Iker reached behind him, barely touching the hilt of the knife tucked into his belt. This Medjai descendant—if indeed he were one—could betray him as easily as anyone. Iker would remain on guard at all times.
The door opened, and an older woman gestured them inside. Long dark hair streaked with gray and swept into a loose bun at her neck, she stood no taller than Iker’s shoulder. He trusted her less than the man. Women didn’t rely on strength for battle, and chose weapons less obvious than swords. Poison, for example.
He greeted her with a false smile as they passed.
Sanura guided him to a cushioned chair. “We need to find you a doctor.”
He sank into the padding. “Too dangerous. Use your healer skills.”
“No, they’re a little rusty. Because I haven’t used them since… ever.” Her laugh had a wild air.
If only he knew how to instruct her in using her innate abilities. “You were gifted with them at birth.”
“I don’t think so. My parents never mentioned the healing fairy bringing me such a gift.” With a feeble smile, she turned away.
He caught her hand in his and stroked. “Bastet was renowned for her healing powers. Look within yourself and you will find the same.”
She held his gaze, searching. He was certain she’d find the truth, with or without him, but he hoped to at least guide her toward her destiny. The place where she’d accept and love herself, and be happiest.
A squeeze, and she released his hand. “I’ll ask for supplies.”
His heart soared. Afraid to mar the moment, he remained silent. He’d give her no further reason to argue and hopefully she wouldn’t change her mind.
She approached the man and spoke in low tones. He in turn went to their hostess and after a brief exchange, the woman scurried into another room, then returned with ointments, rags and a bowl.
Sanura accepted with them a bow and carried them to Iker. A few deft movements of her fingers unfastened the tourniquet. She winced at the wound, then poured one of the bottles into the bowl. “This might sting.” She dabbed a rag into the liquid, then pressed it to his calf.
The burn struck with lightning force. He clamped his teeth together and steeled his muscles against the pain.
She winced. “Sorry. Just a few more to make sure it’s clean.”
“Mm hmm.” Constricted breath caused his voice to quake. A coward’s response. “You’re doing well.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” A smile lightened her face. “I’m glad.”
“Lies eventually entrap the liar.” He braced against her next stroke, but the bite of the liquid had lessened.
“Exactly.” She inspected the wound. “I thought this was deeper. You’re very lucky.”
“I know.” Not many men had the honor of consorting with goddesses. He had been blessed by the gods.
As if she’d caught his meaning, she arched a brow and sent him a piercing look before examining the various jars. She opened one and sniffed. “Yes, this one.”
With two fingers, she scooped out the gel. The first application bubbled with a hiss. At the sharp sting, he sucked air through his teeth. The pain dissipated with her smooth, slow strokes. A warm tingle spread through his leg, and seeped down to his bones.
She hummed a tune, a familiar melody. One his mother used to sing when he was a boy in his bed, ill with fever.
“How do you know that song?”
She continued working. “It just popped into my head. Why?”
He understood. “Then the goddess Bastet is working through you.” The song accompanied healing rituals, something Sanura could not have known. “Keep singing.” She would soon feel the effects herself.
Closing her eyes, she seemed to search within. Almost inaudibly, she mimicked whatever played in her head, and her voice grew stronger. She set to work again on his wound.
At her touch, his flesh blossomed with the warmth of renewal. Strength flowed through him. Something else flared to life again—desire. Every stroke fed the flame higher. Yet she continued without notice, her only apparent goal was to heal him, to restore his health, nothing more.
Iker wanted more from her. A loving touch rather than a healing one. His deepest wish was for her to want the same. To want him. To fall into the flame of desire together and let it engulf them, fuse them as lovers. Imagining them together, steam twined through his head, clouded his mind.
No, he could not allow these thoughts. To share such bliss would bring certain disaster upon them. He must stay true to the one purpose he’d come to fulfill, and afterward would leave this world again. He could afford no earthly ties, and no regrets. Nor would he forge a bond with Sanura knowing he must break it, and risk breaking her heart as well.
****
Whether some ingredient in the ointment had caused a reaction in her too, or whether something else was at work, Sanura had no clue. She only knew she was changing. The song she hummed helped draw some invisible force from who knew where, and she was able to channel it through her hands into Iker. Something like electric energy rippled along her veins, a power she didn’t understand with her mind, but her body recognized the strange energy and knew exactly how to use it.
More than the buzz that came over her as she rubbed the gel into his skin, the change went deeper than this moment. The goddess truly was working through her, and she was learning how to use the abilities of one.
The song in her head faded. Instinctively, she stopped humming, too, not forcing any more from herself, understanding on a deeper level that to do so could pass along harmful energy, somehow overload Iker with more than he could stand. Her body was absorbing the excess energy Iker didn’t need. Strength built up, fortifying her every motion. When she needed it in the future, the new force would be there, awaiting her command.
She sat back on her heels, strangely invigorated. “How do you feel?”
Whoa, what was up with him? His brows slashed his forehead in a deep furrow, but a fever burned in his eyes. One she recognized too well, and its heat seeped under her skin. She dug her fingers into her legs to keep from caressing him.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Fine.”
The deep grit of his tone struck her at her core. The healing process must have bonded them somehow, at least temporarily. Tiny vibrations still shook her, urged her to straddle him, take him inside her.
A sidelong glance revealed his fiery gaze followed even her slightest motion with urgent expectancy. The force within her roused like a lioness, a vibration purring in her senses, desire clawing at her to touch him, share his warmth, ignite his passion until they both burned in its flame. She could easily ask the guide and their hostess to leave them alone, to perform one final healing act…
The man and woman stood nearby, he with a stern expression she couldn’t interpret, and she with disbelief in her wide eyes.
With hands trembling from the roiling desire that roared for release, Sanura twisted the lid onto the jar. “Good, the ointment must be taking effect.” Better not mention the unexpected side effects, though they had to have heard it in her husky voice.
To avoid his heated intensity, she busied herself with cleaning up. The pull toward him remained strong, an invisible tether binding them. She needed to distance herself to clear her head, but stretching to a stand required extra willpower. With determination, she managed to right herself and carry the borrowed items back to the woman. “Thank you.”
Smiling, their hostess nodded and replied in another language, but they understood one another’s meaning.
Their guide stood beside the window to the balcony. “You should rest. We’ll leave at nightfall.” He said something to the hostess, and the woman gestured down the hall.
“Follow her,” the man said.
Wincing, Iker pushed himself out of the chair with a muffled groan. “Wait. I must stay with you.”
She’d never get any sleep with him near now, but she didn’t argue except to warn, “Don’t put your weight on your
leg.” An unneeded warning. Surprisingly, he walked with an almost normal gait.
“Do not worry about me.” He strode to her side and matched his pace to hers.
“Apparently, I don’t need to. You’re healing amazingly fast.”
“Because of you.”
She didn’t have a chance to respond because the woman opened a door and stood to the side, beckoning them inside the room with small waves. A bed, slung low to the floor, sat at its center, the covers in the same vivid colors as the apartment. After she and Iker went inside, the hostess backed out and closed the door.
Oh boy. Sanura waved at him. “You take it. I can sleep in the chair.” She crossed the room and sat.
“Of course you won’t. Come lay down.” He’d turned stern.
“No, go ahead. This is… comfy.” Hardly. When she sat, lumps protruded into her rear. A sack of potatoes might have been better.
“Sanura.” He leveled his gaze at her. “I am here to guard you, nothing more.”
She didn’t need him to knock her over the head. His cool demeanor proved he had no interest in anything else. “I know.” She gave a breezy chuckle.
“A difficult journey awaits. You must sleep.” He sat and patted the mattress.
“Okay,” she squeaked. Mustering some dignity, she rose and approached the bed.
He waited for her to recline before stiffly stretching out. A peek revealed he stared at the ceiling. Rays of sunshine streamed through the window, hardly conducive to sleep. She did her best to clear her mind but kept replaying everything that had happened, a crazy whirlwind of events.
“Thank you.”
His voice, soft and formal-sounding, startled her. “For what?” Against her better judgment, she turned toward him.
Intense gaze aimed ahead as if forcing himself, his furrowed brows highlighted the dark eyelashes. “Healing my wound.” Only his mouth moved. The rest of him had gone rigid as a sarcophagus.
Nervous? Him? “Oh. It was nothing.”
He turned only his head to look at her. “No, goddess. The ease with which you performed the healing ritual only proves that you’re ready.”
Enough with the reminders. And Holy Batman, if he didn’t lay off the serious act, she’d scream. “If you say so.” A sigh, and she grimaced at the ceiling.
“I’m glad you decided to listen to me for a change.”
“What? I’ve done nothing but listen to you. Look where it got me.” In bed with a hot guy who wanted… to rest.
“I will lead you to where you need to go.”
More like, exactly where she didn’t want to go. “What if I decide I don’t want to be used anymore?” She no longer cared if she sounded like a petulant child.
He whipped his head toward her. “I have no intention of using you.”
She bit her lip to stop herself from answering. At the moment, she wanted to be used. Wanted him to pay attention to her, not primp and pose her like a goddess action doll when they both knew she could never be a real one.
Silence lapsed between them, and grew more uncomfortable by the second with unspoken thoughts.
“The vizier and Apep have granted us one favor.”
Now she was really confused. The way he said it, he was trying to make amends, but what the hell did he mean? “Oh yes. I’ve always dreamed of being kidnapped and chained in a musty old dungeon.” She shuddered at remembering Howie’s slimy serpent touch. A definite low point in this misadventure, though she had a tough time choosing only one.
“But your capture brought you to the exact place we need to be—Iunu-shemaa.”
He used the ancient Egyptian word for Thebes, capital during the country’s New Kingdom. “You mean Luxor.” He’d better learn to speak in the contemporary language and not draw attention to themselves.
“As the city is called today, yes.” A wistfulness filled his tone, a temporary condition, apparently. “The vizier’s tomb is close to the Temple of Karnak on the West Bank of the Nile.”
Sanura sighed. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to visit the Valley of the Kings?” She heard the dreamy quality of her voice and spoke with more force. “I’d prefer to stay above ground from now on.” Also shackle-free was a must.
“We must travel to the queen pharaoh’s true burial site within the tombs.”
She’d hoped he was kidding before. “You mean risk our lives underground again?” Ugh.
“It is the only place the ceremony will work.”
A nasty thought hit her. “Wait, if Howie brought me to Luxor, then the vizier must have thought he had an advantage here.” Like an army waiting to attack them?
“The vizier’s followers are here, yes, but so are those who have pledged to seek justice for the queen pharaoh, as well as dedicated followers of the goddess Bastet. Still, we must guard against danger at every turn.”
“This whole thing makes me very nervous.” His resoluteness didn’t help ease her anxiety one bit. The way he told it, the numbers might appear to favor their side, but who knew how many others User had lured to the dark side?
“You will triumph,” Iker said. “I will help you.”
“But the only thing I know about any of this is what I’ve read in history books. If Hatshepsut is depending on me, then we’re all doomed.”
He angled toward her. “I will be with you at every step. We will walk this journey together.” He leaned closer as he spoke, and his hushed voice trembled.
She tried to muster a brave smile. “I’ll do my best not to crush your toes.”
That earned her a smile. He reached over and held her hand on the bed between them. “I will count on it.”
From the small contact, his warmth flowed through her. “Iker.”
“Yes?” He whipped his head toward her, but otherwise remained still.
“I don’t know if we’ll have any time alone again after today.”
He angled toward her. “Likely not. Once we reach the Valley of the Kings, you’ll need to prepare for the ritual.”
“And then perform the rites.” Which might end in catastrophe. “I have to apologize again for the other night.”
He pursed his lips and his lids hooded his eyes. “No. Please do not.”
God, now he hated her. “I don’t mean that I’m sorry it happened. I’m not. It was amazing.”
His gaze flicked to hers and held there. “Yes. Incredible.”
Her heart beat so fast, she feared she’d lose her nerve. Just say it. “I wanted you from the first time I saw you.”
“You did?”
“So much. I didn’t think you’d ever want me the same way—”
“I do. I have. Since the day I saw you dancing in your home.”
“What?”
“I watched you from the street below your window. I wanted to be in your arms instead of your cats.”
“I had no idea. Why were you there?”
“To protect you.”
Always duty with him. The last thing she wanted to be. “You didn’t need to.”
“I slayed the winged creatures who’d come for you. And the demon twins.”
“Oh.” After the shock settled, she clasped his head. “Oh, Iker. You’ve put yourself in danger for me time and time again, and all I’ve done is make you miserable.”
He grinned. “Quite the opposite. ” He mock-frowned. “I must say, I’ve never experienced so many emotions before. Or felt so alive.”
Her thumbs stroked his cheeks. “Sometimes I think I dreamed you up.”
“I’m very real.”
The urgency in his voice swept over her, too. She had to tell him. “All I do is think about you.”
He drew her against him. “Holding you.”
“Touching you.” She ran her hands down his back, wanting to know every part of him.
His lips brushed hers as he spoke. “Moving inside you.”
“Yes, oh yes please.” She crushed her mouth to his, and braced her legs behind his when he rolled atop her.
She grew dizzy with anticipation and delirious with desire. “Please. Now.” She bit her lip to keep from crying out as he pushed inside, holding her gaze as he set a maddeningly measured rhythm. When she rocked her hips faster, he anchored them with his hands.
“We are going to make this last.” Sweat beaded on his brow from the effort of restraining himself.
She relaxed into the motions. The sensations rippled through her and deepened, every movement joining them more intensely, at a level beyond her imaginings. He claimed every inch of her body. He reached into her soul and shattered it, but his murmurings and urgings and kisses filled it with his essence and made it whole again. Fearing herself lost as in a storm, she clung tight to him. After the lashing waves calmed to gentle lappings, he still held her, whispering in his ancient language.
She closed her eyes and breathed him in, wanting to hold him close as long as possible.
He kissed her forehead, her nose. “We should sleep.”
“Don’t let go of me.”
Closing his eyes, he grinned. “Never.”
She released a deep breath and let herself drift asleep.
Awhile later, she popped awake, suddenly frozen in fear. Fully alert, her sight instantly adjusted to the dim light. Something was wrong, though she had no idea what. She didn’t dare move, but listened. Only the slightest susurration sounded, a slow movement on the floor.
Snakes. She couldn’t ascertain exactly how many, but at least three. Not there to merely spy, either—she’d lay odds instead on assassination.
Not if I execute you first. Statue-like, she homed her hearing, sense of smell and sight on them. One slithered along the opposite wall. One crept on the floor near the bed on her side, probably waiting for her to step down so it could strike. Another beneath the end of the bed. No, wait—slithering up the bench at the foot of the bed.
Lazily as she could, she stretched her arm over Iker, unfastened the knife from the sheath attached to his belt and slid the weapon out.
The reptile’s head appeared. After a moment of stillness, it moved toward Iker’s leg, coiled and drew back its head, fangs bared and pointed at his wound.
Goddess, Spellbound Page 15
