Stunned, Tory couldn't do anything other than stare at the book in his hand. "It's too well preserved to be that old."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "It is what it is."
"Yeah, but if it is that old, how do you know the language when we've never had anything from that period in written form before now?"
"I told you, it's basically the same language I was raised with. I lived in a pocket community where our Greek isn't the same as what you were raised speaking." He inclined his head to the book. "This is my language."
Tory shook her head as she tried to fully comprehend the importance of her discovery. Of what he was telling her. It was so mammoth. So much more than she'd ever hoped to discover. "Do you understand the significance of finding a diary this old?"
"More than you do."
"No one's ever going to believe it. No one." They'd laugh her out of the profession if she even tried to present this.
Ash took another drink of beer. "You're probably right about that." Because he was going to make damn sure of it.
Her eyes bright, she cradled the diary against her like a precious infant. "I'm holding something that someone once cherished . . . eleven thousand years ago. Eleven thousand years ago," she repeated. "My God, Ash, do you understand how old that is?"
Better than she could imagine.
"This book could tell me everything. What they ate, how they lived . . ." Tears filled her eyes. "With this book, we've unlocked a world that no one alive has ever glimpsed before. I can't believe this discovery. No wonder no one knew the languages or that the equipment couldn't get the right date. It was coming up with dates, but no one believed it so we kept testing and retesting. Oh my God," she breathed. "Eleven thousand years ago. Just imagine how beautiful the world must have been."
Not from his perspective. Personally, he'd like to be able to purge most of those years out of his memory. "You're getting your skin oil all over the journal. You might not want to do that given its age."
She immediately set it down. "Thanks. I tend to get carried away sometimes." She sat next to him on the floor and captured his gaze as she braced her hands on the arm of his chair. "What else can you tell me about it?"
Again, more than she'd ever believe. He could tell her who every person in it was and introduce her to two of them who were currently living and breathing. That was scariest part of all. But the contents of it were harmless. All it showed was how sheltered and naive Ryssa had been as a girl. How precious she'd been. "What else do you want to know?"
Before she could answer, her phone rang out with Ozzy Osborne's "Bark at the Moon." "Hold on a sec. That's David."
Ash leaned back in his chair while she went to answer it. You know you shouldn't have told her what the journal was. But then it didn't really matter. There were only a handful of beings who could read it and one of them was human. Besides, better he look at it and read the book first. Now he knew he had nothing to fear from it. But he needed to keep Tory near him and distract her from this quest before she found a journal that was damning.
It could have raised questions he didn't want answered.
"That's terrible! Was anyone hurt?"
Ash frowned at the stress in Tory's voice before he turned his attention to her call.
"Okay, just keep me posted. Thanks, sweetie." Her features were pale as she returned to him.
"Is everything all right?"
"No, someone attacked a member of my crew in Greece yesterday."
Ash frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Oh it was awful. We lost some research and a couple of artifacts that'd just been brought up. David said Nikolas tried to stop the muggers, but he couldn't. He'll be all right, but he's really banged up from it." She shook her head. "I swear we're cursed. Every time we get close to bringing up large chunks of the find, something bad happens."
"Maybe it's the ancient gods telling you to leave it be."
She snorted. "Maybe, but I can't. Both of my parents gave their lives to prove the existence of Atlantis. My uncle sacrificed his life and his sanity to it. My cousin may have given up the search, but I swore on my parents' graves that I wouldn't. Not until my father's reputation is restored. I'm tired of him being the punchline at parties whenever someone brings up Atlantis." She looked at him. "I'm sure you have no idea what it's like to be mocked and ridiculed-"
"You don't know me well enough to make that assertion."
"Sorry," she said quietly. "You're right. Who was that redhead by the way?"
Her constant shift in thoughts baffled him. "What on earth are you talking about now?"
"In Nashville, you were with a beautiful redheaded woman who got up and left in a pique. Who was she?"
Damn, she'd been attentive. "An old friend."
"You were really nasty to her. By the way she was acting, I assumed you two were hooked up."
It was his turn to snort at the very idea. "Oh I can guarantee you we're not an item." That would involve Artemis admitting openly that she was intimate with him. So what if they had a daughter together and half her pantheon knew they slept together, she still couldn't bring herself to admit he was anything other than her platonic pet.
"You were still mean to her," Tory chided.
He had to bury the ire he felt at her condemnation when she had no idea how much shit he'd taken from Artemis over the centuries-including the fact that she'd kept his daughter's birth a secret from him for over eleven thousand years. The goddess was lucky he hadn't killed her over that little stunt. "Look, my private life is private. If that's the only topic you're interested in, I'm leaving."
She slapped lightly at his knee. "Don't be so testy all the time."
"Yeah well, I don't like talking about myself and I despise personal questions."
"Fine. All I want is that brain of yours for a few." She handed him a shallow Rubbermaid container of baklava.
Ash frowned. "What's this?"
"I told you. Baklava."
"And I really don't eat it, but thanks for the thought." He returned it to her.
"Your loss." She grabbed a triangle of it before she set it back on the table. "Now teach me how to read this."
Ash opened the journal again. "There are a few additional characters and diphthongs that aren't in the classical Greek you're used to. The endings and conjugations are also different."
She nodded, then pointed to a word. "Adelphianosis. Is that 'brother'?"
He was impressed by how quickly she identified the unfamiliar language. "Yes."
She frowned. "So if I'm reading this correctly, it says that her brother . . ." she pointed to the word before it. "Styxx?"
"Yes."
She shook her head in confusion. "Why is he named Styxx? That was a female goddess name."
He'd always thought it an odd choice for his brother's name too, but what the hell? No one had asked him and Ryssa's parents had never been right in the head. "And how many men are named Artemis?"
"Good point. It just seems strange to me."
"Well that's why it has the additional X at the end. It's to differentiate the masculine from the feminine forms."
"Ah, that makes sense." She looked back at the book in his lap and he felt a strange dipping sensation in his stomach. Like a punch only it was more sexual than that and it took him completely by surprise.
He didn't react to people like that.
Yet he had this sudden compulsion to lean forward and just breathe in her scent. To touch her cheek and see if it was really as soft as it appeared. Or better yet to take her hand and press it against the sudden bulge in his pants that cried out for her body. His cock tightened at the mere thought of her unzipping his pants and touching him.
Unaware of his sudden mood, she trailed her finger down the page, trying to decipher Ryssa's neatly written words. "So this is her talking about a fight with her brother?"
It took a full three seconds for those words to descend past the desire he had to kiss her. "Uh . . . yeah. Her brother was angry because she was planning to visit her aunt in Athens and she didn't want her brother to go with her because he was annoying to travel with."
Tory glanced up as she heard the deepening of Ash's voice. She couldn't tell where he was looking since he still wore those dark sunglasses. "Can you see all right?"
"Fine."
"Why don't you take the sunglasses off?"
"I see better with them on."
"Oh," she dragged the word out as she had sudden clarity. "You're one of those, aren't you?"
"Those what?"
"Vain guy who needs glasses, but doesn't want anyone to know it and you can't stand contacts so you wear prescription sunglasses instead." She rolled her eyes. "I've had several of you in my classes. Really, no one will think less of your manhood for needing glasses-that alone does not a geek make." She indicated hers by tapping a fingernail on the lens. "Look at me. I'd rather be able to see than be vain about it."
Ash hid a smile at her latest wrong conclusion about him. Without commenting, he reached for his beer and took a drink while she returned to the journal.
They sat there for over two hours as she learned his native tongue. It was so strange to hear someone else speaking it after all this time that he couldn't help but be warmed by it. There was even a part of him made homesick from the sound. It was a feeling he didn't get often since he'd had a less than desirable existence there, but then home was home.
Even a bad one.
And honestly, he liked having this connection to someone. He'd been alone for so long. Had taught himself to trust no one. Yet he found himself wanting to trust her and he didn't know why. Perhaps it was her fierce loyalty. He craved someone to be that loyal to him. If only they would . . .
"What do you mean the journal wasn't there," Costas Venduras asked as he narrowed his gaze on his underling. As members of the Atlantikoinonia-a society founded to serve the goddess Artemis-it was their sacred duty to protect anything relating to Atlantis.
George swallowed nervously before he answered. "We took all the artifacts the man had with him, but the journal wasn't in with them."
"You know what the oracle told us. Atlantis can never be uncovered. Use whatever means necessary to ensure that all the artifacts are returned to the sea or destroyed."
George nodded. "Yes, sir. As the goddess wills it, it will be done." He started to leave, then hesitated. "By the way, we think the young professor might have the journal with her in New Orleans."
Costas felt his temper rising at the mere mention of that nosy little trifle who'd been a source of aggravation for him for over a decade. "Then send a team to recover it. In fact, our little professor has become too much of a liability for us and our cause. I'm tired of dealing with her. Signal the others with a TOS for Dr. Kafieri."
"Termination on sight. Yes, sir. It will be done."