by Nina Bruhns
“Don’t I get any say in this?”
He tried not to hear the hurt in her voice and reminded himself he was doing it all for her. “Not this time.”
The doors swung open and he strode through them, towing her along behind, acting as though he hadn’t spent the last several hours in treasonous activity that should rightly earn him the edge of a blade on his neck.
By the time they reached the audience chamber, Seth was there to greet them. Or perhaps he’d been waiting for them all along.
Well. Greet might be too strong a word. The high priest stood in the center of the room with a furious expression, radiating waves of red-hot anger. Nephtys stood, strangely pale, a few paces behind him, and Shahin lounged with deceptive calm against a pillar on the side, looking swarthy and confident as ever, his blade at his side.
The least hesitation, and Rhys knew he’d be done for.
“You should have a care with your possessions, my lord!” he said boldly to Seth, forcing Gillian to her knees before him with a spell and a quick touch on her shoulder. “It seems some of them are of a mind to stray.”
His audacity bought him a brief reprieve.
Seth’s eyes narrowed on Gillian for an instant, then lifted to bore through Rhys’s. His mouth thinned. “Strayed straight into your bed, I perceive,” he barked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “Her skin carries the smell of you, Englishman. You could at least make an attempt to conceal your treason.”
“It would be of no use, my lord,” he answered unflinchingly. “She will always smell of me. You can kill me and take her for the next thousand years, and she will still smell of me. For she is mine now, and mine alone.”
Gillian let out a gasp. “I’m not!” she cried. “I swear I’m not! I know I’m to be yours, Seth-Aziz. I just... It was my fault. We’d been together before and I...I was bespelled by him. I wanted him again. He didn’t want to touch me, but I seduced him. I—”
Rhys’s rapid heartbeat skipped in anxiety at her brave defense of him. But before he could open his mouth to deny it, Seth slashed a hand up.
“Enough!” Seth jetted out a virulent oath. “Your lies are transparent, woman! Do you take me for a complete fool?”
Nephtys moved forward and put a calming hand on his arm. “Hadu,” she said. “Remember, a woman’s actions are ruled by her heart, not her reason. You must show Gillian mercy in her blindness.”
Seth shook her off, stalked a few paces, then spun back around. Again he scorched them with a look, taking several angry breaths. “Your loyalty is commendable, Miss Haliday. I only hope one day you’ll feel such devoted allegiance to your lord and master.”
She swallowed heavily. “I—I’m sure I w-will,” she stammered unconvincingly.
Rhys eased a layer of tension from his shoulders. They might yet live through the day.
Seth’s jaw clenched. He motioned jerkily to Shahin and Nephtys. “Get them out of here before I truly lose my temper. You are both confined to your quarters until I decide what to do with you.”
“As you command, my lord.” Rhys inclined his head. “But before you judge the woman, there’s something you should see.” He produced her envelope from his robes. “She was not trying to flee Khepesh. She was only trying to deliver this.”
Gillian cried out and leaped up from her knees, feeling her pocket and trying to grab it from him all at the same time. “No! How did you get that? You have no right to take it!”
Seth’s hand made a slight wave and Gillian halted in her tracks. Her eyes widened. Rhys handed him the envelope. He was sorry to hurt her, but one day she would understand why he had to do it. He could see that Seth was also taken aback by his unexpected actions. It wounded him that his friend was surprised. Although he’d given Seth ample reason to doubt him concerning Gillian, he would never compromise the safety of Khepesh.
Wordlessly, Seth slid open the envelope, extracted the paper inside, and read it.
The high priest frowned, cleared his throat and glanced at Gillian. With a quick gesture, he reversed the spell and let her move. She sucked in a breath, opened her mouth to protest, but wisely kept her peace when Seth glowered at her.
“Have you read this?” he asked Rhys.
“No. I assume it’s addressed to her sisters.”
“It is.” He passed the missive.
Rhys read the neatly inked letter.
My Dear Loving Sisters,
I hope this note finds you well and happy. OMG! I’m in love! He is a wonderful man who has already given me the stars and the moon. There is talk of a wedding soon. Be thrilled for me!
Incredible news—our beloved mother may still be alive. I am following every clue to find out the truth about her disappearance. Speaking of which, don’t worry, I have not disappeared. Am spending time with my new man and playing detective. I promise to be in touch soon.
Love and hugs,
Jelly Bean
Rhys had prayed with all his heart Gillian had not been foolish enough to tell her sisters anything about Khepesh or the things she’d seen there, and was gratified—and very relieved—to see his faith in her had been upheld.
“Fairly convincing proof that Gillian intended to return to Khepesh,” he stated, sending her a smile as he returned the letter to Seth. She refused to meet his gaze.
“What is this about your mother?” Seth asked her sharply.
She hesitated long enough that Rhys supplied the relevant information, and explained about the photo and the proof they’d discovered in the library that Isobelle Haliday had been taken to Petru. “I promised I’d help her discover her mother’s fate since her abduction by our enemy.”
Shahin suddenly looked like he wanted to kill something, but Seth’s gaze softened a fraction. Behind him, Nephtys swayed, looking stricken at the mention of her former captor. Maybe she could be persuaded to seek a vision on the matter, after all.
“If your mother is in the clutches of Haru-Re,” Seth said, “I’m afraid nothing good has befallen her. I’m very sorry.”
Gillian pressed her lips together and didn’t comment. Knowing her, she’d believe her mother’s ruination only when she saw evidence with her own eyes.
“As for your wedding,” Seth went on, “I am glad you are thrilled. I have decided you may have until the transformation ceremony to prepare yourself. We shall be joined on the day after.”
Two days!
Gillian blanched, her lips parting in dismay. Rhys’s blood rushed into his hands as he balled them into tight fists to keep from reaching for a weapon.
He was outmatched in this battle and he knew it. He’d win the war with Seth over Gillian, not with strength, but with cunning. But how could he hope to have a feasible plan in place in two days’ time?
“If I’m no longer needed, I have work to do,” he managed to grind out.
To his surprise, Seth carefully refolded Gillian’s letter, inserted it back in the envelope, and handed it to Shahin. “When next you’re aboveground, see it’s delivered,” he ordered, then looked at Rhys.
Still furious, Seth had nevertheless apparently regained control of his emotions. His back straight and tall, he was once more the unflappable figure of supreme authority. “Khepesh will always need you, Lord Kilpatrick,” he said. “I’ve been more than patient with your grave misbehavior, but I have reached my limit. Do not make me do something we would all bitterly regret. Miss Haliday shall be my consort, and if I have to take her right here and now in front of you to convince you of my seriousness, by the gods, I will!”
To illustrate his point, he took a stride toward Gillian and grabbed her by the hair.
She cried out, her face ashen.
Rhys choked down a roar of protest. “That won’t be necessary. We are both your obedient servants.”
“Good. Now, say goodbye.” Seth set his jaw in rigid determination. “For all contact between you is to cease immediately.” He didn’t need to add “or suffer the consequences.” The threat was there in his bur
ning gaze. He turned to Gillian. “And you, Miss Haliday. I expect your full and willing participation in the ceremony in two days, and for our joining the day after that. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Good. Now leave me,” Seth growled, “all of you!” and stalked from the room.
Chapter 39
Late that night, Gillian was still shaking from the audience with Seth-Aziz. She wrapped her arms around her middle as she closed her chamber door under the watchful eyes of Nephtys.
“We don’t allow weapons in the temple,” the priestess warned, “but there’s a guard posted at the portal. Do not even think about trying to escape again.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t have a death wish,” Gillian muttered, and shut the door in the woman’s face.
Rude? Maybe. But she was pretty pissed off about being treated like a pawn in a game that didn’t concern her. Hello? She was the one who had to be married to a freaking vampire for the rest of eternity!
It wasn’t even having sex with him that bothered her so much— Okay, fine, yeah, it did, a lot. But just as bad was being completely invisible, her wishes and opinions dismissed as totally irrelevant.
Which, she realized, was the plight women had suffered throughout much of history, and to which many women around the world were still being subjected.
She didn’t like it.
She did not like it one damn bit.
But what could she do? The choice was either submit or Rhys would die. Possibly herself, too.
To Gillian, life was a precious gift. She’d never been able to forgive her father for giving up and walking into the desert to end it all. He’d claimed he loved her mother too much to go on without her, but if he were still alive, he would soon be with her again, if Gillian succeeded in rescuing her.
Where there was life, there was always hope.
She truly believed that.
Which was why, even if she had to live through many unhappy years to come, she would never, ever, give up hope of being with Rhys again.
Somehow, she had to tell him that. Beg him not to do anything stupid, in anger or desperation, and end up dead. She couldn’t face the prospect of a forever without him.
Of course, wandering the halls of Khepesh for all to see in order to reach him and tell him that would get them both killed even faster.
And then she remembered.
The secret passageways she’d discovered on the floor plan from the library! There were two that started here in the temple compound—one in Seth’s private dressing room, and one in the inner sanctum behind the central altar. But where did they end up? She closed her eyes and tried to picture the floor plan. She was pretty sure one of them ended in the residential wing where Rhys had his rooms.
Did she dare?
Her heart thumped painfully in her chest. She had to risk it. She was terrified Rhys might try to stop the ceremony otherwise. Sacrifice his life for her. She had to tell him not to do it.
She waited until well after the torches had been lowered, the priestesses had retired to their chambers, and the haram had grown quiet. Then she crept out and along the darkened hallways into the temple proper. It, too, lay still and silent, the diamond stars in the lapis lazuli ceiling winking at her as she felt with her fingertips along the wall of the inner sanctum for the hidden mechanism that would spring open the cleverly concealed doorway to the secret passage. Even knowing approximately where it should be—directly behind the giant obsidian sarcophagus—it took her several minutes to find it with the tip of an offering knife.
“Yes!” she murmured under her breath as a section of the wall whispered open to reveal a claustrophobically short, narrow space behind it. People must have been a lot smaller in Ptolemaic times.
Praying fervently there were no snakes or spiders living within its tight confines, she lifted her borrowed torch and ducked into the passage. And prayed even harder that she wouldn’t find an armed guard at the other end.
Chapter 40
If ever, my dear one, I should not be here,
where would you offer your heart?
—Song Cycle 1, Papyrus Harris 500
A soft knock on the door to his palace suite roused Rhys from the occupation he’d been engaged in for the past several hours—staring morosely into space.
Plotting. Planning. Seething.
“Go away!” he barked. He was in no mood for company, friend or foe.
A few seconds later there was another knock, even softer.
“By Sekhmet’s breath! Leave me the hell alone!” he bellowed. “Whatever you’re offering, I’ve no desire for it.”
This time, the pest hesitated nearly a full minute before knocking again. He could barely hear it, but there it came, mouse-quiet but jackal-determined.
Mithra’s balls! Could a man not be left in peace to stew? He lunged up and flung open the door, about to shout down the unwelcome nuisance, but the oaths froze in his throat.
“Jesus!” he hissed, grasped Gillian’s arm, and hauled her inside, slamming her up against the wall next to the door. “Have you lost your mind completely?” Then he grabbed her and dragged her into his arms, wrapping her in a fierce embrace. He was shaking. Actually shaking. “How in blazes did you get here without being stopped?”
She burst out with something about forgotten maps and secret passages, but his mind wouldn’t focus on her explanation, only on the welcome feel of her in his arms.
“Oh, Rhys, I had to see you,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “Just one last time before—”
“Don’t!” he cut her off. He didn’t want to hear it. Not from her lips. “It’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”
She drew back and looked up, her eyes bright with tears. “But you must! If you try to stop the ceremony, you’ll be executed. It was a pure miracle Seth didn’t kill you this afternoon, after goading him like that.”
“He should have,” Rhys ground out. “It would have been a mercy.”
“No!” she cried. “I won’t make it through this without you, Rhys. Even if we can’t be together right now, I need to know you’re close by, alive and well, dreaming of the day we can be. As will I.”
He let a few moments of silence pass. “I’ll always be waiting for that day, my love, but...what if I’m not close by?”
Her anxiety turned to dismay. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t stay here and watch another man possess you, Gillian. I don’t have it in me. I should leave Khepesh. For both our sakes.”
She looked stricken. “But you can’t! Wouldn’t that mean giving up your immortality?”
“Not necessarily.” He brushed his hand along the side of her cheek. “This isn’t the only place immortals dwell.”
Her eyes widened. “Rhys! You can’t mean to go to Petru!”
“Seth has made it clear my position here is finished. Haru-Re wants me as a lieutenant. I’m inclined to accept his offer.”
“But that’s—”
“Treason?” He shook his head. “Technically, perhaps. But I could protect Khepesh. Mediate our differences. Try to counsel peace instead of the war Haru-Re seems so determined to wage.”
She looked doubtful. “I suppose.”
“And your mother. If she’s there I can find her, protect her for you,” he reminded her. “I would do my best to reunite you somehow.”
Gillian’s expression broke into a chaos of hope and reluctance. “That would be— God, such a relief to know you were there taking care of her. But, oh, Rhys, what would I do without you here, taking care of me, if only from a distance?”
She looked so forlorn he hugged her close. “You’d live a hell of a lot longer, if this visit is any indication of our ability to stay away from each other.” He tipped up her chin. “Though I’ll admit I am very, very glad you find it so hard to resist me.”
A tear seeped onto her lower eyelashes. “When would you leave?”
He kissed
away the tear, then kissed her forehead. “Right away. Tonight. It’s best I am far away before that damned ceremony starts. If he touches you, tries to force himself on you, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
She gave a barely discernible nod. “So this is it, then? The last time I’ll ever see you?” More tears trickled down her cheeks.
“It won’t be forever, love. I’ll find a way for us to be together. I swear I’ll come back for you, even if I have to battle my way through Hell to do it.”
“I believe you,” she whispered, then kissed him softly. “I love you, Rhys. I love you so much.”
She’d never said the words before. It was so bittersweet to hear them now, when he might never hear them again. “I love you, too, Gillian, my darling. Keep me always in your heart. And when you really need me, whisper my name. I’ll be there to keep you safe.”
Then they made love.
Sweet, aching, wistful love.
No tricks. No magic. Just two people whose hearts were breaking. A tender goodbye Gillian would remember as long as she lived, whether it was five days or five thousand years.
And when they lay spent in each other’s arms, their last kiss lingering like nectar on their lips, reality reared up its unwelcome head and they started to fear they’d be discovered. She’d stayed too long already.
Rhys insisted on going with her through the passage to make sure she got back to her rooms at the temple without incident. The whole time, her heart felt like it was shattering in a trillion pieces, leaving a dusting of sorrow along the way. And then they were there, emerging cautiously behind the row of altars, all laden with fruits to the god. There were buntings of flowers bearing dozens of flickering candles, too, as the priestesses had begun preparing the room for the ceremony.
“Don’t think about it,” Rhys told her. “I hate Seth with a passion right now, but...he’s always treated his sacrifices with consideration.”
She knew he was only trying to make her feel better, but she refused to be comforted. “I don’t doubt that. But— Oh, God, Rhys! Let’s run away!” She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the exit portal. “Now. Let’s just go. What happens to us, happens.”
