Read Online Mayan Blood by Theresa Dalayne - Free Book Online

your trip went well.”
    “I’m sorry if I was gone too long. I hope you didn’t need me.” Arwan withdrew his hand, glad to see Renato smoking the familiar bone pipe—the same pipe Renato had smoked since Arwan was a boy. Renato was most likely worrying about him, as he often did. Even at Arwan’s lowest times, Renato was always there.
    Renato slid his hand down the lapel of his gentleman’s vest and braced his pipe in his mouth with the other. “We can survive without you for a short while. Besides, what you were doing was equally as important.” Sadness flooded his gaze. “I hope you gave your mother my regards.”
    Arwan’s chest tightened. It was still difficult to talk about, even though he’d done his mourning years ago. “I did.”
    “And the headstone?”
    “It was a fine replacement. Thank you.” He leaned against an alabaster pillar supporting the Victorian style fireplace. “It’s been too long since I went to see her.” He perched an elbow on the stone mantel, admiring the night sky through windows.
    “Your mother would have understood.”
    “Maybe.” She would have, but there was no excuse that would make him forgive himself.
    An electronic ring came from Renato’s pocket. He pulled the phone and promptly answered the call. “Yes?” His expression stayed passive. “You’re where?” He looked at Arwan. “Did he?” Renato pinched the bride of his nose. “Yes. Stay where you are. I will contact you when it’s time.” He held up his finger for another moment of patience. “I’ll wire the money right over.” Renato flipped the phone shut and tucked it back into his pocket. “That was the seeker. He requested funds for food and hotel stay. Did you not assist him before you left?”
    Arwan scowled. “How much can we trust him?”
    “As much as we can trust any of our people.”
    “How much does he know?”
    Renato waved his hand in the air. “He seems to know little of our ancestry—typical for the younger generation of descendants.”
    “It’s not my ancestry. Not anymore.”
    “One cannot run from their bloodline.”
    Arwan scoffed. “I’ve been doing a decent job so far.”
    “Indeed.” That one word, spoken in that accusatory tone, was enough to reel back Arwan’s annoyance. “How is Peter’s training going?”
    Arwan examined his mentor. Anger morphed to impatience, plucking his nerves. “Why don’t you want me to meet the guardian?”
    “We both know why.”
    Arwan ground his teeth. “Sarian has eluded us for long enough, and she’s the only one who can help us find him.”
    “There are more important things than revenge, young man.”
    “ Like what ?”
    “Like recovering the stone. She may be the only hope we have of finding the general who killed your mother, but we must not forget—she knows very little about the stone. Nearly nothing.”
    “That’ll make finding it more difficult.”
    “That’s precisely why I have called in the seeker.”
    Arwan turned away. “I don’t think it’s safe to bring him around the guardian. He seems reckless.”
    “He is the only one who is willing to help. We have little choice but to trust him.”
    Arwan examined his mentor. “I thought you said we always have a choice.”
    Renato rested his hand on Arwan’s shoulder. “Do not rush her. This mission is more sacred than revenge. The fate of the world is in our hands.”
    His mentor was usually right, and had the patience Arwan had yet to learn. Arwan planted a firm hand on Renato’s opposite shoulder, engaging in a more traditional embrace. Warriors greeted each other with hands braced on alternate shoulders, such as they had done for centuries. “I’ll do my best.”
    There was a knock on the door.
    “Um…hello?” An unfamiliar voice called from the hall. “Renato?”
    His mentor stepped away. “Well. It seems as though the gods have fated you two to meet sooner than I intended.”
    Arwan leaned against the bookshelves in the corner of the room