Free Heart of Stone by Debra Mullins Page A

there.”
    â€œA lightning thrower? Come on.” Tessa rolled her eyes.
    â€œYes, a lightning thrower,” Adrian said. “A very dangerous type of Channeler.”
    â€œYou’re serious?” Tessa’s perfect brow wrinkled as she looked from Adrian to Faith and back again.
    â€œVery.” Adrian tugged a lock of her hair. “Remember, you don’t know much about the Atlantean world, princess.”
    She shoved his hand away. “Darius had no business getting into a fight in his condition.”
    â€œI got there as soon as I could,” Adrian said. “You can’t protect him forever. He’s a grown man.”
    â€œThen he should know better!”
    â€œTessa,” Maria warned. “Enough.”
    Footsteps sounded on the stairs. “That’s Rafe and Cara,” Tessa said, and turned away, hugging her arms tightly against herself.
    Faith watched a dark-haired man and a fair-haired woman descend the staircase, holding hands.
    â€œSorry we’re late!” the woman called. She wore her long, caramel-colored hair in a curly ponytail that bounced as she walked. “Rafe was practicing for the Soul Circle.”
    The couple reached the bottom of the steps and approached the group. As Rafe came closer, the tattoos on Faith’s hands began to heat. A stone was nearby, a powerful one. But the song whispering in her mind sounded off-key, disharmonious. She glanced around the foyer but saw no stones in evidence.
    â€œWell, well,” Rafe said, extending a hand. “Adrian Gray. You bring my brother home in one piece?”
    Adrian shook. “Mostly.”
    â€œNot mostly,” Tessa said, coming back to the conversation. “He’s in his chair again.”
    Rafe frowned. “What the hell did you do, Gray?”
    â€œNot me, the Mendukati.”
    â€œAnd her .” Tessa jerked her chin toward Faith.
    All gazes turned to her, and Faith froze as if she had been shoved on stage naked and ordered to sing. Rafe narrowed his eyes, the same gorgeous blue eyes shared by his mother and brother. “So you would be the Stone Singer?”
    â€œYes.” She gathered her courage and extended her hand. “Faith Karaluros. I’m afraid we had an encounter with the Mendukati, and Darius took the brunt of it.”
    â€œDid he now?” Rafe shook her hand. “What happened?”
    â€œYour fool brother took on a lightning thrower and a Warrior by himself,” Adrian said. “Messed himself up, so he’s back in the chair for the moment.”
    â€œHe’s holed up in his cabana with his healing stones,” Tessa said. “Won’t talk to anybody.”
    Rafe snickered. “You mean he won’t talk to you. ”
    â€œBy the time I showed up,” Adrian said, “he’d neutralized the lightning thrower and was keeping the Warrior busy until I could get there.”
    â€œHe did all that, even with a bum knee and a cane?” Rafe grinned. “Way to go, big bro.”
    â€œI told him to leave,” Faith said. “He wouldn’t go.”
    â€œI bet not.” Rafe’s shoulders shook as he chuckled. Faith caught the glint of a chain around his neck, beneath his shirt. A pendant of some sort? Maybe with a stone in it?
    She longed to ask, but didn’t dare. They were already suspicious enough without her probing them about stones of power.
    â€œOh, for pity’s sake.” The woman with the ponytail shoved Rafe back a step with a palm to his solar plexus and extended a hand to Faith. “Hi, I’m Cara McGaffigan. I’m engaged to Chuckles over here.” She scowled at Rafe. “Your brother being hurt is not a laughing matter.”
    Rafe rubbed his gut where she’d pushed him. “I’m laughing at Tess, not because Dar was hurt.”
    â€œYou think he’ll be all right?” Faith asked, trying to focus on the conversation and not the persistent cry