Starfire by Kate Douglas Page A

‘Selyn.’”
    “Selyn?” Dawson stared at the blade as if he might actually find answers there. Somehow. “Why would she say Selyn’s name?”
    “I imagine as a place to begin our search for Artigos the Just. Wow! Selyn, you look hot!”
    Dawson spun around.
    Ginny laughed out loud. “Hot? Alton, when did you start sounding like me?”
    Alton just laughed. Dawson didn’t really give a damn. The big guy was right. Selyn wore a pair of Ginny’s tight black jeans that looked like they’d been glued to her legs, with a bright blue halter top that sort of flowed around her waist and yet still managed to cling to all the right places. Dawson couldn’t have said a word if his life depended on it, but yeah, Selyn was definitely hot.
    Hot enough to make his temperature rise a few notches.
    “Do I look like a human woman in these pants? They feel so strange.” Selyn laughed and sort of held her arms out, as if she wanted to show off her outfit.
    Dawson wanted to lock her in a dark room. Yeah, he’d seen her naked when she was all beat up and he’d been trying to heal her wounds, but for some reason she looked more naked to him now, covered in denim and silk, than she had without a stitch on. He shook his head, feeling absolutely dazed. “Selyn, I hate to tell you, but you don’t look human at all. There’s no human alive as beautiful as you.”
    He caught a quick look at Ginny’s wide eyes and heard Alton chuckle, but he didn’t care what they thought. Not at all. All he cared about was the woman standing in his kitchen. Selyn was a combination of shy innocence and sex incarnate. She stared at him with a whole raft of expressions flitting across her face. He couldn’t read any of them, though she didn’t seem at all put off by his comment.
    He hoped she didn’t mind that he thought she was too gorgeous to be human. Hoped she didn’t think it was an insult. He stepped closer, but a brilliant flash of red caught his eye.
    He turned to look as Selyn stepped around him and stood in front of the counter. She stared, transfixed, at the ruby sword. It glowed as if someone had turned on a light switch. Dawson reached for Selyn and caught her hand before she could touch the crystal blade.
    She shook her head. “No. Can’t you hear it? It wants me to touch it.”
    He didn’t hear a thing. Daws glanced at Alton, who gave him a short, sharp negative shake of his head. He hadn’t heard it, either.
    Selyn licked her lips and tentatively laid her fingers on the glowing blade. It pulsed blood red beneath her fingertips. Dawson, Alton, and Ginny all stayed back.
    The sword wanted Selyn.
    Another bright flash lit the room. A deep voice raised chills along Dawson’s spine. BumperWillow whimpered.
    “You know of the one I seek, Selyn of Elda’s line, daughter of the DemonSlayer. Take me to Artigos the Just.”
    The glow faded. Selyn stepped back and bowed her head, her respect obviously bordering on awe. When she turned, her excitement practically radiated from her shining eyes. While she looked at the three of them, Dawson was certain she spoke only to him. “I know where he is. We have to go back to the mines. He’s there. A prisoner locked away for millennia, kept apart from all of us, approached with fear by all the guards. I never knew his name. Now I do.”
    She turned her attention to Alton. “Your grandfather Artigos the Just, the father of your father, is imprisoned deep within the mines of Lemuria.”

Chapter Seven
     

    Alton didn’t say anything while he carefully wrapped the blanket around the sword and scabbard. Finally, when it was covered once again, he turned and leaned against the counter. Exhaustion was evident in every move he made, in the deep lines etched beside his mouth and the dark circles under his eyes.
    Rubbing his forehead with one hand, he sighed. “Okay. Here’s where we stand. Roland said Taron’s almost got the swords ready to go. We need to meet with him down in the lower caves at