Find Me in Darkness by Julie Kenner Read Free Book Online Page B

been able to absorb her energy, it was too far gone. And she was like us—I thought that the phoenix fire would regenerate her,” he added, referring to the particular method by which the brotherhood was immortal. Death could take them, but it could not keep them, and they were rendered to ash in the phoenix flame, and then made mortal once again. “I thought that I could stop the weapon by stopping her,” he explained. “I thought that she would come back to me.”
    He tried to shut out the memories. Him consoling her. Him promising to keep her safe, to keep the world safe.
    And then that final, agonizing moment when he’d thrust his fire sword through her heart, and watched as life and blood spilled from her. He’d waited. Waited for the fire. Waited for her to come back to him so that they could start over. Soothing. Calming. Keeping her steady. Keeping her safe.
    Except there was no fire. She didn’t burn. She didn’t regenerate.
    She simply died.
    And he was the one who had killed her.
    He told Callie that, his stomach twisting as a single tear snaked down her cheek.
    “We still don’t understand why. The weapon, its energy. Somehow it kept her from being immortal. And I lost her. It was a long time before I found her again.”
    “Three-sixty-five AD,” Liam said. “We were back in Egypt. And Mal sensed her presence.”
    “I didn’t understand it,” he said. “I’d believed she was lost for good. But I knew it was her. And I hoped. God help me, I hoped.”
    “She was reincarnated?”
    “Essentially, yes.”
    “What happened?” Callie’s words were a whisper.
    “How well do you know Egyptian history?” Liam asked.
    She shook her head.
    “In the year 365, an earthquake leveled the Port of Alexandria. More than fifty-thousand people lost their lives.”
    Callie swallowed, then licked her lips. “Christina?”
    “She didn’t know me,” Mal said. “Didn’t know herself.” He drew in a breath with the memory. “I recognized her only by her essence. It was pure—undiluted—but she was in a new body, beautiful and yet unfamiliar. I went to her, and I hoped beyond reason.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t realize how far gone she was—how fucking impotent I was—until it was too late.”
    “It would have been worse if you hadn’t acted when you did,” Raine said quietly.
    “Believe me,” Mal said. “It was worse. And it just keeps happening over and over again. Her returning. Me killing.”
    “I’m so, so sorry,” Callie said, then frowned.
    “What?” Raine asked.
    “Nothing. I was just wondering about before. I mean, she’s an adult. So why didn’t Mal become aware of her when she was a child?”
    Mal shook his head. “I think that she is growing up in a new body, making a new life and new memories, and the weapon is growing along with her. I don’t become aware until it has reached the point of being operational.”
    Callie nodded. “And we know it is operational,” she said. “Because of what you felt tonight. And because of Egypt.”
    “Exactly. I wasn’t as strong in Egypt,” Mal said. “And she didn’t remember. Things have changed. Everything has changed.” He looked at Liam as he spoke, watched his friend shake his head slowly. “Dammit, Liam. I can help her fight it down. And if she remembers, she’s going to be fighting, too. She’s going to have something now to fight for.”
    “Like you do.”
    “Hell, yes,” Mal said.
    Liam scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “It’s not just a question of control, Mal, and you damn well know it. The fuerie want her. They want to use her, and they will do whatever they can to reacquire her.”
    “Why do you think I have her under surveillance?”
    “It’s too dangerous and you know it. Our mission has always been to reacquire the weapon and either render it inert or get it the hell out of this dimension. And in case you’ve forgotten, we’re stranded here. Until we find the final piece of