Read Online Warrior's Heart (Gifts Of The Ancients #1) by Bianca D'Arc - Free Book Online Page B

right up to us and put his hand on our foreheads, one at a time. Normally, none of us would tolerate uninvited contact of any kind with an unknown civilian, yet we stood there, letting him touch us. He spent a few moments with each one of my men then came to me. When he touched me, I felt a super head rush, like I’d just completed ten high-altitude, low-opening jumps in a row. I blinked and my vision cleared, and the old man was smiling. He called us warriors of the djinn. He said a few other things. That’s what stuck in my mind the most.”
    “Holy moly. You think the old man was a djinni or something?”
    “Or something. At least, that’s my theory. The other guys each heard something a little different, some in different languages.”
    “What?” She seemed to be more accepting of his wild tale than even he’d hoped.
    He shrugged. “I think we really were in the ancient Tower of Babel.”
    “Wow.”
    God bless her, she was with him every step of the way. He couldn’t measure how great that made him feel. To have her trust, her acceptance and her love meant more to him than anything else in the world.
    “I know. The old dude told us to go forth and use our gifts for the good of mankind, and he’d decided against killing us for trespassing in his tower. Then he disappeared. Poof! He was gone. Freaked us out.” He rubbed his hand over his scratchy jaw, thinking back to that disconcerting moment. “That’s when I noticed that the constant dust and sand that always blew around was completely still. Everything felt eerily quiet, and I knew we had to get out of that tower. I gave the command to retreat, and we boogied out of there. Dan was the last man out. I turned to see him step over the threshold and a moment later, the entire building was gone. My men and I were safe, but the ziggurat was completely gone. Just rubble in its place.”
    He shivered, and she placed one palm over his heart. It comforted him in a way he’d never felt comforted by any other woman before in his life, though she spoke not a word, letting him say what he would. Oddly that made him want to talk more, to make her understand what he’d felt and seen in that ruined city half a world away.
    “That’s when we knew something bizarre was happening to us. We moved on and came upon the gardens a bit later in the day. They were incredible, Cas. Trees in full bloom. Fruits of all kinds, some of which I’d never seen before. I didn’t think too much about it at first. There were lots of foods I’d never encountered before I got sent overseas. We were kind of hungry and there was no enemy movement in our sector, so we took a break under some of the trees, getting out of the sun for a few moments. Rick found some fruits he said were edible, so we tried them. They were sweeter than anything I’ve ever eaten. We’d been in the desert for weeks and hadn’t seen any fresh food for longer than that. Just MREs and what native stuff we could scrounge.”
    He was silent for a long moment, and she twisted in his arms, wrapping one leg over his and settling in to stroke his chest. Her gaze held concern when he looked down to watch her beautiful face.
    “Don’t you know that in the stories of the fey, you’re not supposed to eat anything? They say if you do, you’ll be stuck in their realm for eternity.”
    “Maybe that’s what happened,” he agreed after a moment, smiling to ease her tension though he could find no ease himself. He stroked her back, cuddling her close—but whether it was for her comfort or his own, he didn’t quite know. “But I have to tell you, that fruit was more satisfying than ten MREs. It fed something inside me I didn’t know was empty until that moment when the nectar hit my teeth.”
    “More djinni magic, you think?”
    He looked down at her, suspicion in his eyes, but she was serious. He kissed her for her faith in him and her willingness to believe.
    “I don’t know. Something about that fruit was different.