Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) Read Online Free

time. But he had to be certain. His heart told him Eden was everything Cyrus hoped she would be. But then she’d pull stunts like she did with the freshman. Not letting the milk and cookie drop was her way of apologising for acting like a bitch in the first place. But that instinct was there. Noah sighed.
    When he first got the assignment he’d been furious at the thought of cozying up to a soul eater. Now he just wanted it to be over. But not for him.
    For Eden. For Cyrus.
    Seven Months Ago…
     
    …“ A decision has been made about the child.” Cyrus gazed at him, his strong face expressionless. Noah blinked at the surprising news and glanced between the Ankh’s Princeps and his own father, Alain. All day he had wondered as to why The Circle demanded an audience with him. This had been the last thing from his mind.
    The Circle, the ten eldest and strongest of the Warriors of Ankh, stared back at him stonily; each face and body no older in appearance than their late twenties, early thirties. This decision, whatever it was, had not been an easy one. According to his mother, his father and the rest of The Circle had been agonising over it for years. Technically, his mother shouldn’t have known anything about what was spoken of in The Circle. Alain may be one of them, although the youngest of the eldest (a mere thirteen hundred years or so old), but Emma was only hitting her three hundreds. As there were only fifty eight of the Warriors of Ankh left, The Circle was put in place to rule and organise, not only themselves, but their brethren - the vastly more populated mortal Warriors of Neith; without whom the Ankh would not exist. A Warrior of Ankh could only be borne by the Neith, identified by the Ankh-shaped birthmark all Ankh’s were born with on their body. The Ankh child was promptly handed over to The Circle and given to a member of the Ankh to be raised as their own. It was the way it had been for Alain and Emma, and for Noah. His Neith parents were both dead now as far as he was aware. But they had never really been his mom and dad.
    There were thousands and thousands of Neith, run by their own councils, but The Circle was the highest authority.
    Cyrus, their Princeps, was the highest authority. Their Princeps should have been Darius of Macedonia, he was the oldest of them all, but Darius just wanted to fight; he had no heart for politics and so he had walked away from The Circle handing his reign over to Cyrus. In accordance with old law, The Circle met and discussed situations, strategy, politics, law… and they voted.
    But Cyrus’ word was final.
    Looking around the familiar faces of The Circle, Noah knew in this case, Cyrus’ final word had not gone over well with some of them. The Circle consisted of six ancient warriors: Ulric, Alexander, Cassandra,Valeria, Leonidas and Cyrus. The other four were the eldest of the warriors of the dark ages; Hadrian, Bronwyn, Óengus and Alain. And standing in the middle before them as they sat preternaturally still in Cyrus’s dining room, Noah the baby. At seventy years old he was the youngest of the Ankh.
    Well… not quite.
    “ The child is almost seventeen years old. We’ve waited too long. We need to know for sure if she really is one of them,” Cyrus’ voice faded quietly and Noah felt a pang of sorrow for their Princeps. Cyrus was a good man, and a great warrior. How had this happened to him?
    Noah straightened to his full six feet, his own expression carefully grave. “What do you need me to do?”
    “ Investigate her,” Valeria commanded. Not only was she one of Cyrus’ oldest friends, she had a personal interest in the unfolding of this drama. “You’re the youngest of us but you have proven yourself as fierce a warrior as your parents. Most importantly you’re the youngest in appearance. We’re quite sure you can pass for a senior at least.”
    It was true that when he hit around eighteen he’d stopped ageing. Another thirty years or so and