Incipient Cipher: Eternal Quest Breaker Series, #3

By T. M. Caruana

Lucy's soul casts a shadow over all premonitions, hindering any magic scheme-maker from predicting the future. Even Susy!

 

Faced with the knowledge she acquired about life and death, Lucy questions the ideologies taught by Leo and Susy. They are both flawed, and she concludes that she can't trust either of them, yet she must pick a side.

Blackmailed by Leo to retrieve a rare grimoire – The Book of Mass, which Susy has gone to great lengths to conceal from him, Lucy fears the potential dangers that could be unleashed. Unless Susy has weaved all these permutations into her wider master plan.

Yet a darker secret shakes her world when she finds out that she wasn't supposed to exist, and powerul forces are trying to rectify that.

Fighting for her existence, Lucy travels the realms in search of the Book of Mass, hoping to find the answers that will preserve her life and show her what she must do to protect her future. Even if that means changing the future and going against Susy's plans.

 

Hike to Tiger Blood Bay with Lucy and find the Book of Mass in this FANTASY QUEST ROMANCE, where you will feel the creatures in the dark crawling on your skin long after!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marvellous Magics
• Release date: Apr 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223301585

Book preview

PROLOGUE

I knew I had complicated matters. I had made a poor decision to open the portal to Heaven. It had resulted in my mother now being trapped in Limbo and I didn’t know what that meant for the future. She’d asked me to find my twin, hence I had returned to Earth. How I would find my twin if my twin was as invisible to the world as me, I didn’t know. What I did know was that by opening Heaven I had killed the Oracle and Hakon needed to take her place to herd souls for reincarnation. He had to do so fast as he had a pregnant wife, who would give birth to their child at any minute. In addition to these troubles I still had two daunting commitments to fulfil; the two thousand years’ service, as payment for Nick’s life and my arranged marriage to Patrick. I only had one years to find my twin and return to Pixi in order to persuade Leo of the beauty of life and hence have Susy released from Limbo.

My own family situation had become complicated too as I didn’t know who the father of my baby was and furthermore I knew there were people around me I couldn’t trust. Hakon’s warning message had listed them for me, but I still hadn’t managed to figure out who best fitted any one of the descriptions;

Watch your back few beguile,

One love is after you to kill,

One love is fooling you by pretend,

One is helping you as true friend,

One unsure soul with self-gain task,

One your true love covered by mask.

CHAPTER 1

WOULD I BE ALIVE TOMORROW?

Iwoke up to the new year, dripping with sweat. I smiled. I didn’t care as I knew the reason. Both X and I were warm-blooded. There was no escaping the heat when sharing a bed. I stroked my hand tentatively over his chest and felt relieved that he didn’t have a bloodline tattoo. Not having a tattoo meant that he wouldn’t have any expectations of me.

He breathed in deeply as he woke up. His green eyes slowly opening and looking at me before they closed again.

How can this be real? he murmured, his voice still hoarse with sleep. And, I’m not going to burn in Hell for having you in my arms, he continued gently as he pulled a victorious smile.

I felt frustrated with the gratification he expressed at being allowed to lie close to me.

My father should never have held your life at ransom for his own safety in the first place, so don’t speak of it as if he was noble in freeing you.

Being under his protection wasn’t always a curse, it was a blessing as well. He protected me, he groaned as he stretched his arms above his head, grabbing hold of the bedpost.

As my eyes wandered over his perfect body I noticed he looked rather pale and woozy, considering his long comfortable rest in comparison to the previous establishments he had slept in.

He protected you? What are you talking about? He fed you to the wolves.

And when I couldn’t walk, he carried my body to safety.

I can’t keep watching you being ripped apart and then being put back together like that.

That’s life, Lucy.

It doesn’t have to be. Leo wants the souls to be free without being tempted by the physical sins. Perhaps his ideologies are better than Susy’s.

My body jolted down from X’s torso onto the mattress as he got up. He walked out of the room and over to the table where the kettle was placed on a small side table and started boiling water for tea; manually with both his fiery hands on either side of the metal container, as acceptance for the technology on Teli hadn’t caught up with him yet. The sudden removal of his bodily heat made me shiver. He slowly came back and placed his hands above his head; holding onto the doorframe. His black linen trousers finished low on his hips, displaying all of his muscly torso. His tanned colour and the green shine in his eyes had returned to his face. X had been right. In my sadness I wanted Nick to comfort me, but in this light, I desired X.

Stay in bed with me a bit longer, I pleaded.

And give into the physical sin that is my body? I thought you didn’t care for such things, he teased.

Obviously, he didn’t share Leo’s ideology and he had made his point. In this instance, when viewing his attributes, I regretted my standpoint. However, in the long run I wasn’t entirely sure I opposed Leo’s visions. And besides, Nick’s body was far more muscly, which made the choice to resist easier. I knew I needed to choose my future course; who I wanted to be and what type of man I wanted by my side. The more good-hearted I was, the darker the choices I would make. Equally my evil side would be attracted to good. Perhaps being Tarus’s daughter made my choice lean towards Nick. Perhaps that’s why Tarus wanted me to choose Nick over X.

So as not to insult X and his pompous bodily display, I played on his righteousness.

You’re right. I suppose I need to start to see the world order more clearly. I need to focus.

X lowered his arms from his doorframe pose. He had expected me to join in his game. My comment had made him realise his mistake of assuming I had made up my mind. His entire mantra shifted back to what it used to be. His shoulders heightened whilst the body hunched forward, his eyes went darker and eyelids narrowed. His emotions felt more blocked and retracted than before.

This made me really feel the life balance. The darker he went, the more I wanted good. It now made sense to me. The worlds were created in a balance where everyone needed to be in the middle of the scale of good and evil to get what they wanted out of life. I needed to be evil to appeal to Leo’s good side in order to stop him.

Of course. How can I be of service?

His pride was hurt. It couldn’t be helped. If he wanted to sulk, he could sulk. He had used the word ‘service’ deliberately to emphasise on the fact that I’d pushed him away.

I need to find Villhelm. He said he was present at my birth. He must know something about my twin.

Where do we find this Villhelm?

As he doesn’t seem to be here, my next best guess would be the local church in Sicily. That’s where I grew up. Maybe he has gone back there.

How many days ride is that?

I giggled. It was X’s first stay on Earth and he hadn’t had much time to get used to the way we travelled here. The taxi ride to the hotel had been hilarious as he’d hunched down in his seat when speeding on the motorway and thrown himself protectively over me as joining traffic had rapidly approached.

It would probably take a few weeks, I replied. However we’ll go in a plane, which will take about two hours.

A plane?

Yes, a motor driven air vehicle.

Give me strength. Okay, so where is this plane?

You still want to offer your services? I teased as I watched his face go pale."

Lucy, I will always offer my services to you and our child. No matter what, he said confidently and his body language became slightly more relaxed.

I wondered if he would still feel the same if he knew the child I was carrying might not be his. What had become clear to me was that he would always see me as a superior rather than an equal. With him, I would always feel like his master unlike Nick who loved me unconditionally and would die for me, but who never lost his own feeling of self-worth.

You’re thinking about Nick?

I wasn’t prepared for his question about Nick.

Not only. I’m still trying to work it all out.

Don’t worry. I’m not judging. I know you will always be drawn to Nick. The same way your mother struggled, you will too. When Nick disowns you to show his glorious appearance in front of his own kind, and he will, then you’ll know where you belong. As I have told you before, I have time to wait.

That was what was nice about X, he didn’t judge nor pressure me into being something I wasn’t. Although, I doubted Nick would disown me.

Yes, that is noisy, X said to confirm my explanation of the plane’s jet engines.

He grabbed hold of the armrests and I had to tap his hand to make him realise he needed to let go so as not to leave burn marks.

You’re saying that you have served my mother for thousands of years and have never been to Earth? I asked, hypothetically as it was pretty obvious.

It was frowned upon, he stated quickly and then turned around to verify that the entire plane was intact as we took off. No one was allowed to move between worlds, hence the different qualities of the worlds, which were supposed to work as a natural deterrent, he added.

It had been a funny trip. I had watched him draw a blank when trying to grab for his sword numerous times – we’d had to leave all our weapons behind. And good we did or he would have destroyed the glass windows of the ‘closing walls’, i.e. being the doors of the lift, scared the life out of the check-in guy when the luggage disappeared or killed the security staff when they swept me with the metal detector. He did manage to hide away a knife from me, which he threw, pinning a fifty pound note to the wall, when the waiter tried to run away to get change.

So… he said, pausing to assess the danger of some turbulence. Why do you believe Villhelm will be in Sicily?

It’s the only other place I know. It’s a guess really. It’s where he watched over me as Eutychia brought me up.

We’re going to Eutychia’s territory? he questioned, looking stunned.

Yes, why? I thought you weren’t scared of anything.

I’m not scared of any threat to my own life, but what they’ll do to you is far more torturous to think about than dying. Any man would be stupid not to have respect for them.

Them?

Leo and Eutychia.

Why are you pairing them together? How can Leo’s powers be compared to hers? I asked, implying that he wasn’t aware of who Leo was and the powers he possessed.

Why am I pairing them together? Lucy, didn’t my mother tell you about their family?

Family? I asked in surprise. Your mother? I asked subsequently even more confused.

Give me strength. Hasn’t anyone given you the full picture, he moaned as he closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat. Eutychia is Leo’s mother. It was Leo’s grandfather who possessed the main powers, but you can imagine the lessons she was given to learn how to use them by Leo’s father, he explained. Letting you near her is extremely dangerous if her agenda is to kill you.

I understood his point, however it was the only place I could think of to look for Villhelm.

And your mother?

It does surprise me she never told you.

I mulled over in my head all the people I had met, seen or spoken to. I couldn’t remember anyone who had introduced herself as his mother.

Was she supposed to?

Maybe she thought I wasn’t good enough for you.

Maybe she knew that being with me was only going to bring you pain and she didn’t want to see you get hurt.

I wonder if Tarus had something to do with it.

Tarus? Why would…

It was in the past and doesn’t really matter.

It matters to me. Please, tell me.

X’s face took on a distant look. It didn’t seem as if he had a problem remembering the story, only that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to re-open old wounds.

Have you never told anyone your story before?

I don’t really think anyone would cares to know, he said with a smile, acknowledging my genuine interest.

I care.

I know, he confirmed and paused as he broke our eye contact.

He appeared to want to distance himself from our former physical intimacy and show me he could just be a loyal friend. For now.

Tarus always loved Susy, from the first time his soul detected hers. He did absolutely everything in his power to try and convince her to choose him over Noah. She always refused his offers and arguments, giving the reason that he was too evil, X explained, but stopped to order some water from the air stewardess walking past with the shopping trolley.

What changed? I urged him impatiently.

Susy needs to be balanced between good and evil as her emotions balance out in the rest of her creations. She needed a man with the same balance.

But Noah is extremely righteous, I argued, now really intrigued by the story.

You might think so, but he isn’t all that glorious. He too knew he needed to be balanced.

So, what happened?

Apparently, one night Susy had sneaked off to see Tarus on Bomi. They’d been slowly walking together between the village houses. My mother had fallen in front of their feet as she’d been thrown out of a bar, like trash, for refusing a drunk customer a closer look at her.

How awful.

X nodded and a look of shame draped over his face.

Tarus had carried on walking as if it was nothing. It was then that Susy had told him that if he could learn to love this woman, it would demonstrate to her that he could be balanced – and she could love him. But, he had to really truly get to love the woman. Not as a lover, but as a friend or family member. He had to keep her safe and care for her.

How did Tarus respond to that? Could he do it?

He dusted her off and brought her to the castle. Isma has been like a mother to him ever since. He does truly love her, or Susy wouldn’t have accepted Tarus.

Isma is your mother? I questioned so sharply that people around us turned to stare. But…but…how can that be?

Why not? he asked wonderingly, not understanding why I doubted it.

Because Nomnat is your father, I blurted out disrespectfully and could feel myself unintentionally pulling a disgusted face.

I can’t say my father is an angel, but there are worse.

Worse than the man who killed Hunter’s family, kidnapped two of the Royal Children and almost killed me in his dungeon not so long ago? Are we talking about the same person here?

I felt my voice rising as I flapped my right hand angrily in front of him.

He grunted and looked away. There’s no excuse for those things, he said solemnly. But Lucy, he wasn’t always like that. He was a loyal servant to Tarus until Tarus killed his brother, Nicholas.

Why did Tarus kill his brother?

Why do you think? he asked as he made an insinuating tilt of his head. He made a pass at Susy.

I saw the dilemma. No matter how well-behaved Tarus tried to be, he could never have been able to fully control himself.

Thinking about it, I could see some resemblance between Isma and X. It was probably the reason why X was as good as he was. Isma was adored by everyone for her kindness and calmness. I also now saw why Tarus could never leave X to die. He did really care for him as a son.

I suppose he shouldn’t have done that, I said lightly, trying to make it sound as if both sides had their points. Was that the reason you came on the quest? Because you didn’t want Isma to go?

No. Tarus would never have allowed my mother to go anywhere near danger.

So, why did you come? I asked, confused.

X didn’t speak it, but again tilted his head insinuatingly. I realised what he meant. He wasn’t going to bring up the topic of his love for me anymore so kept his silence as he leaned over me to stare out of the window.

The world does look very different from up here, he murmured.

Yes, it does, I replied only agreeing in a monotone without really thinking of my words.

I was wondering about so many other things. How could we find my twin in such a large world? Would Nick be looking for me? Would I still be alive tomorrow?

CHAPTER 2

TO FIND HIS SOULMATE

You need to keep practising, Nick.

Noah handed back the spear that Nick had just leaned against the castle’s exterior wall.

Uncle, I’ve been practising. I have practised all day every day since you came back.

"You’re not done yet. You are a prince and next in line for the throne. You need to be able to protect your people like one.

I can hit a target with a knife from metres away. I can move faster than an arrow in the wind and I can shoot with precision. I know how to tie every knot, use every weapon and even know how to use every herb in the forest to eat or heal. I’m done.

You still have years of practice until I’m satisfied with your performance.

My priority is to find Lucy, Nick clarified and leaned the spear back against the wall."

Your priority isn’t love of one woman. It’s the love for your people, Noah said assertively and tossed him a sword from his belt.

I told you. Lucy isn’t just any woman. She’s Susy’s daughter and we need to find her.

Nick, I have consulted with all the individuals I trust and such a woman doesn’t exist. Kora can’t sense her and Leo has attempted scrying for her without being able to find any trace. If she once existed, she’s no longer alive.

I know she is alive and I will find her.

How can you know she’s alive?

Because otherwise I would have the bruises back around my neck, which she once healed.

Why did you have bruises around your neck?

"I don’t have time for this. I’ll find her