Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(55)
“Cleveland?” His heart thumped in his chest at the thought of going home. Why is the Scholar in Cleveland?
“This has something to do with your family. I don’t know why or how, but I just know it.”
“I honestly have no clue why the Scholar would be meeting his Complement in Cleveland. If the queen said she was going back to where it all began and she’s been confined for the last two thousand years, I just … I honestly don’t know how that connects, Liv.”
~~~
“What the hell is he doing in Cleveland?” Ryan said the moment they walked into Livia’s office.
“Show me the photos,” Livia barked.
Quinn and Santi watched from the sidelines as Ryan and Michael spread photos across her desk. In every image of the Scholar, he was on display, loud and proud. Like he knew Livia was looking for him and he was saying, “Come and get me.”
Quinn hid his smile. He recognized where the Scholar was. He stood at the center of the sloping green lawn of Edgewater Park, his dark, silvery hair gleaming in the sunlight. He was an average-looking man, seemingly in his early fifties. He was muscular and mostly fit, except for the slight paunch around his middle. He wore a bright red Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and flip-flops. And he was busy flying a white kite, emblazoned with a green dragon. He looked like nothing more than a retiree having a fun day at the park. The man was taunting Livia—and it was working. The tension in the room mounted with her every breath.
“You should probably see this too, but it’s going to piss you off,” Ryan said as he turned his computer screen toward her. “Remember I’m just the messenger here.”
He hit play and Quinn watched over Livia’s shoulder at the bad karaoke montage. The Scholar was singing at a club in Cleveland. He’d changed every song lyric just enough to get his point across. He knew she was looking for him and he wanted her to know he was waiting for her. He obviously held no lasting fear that she would actually manage to catch him.
“This is on YouTube?” she sneered.
“Yes. It has about half a million hits, but people seem to be forgetting about it as soon as they see it.”
“He’s deranged.”
“I like him.” Quinn grinned as the Scholar butchered the lyrics of an old country song.
“He has that, I-don’t-give-a-shit vibe that old people have sometimes.” Quinn laughed as the Scholar’s voice warbled from the speakers.
“Turn this bullshit off,” Livia snarled.
“There’s more,” Michael said as he slid a stack of new photos across the table. “The queen just booked a flight from L.A. to Cleveland for tomorrow.”
Quinn gazed over her shoulder at the images of the queen.
“What?” Livia looked at him.
“Nothing.” Quinn murmured as he took in the silvery-blond woman with the gray eyes. The family resemblance was subtle, in the shape of her face, the sprinkle of freckles across her nose and the curve of her mouth. The woman looked like an older, blond Allie.
Allie’s a royal? As soon as the thought entered his mind he knew he had to protect Allie’s identity with his very life if he had to. The royals were returning to where it all began. They were rallying around their bloodline. A person, not a physical destination. A person they intended to protect. A person Livia had already shown way too much interest in.
“You’ve seen her?” Livia demanded.
“No.” Quinn shrugged. “Just wanted to see what an ancient queen looked like. She’s really Alísun? Never thought I’d see an Immortal so old.”
“Bullshit. You know something. Tell me.”
“Liv, I’ve never seen this woman in my life. I can’t tell you anything I haven’t already.”
Livia snapped her fingers and in the next instant, Ryan had Quinn’s arms behind his back, and Selena had Santi face down on the table with a magnetized knife to her cheek.
“Livia, I don’t know anything, I swear,” Quinn insisted. He wouldn’t let them ruin Santi’s face. He knew she wouldn’t care. But the magnetic poisoning would scar her for life. He’d seen enough of those scars to know they came with just as much emotional pain as physical. He couldn’t do it to her. The scars around her ankle already caused her enough pain.
“You took one look at the queen and something clicked. I want to know what you’ve discovered and I want to know now.”
“I told you. I was just curious,” Quinn said.
“Michael, go get Lennox.”
~~~
Blood dripped down Santi’s face. The jagged cut from Selena’s knife traced her hairline from her temple down to her collarbone.
“Don’t do it, Quinn,” she whispered. “It’s just my face. It’s nothing.”
Lennox whimpered, crouched in the corner of the room where Michael held her in thrall, caught up in some horrific experience she didn’t deserve.
“Don’t keep making me hurt them, Quinn.” Livia’s voice held a touch of the pain she never let them see. The pain of caring for the people enslaved to her. “He can’t be stopped. Do you even know what that means? Marcus will torment my mother. Punish her for my failures if I don’t give him what he wants. She’s the only family I’ve ever had. He’ll keep me from her until I lay the queen at his feet.” The defeat in her voice showed him she was genuinely terrified of what her father would do to her mother if this mission wasn’t a success.