Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) by Tamar Sloan (adult books to read .TXT) 📗

from his face. It probably looks like an eggplant right now, but Tristan gives himself over to the sensation. There’s something about Brielle’s touch that feels like it reaches right down to his soul. It soothes him in a way nothing else has before.

“Tristan?”

“Mm?”

“I don’t think now’s the time for a nap.”

He doesn’t answer. Right now, he can’t think of a better time for a nap.

Brielle’s fingers stop. “Tell me about the nanites.”

They don’t continue and Tristan realizes he’s being blackmailed. “Nanotechnology,” he mumbles, realizing he’s willing to do far more to have her hands touching him like that. “Teeny, tiny robots that run around mending and fixing. Zarius told us every other day that the technology on Earth is the most primitive he’s ever seen.”

“Will it take long?”

Tristan cracks open an eye, looking up at the concerned face above him. “I’m not sure I’m in a rush anymore.”

Brielle’s lips part, her eyes softening. Tristan’s pretty sure he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life. His body stills. His chest warms. One word trickles through his mind.

Soulmate.

The tinkling of his cell phone fractures the moment. Tristan jerks out of the spell that was being cast around him. Zarius!

Instinctively, he reaches for his pocket only to find it empty. His cell appears in front of him, held in Brielle’s hand. Oh yes, she borrowed it to call Adalind.

The traitor.

Tristan takes his phone, his heart leaping when he sees Zarius’s name flashing on the screen. He swipes the screen and brings it to his ear. “Zarius, where are—”

“Tristan!” Zarius’s voice is thick and urgent. “Don’t come—”

Ice shoots through Tristan’s veins a second before a new voice slides over his ear.

“Hello, Tristan.”

Tristan sits up, fury replacing the frozen fear. “If you so much as—”

Adalind chuckles. “I think it might be too late to be able to promise that. Now, if you want to see them again, you might want to listen.”

Brielle scoots around, her eyes wide as she recognizes the voice. Tristan’s hand tightens around the cell so hard he has to consciously unclench it. “Talk, then.”

“We’re at the warehouse and we’d like to chat.” Tristan wants to snort but he doesn’t. They don’t want to talk. They want more blood on their hands. “My bestie can come if she likes, but that’s it. We see anyone else, and your parents’ deaths are on your conscience.”

“You bi—”

“The feeling’s mutual, Zodiac filth,” Adalind growls. “I wouldn’t take too long.”

The line goes dead.

Tristan drops the phone before he crushes it. He looks at Brielle. “They have Zarius and Tess.”

She gasps. “We have to save them!”

Damn straight they do.

Kneeling among the debris, Tristan picks up the box containing the stones. “You’ll need this, first.”

Brielle’s eyes go wide and round. They lock with his and she nods once. “It’s time.”

Tristan’s glad the nanites are already working their magic, because his chest has gone all tight again.

It’s time.

Turning the box around, it slides smoothly in Tristan’s palm. Zarius would bring it out regularly to show Tristan. To remind him.

Your power is held within these stones. A power bestowed on you by the Universe.

He’d pick them up one by one, always finishing with the second Gemini stone.

When the Gemini Twins are united, their power is the greatest the Universe has ever seen. It is as good as Chardis is evil. It is the light to his night. It is the one thing he fears.

Tristan swallows. If the prophecy is right, then this might all be over before it started.

He holds the box out to Brielle.

They’re about to find out.

24

Brielle

The stakes have risen considerably, and Brielle suddenly feels the weight of the world—no, the weight of the entire Universe—on her shoulders.

The slick black box lays open in front of her. Sitting on its cushy purple cloth interior are six beautiful gems all about the size of a walnut. She can’t imagine how much each of them would be worth to a jeweler, but to her, to their cause, they’re priceless.

Even though she knows the importance and urgency of making her choice, the impulse to stall this moment is undeniable.

She turns to Tristan. “How many Zodiac Guardians are there? Twelve, one for each of the signs, right?”

“Thirteen, actually,” he replies quickly. “There are two Geminis, remember?” His tone implies that he wants to rush her but that he’s holding back. He understands what this must be like for her, and she’s grateful for his indulgence, even though she understands what his parents’ ransom must be like for him.

“There are only six stones here. What happened to the rest of them?”

Tristan shakes his head with an air of futility. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe the older Heirs were sent with theirs, or maybe the stones still reside with their Guardians on their home planets, if any of them survived. I really can’t say. Zarius has only ever had these six.” He takes a step closer. “Which of them speaks to you?”

His eyes flicker to the stones, and she tries like heck not to follow them, terrified to pick the stone he wants and fail to make it shine. She has to follow her gut here. It would be terrible for her to grab the Gemini stone and turn out not to be her, to see the look of disappointment on Tristan’s face. To deal with yet another heartbreak. And worse, what if none of them shine and everyone was wrong about her? Or her stone is lost in the cosmos somewhere? What then?

She can’t think like that, she has to focus.

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep calming breath, then turns her full attention to the stones.

She scans each one carefully. Like a psychic, she decides to hover her hand over each gem to see if she feels a tug or an energy from a certain one. The brilliant golden citrine shines like the sun and is gorgeous, and the perfectly cut diamond that reflects any speck of light into beautiful rainbow flecks would make