The Emerald Key by Vicky Burkholder Read Free Book Online Page A

earlier?”
    “Steve? We’re…” How to explain their relationship. She had no idea anymore. Not after meeting Nic. “We’re sort of a couple.”
    “A couple of what? Didn’t look like a couple of lovebirds to me earlier. Seemed more like friends—maybe friends with privileges, but still just friends.”
    “That’s none of your business.” Cass’ face heated up. She’d had dates with other men, but rarely more than one or two. Even with Steve, they’d dated more or less steadily mostly because neither one had time to look for anyone else. She cared for him, but did she love him? Certainly not the way Dori and Greg loved each other.
    No one had ever touched a spark in her. As a teen, her aunt had told her she would know when she found the right man, that she would feel it in her soul. She studied Nic. Nic was so wrong for her. A man of action, he lived in a world of violence and mistrust. And yet, she saw his face next to hers in her mind. His eyes held a depth of life lived too hard. But, like a piece of layered candy, within the hardness, she also saw softness.
    A tiny dimple flickered in his right cheek when he smiled. He didn’t smile enough. Or maybe too much. The effect sped up her heart and sent waves of heat to her core. A dab of whipped cream on his upper lip begged her attention. Cass leaned forward, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. She stopped a foot away from him, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Instead of touching lips, she reached out one finger and wiped the offending dollop off, then slowly licked her finger. She smiled when Nic’s eyes narrowed and his eyebrow rose. Then she drew back. What the hell? She’d just met this man. She covered her embarrassment with a yawn.
    “Oh, sorry. I guess the cocoa’s kicking in.”
    Nic took their mugs and rinsed them in the sink.
    “Gee, he makes cocoa and cleans up after.”
    He bowed low. “Ah, just two of my many talents, my lady.”
    “Sir Nicodemus, you are definitely a man among men, but it is not your talent for refreshment which draws me.” Cass stopped, her brow furrowed as Nic froze in front of her. “I’m sorry! I don’t know where that came from. Your name…”
    “Technically, is Nicodemus. How did you know that? Nobody knows that. Not even Greg.” He remembered her aunt Minerva using his real name earlier. Cass must have heard it then. But how had her aunt known?
    “I…I don’t know. It just felt right.”
    “Most people would guess at Nicholas, but not the other. You feel it too, don’t you? I know you. But I don’t,” Nic said.
    “It’s not possible. I don’t know you. I can’t,” Cass whispered. “Can I?”
    Nic ran his hand over his short hair. “Look, I don’t know what’s happening here. I’m here about a job. With Greg. I’ve met Dori a couple of times, but never felt this…connection like I seem to have with you. But we’ve never met. Have we?”
    “No. Believe me, I’d remember meeting you.” She reached up to touch his face, then drew back. “But I know you, too. You’re my Protector. You’re Nicodemus.”
    He studied her with eyes full of pain, and passion. “And you’re my Cassandra. Mine to protect. Mine to love.”
    Cass jumped when he said “love.” “I…I have to go. Thank you for the cocoa. Good night.” She bolted like a scared rabbit running from a falcon. She dashed back to her room, but instead of crawling under the covers, she pulled out her box of crystals. After selecting the ones she wanted, she sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, hands on her knees, eyes closed, stones of power surrounding her.
    “Spirits who protect me, spirits who see. Show me the past for Nicodemus and me. So mote I say. So mote it be.”
    Instead of swirling grayness giving way to clarity and mental pictures telling her what she wanted, the fog never lifted. She tried several times, all with the same result.
    “Cassandra?” Minerva’s voice broke into Cass’ thoughts. “Let it