Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

“Deming Lennox?”


“Where have you been? Deming and Ted got bonded. It was a twin elopement: her sister married his brother. Cute, right? But sort of icky too, if you know what I mean. Think they ever swap?” she asked naughtily.

Sam and Ted Lennox. Kingsley’s old team. Of course. They had to know where he was. “Where are they?”

“Who knows? Like I told you, the Venators keep their own counsel these days. They don’t tell us anything.”





THIRTYTWO


Bliss


he next morning, Bliss told the pack about her nightmare, about the sense she’d had of being underground but still in Rome. “Is there anything under any of these ancient places? Like tunnels or a part of the city? Maybe under the Colosseum or the Forum or the Pantheon, even? The place we’re looking for doesn’t necessarily have to have been built during Caligula’s time; maybe it just had to exist when he was emperor.”

“So full of ideas this morning! So energetic,” Ahramin said. “And I thought you surely had to be tired from not getting any sleep last night.”

“Who said I didn’t get any sleep?” Bliss asked. Had they woken Ahramin up? Had she heard them hooking up? And if so, what was it to her?

“Please,” Ahramin said, looking annoyed.

“What’s with you?” Edon asked.

Ahramin shrugged and ignored him.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me,” Edon said, finally sounding truly angry.

“Stop bickering,” Lawson said, ignoring Ahramin’s glare. “Bliss, tell us more.”

“This dream I had last night, I’m pretty sure it’s connected to what we’re looking for. I felt like it happened underground.”

“Well, there are the catacombs, of course,” Malcolm said.

“Breakfast first,” Edon said. “We have a long day ahead of us.” He went downstairs to the kitchen, pointedly ignoring Ahramin, and the boys followed.

Ahramin lingered behind. “The whole place could hear you,” she sneered.

“So what?” Bliss shot back. “What do you care?”

“Ask Lawson.”

“I’m asking you,” Bliss said, but Ahri had already stormed out of the room.

Great. As if things weren’t hard enough.

Bliss pulled Lawson aside as they walked toward the Colosseum, Malcolm’s choice for their outing. “What’s going on between you and Ahri?” she asked. “She’s making me nuts, and I can tell Edon’s starting to freak out too.”

“There’s nothing going on,” Lawson said.

“Yeah, right,” Bliss said. “Clearly you guys have some sort of history, and one that Edon doesn’t know about. Or didn’t, anyway. I think he’s on to you, and he’s getting pretty pissed off.”

“It’s not important,” Lawson said, but he didn’t deny it, and Bliss felt her stomach sink at that. Her suspicions were right, then…maybe?

“I’m not sure you’re in the best position to decide that right now,” said Bliss.

“Well, that’s all I have to say about it,” Lawson said. “Let it go.”

“Not so fast,” Bliss yelled as he walked away.

The rest of the pack turned around to look at her.

“Give us a minute,” she said, catching up to Lawson and pulling him aside.

“We don’t have time for this.” He brushed her arm away.

“You’re going to have to make time. I don’t understand why Ahramin is behaving this way, and I can tell Edon doesn’t either. If we’re going to work together, we’re all going to have to find a way to get along, and I can’t have Ahri making nasty comments every time you and I…” Her voice trailed off and she blushed.

She’d felt so close to him last night, and now he was as distant as ever. Would it always be like this between them?

Lawson didn’t seem to catch it, though. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Do you not see it? She’s acting so weird lately, like she’s jealous…of us. I don’t understand why she’d care. But there must be a reason for it. If I’m wrong about that, I want to know, and I bet Edon does too.”

Lawson sighed. “Is there somewhere we can sit down?”

“There’s a bench over there.”

He sat with his head in his hands for a moment before speaking. “I’d really hoped this wasn’t going to be an issue.”

So something did happen between them. Bliss inhaled sharply and tried not to let what he was about to tell her hurt so much.

Lawson shook his head; then in a soft, almost inaudible voice, he confessed.