by Jean Murray
Why had she ever doubted him? Tears slipped down her cheeks in silent gratitude. His large hand slid up her back and pulled her tighter under his chin. The warmth of his body blanketed her shivering one. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. “Thank you.”
“Are you okay?” he asked in a strained voice.
Cold, so very cold. Numbness consumed most of her body, except the portions in direct contact with him. Her throat and lungs burned with each breath. Remembering only the darkness, more tears fell down her cheeks. There was no light at the end of her tunnel. “I don’t know.”
“Do not cry, Kitten.”
She cried all the harder. Was it any coincidence Kamen used the same pet name as her father? However, it didn’t bring the anger as it once did, only sorrow. Her body really shook then, remembering her ordeal. The black spider veins may have faded, but the coldness remained and burrowed deeper into her chest. Desperate for warmth, she tightened her grip on him.
He cupped her face in his large palm and wiped the tears from her cheek. “Look at me,” he said in a gentle but commanding voice, one she couldn’t refuse. “Let me get you home to your sisters. Everything will be better then.”
She forced a smile to reassure him. The problem was she didn’t want her sisters’ comfort, she wanted his. “God, Kamen. I’m sorry.” Her tears flowed again. She had treated him so badly, and yet he still came for her. Sacrificed himself to protect her. She deserved none of his loyalty.
“I—” He silenced her with a press of his finger to her lips.
“Do not speak of it.” His thumb traced the line of her mouth.
She closed her eyes, savoring his touch, knowing it would not last beyond this moment. “I need to tell you something.” She needed to explain her actions. It wasn’t anything he had done, it was her—all her. He was an amazing male, everything she wanted and every reason why she had fought to keep him at a distance.
“Save your strength. We are almost home.”
She followed Kamen’s gaze to a large white sail held taut in the wind. It was then she realized she was on the boat.
A tremor resonated through the thick muscle of his body when he shifted to stand.
“No,” she said, throwing her arms around him, overcome with fear. “Don’t leave me.” If he let go, she would never see him again.
His grip tightened on her. “I will not fail you again.”
Fail her? God, the male had bled and clawed his way to save her. Her being here in Duat was her own doing. Not his.
“Kamen.”
Those tortured eyes met hers. Tired, she thought. Not his normal dark black color. His rich olive skin appeared pale. Her heart twisted with concern. She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I owe you my life.”
Her gaze drifted to his lips. She hesitated, unsure of how he would react but leaned in and kissed him. His lips were soft and receptive, spurring her to steal a longer kiss. The sensation that followed was oddly familiar in some way, like it hadn’t been their first.
She was certain he would pull away, but instead he leaned in and deepened the kiss. Heat shot through her when his tongue touched hers. She welcomed the warmth into her cold body with only the lingering ache behind her sternum.
A tremor shook his body. He hissed out a breath and pulled away. Pain now tightened the lines of his face.
Guilt speared Kit through the chest. What was she thinking? She was hurting Kamen even when she didn’t mean to.
Forgive me.
His hands trembled as he pulled the blankets around her. The heavy wool did nothing to warm the ice forming in her heart.
“Rest,” he said hoarsely.
Kit closed her eyes to hide her tears. Too weak to contain the pain, agony consumed her. All her doing, she lamented.
All her doing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kit’s kiss would forever haunt him. The sweetness of her lips, but more importantly, the pure passion behind it. Even in her weakest state, power resonated with a mere touch. Male and beast wanted her. Any doubts he had on the beach vanished—she wanted him.
Shock and utter bewilderment restrained him. His thin thread of control frayed to the point it would snap at any moment. The ache between his shoulders burned with a vengeance to the point he was having trouble focusing. Duat was draining his power with every passing second, to the point his arms were shaking with Kit’s weight. He feared Set would not make it before he succumbed to the beast’s demand to be free.
Kit had curled into a tight ball against his chest. The salt of her tears drifted in the winds buffeting the boat. The bow broke the thick fog and entered the gateway to Aaru. The gold glistened in the sunlight above. Despite being minutes from home, uneasiness gnawed at Kamen’s stomach. Set had done what Kamen had asked with little resistance. His brother had no loyalty to him or anyone else. If Set had wanted, he could have taken advantage of Kamen’s weakened state, yet he knew better than to think Set was turning over a new leaf.
The shivers quaking through Kit’s body, drew his gaze down. She whimpered and clenched her fist over her heart. “Kitten?” He shifted her in his arms. Despite the heat against her skin, her body grew colder. Had his blood damaged her?
“She has been infected?” Set said without looking back.
“Liar,” Kamen snarled, despite pain flaring in his spine. No, his transformation was a result of his lack of control, nothing more. Kamen scanned her body but found no evidence of any wounds, yet his bones shifted and grated together. He forced down the bile rising in his throat. Despite all that his body was telling him, he refused to accept Kit was tainted by Apep.
“Suit yourself.” Set pulled the oar from the ring and the boat slowed. “We are here.”
Bakari leapt onto the deck with daggers in hand. His nephew eyed the empty shackles still attached to the iron rings. He pointed his dagger at Set. “Turnaround and put your arms behind your back.” Bakari motioned to the guardian detail. A new set of venom laced shackles were locked into place on Set’s wrists.
“I’ve done as you asked, and you still treat me like a criminal.”
“You are a criminal. Now move.” Bakari shoved Set towards the plank and onto the dock. He returned to the deck and walked towards Kamen. “Uncle, I feared we would not see you again.” Grabbing Kamen under the arm, Bakari pulled him to his feet. “Shall I take her,” Bakari asked in a low tone as Kamen wavered on his feet.
“I alone will bring her to the palace. Get Kendra and Lilly.” Kamen squeezed his nephew’s arm, drawing Bakari’s attention away from Kit. He could barely breathe the words he needed to say. “I need you there, as well.” Kamen looked upon the dagger clutched in Bakari’s hand.
His nephew’s silver gaze widened. “Are you sure?”
Kamen nodded.
“Father wants you to report to him as soon as you return.”
“Please let him know I must return to the chamber.”
“Of course.” Bakari waved to the security group. “Secure the boat.”
“We are home, Kitten.”
She turned her face into his chest and said nothing. Her tears had dried on her cheeks. No emotion was more alarming than her usual outbursts. He kept telling himself her sisters would make it better.
After crossing the threshold of the gate, he dematerialized and reappeared outside her room. Bakari appeared to his right, along with sentries posted at the door. “I will fetch Kendra and Lilly.”
Kamen’s chest tightened, a sure sign Asar knew he was back in Aaru. He moved quickly to the bed.
“No, bathroom,” Kit whispered.
He pivoted and entered the wide stone room with a circular bath. He set her down on the bench and drew the water.
“Help me before my sisters come. I don’t want them to see me this way.”
Kamen met her pleading gaze. He could barely stand, let alone play caretaker. Yet, he returned to her side and carefully removed the blankets. Cold and pale, her arms, abdomen and legs were cove
red in bruises and abrasions.
Refusing to dwell on it, he picked her up and descended into the bath. Inch by inch he washed her hair and skin, despite his body screaming in protest. She just stared straight ahead, even when he passed over the cuts in her flesh. Not even a flinch or grimace.
“It’s too late, isn’t it?” she asked, finally breaking her silence. Her eyes searched his face. His heart broke in two in that moment. She knew, he could tell from the look in her eyes.
“No,” he replied. “There are no absolutes.”
Kendra and Lilly’s voices echoed from the bedroom. He rose out of the water with her in his arms. Her entire body shivered under his touch as he set her down onto the chair. Pulling a warm towel from the shelf, he dried Kit’s hair and blotted her skin. Without prompting, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he took her weight in his arms.
“You’re a horrible liar,” she whispered against his neck.
Her sisters rushed forward before he could respond. Based on the horror in their eyes, Bakari had told them of Kit’s condition. Kendra held the Book of Creation in her small arms. The book held the strongest healing and protection spells. Kamen prayed the gods would show mercy.
He settled her into the bed and pulled the thick duvet up to her chin. He stepped back and let Lilly and Kit fill his space.
He turned his back on the reunion. The Mother Goddess stood in all her white splendor at the entrance.
A spark of anger ignited in his chest, along with a sense of injustice with each step towards the goddess. If anyone could have seen this coming, it was Kit’s mother. She could have prevented her daughter’s demise.
“Thank you, Kamen,” the Mother Goddess said with a nod.
“I hope it is worth it.” He glared at her.
“Excuse me?”
He stopped and glowered down at the goddess. Did she create Kit to live a life of suffering? For what? “Do not dare fane ignorance. Kit is innocent of all of this but suffers the brunt of your plans. I hope this war is worth her life.”
The goddess straightened and looked towards the bed. “We all have our role. Kit must accept hers. Her stubbornness has led to this.”
Fury shot up his spine, threatening to split it open once and for all. “Bullshit, this is your doing. Gods help you, if she—” He cut his words short. The thought of being forced to consume Kit’s soul ignited an agony beyond anything he had endured even at the will of the beast.
The Mother Goddess stepped back, fear filling her eyes.
“Fix this, or I will come for you.”
“What you ask is impossible. There is no cure.”
Bakari planted his hand on Kamen’s chest. “Please do not do this. Not here.” His nephew motioned to the bed. Three females’ gazes rested on Kamen and the Mother Goddess. “You must go to the chamber, Uncle.”
Kamen settled his glare back on the goddess. “Pray that you find one.” He shoved Bakari out of the way and stormed down the palace. Kamen’s only saving grace was Asar sealing him in the chamber. Gods help him, he would lose his sanity completely. It would not be long before he could no longer be in Kit’s presence. The evil would soon replace the goodness of her soul.
He would be forced to destroy the only thing he had ever truly cared about, perhaps even loved. There would be no saving him then. The Creation Pantheon would achieve what they had set out to do thousands of years ago—imprison him forever in the soul of the beast.
He staggered down the long black steps of the chamber and collapsed to his knees at the bottom. Wrought with agony beyond what any curse could inflict upon his soul, he arched back in the darkness and cried out.
No amount of love Kamen had for Kit would stop the beast from clawing its way free and destroying the only thing worth living for.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Large hands gripped Kamen beneath the arms and hoisted him to his feet. His nephews shifted the stone and led Kamen into the chamber. With a wave of Bomani’s hand the torches ignited on the walls, illuminating the normally dark cave.
The light burned Kamen’s eyes. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands, pain consuming his body.
“Brother,” Asar said, laying a hand upon Kamen’s back.
“Do not call me that,” Kamen snarled.
Bomani and Bakari shifted in front of their father, but Asar motioned them back. “So we are back to our first days together. Is that how it is, after all we have been through?”
Kamen squeezed his throbbing temple. He had regressed enough. The beast had controlled him most in those days. Not unlike now.
A part of Kamen hated Asar for taking mercy on him. Letting him live when he could have died by the dagger and spared himself of this pain. “If we are brothers, then have mercy and seal the chamber.”
“I know where you are. I have been there a multitude of times myself.”
“We all have,” Bakari added.
Bomani nodded his agreement.
“None of you are like me,” he groaned as bones moved to shape something far more primal.
“You have always been there in some form or another to help each one of us when the darkness descended. Now let us help you.”
“Seal the chamber, that is what you can do for me,” Kamen growled through now serrated teeth.
“I will when it is time. My hope is it will never come to pass.”
“The time is now!” Kamen’s sight blurred a bright orange, the flames flickering and searing his brain. “Better yet…” Kamen narrowed his gaze on Bakari’s death daggers.
“Do not think it, Uncle.” Bakari stepped towards the door when Kamen rose to his feet.
Asar slammed a forearm to Kamen’s chest, stopping his forward momentum. It would take more than Asar and even Bomani to stop Kamen from shouldering past them and get to Bakari.
“I will not do it. No more than you would let me.” Bakari’s silver eyes flashed with anger. “You were the one who said it was not the way. You were the one that talked me down. I will not kill the male who saved me that day.”
Asar turned and looked at his son. Kamen had never told his brother he had found Bakari with the dagger pinned ripe to his chest in the attempt to take his own life.
“Will you have the mercy to kill Kit?” Kamen asked Bakari on a strangled breath. He looked at Asar. “Will you not condemn me to consume her soul?”
The males looked around the room at each other. Asar lowered his arm from Kamen’s chest. His brother sighed and finally spoke. “I saved your and Set’s souls. I will find a way to save Kit’s.”
“Until then, you must seal the chamber.” Pain dropped Kamen to his hands and knees.
Asar pushed his sons out the door and extinguished the torches. “If I fail, I will do as you ask, but until then you will feed and return to Kit’s side. She will need your strength and protection.”
“I cannot. Can you not see?” Kamen begged and arched his back. He bellowed in agony.
Asar stepped out the opening and shifted the stone but paused before closing it. “If you have no hope then Kit is already dead.”
Kamen’s control snapped, sending the beast lunging for the door. He slammed into the stone, reeking destruction upon it. The beast’s claws scored long fissures into the rock. The Devourer would forever keep him from a life with Kit. Forever wanting something he could never have.
Forever alone in darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lilly’s silence was killing her. Not to mention the fact Kendra’s incessant mumbling while thumbing through the ancient text for hours was not helping her nerves. Apparently, she was feeling better after Lilly’s healing spell because everyone was grating on her. Just like old times.
Kit shifted her legs over the bed and everyone in the room jumped, even her mother. Another point of irritation. This was not how she wanted to spend her last hours. She was never a person to wait for something to happen. “I need to go to the bathroom,” she announced. Not that she really had to g
o but just needed a change in scenery and to escape her sisters’ concerned stares.
She shifted her gaze to the door. Kamen said he would come back and check on her. Didn’t he? Yet, hours had passed without him.
She slipped off the bed and padded across the cool sandstone. In the bathroom alone, she blew out a breath and turned to look in the mirror. She pulled off her clothes and assessed her body, expecting to see what exactly? Horns and a tail?
A part of her wanted to believe everything was well, and it was all but a bad dream. Lilly had healed her wounds, not even a bruise remained. The scars on her left wrist had even faded to small silver lines. Except for the nausea churning her gut with worry, she was her old self again.
The reunion with her sisters had been full of hugs, tears and many I love yous. The warmth in her heart lingered a while but soon faded. To have so much love and support but feel so utterly empty was perplexing to her.
No matter how much she wanted to deny it and just carry on with her life, she knew something was growing inside her. Festering. She couldn’t hide it from her sisters, not for long anyway.
“Kit,” Lilly called from the door.
Kit scrambled to pull on her pants. “Yes, I am almost done.” She glanced in the mirror as she pulled her shirt down over her head.
Lilly was standing right behind her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. You did a great job stitching me up.”
“That is not what I meant.” Lilly raised her blonde brows.
“I’m not going to sprout wings, if that is what you mean.”
Lilly sighed, a sign her patience was at its end. “Talking about it will help. How did you even get there?”
“How the hell do I know. I blacked out after Nebt sucker punched me. I woke up in a field of reeds or what was left of it.” Kit leaned over the sink and splashed water on her face. “Everything was burnt to the ground. I just started running towards the river.”
“You were gone for almost two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Kit dropped the towel and grabbed onto the sink. It had seemed like forty-eight hours at the most. If what Lilly said was true, then the eclipse was only two weeks away.
