Page 98 of Legion
Why should she, considering it was extremely probable that he had every intention of breezing out of her house never to come back?Then again, Konstantin could have died tonight.She hadn’t thought she was putting him in danger by leaving him ignorant of the monkhood’s existence; hadn’t thought they would target him.That miscalculation could have resulted in the bodyguard losing his life.At the very least, she could explain the situation.
“The clerics are part of an order known as theLemures,” she explained.
“They were responsible for the car bombs?”
She nodded.“I heard them speak of it while Tobe, Ciaran, and I picked them off.”
“Why did they target you?”
She hesitated, licking her lips.“They came upon an old-ass prophecy that was probably written by one of the Nephilim’s first descendants.They translated it; believe it says that a specific woman will birth the Antichrist, who—with some demonic help—will destroy the order and the person pulling their strings.”
Luka’s brow furrowed.“What does that have to do with you?”
Naomi scratched the back of her head, grimacing.“They believe I’m the woman in the prophecy.We’re quite sure that their puppeteer is a dark practitioner.He obviously puts stock in the foretelling, because he seems to think it necessary for his survival that I die.”
“We’requite sure,” he echoed.“Who’s we?”
“Me, Tobe, my mom, Alfie, Jolene, her anchor, Khloë, and Ciaran.”And Lou, but she wouldn’t mention thatjustyet.
Luka’s eyes went slitted.“Tonight wasn’t the first time you’d encountered the clerics, then?”
Her nape prickled at the silken menace in his tone.“No.”
His nostrils flared.“So you knew that danger dogged your heels ...and you said nothing of it to me or Konstantin?”
Naomi inwardly winced.“Yeah.”
There was a flash of something very dark in his eyes, but he killed the emotion fast, as if striving to maintain his cool.“How long have they been coming for you?”
“About a month now.”
He clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding.“Are there more of them?”
“Probably.We tried to find the location of the monastery, but we’ve so far had no luck.We believe the dark practitioner is posing as an angel to manipulate them.He’s calling himself Kushiel, from what I overheard.I’m pretty sure that’s the name of the Angel of Punishment, so it would explain why he chose it.”
“Why would the clerics believe that the prophecy refers to you?”
“It features a symbol that matches a birthmark I have.”
Luka’s brow creased.“I’ve explored every inch of you multiple times, and I’ve not seen a single birthmark.”
“I started covering it with concealer after I came to suspect that it was what had led the clerics to me.”
“When did they first come at you?”
“The evening you met Jolene at the pizzeria.A little over a week later, they surrounded me when I was on my way home from work.It was roughly two weeks after that that they broke into my home again.Then nothing until now.”
“So essentially you’ve been in the direct path of danger since the day I came into your life, and I knew nothing of it,” he summed up, his voice a low rumble of fury.
Naomi internally cringed.“Essentially.”
A gleam of something hard and dark came and went in his eyes.Snakes seemed to slither beneath the skin of his face and throat, telling her that his demons werepissed.
Her stomach seized as she braced herself for him to blurt outFuck this shitand go.Her entity, too, expected it—and planned to rip him a new asshole as he made his way out.
“I knew you were keeping things from me,” said Luka, his voice eerily flat.“You were open with me about that much.But I didn’t ask myself if there was a threat aside from Iain hanging over your head, because you never seemed in any way nervous or afraid.”
Shehadn’tbeen scared, not believing the monkhood presented a real risk to her life.They could use magick, yes, but she was more powerful.She hadn’t thought they would ever use explosives.“I wasn’t—” She cut off as Luka stalked angrily toward her.
