“I had to try!” She scowled. “Harlan was extremely insulting. He almost wrestled the weapon off me!”
“Good. I owe him a drink. Probably several.”
“You’re both very cheeky. But how are you? You were fighting for your life.” Her hand tentatively rested on his abdominal wound, and her touch was electric. A flare of desire raced through him, and he didn’t dare touch her hand. Or should he? Her lips were parted as she stared up at him, a flush on her cheeks. Fuck it.
He took her hand in his left one and turned it over, the thumb of his right hand stroking her palm. Her breath caught in her throat, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she stepped closer as he said, “It’s healing already. Don’t worry about me. Look, Olivia, I don’t know what the future holds, but I think…”
But before he could say anything else, JD yelled, “I’ve found something! Come and see!”
Nahum ignored him, his attention solely on Olivia, “I’ve been thinking about our living arrangements. I don’t want to be away from you or our daughter at all. It feels wrong!”
“You want to move in? With me? All the time?”
“Is that so horrible? You’re having my child. I’m excited and terrified all at the same time. And I think… I know that I’ll miss you.”
She smiled as she leaned into him. “You will?”
He lowered his head, desperate to kiss her, when JD shouted again. “Come on! It’s important.”
Nahum’s jaw tightened. “I wish he’d shut up.”
Olivia didn’t speak. Instead, both hands reached around his head and pulled him towards her, kissing him with fierce intensity. His arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, losing himself in the breathtaking kiss. He couldn’t think straight. All he knew was that this felt right. When they broke away, he was breathless, his desire stoked, desperate to revel in her nakedness.
She spoke first. “Let’s talk later?”
“Sounds good.” He held her gaze for a few meaningful moments, hopeful of some kind of future together, and then after another annoyingly insistent shout from JD, led the way across the cave.
JD and Harlan were in one of the side rooms that Lucien had opened up before he left. He’d found another dozen that Nahum had barely glanced at, but it seemed JD had deemed them important enough to study further.
“Oh, good!! JD said eyeing them with annoyance as he turned to the doorway. “You took your time!”
Harlan snorted. “I think I know doing what, too.” He motioned towards Nahum’s lips. “You missed a smear of lipstick there, buddy.”
Nahum grinned, refusing to be embarrassed as he rubbed his finger across his lips, and wanting to tease Harlan after putting up with weeks of his overprotective behaviour. “It was more fun than translating old text.”
Harlan just rolled his eyes as Olivia poked her tongue out at him.
“Is anyone interested in this?” JD asked, hands on hips. “I might have found a way to stop Belial!”
Nahum focussed on the text inscribed on the walls of the cave. It was roughly the same sized space as the others, but this one was carved in the shape of a six-pointed star. “What a weird room. Aramaic script again.”
“A language I understand reasonably well,” JD said. He looked wild-eyed this morning, and Nahum realised he’d had little sleep. His hair was tangled and untidy, and his eyes looked red from too much reading. He scowled at Nahum and Olivia. “Does the shape of this room seem familiar?”
“It’s the Star of David,” Nahum said.
“And also,” Olivia added, “it represents the alchemical sign meaning as above, so below.”
“Exactly!” JD pointed to the main cave behind them. “There is one on the ground in the centre of the cave. This room is all about that sign!”
Harlan grinned at Olivia like a naughty schoolboy. “It’s the key!”
Nahum frowned, confused. “To what?”
“The star on the floor, dummy!”
“And the wider cave,” JD added, now bouncing on his toes with excitement. “It’s the map room!”
Olivia traced a section of script with her fingers. “It’s the map to the whole cave?”
JD pointed to the ground. “That is.”
Nahum had been so focussed on the walls that he hadn’t looked at the floor. He studied it now, JD and Harlan retreating to the walls to allow a better view. Patterns of dots in bronze were marked on the ground, and he realised they represented the columns. Seen from above, and at this scale, it was easy to see what they had missed in the larger cave. The columns were also arranged in the shape of a large six-pointed star, which explained why some areas of the walls did not have pillars close to them. In the centre was a smaller six-pointed star, representing the one in the cave that had the flame in the centre.
He shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see the pattern!”
“It’s too big to take in, even though you can fly,” JD said, shrugging it off. “But now, it’s obvious. The text on the walls maps out what is where. We were right with what we have found so far, and this gives us more details. There are sections on astronomy, geology, the Gods, Goddesses, the movement of planets, their correspondences, some in far more detail than even I have discovered. Some,” he smiled smugly, “I already found out myself. And the mathematics here…breathtaking.”
Clearly outraged, Olivia said, “So why hide it away? We could have made progress much quicker!”
“It’s all about proving your worth. Knowledge is locked away behind layers of meaning. Lucien provided a shortcut, although I would have worked it out in time.”
Nahum didn’t doubt it. He scanned the text. “You said you have found out something to help us with Belial?”
He nodded, exchanging a nervous glance with Harlan. “I think so. The flame in the centre is the key. It seems that when used in the right way, it can undo great magic. Unravel it. But it might be dangerous.”
“There’s no might about it!” Harlan remonstrated. Unlike JD, Harlan looked refreshed and groomed, with no trace of stubble on his freshly shaved cheeks, but his eyes were shadowed with worry. “It essentially sounds like it breaks apart matter.”
“As in ‘unmakes’ something?” Olivia asked, forehead creasing with worry. “Is that even possible?”
