Time Eternal (28 page)

It was her cousin walking through the door instead. Skyla let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. A slight reprieve, definitely better than the alternative. Skyla frowned at him, waiting for him to try smooth talking her into going to Fernando’s bed willingly, as he had done so many times before when Elizabeth was still innocent, when Elizabeth still believed in happily ever after. To her surprise, Antonio just stood there staring at her. If she had not known better, she might have sworn she saw guilt and regret in her cousin’s chestnut brown eyes. They shared the same deep, dark brown eyes inherited from their fathers’ side of the family.

He did not speak for a long moment. And she refused to speak first, showing him any weakness. Finally he said, “Elizabeth.” He said her name so calmly, so casually, as if there was no history, no betrayal, and no blood between them; as if they were still in yesteryear, two wide-eyed adolescents looking forward to what life offered them.

She glared at him, loathing her once-beloved cousin who betrayed her, betrayed their family, and betrayed his honor. If looks could have killed, Antonio would have been writhing on the floor dying a torturous, slow death. He had been a good man until he joined Fernando’s private army. He had been her best friend, her confidante when they were growing up. He was her protector. Then it had all changed. His ambition had stolen his soul.

“Did Uncle Giovanni know what you did to me, to Elizabeth?” Skyla challenged her cousin on purpose. She wanted him to lose his temper, to come closer to her so she could kick the crap at him for the dagger strapped on his side. That should do nicely to cut the leather binding off.

A flash of deep regret crossed Antonio’s handsome face. She was not imagining it, so she goaded him on, “Was that regret I saw on your face just now? Did Fernando cheat you out of your share of his riches?”

Antonio stood stiffly and held his fists tightly. “No, cousin, Fernando gave me what he promised me.” He stepped closer to her, almost within distance for her signature power kick, well-known throughout the Agency, but then he seemed to think better of it and smoothly stepped back out of her range.

“Elizabeth, I…”

She cut him off. “I’m not Elizabeth anymore. My name is Skyla Gray.” She gave the binding a harsh yank. “And let me go, or I swear on both our mothers’ graves that I’ll make you suffer before I kill you, cousin.” Her voice shook with anger.

To her cousin’s credit, his face remained as still as a marble statue. “Elizab—Skyla, listen to me. I can help you until Rei and your team get here. But when Fernando arrives, you must play along with his games, not only for your sake, but for our fathers’ sakes.”

“And why should I believe anything you say?” She hid her shock.

“Because they’re your weakness, my weakness. And one thing Fernando is extremely good at is playing up his prey’s fear and weakness.” Before he could explain further, heavy footsteps were coming their way. Antonio put his finger on his lips, pleading with his eyes for her silence.

“Ah, I see you are already speaking to your cousin.” Fernando stepped into the room with a smirk on his face. He only had his shirtsleeves and trousers on. His hand held a riding crop, and he was hitting it against his other palm as he was walked to the side of the bed. He disgustingly brushed the stiff, leather riding crop against one of her legs. Then he moved it up slowly along her inner thigh before trailing it up inside her snug tank top. He suddenly pulled it out and flexed it mercilessly on her left nipple, and then on her right. She was shocked, not just by the pain but by Fernando’s audacity, his audacity to toy with her as if she was one of his mistresses, one of his playthings. She looked past Fernando to her cousin. Antonio shook his head grimly at her, reminding her to go along with Fernando’s sick game.

The terror was shrouding Skyla again, the terror from Elizabeth’s past. She must get hold of Elizabeth’s fear if she wanted to get out of this alive. She looked straight at Fernando’s cruel, lust-filled eyes as he began whipping her breasts, her stomach, her inner thighs in quick, controlled strokes. She bit down hard on her tongue, trying to school her expression so as not to give Fernando the satisfaction of seeing any reaction from her at all. After a dozen more lashes, Fernando apparently caught on to her intent. He curled his cruel, thin lips. “My sweet Elizabeth, there is so much more I am going to show you.”

Just as the riding crop was about to descended on her again, Antonio grabbed hold of Fernando’s arm. “Your Grace. It would be better to wait until she is properly prepared for your entertainment in your personal chamber later tonight.” Antonio’s voice was empty, without emotion. It was as if he was merely advising Fernando on a battle strategy. Skyla hated her cousin more, even though he had just stopped the degrading humiliation Fernando was inflicting on her.

Fernando’s lust-hazed eyes hesitated briefly, but he nodded at her cousin. He ran the riding crop from the swell of her breasts to her lower body in a sick caress, showing his ownership of her. The movement of the crop stopped, and he clapped his hands twice. Scuffling sounded outside of the door. Two men were pushed inside the room. Their heads were covered under hoods, but she knew who they were immediately. “Papa! Uncle Giovanni!”

“Elizabeth, take a good look at your papa and your beloved uncle.” At a sign from him, the guards pulled the hoods off the two men. It took both of them a few seconds to adjust to the light in the room before they saw her. First there was uncertainty in their eyes. Perhaps they thought their sight deceived them, but then they recognized her. “Elizabeth!” Both her papa and uncle gasped out loud. They started toward her, but the guards forcefully held them back.

Fernando knew he had her attention. He chuckled. “If you want to keep them alive, you’ll do as I wish. And what I wish for you will be far worse than being my wife. As I promised you before, you could either be my wife or my whore. And you obviously chose to be the latter. So be it. We shall have fun tonight, my sweet Elizabeth.” He laughed cruelly and turned on his heels to leave the room. His guards followed him while shoving her papa and uncle out.

“Papa!” Skyla yanked so hard on the leather binding that she knew she would have bruises later, but she did not care. She had to get to her papa and uncle quickly before Fernando did anything to them. She turned to Antonio. “Release me, you traitor!” She gave the chains another useless yank. No give.

“How could you let that sick bastard do this to your own father, your own family?” Skyla was almost screaming now, and she had never been the screaming type. Desperate with fear for her papa and uncle, helplessness overwhelmed her once again.

Her cousin remained still. To her surprise, the same fury shone in his eyes, the same fury she was feeling now. “Listen to me, Elizabeth, or Skyla, or whoever you call yourself. The only way to save our father is to play along with Fernando, to buy time until Rei and your team get here.” He walked up to her and looked down at her, nose to nose. “Fernando is too powerful in this time period, and no one, and I repeat no one, will naysay him. And if he chooses to execute your father and my father, not even the Pope in Rome can save them.”

She heard what Antonio said, and she knew it was the truth. “But we cannot wait for Rei and my team. There’s no telling when they’ll get here.” Her eyes narrowed. “And why are you helping me, cousin?”

Antonio straightened up and turned away from her. “Because no matter what you and my father think of me, you are my family, and I look after my own.” Then he walked out of the room.

“Date? Location?” Rei barked out his impatience as he walked into the war room. His every muscle was ready to action, but he needed intel.

“Florence, 1578. Two teams are packing up as we speak.” Constantin, one of his young warriors, immediately straightened up from the long table, ready for his next command.

“Where in Florence?” So Fernando took Skyla back to his hidey-hole. Desperate fear of losing Skyla almost took a chokehold of him. It took all his might to keep his voice from shaking.

“Inside Medici’s compound, in the tower. We have the layout of both the compound and the tower.”

Rei shot him a questioning look, to which Constantin merely shrugged his shoulders. “I got the information from several of the maids.”

Normally, Rei would have frowned at such indiscretion by his men, but his mind was too preoccupied right now. “Okay, we’ll move out in five. Gear up.”

As they were marching out of the war room, Knox and Gus stepped in, along with the rest of Skyla’s team, Vivi and Butch, all armed to the teeth. He nodded at them. “You have Skyla’s location.” It was not a question but a statement. Based on the weapons they were carrying, crossbows, board swords, axes, various types of daggers, they were all period pieces for the sixteenth-century warfare.

“Florence, 1578,” Gus answered in a tight voice, almost too tight for a mission field leader.

But he had no time to analyze the intrigues. “Good. My intel is the same. Now let’s go.” He motioned the team to move out of the war room and down the hall. “It’ll be easier to stick with us instead of using your time machine. My men have the exact location.” Not waiting to hear any objection, he herded them to the kitchen area where his men were already stepping through a divinely-made time portal.

Rei raised his right hand and opened another portal. The twins exchanged a quick glance of concern, but they stepped through the portal nonetheless. Butch turned to Gus, not bothering to lower his voice so Rei wouldn’t hear his doubt and suspicion. “What if we can’t get back because we didn’t activate the time machine using our protocol?”

Gus’s expression said he had thought of the same. “We have no time to waste.” And with a nod, he stepped through the portal first, followed by Butch.

They were right to be concerned but not because of not using their Agency’s time machine. Shit was about to hit the fan, and Rei wasn’t sure whether they would come up unscathed. With that grim thought, he stepped through the portal, too, before closing it with another wave of his hand.

•●•

The sunlight from the small window high above had receded some time ago. A guard had come in and fired up the wall sconces. Yet still no sight of Rei or her team.
Where are they?
Skyla tried not to panic, but she knew Fernando’s sick game with her, with Elizabeth, would begin soon. All afternoon, she had tried getting out of the handcuffs. She could pick apart any mechanical lock, but the leather binding was welded together so seamlessly that there was nothing to pick, except using the key to unlock it or a sharp knife to slide through it. With an inner groan, she realized she might not be able to escape Elizabeth’s fate twice, although she knew she was stronger now, and she wouldn’t cower to Fernando’s sick games.

Suddenly, heavy boots were stomping outside of the door followed by a few muted grunts, and a couple of heavy thuds sounded against either the stone floor or the stone wall.

“Skyla!” A terse voice came through the rattling doorframe before it was splintered open.

“Rei!” Relief burst through her. Gus and Vivi also stepped into her line of sight.

“Skyla!” Her team was armed to the teeth, which made Skyla feel a hundred times better immediately.

“Oh, God, I thought I was too late.” Rei charged up to the bed and folded her into his arms tightly. “Are you all right?” He leaned back a little, examining her.

“Yes,” she replied in a sense of relief. “Hurry. Get this off my wrists.” She yanked at the cuffs and chains. “We have to go. Fernando’s got Papa and Uncle Giovanni.”

Rei unsheathed the dagger from his lower back and cut through the leather like a knife through warm butter. As he lowered her arms down, his eyes narrowed and turned stormy. His fingers traced down her collarbone to the swell of her breasts where several red welts were visible. Rage flashed in his eyes. “Who did it?” His voice was low but with enough fury to start a thunderstorm.

“Fernando.” She didn’t think much of it and rolled off the bed. Reaching over to Vivi and Gus, she gave them a quick hug. But Rei remained by the bed. His feet stood apart in a combat pose, and white knuckles were showing on his clenched fists, looking like an angry bear ready to go hunting, but she needed him to stay clear-headed.