“Um, yes it is,” she assured him dryly. “I rescued Leonius from Lucian. He’s hardly going to just forget that.”
“Yeah. But I’m thinking that Damian,” he said the name firmly, “is your Jean Claude.”
Divine glanced around, to peer at him with surprise. “Uncle Lucian’s twin?”
“Yeah, I don’t know if you know this, I mean, you haven’t been in touch with the family for a while, but as it turns out, Jean Claude was a rogue. He was breaking immortal laws. As in the plural,” he added dryly. “Anyway, Lucian knew he was behaving badly, but like you, not that he was actually breaking laws, and, like you, he helped him out when it would have been better if he hadn’t,” Marcus explained, tugging at her chair. “Of course, once he found out, he killed Jean Claude, but only because Jean Claude asked him to.”
Divine heard a snap and her chair back suddenly shifted behind her, the chains loosening.
“I’m thinking if we remind Lucian of that, he might go easier on you,” Marcus finished, coming around to help her get untangled from the chains. Once he had her free, he cupped her face and smiled. “We might yet get to have a family and home and all those other things you’ve never had that others take for granted.”
Divine closed her eyes briefly, afraid to allow the hope taking seed in her heart to grow. Opening her eyes, she asked, “But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then I guess we’ll be traveling a lot,” Marcus said wryly. “Could be fun.”
Divine gave a short laugh and shook her head. “Are you always this upbeat?”
Marcus shrugged. “In my youth, yes. Haven’t been for centuries though. But I find you make me feel that way.” Slipping his arms around her he said, “I feel like I could conquer the world with you at my side.”
“Not if you’re going to waste your time standing there in the middle of enemy territory, kissing and cuddling.”
Divine and Marcus both stiffened at those words and turned to peer at the man who stood in the doorway. He was leaning against the door frame, ankles and arms crossed, and eyeing them with an expression that was hard to read.
“Lucian,” Marcus breathed, releasing Divine and stepping protectively in front of her. “We need to talk.”
“Do we?” Lucian asked dryly.
Divine frowned, and slipped in front of Marcus, hands on hips as she confronted the uncle who had been a bogeyman to her for so many years. “No. We need to talk,” she said firmly, and then added grimly, “Marcus has done nothing wrong. You can arrest or kill me, but you have to let him go.”
“Divine,” Marcus snapped, grabbing her arm to pull her behind him. “Let me handle this. I—”
“I suggest you both shut up and let me do the talking before you piss me off,” Lucian said dryly.
Marcus stopped pulling on Divine, and instead slipped his hand down to catch and squeeze hers encouragingly. Or perhaps to suggest she take the man’s advice and stay quiet. Divine wasn’t sure which it was, but she held her tongue and leaned back against him, accepting the support he offered.
Lucian nodded, apparently satisfied with their obedience, and then his gaze slipped to Marcus.
“When you didn’t answer phone calls, we had Mortimer track the GPS for Tiny and Mirabeau’s SUV and flew up here to find out what the hell was happening. We found and took out three of Leonius’s sons guarding the building as we came in, are there any more?”
When Marcus hesitated, Divine glanced to him to see that he was peering down at her in question. Turning back to her uncle she said, “I only know about four of them. That guy—” She nodded to the unfortunate Danny who lay in two pieces on the floor. “Then there was his partner, and two other men who came in behind Marcus.”
“They followed me from the hotel,” Marcus inserted and then asked, “You didn’t see Abaddon out there anywhere?”
“What is an Abaddon?” Lucian asked dryly. “It sounds like something that belongs in an outhouse.”
The comment surprised a laugh out of Divine. Biting her lip, she quickly bowed her head to hide her amusement, afraid her uncle would be angry if he thought she wasn’t taking this seriously.
“It’s good to hear your laugh again, Basha,” Lucian said quietly.
Divine glanced up with surprise at the words, but said automatically, “I’m Divine now.”
For some reason that made Lucian’s expression close up like a vault. His eyes also narrowed on her with concentration. He was reading her, she knew, and stayed still, not trying to close him out. After a moment, he blinked and released a long weary sigh as he rubbed his eyes with the thumb and fingers of one hand. When that hand finally dropped away, Lucian speared Marcus with a look and said, “Out.”
Divine felt Marcus stiffen and glanced to him with alarm, half afraid he’d tell her uncle to go to hell and half afraid he’d obey and leave. He had come here as Lucian’s spy, after all. Did that mean he had to obey?
Marcus squeezed her hand reassuringly, but didn’t glance down. He looked her uncle in the eye and said, “She’s my life mate, Lucian, so with all due respect . . . screw you.”
Eyes wide, Divine shot her gaze back to her uncle to see his reaction. Much to her surprise, after staring at Marcus for several tense moments, he nodded, his mouth almost forming a smile before he said, “You’ll do.”
Divine was still blinking in confusion, unsure what he meant by that when Lucian turned his attention back to her.
“Your name is Basha Argeneau,” he said firmly. “You are not Divine, Nuri, or Naduah. You are Basha Argeneau and always will be.”
“Until it’s Basha Notte,” Marcus said grimly from behind her.
Lucian ignored him, not even acknowledging him with a glance as he continued, “You are Basha, the daughter of my brother Felix. The girl who as a child looked like the eldest daughter I lost in Atlantis. You are the Basha who was my first favorite niece, and who I have grieved and felt guilty for not keeping safe for two and a half millennia.” He moved forward to grasp her shoulders firmly. “You are Basha Argeneau. Got it?”
When she nodded reluctantly, he squeezed her shoulders and said, “Your father named you Basha. Don’t refuse to use it because of something done to you as a child. You will always carry that child with you, but you aren’t that child anymore. You’re a survivor, strong and brave. You had the courage to survive when immortal women centuries older than you broke and took their own lives.”
That made her blink as she wondered just how much he’d read of her memories from her mind in those few moments he’d searched it. But then she shifted her attention back to her uncle as he continued.
“You were a victim of Leonius. There is no shame in what happened that belongs to you.” He frowned briefly, and then added, “And while I am sorry you have suffered greatly over the years because of the confused feelings you experienced every time he attacked you, I will tell you right now that I am grateful that you were a possible life mate to him. If you hadn’t been, your remains would have been among the ashes of the immortal and no-fanger women we found when we got there. I suspect your being his life mate was the only reason he let you live and I am able to talk to you now.”
Divine’s head went back slightly at that. It was a consideration that hadn’t occurred to her and one she would definitely consider more later, if she had the opportunity.
“You’re still thinking of yourself as Divine in your head,” Lucian growled. “Cut it out.”
“Yes, Uncle,” Basha murmured, and then, unable to stand the worry for her future any longer, she blurted, “I am the woman who whisked away Leonius II when you had him at the hotel in Toronto.”