“No!” The bonds restraining him snapped. Reign flashed across the distance separating them. He dove, hands outstretched, reaching for Alexis. He almost had her. Just a little bit more. The ends of her hair brushed his fingers and escaped his grasp.
Reign skidded across the grass. By the time he gained his footing, Alexis was gone. The vortex had swallowed her. Only Nephythys remained, glaring at him from the other side. He leaped into the vortex only to be repulsed with equal force.
Nephythys’s voice filled his head. “Fulfill your vow, Reign, and she will live. Fail and her life is forfeit.”
“Touch her and die.” His heart didn’t race. His palm didn’t itch for his blade. The Vanquished were coffin quiet.
“Kill Anubis’s champion and return.”
“As. Your. Slave.” He glowered.
“So it shall remain. You stand judged.”
The ethereal beauty that had once captivated him was gone, stripped away. Never had he seen her true essence, the stark power that ordained her to judge all who passed through her temple. Lesser men trembled, bowed, scraped to find her favor or gain clemency. If he thought doing any of those would sway her, he’d gladly do them all. He knew Nephythys would have none of it. Except her revenge.
The vortex winked closed, leaving the woman he loved at the mercy of the woman he despised.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Nephythys!” Reign bellowed into the night sky. His knees buckled and his body caved.
The tether binding him to Alexis severed the moment the vortex closed. Crushing pain bit into him and yanked him into the abyss filling his soul. Reign drank in the pitch, welcomed the encompassing hate. The darkness in him fractured what was left of his soul. Power leaped through his arteries and swept to every part of his body.
ALEXIS.
The Vanquished faced him. All of the men he’d conquered gathered in rows, fanning out. Their phantom shapes wavered in the gentle breeze. Their words hummed in his brain. Tempting him. For the first time, he didn’t fight them. He hailed their collective rage, fed off the blinding fury sweeping away the protective resistance he had forged for two millennia.
Each kill he remembered, re-lived, and felt weighing on his soul. Most were righteous, though there was nothing righteous in warfare. There were tasks and goals, lands to conquer and foes to crush. Alexis was wrong. Never did he find any enjoyment in the killing. He used his skill to kill quickly, efficiently, and shouldered the remorse he buried with each swing of his blade. He carried on, collecting this army only he could see. And his recent kills had joined the Vanquished and added more weight to his soul. Once the precipice had seemed so far away, now only a hairs breath separated him from the yawning cavern.
Yet he didn’t feel crazed. His fury, and that of the Vanquished, buffeted him, not with madness but with determination to retrieve what they’d lost, what belonged with them.
KILL.
The word whispered in his ear. Reign nodded in agreement. To save Alexis he would kill anything, anyone. Damn the consequences.
Instinct led him to raise his sword in the air and command the vortex to appear. Undulating waves appeared, but no whirling portal to the Egyptian Pantheon. Precious moments ticked by as he tried, finally bellowing in frustration.
His gut churned, imagining what Nephythys was doing to her. Would she house her in the palace or in the bowels of Duat—Hell? Or worse, Judgment and eternal damnation. He had to get her out! Now.
Their last words to each other haunted him. ‘Go back to your goddess,’ Alexis had told him. He’d saved her only to lose her. Never would he have thought Nephythys could be so devious. There was no way out of this trap.
Reign pivoted toward a copse of trees.
Alamut!
He sensed the beast shrouded in the mist still covering the golf course. His knees locked, body thrumming. Killing Alamut gained him access to Chemmis and Alexis. Enslavement was the price he’d willingly pay.
Alamut charged from his lair, racing on all fours. Reign met him head on without his blade clutched in his hand. He wanted to feel the life ebb from Alamut’s body. He dodged a swipe, claws grazing his head, and took the fight inside, close to the body.
A right jab knocked its head to the side. Hands balled, Reign punched the scaly armor protecting the beast’s chest and belly. His fist bounced back, stinging from the impact.
“Is that your best?” It chuckled, a barking sound that was alien to the ears.
Reign ducked, narrowly missing being impaled by a barbed tail, but failed to dodge the dagger-like claws. They ripped through his tee shirt and opened the flesh over his ribs. The beast flashed. Reign followed.
He appeared in the woods at the rear of RockGate. In the distance, the mansion was a jewel twinkling in the night. Roman was inside, along with his wife and the men he called brothers. Family, something Reign once had, lost, and longed for with Alexis. Now, he would never have.
“It’s so good to come home,” the beast hissed a few yards away. “This is a good place to die. I’ll leave your body on Roman’s doorstep.”
“This battle will not differ from the last. This time, you die.” A left hook to the body lifted Alamut off his feet. A distinct snap of a rib sounded. He stumbled back. His grunt and gasp satisfied Reign, as did the energy surging through his veins.
Two quick jabs, followed by a round of body shots and Alamut’s armor plating fractured, then cracked under the onslaught. Fire streaked over Reign’s flanks and back. He ignored his injuries and focused on beating his way to Alamut’s spine.
Alamut’s mass began to dissipate. No longer completely solid, Reign’s fist passed through the center of him.
He couldn’t let him dematerialize again. Reign grabbed Alamut’s hands. His claws dripped blood, Reign’s blood. He didn’t know how to be a god, part of him still didn’t truly believe he was. But deep red waves bled from his hands and into Alamut. For the first time, he recognized the source. His vis’Ra, not Nephythys’s, flowed through him.
The beast’s flickering form solidified. Reign looked into Alamut’s slitted eyes, triumphant.
The smile slid from Reign’s face, replaced by a growing numbness. His hands dropped from Alamut’s wrists and dangled at Reign’s sides. It was Alamut’s turn to grin.
Reign looked down. His eyes widened at the spike protruding from the right of his chest. With a flick of Alamut’s tail, Reign was airborne.
Launched into the night air, he scattered his atoms and coalesced yards away, whole, healthy, sword in hand, crouched in an attack stance.
Before Alamut could move, Reign was upon him. He feinted left, parried a blow while he brought his sword around, and sliced into the armored chest. Flames swept the edges, turning the blade neon. The sword cut deep. Alamut tried again to flash. He sputtered like a flickering candle. Reign couldn’t tell whether he or the blade held Alamut to the spot.
The tail skimmed the ground, inching his way. Like a snake about to strike, it rose from the ground and crashed into Reign’s shields.
“Did you expect the same attack to work again?” Reign yanked his sword free and dropped down. A slash to the lateral tendon followed by a punch to the kneecap pitched Alamut forward. Just before he would’ve toppled, Reign flashed behind him. His blade pressed inches into Alamut’s throat, ready to cleave his head from his shoulders.
“Wait,” Alamut shouted. Flames and the sharp edge licked his skin. “I can get you to Chemmis.”
“Your death will achieve that goal.”
“I can get you there without you selling yourself to Nephythys.”
Was it possible? He dared not hope. “How?” He eased the blade a fraction off Alamut’s thick neck.
Crocodiles couldn’t grin, but that didn’t stop Alamut from making an attempt. “I will show you, but first you have to do something for me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
No.
The word exploded inside Reign’s head. Alamut thrashed and tried to s
hake him off. Reign held firm and heard the satisfying sound of tendons ripping. He wanted to tear the beast’s head from his shoulders for what he had suggested.
Reign had a choice. He could still kill Alamut and accept his fate. Yet, he couldn’t trust Nephythys to honor her word. She might not be able to lie, but she would manipulate events to serve her purpose.
Alexis’s face jumped to the forefront of his mind. Her warm coppery eyes set like gems in her freckled face, framed by her curly red hair. Despair ripped through him. He couldn’t chance it and leave her to a fate no one deserved. She’d have an eternity of suffering. He had to save her even if it meant returning as Nephythys’s slave and giving up the only rays of light he had in his entire existence.
He pushed Alamut away and watched him stumble. “Get up.”
Alamut dissolved and the man he had met in Roman’s vault appeared. “Daniel.”
“I guess you’ve seen the wisdom in my words. And that you have no choice.” Daniel climbed to his feet, clothed.
There’s always a choice, Reign remembered his father saying as he stared at their mother’s image. Frantic his mind searched every angle of this impregnable prison. “I could kill you and end this,” he said, buying precious time to think.
“You had your chance. But you didn’t. You let me go so you could have your happily ever after.” Daniel flexed his neck. “Without me still breathing you’d get life with the goddess as her slave.”
“I regret not ending your life in the boxcar.” Impotent fury pumped through his veins. The Vanquished howled. They wanted to carve the flesh from Daniel’s bones in slow chunks.
“But ya didn’t. Now you get to wallow in regret as my bitch.” Daniel tipped over laughing. “I listened to you pleading with her on the golf course. Exactly what kind of slave were you?” He leered. “Doesn’t seem bad to me, better than serving her fucking son, but to each his own.”
Reign didn’t answer, he couldn’t. His one selfish action had led him to the ultimate betrayal. He did the only thing he could, he trailed behind Daniel as the shape-shifter led the way to the mansion.
“I’ll wait here.” Daniel stopped at the edge of the woods. “Bring Roman out here. I want to see you do it.” A smug grin covered his face.
Reign clenched his fist to keep from burying his knuckles deep inside Daniel’s face. He was tempted to ask why but feared his control would fail if he had to endure any more of Daniel’s voice. Instead of flashing, Reign walked and used the extra few minutes to wallow in his nightmare.
A thought struck him, momentarily blinding him. There’s a way! He could do it. Save Alexis, and Roman.
No. It was too dangerous.
One wrong move and the two people he loved would be lost. Damnation.
His brain scrambled for another alternative only to return to the same conclusion. He had a single option, and if it didn’t work—
Reign shoved the horrific thought away.
Halfway to RockGate, a wavering barrier of energy barred the way. Tightly woven ethereal strands shimmered, similar to the barrier he’d encountered at the factory. He paused a moment and then barged through.
Faded, he passed through the brick walls and walked through the house. The mansion was quiet with only a few people about and only one of Roman’s men present. Good. For now, avoidance was best since he’d have to face them soon enough. Especially if…
No if. Can’t think about ‘if’.
In war, if was a lesson in what could have been. Guarding his emotions from Roman, he stretched his vis’Ra and searched for his brother.
Reign found Roman in his study, sitting behind a desk with his wife on his lap. He was embarrassed to interrupt what was clearly about to happen but grateful he hadn’t arrived a few moments later.
“Ahem,” Reign cleared his throat with his back to the couple. His brother’s wife shrieked and there was the frantic rustle of clothing while his sibling cursed.
“Heard of knocking?” Roman demanded.
Reign guessed they were decent and turned. Redness colored Stella’s cheeks. She was a beautiful woman, delicate and dainty. Once he had favored the same type of female. Now his taste ran toward a redheaded, freckle-faced Amazon with a weapon tucked to her side.
“Brother, my apologies. I need you to come with me.” He waited while Roman assessed him.
“Why, and where?”
Reign banked his emotions behind a neutral façade. “I need to speak to you.” This was as close as he would come to begging. Any more and Roman would waver and unnecessary blood would be spilled.
Roman turned to his wife and tenderly kissed her. He whispered in her ear, causing a seductive smile and a twinkle in her eyes. She gave her husband a nod and walked away, but stopped in front of Reign.
“It’s good to see you again, Reign. You’ve cut your hair and beard. Identical Nicolis’, I can only imagine you two fighting together.”
He didn’t have to imagine. The memories were still vivid.
“You and Alexis are always welcome here.” She graced him with a kind smile.
“Your hospitality is most gracious. My brother has found a jewel to treasure.” He placed his palm over his heart and bowed.
She glanced over her shoulder at Roman and smiled. “So have I.” The soft swish of her dress and subtle fragrance of her perfume lingered, hammering home all that lay at stake. The door clicked behind her, signaling the beginning, or his end. One chance is all he would have at this. One chance to save them all or lose everything.
“Though your timing sucks, I’m glad to see you,” Roman started. “I apologize for my behavior the last time you were here. The greeting I gave you was not the one I envisioned.”
“Roman—”
“Let me finish. All of our time together, through all the battles and journeys, I never doubted you. And you’ve done nothing to make me doubt you now. You’re my brother, Reign, and I’m apologizing for treating you as anything less than my twin. My home is your home and I’d like you here with me.” He came from behind the desk.
Reign couldn’t speak over the lump lodged in his throat. For centuries, he wanted nothing more than to be rejoined with his sibling. Only his will and his last image of Alexis kept his emotions under tight control.
“Now, what do you need?” Roman clapped a hand on Reign’s shoulder.
“Remember the last time we were together at the Villa?”
“Of course, I met Elyssian and you—”
“Disappeared.” And ended up at the mercy of Nephythys. “We trusted each other. Can you trust me, brother, one last time?”
Roman studied his face before he nodded. “What do you need from me?”
Where to start? Yet he couldn’t explain. The only way to ensure success was by surprise. Besides, even if he explained, Reign was certain Roman wouldn’t believe him. The trust between them was to new. “Brother, there is something I must do.” Reign didn’t mean to whisper, but the words almost refused to leave his mouth.
Roman’s brow lowered. Reign didn’t move as his brother’s gaze burrowed into him. Roman searched for truth while Reign searched for something else. He found it in a faint glow illuminating the depths of Roman’s eyes.
Footsteps pounded down the hall and the door burst open. Thane raced in and skidded to a halt. “Roman! Daniel’s on the back lawn by the woods.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Failure! Impotent fury raged within Khuket. What would it take her to finally be free? Every force in the universe had aligned against her. But she would thwart them all. First, she would stop leaving her fate in the hands of incompetent sub-creatures. But she wasn’t powerful enough to kill Reign herself. And now with the woman gone, Khuket couldn’t use her as a pawn. None of that would change the inevitable.
Ever watchful, Khuket followed Reign and Alamut from the golf course. When Alamut hid in the woods, Khuket shadowed Reign as he walked towards the large dwelling. She saw the shimmering wards, and so did he. He paused a
nd tentatively stretched out his hand.
She did the same.
His fingers passed through. Her fingers sizzled as if placed on a pyre. The sensation raced through her essence, nearly debilitating her. The signature was familiar, undeniable. Shock numbed the burn. She shook off her momentary paralysis in time to attach herself to the man. Not inside him, because he would know she invaded him. She compressed her form and fit against his skin, under his layer of clothing.
The warmth of his flesh surprised her, along with the smoothness and the ripples of muscles underneath. As he passed through the wards, Khuket pressed herself more firmly to the contours of his body. She still sizzled, but clinging to him, she passed through intact. Immediately, she separated and streaked toward the house.
Subtle energy washed over Khuket when she entered the dwelling, setting her aflame. The author of her race’s destruction resided here. Revenge would wait no longer. She sped through the structure, searching for the source of the faint signature that seemed to be everywhere. It permeated the house, confusing her efforts. Tonight, nothing would gainsay her. Tonight, she would dine on the blood of her enemy.
Up the stairs and down a long hallway, her essence sped until she jerked to a stop at a door protected by weaves similar to those shielding the house. Cautiously, she approached. Though comparable, these threads were dull, unbalanced, and ragged.
Khuket grinned. The barrier would not keep their maker safe. A slight singe jolted her hand when she forced it through the weaves. She didn’t stop until she gripped the knob and moved into the room.
Not what she expected lay on the other side. In dim lighting, under layers of covers, a child slept…but the Egyptians were deceivers. Trust none and question everything your eyes see. Raised voices filtered through the walls, shouts and a scream.
A sudden spark of energy surged from the sleeping child. Khuket extended her power and gathered the unseen chaotic waves flowing through every being she could reach—even hers—into a tight ball. One chance is all she would have to slay her greatest nemesis.
Everlasting (Descendants of Ra: Book 2) Page 30
