Time Eternal (20 page)

“Go ahead.” Rei tilted his chin slightly. His expression was hard.

“Positive. I recognize the residue from our stay at Magini’s house the months we tried to replicate his machine to find…” Sloan hesitated a moment before continuing, “to find Elizabeth.” He gave her a sideways glance, a look telling her what a waste of time that was.

She almost felt childish enough to stick her tongue out at him. Part of her understood his animosity toward her; his eldest brother had left their father and countrymen to look for her before the Last Battle and then again after their family and their people were literally wiped out by their enemy. But the other part of her felt like saying
tough
. They all had crap they had to deal with in life.

Reining in her temper, she asked instead, “Who else would have access to Magini’s blueprints?” She couldn’t bring herself to call Magini her uncle because she wasn’t sure how both Skyla Gray and Elizabeth Magini could coexist in the same time and space. And if she had to choose, she knew her choice.

Rei looked contemplative for a moment. “No one. It was just Magini, Sloan, and myself. And we couldn’t rebuild the machine, not without you. We tried for months. Even your uncle conceded defeat at the end.”

“Is it possible someone else close to Magini got a hold of the blueprints or any similar information?”

“Not possible. What drafts and prototypes we had, none of them worked. So even if anyone got a hold of them, they were useless.”

“What about after you and Sloan left? Is it possible that Magini continued his research on his own?”

“Maybe, but the gods have forbidden us to go near your father and uncle again.” Rei turned to his brother. “Have two separate teams ready. Five men each. You and I will go do more digging.” He nodded at her and Knox before leaving the room.

“Rei is hiding something.” She waited until the commotion in the front hall died down.

“Yes.” Knox leaned his head out of the war room just to be sure no one was around before continuing. “He knows something, but he’s holding back. If I had to guess, it has something to do with you. I could see his back and shoulders tense up when Sloan said he was positive of the mechanical residue.”

“I noticed that too.” A tremor surfaced from deep inside Skyla. It was a hint of helpless, raw fear, which she was all too familiar with from her childhood nightmares. Of course, now she knew those were not dreams at all but her suppressed memories from her ancient past.

•●•

Supper had come and gone. Rei showed up but said he found nothing, no further indication as to who might have built the second time machine. They had a quiet supper followed by a brief strategy discussion before they all turned to bed.

Skyla knew she was dreaming because Rei was laughing with her, and they were half naked in bed, again. It was a pleasant dream, at least, almost prophetic, about what could have been instead of what did not come to pass. A warm smile lifted the corners of her mouth, and then all of a sudden her body coiled up. Her combat instincts forced her dream to recede. She automatically reached for the dagger she’d placed underneath the pillow. Even before her eyes were open, her arm was slashing out with the dagger, swinging it upward, directly at the unseen assailant. The tip of the dagger pushed slightly into something soft. Before she could apply stronger force, the target moved away from her. Her sight finally adjusted to the dimly lit room. Looking up, a figure stood almost next to the side of the bed. Her well-trained body rolled away and off the bed, putting a small distance between them. “Who are you?” Her heart was racing.

“Elizabeth, it’s me. Antonio,” an accented voice said in a hushed tone. A familiar voice…

“I don’t know anyone named Antonio.” The shadow outlined a lean, tall man, not quite as tall as Rei but not much shorter. If she wanted to, she could scream to alert Rei and Knox, but that was such a clichéd, girlie thing to do. And she was not the helpless Elizabeth anymore. She had been through many dangerous missions without a hitch. She could handle an intruder without resorting to screaming.

Just as she was about to throw her dagger at the intruder, to distract him and get herself an opening to run for the door, he stepped into the pale ray of moonlight that peeked through the heavy curtains. Skyla froze. She recognized his face. Images once again flooded her mind; it was just as overwhelming as the first time she had seen Elizabeth’s portrait in Rei’s study three days ago. Her head was spinning. The kaleidoscope of images was blurring her vision. Her mind was shutting down. She tried to fight it off, but it was a futile attempt. Before her mind went under, a loud crash came into her room along with a thunderous, deadly furious roar. Rei…

She had been in her room since they had taken Rei away. That was five days ago. And she had barely spoken to anyone, not even Papa when he came to beg her to take her meals, meals she had scarcely touched. She knew she had made her choice, traded herself to save Rei’s life and her family’s. Now she would marry Fernando di Medici in a week. She should be happy that Rei had not been sent to the execution tower but was on a ship and had almost reached his homeland. She was still stunned by the turn of events, that Rei was a Serbian prince instead a Greek merchant’s son. And she could not stop the grief or the anger. The bottomless pit of grief that she would never see Rei again. The painful betrayal and anger from his lies about who he was and why he was there. She had fallen in love with an enemy spy, and her family would pay for her mistake.

“Elizabeth.” A brief knock on the door interrupted her drowning pain and guilt. “Fernando is here, and he’d like to speak with you about the wedding plans.” It was her cousin, Antonio, whom she had loved so much, but now she knew his desire for power was paramount, even above family. He was the one who had investigated Rei after Papa had turned down his latest matchmaking proposal on behalf of Fernando.

The door creaked opened, and her cousin walked right in. Behind him was Fernando. They didn’t bother waiting for her permission to enter her only private sanctuary. Fernando, the heir to the powerful Medici family, favored his grandfather in looks and temperament—average height, well-built for a gentleman. Some, influenced by the power his family wielded, might even say he was handsome. But people also whispered that he had inherited his grandfather’s cruel malice, so violent and dark that it rivaled the devil himself.

She remained seated by the window, looking out at the harbor. “Go away.” She did not even bother to look up at them.

“Elizabeth…” Her cousin sounded aghast by her rudeness in front of her betrothed, scion of the ruling family of Florence, not to mention the patron of their family’s scientific research. She didn’t care. She remained in the big armchair. Antonio started to chastise her but went silent almost immediately. Then Fernando’s thin, hawk-like face came before her, blocking her view of the harbor. She bet he thought he could block her from thinking of Rei, the enemy spy, too. Never.

Dark eyes, bright with lust, stared at her. She could almost feel the oily, sick, depraved intentions oozing off Fernando. She knew he had wanted her for a long time. His feeling for her could only be called an obsession; he could have had any woman in Florence, but he insisted on having her as his bride, his fourth wife.

Fernando had first noticed her two years ago when her father and uncle discovered the possibility of time traveling and needed a patron to fund their work. Besides classical arts and music, the Medici family was deeply into science. She had been fourteen years old then, but was already told that she was an incomparable beauty of her generation due to her innocent English rose complexion from her mother’s English bloodline and her seductively voluptuous body from her father’s Italian lineage. On more than a few occasions, Fernando’s lust for her was so blatant that whenever no one else was around, he would boldly tell her how she made his blood sing with dark and forbidden thoughts. She had never told anyone about his revolting advances toward her, but she suspected Papa knew because he had refused Fernando’s marriage proposals every single time. Papa’s excuse was always that she was too young to be considered for marriage, even though there were far younger maidens than she who were married. Not to mention Fernando was thirty years her senior and had had three wives already, all of whom died from mysterious accidents. Whispers had it they all met their untimely deaths at his hands because he was bored with them.

She wanted to claw deeper into the chair and away from Fernando. But he seemed to enjoy playing the cat and mouse game with her, taunting her that he had finally trapped her under his disgusting paws.

“Signorina Elizabeth, it is pleasant today. We should take a walk to the market. A ship carrying the finest Turkish silk and carpets just arrived yesterday. The silk would be perfect for your wedding dress.” He held out his hands to her, and she recoiled from it, from him, automatically. His cold, flat voice made her shiver. She refused to look at him.

Fernando was used to women throwing themselves at him to gain his favor. Her refusal to acknowledge him was a daring move, and probably a stupid one. She had heard stories of him ordering severe punishment for anyone who showed even the slightest disrespect toward him. But she didn’t care. The thought of him, being touched by him, was so nauseating that she would rather die…but her papa’s and uncle’s lives were at stake too. After she agreed to marry him in exchange for Rei’s life and her family’s, Fernando had come to her that same evening and told her that he would execute her papa and uncle for consorting with the enemy if she reneged on her agreement.

His eyes now shimmered with anger and lust, eyes so dark they were almost as black as the devil in the paintings on the walls of the local churches. The color of his eyes was a complete contrast to his relatively fair complexion, pale skin, and blondish-red hair. He nodded at her cousin, and the door was clicked shut.

Now that they were alone, he spoke to her in a low, menacing voice as if he was her master. “Signorina Elizabeth,” he grabbed her chin with his cold, clammy hand, “I know you’re still thinking of that spy. May I remind you that I agreed to let him go and spare your papa and uncle’s lives because you agreed to marry me?” He paused for a few moments to let his ugly words sink in. He wanted her to be terrified, to feel helpless, and she was feeling just that. But she refused to show him any of it, and that obviously enraged him even more. She was treading dangerous, even deadly, water, but she would not bow to this monster and allow him to break her spirit. Her body might soon be his, but he would never have her spirit, her heart.

His viper-like fingers grabbed her face more forcefully. Her eyes must have shown the fear he was aiming for because his thin lips curled up in a chilly, satisfied smile. “Signorina Elizabeth, we can do this the easy way, without embarrassing your family and jeopardizing their standing in society.” He raised his other hand and squeezed her left breast, hard, letting her know that he owned her. It was the most terrifying moment in her life. She tried to twist away from his sickening touch, but it only incited him to be more brutal. He dropped his hand from her face to her throat and squeezed it just as hard as he was squeezing her breast. “Or I will charge your papa and uncle with treason for your relations with an enemy spy.” She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no sound came out because of his chokehold. And he took advantage of it, crushing his vile mouth on hers, pushing his slimy tongue inside. She wanted to close her eyes and pretend this was not happening. But she kept her eyes open, afraid if she closed them, she would succumb to his malice and never get away. She tried again to fight him off with her hands, scratching him, slapping him. But the more she fought him, the more excited he became. An unnatural glaze covered his eyes. His fingers and mouth were becoming more brutal. She was gasping for air. She could feel bruises were forming on her mouth, her neck, and her breast. Finally he let her go, shoving her off, leaving her panting and coughing from his rough play.

He laughed and sneered at her at the same time. “You have one week to come to my bed willingly as my wife, or I will destroy your family. Then you will be sold to a whorehouse from which I’ll buy you, and when I’m done with you, you can be a whore for my soldiers. So the choice is yours, my dearest Elizabeth.”