be at her stand. Saturday is usually a big day for her.”

“I’m just following you.”

Taking his hand, Grace led him down the street, over to Jackson Square. Sure enough, Selena was at her stand with a client. Grace started to walk past without interrupting them, when Selena waved her over.

“Hey, Gracie, you remember Ben? Or rather Dr. Lewis from school?”

Grace hesitated as she recognized the portly man in his mid-forties.

Remember him? He’d given her a D, and brought down her entire average. Not to mention he had an ego the size of Alaska, and loved to embarrass students in class. In fact, she remembered one poor girl crying when he handed out his sadistic final exam to them. The man had actually laughed at the girl’s reaction.

“Hi,” Grace said, trying not to let her distaste show. She supposed the man couldn’t help being obnoxious. A Harvard Ph.D., he thought the world revolved around him.

“Miss Alexander,” he said in that same snide tone she remembered and loathed so much.

“Actually, it’s
Dr.
Alexander,” she corrected, delighting in the way he widened his eyes in surprise.

“Forgive me,” he said in a voice that was anything other than apologetic.

“Ben and I were talking about ancient Greece,” Selena said, casting a devilish grin at Julian. “I’m of the opinion that Aphrodite was the daughter of Uranus.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “I keep telling you that the accepted opinion is that she was born of Zeus and Dione. When are you going to give in, and join the rest of us?”

Selena ignored him. “So tell me, Julian, who’s right?”

“You are,” he said to Selena.

Ben raked a haughty look over Julian. Grace knew he saw nothing in Julian, except a very handsome man, who most likely knew only beer commercials and cars. “Young man, have you
ever
read Homer? Do you even know who he is?”

Grace stifled her laughter at the question. She couldn’t wait to hear Julian’s response.

Julian laughed out loud. “I’ve read Homer extensively. The tales attributed to him are an amalgam of legends told and retold until the true facts are lost to antiquity, whereas Hesiod wrote the
Theogony
with the direct aid of Clio.”

Dr. Lewis said something in ancient Greek.

“It’s more than just an opinion, Doctor,” Julian responded in English. “It happens to be fact.”

Ben took another look at Julian, but she could still tell he wasn’t quite ready to believe someone who looked like Julian would have a clue about his chosen field. “And how would you know?”

Julian answered in Greek.

For the first time since she’d met the man a decade before, Grace saw the doctor look amazed. “My God,” he gasped. “You speak as if you were born to it.”

Julian cast an amused smile to Grace.

“I told you,” Selena said. “He knows the Greek gods and goddesses better than anyone on earth.”

Dr. Lewis noticed the ring on Julian’s hand. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked. “Is that a general’s ring?”

Julian nodded. “It is.”

“Would you mind if I looked at it?”

Julian slid it from his finger and handed it to him.

Dr. Lewis sucked his breath in sharply. “Macedonian? Second century
B.C.
, I would presume.”

“Very good.”

“It’s an incredible reproduction,” Ben said, handing it back.

Julian returned it to his hand. “It’s not a reproduction.”

“No!” Ben gasped in disbelief. “It can’t be an original. It’s far too pristine.”

“It was held by a private collector,” Selena inserted.

Ben looked back and forth between them. “How did you get it?” he asked Julian.

Julian paused as he remembered the day it had been awarded to him. He and Kyrian of Thrace had been promoted together after they had single-handedly saved Themopoly from the Romans.

It had been a long, brutal, and bloody fight.

Their army had broken and left the two of them alone to defend the town. Julian had expected Kyrian to abandon him as well, but the young fool had just smiled at him, grabbed a sword for each hand, and said, “It’s a beautiful day to die. What say we slay as many of these bastards as we can before we pay Charon?”

A complete and utter lunatic, Kyrian had always had more guts than brains.

Afterward, they had drunk each other under the table in celebration. And in the morning, they had awakened and been promoted.

Gods, of all the people Julian had known in Macedonia, he missed Kyrian most. Kyrian was the only man who had ever stood at his back and defended it.

“It was a gift,” Julian said.

Ben glanced at Julian’s hand, his gaze filled with covetous awe. “Would you consider selling it? I’d be willing to pay quite a bit for it.”

“Never,” Julian said as he thought over the wounds he had received during the battle for Themopoly. “You’ve no idea what I had to go through to get this.”

Ben shook his head. “I wish someone would give me a gift like that. Have you any idea how much it’s worth?”

“My weight in gold, last I checked.”

Ben laughed out loud, and smacked his hand against Selena’s card table. “Good one. That was the ransom to get back captured generals, wasn’t it?”

“For those too cowardly to die fighting, it was.”

A new respect shone in Ben’s eyes as he regarded Julian. “Any idea who it belonged to?”

Selena answered for Julian. “Julian of Macedon. Ever heard of him, Ben?”

Ben’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened. “Are you serious? Do
you
know who that was?”

Selena made a strange face.

Assuming she didn’t, Ben continued speaking. “Tesius wrote that Julian was going to be the next Alexander the Great. Julian was the son of Diokles of Sparta, also known as Diokles the Butcher. That man made the Marquis de Sade look like Ronald McDonald.

“Rumor had it, Julian was born of a union between Aphrodite and the general, after Diokles had saved one of her temples from desecration. The modern accepted opinion, of course, is that his mother was actually one of Aphrodite’s priestesses.”

“Really?” Grace asked.

Julian rolled his eyes. “No one cares who Julian was. That man died a long time ago.”

Ben ignored him as he continued to flaunt his knowledge. “Known to the Romans as Augustus Julius Punitor…” He glanced to Grace and added for her benefit, “Julian the Great Punisher. He and Kyrian of Thrace cut a trail of slaughter through the Mediterranean during the Fourth Macedonian War against Rome. Julian despised Rome, and vowed he’d see the city fall to his army. He and Kyrian damn near succeeded in bringing Rome to her knees.”

Julian’s jaw flexed. “Do you know what happened to Kyrian of Thrace?”

Ben let out a low whistle. “His wasn’t a pretty end. He was captured and crucified by the Romans in one forty-seven
B.C.
”

Julian flinched at the words. His eyes troubled, he toyed with his ring. “That man was probably one of the best warriors who ever lived. He loved battle like no one I’ve ever known.” He shook his head. “I remember Kyrian once drove his chariot up and over a shield wall where he broke the backbone of the Romans. It allowed his soldiers to defeat them with only a handful of losses.” He frowned. “I can’t believe they ever captured him.”

Ben shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, once Julian disappeared, Kyrian was the only Macedonian general worthy of leading an army, so the Romans went after him with everything they had.”

“What happened to Julian?” Grace asked, wondering what the historians had to say about the matter.

Julian glared at her.

“No one knows,” Ben said. “It’s one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. Here you have this general who can’t be defeated in arms by anyone, and then poof, at age thirty-two, he vanishes without a trace.”

Ben tapped his hand against Selena’s table. “The last anyone saw of Julian was at the battle of Conjara. In a brilliant move, he tricked Livius into giving up his impregnable position. It was one of the worst defeats in Roman history.”

“Who cares?” Julian groused.

Ben ignored his interruption. “After the battle, Julian was reputed to have sent word to Scipio the Younger that he was coming for him in the name of vengeance for Scipio’s defeat of the Macedonians. Terrified, Scipio gave up his military service in Macedonia and volunteered to fight in Spain instead.”

Ben shook his head. “But before Julian could carry out the threat, he vanished. His family was found slaughtered in their home. And that’s where it gets interesting.” Ben looked at Selena. “The Macedonian accounts say he was mortally wounded by Livius during the battle, and in incredible pain he rode home to kill his family to keep them from being taken as slaves by his enemies. Roman accounts claim Scipio sent several of his soldiers to attack Julian in the middle of the night. Supposedly, they killed him with his family, then cut up his body and hid the pieces.”

Julian scoffed at that. “Scipio was a coward and a bully. He would never have dared to attack m—”

“So,” Grace said, interrupting Julian before he could give himself away. “Nice weather, eh?”

“Scipio was not a coward,” Ben said to Julian. “No one can argue his successes in Spain.”

She saw hatred flash across Julian’s eyes.

Ben didn’t seem to notice. “Young man, that ring of yours is absolutely priceless. I would
love
to know how someone got a hold of it. For that matter, I’d kill to know what happened to its original owner.”

Grace exchanged an uncomfortable look with Selena.

Julian smirked wryly at Ben. “Julian of Macedon incurred the wrath of the gods and was punished for his arrogance.”

“That’s another explanation, I suppose.” His watch alarm went off. “Damn, I have to go pick up my wife.”

He got up and held his hand out to Julian. “We didn’t meet properly, I’m Ben Lewis.”

“Julian,” he said, shaking his hand.

Ben laughed. Until he realized Julian wasn’t joking. “Really?”

“Named for your Macedonian general, you might say.”

“Your father must have been like mine. In love with all things Greek.”

“His allegiance was actually to Sparta.”

Ben laughed even harder. He glanced back at Selena. “Why don’t you bring him to our next Socrates club meeting? I’d love for the guys to meet him. It’s not often I find someone who knows Greek history almost as well as I do.” He turned his attention back to Julian. “It’s been a pleasure.

“Later,” Ben said, waving to Selena.

“Well,” Selena said to Julian once Ben had vanished into the crowd. “You, my friend, have accomplished the impossible. You have just impressed one of the leading ancient Greek scholars in this country.”

Julian didn’t seem to care, but Grace did. “Lanie, do you think it’s possible that Julian could be a professor once he breaks the curse? I was thinking he’d—”

“Don’t, Grace,” Julian said, interrupting her.

“Don’t what? You’re going to need something—”

“I’m not staying here.”

The cold, emotionless gaze was the same one he had worn the first night she’d conjured him. And it sliced through her.

“What do you mean?” Grace asked.

He averted his gaze. “Athena has offered me a way to return home. Once the curse is broken, she’ll send me back to Macedonia.”