“And after that?” Marcus asked. “Why didn’t they teach you once you’d learned the necessities?”
“They didn’t get the chance,” she said woodenly, and then took another drink of water, set it down, peered at him and said, “I guess you’ll have to teach me about Atlantis.”
“Oh,” Marcus looked surprised by the suggestion.
“After you tell me more about yourself,” she added firmly. “All you’ve told me so far is that your grandparents were Marzzia and Nicodemus Notte and that they were survivors of Atlantis.”
“Right,” Marcus muttered and then made a face. “I’m afraid my history isn’t nearly as interesting as yours. My mother was my grandparents’ third daughter, Claudia. Her life mate was a mortal male she turned. My father, Cyrus, died, beheaded in battle shortly before I was born, and my mother returned to her parents to have me. They helped her raise me.”
“And then?” Divine prompted, unwilling to let him stop there.
“A few years later my grandparents had their first and, so far, only son, and—”
“So far?” Divine interrupted with surprise. “They’re still alive?”
Marcus smiled wryly and nodded. “They’re a pair of tough old birds. Nothing short of an apocalypse will take them out.”
“Oh,” she said faintly and wondered if she’d ever meet them . . . or if she ever had.
“Anyway, they had a son, Julius,” Marcus continued. “While he was my uncle, I was a bit older. Still the two of us were close enough in age that we became fast friends. Then one day my grandfather sat me down and told me there was a threat to Julius’s well-being. Someone meant him harm and he wanted me to keep an eye out for him and watch Julius’s back.”
Divine raised her eyebrows at this, but didn’t interrupt again.
“I loved Julius like a brother, so of course I agreed to the request,” Marcus said. “And spent most of my life working and playing at his side.”
“What kind of work?” Divine asked curiously, trying to imagine what it would be. He was very strong and well built, which suggested physical labor, but he was also smart.
“Back in the beginning it was many things; sword for hire, courier, etc.”
“Warrior,” Divine said, nodding. She wouldn’t have expected anything less. He had the body of a warrior who had to wield large weapons.
“Later it changed to other concerns,” Marcus continued, “And now we have an umbrella company that shelters several different industries. The main one right now though is an international construction company.”
Divine smiled. She could see him in construction. Shirt off, tight jeans clinging to his hips, construction boots, and his body dripping with sweat as he wielded a sledgehammer. A fantasy, she knew. If he helped run the company, it was doubtful he wielded anything more than a pen, but she was enjoying the fantasy.
“Most of the family works for or has shares in the family company,” Marcus continued, drawing Divine’s reluctant attention away from her pleasant little daydream. “As have I off and on over the centuries.”
“Why off and on?” she asked curiously.
Marcus shrugged. “Julius had his moments of rebellion over the centuries and since I was supposed to be watching his back—”
“You had to go where he went,” she finished for him.
Marcus nodded. “And then a little over five hundred years ago Julius met his life mate and they had a son, Christian.” He smiled wryly and said, “And then a similar situation arose with Christian, a threat to his life, and Julius asked me to—”
“No,” Divine interrupted on a half laugh. “Surely he didn’t ask you to watch out for his son’s well-being and guard his back?”
“Yes, he did,” Marcus said with shared amusement.
“What did you do?” she asked curiously.
Marcus shrugged. “What could I do? Julius was all grown up and whatever threat there had been hadn’t seemed to manifest itself, but Christian was just a babe and the threat to him was very real.”
“What was the threat to him?” Divine asked curiously.
Marcus hesitated and then said, “Julius was away when Christian was born and his mother bore him while away from the house. A servant then brought the boy back in a panic, claiming the mother had ordered him killed.”
“Had she?” Divine asked.
“Yes,” Marcus said solemnly. “She did give the order, though there was more to it than that. However, we didn’t find that out at the time. All we knew was that she’d ordered him killed. He needed protecting.”
“From his own mother,” Divine said with a shake of the head. It seemed her mother hadn’t been the only cold, heartless, crazed bitch out there. At least she wasn’t alone in that.
“So you protected and guarded him,” she murmured.
“Yes,” Marcus said solemnly.
“For how long?” she asked.
Marcus considered the question and then seemed to do some figuring in his head. “Everything was resolved about three years ago.”
“And what did you do after that?” she prompted. They were getting closer to the now. Had he started working for Lucian then?
“Well, Julius connected with his life mate at about that time and was a bit distracted so I stepped in and took on the job of running the family company until he got past that, which took a couple or three years.”
“And once he was back running the company full-time?” Divine prodded.
“Well, he didn’t really come back full-time. Marguerite—his life mate,” he explained with a fond smile that suggested he liked the woman—“she and her family live in Canada, so Julius spends a great deal of time traveling back and forth between Italy and Canada.”
“Italy,” Divine breathed, sitting back in her seat as her gaze swam over his face. She should have known by the name and his looks that he hailed from there. He even had a bit of an accent, although it seemed to have been watered down and distorted, probably by his living in a lot of different places. Divine doubted he’d spent his whole life in Italy. He seemed to have French inflections, German, Spanish, and even English sounds to his speech . . . as she did. That being the case, she supposed she would have classified his accent as simply being European in origin.
Realizing that he was peering at her in question, she shook her head. “Sorry. Go ahead. Julius travels between Italy and Canada so . . . ?” She tilted her head and suggested, “So you run the company when he’s not there and step down when he is?”
“I did,” Marcus said wryly. “But thanks to developments in technology even that isn’t necessary anymore. So long as he has a computer and cell phone handy, Julius can run the company from anywhere in the world. He can bank online, conference call meetings . . .” Marcus shrugged. “It took him a couple years to get a handle on the new technology, but now that he has, he doesn’t really need me anymore. And now that Christian has met his life mate . . .” He shrugged and admitted wryly, “I’m pretty much at loose ends.”
Divine considered him solemnly. He wasn’t going to admit to spying for Lucian and she supposed she couldn’t blame him for that. What kind of a spy would admit they were spying?
“Why stay here in North America?” she asked abruptly, wanting to know how he’d explain that away. “Why not return to Italy? Surely they could find a position for you in the family business?”
“I considered that,” Marcus admitted quietly. “And certainly they have many things for me to do there, but I found myself too restless to go back to the family company once Julius took over again. It just didn’t sound appealing.”
“So you just suddenly decided to fly to America and join the carnival?” she asked quietly.