Chapter Two

 

I stormed down the gilded hallway, Cleo’s words hammering at my chest with a vengeance.

I could never love you. You know what my fate will be if ever I find love.

Her denial stung, but I didn’t let it feed my fury. I knew she didn’t mean it.

My meren was scared. Of her future. Of being true to herself.

Of loving.

But I was going to show her strength. Prove to her once and for all she was braver than she realized.

“Ravi, wait.”

I ignored Bomani even though he followed at my heels so close I wondered if he would trip. He was my closest companion, the only man I trusted with my life in this time of unrest in Egypt. But he wanted me to think things through. Wanted me to wait until Cleo had proven herself.

But I’d already made my decision.

Cleo was mine, and I was going to prove she could break the Curse of Anubis. If it took my death to do it, then fine.

I just had to find a way first.

Then I would love her in the afterlife.

It was better than loving her from afar in this life. Better than watching the fear in her eyes when she fought back her feelings for me again and again, as she had done since our youth.

I wouldn’t allow it one moment longer.

“Must you really do this?”

“I must.”

“Pharaoh will be angry.”

“I know.”

There was a long silence.

“Cleo will be hurt.”

I stopped at that, my chest aching for her. But…

“She is already hurt. Without me, she will focus on what matters. And she will win,” I said, determined. “She will best the Sorceress at this game and be free.” I caught Bomani’s gaze. “She will come for me in the afterlife. I know she will. When she is ready. I’m not saying goodbye to my meren.”

“What if your meren doesn’t love you as you think?” Bomani muttered.

My fury bubbled from my chest, causing the sound of a dog to rumble forth. “You wish your final words to me to be traitorous, sahu?”

Bomani’s stubborn expression turned sad at the name I often used for him. Sahu. Close as a brother.

I’d chosen Bomani to be such because the man didn’t have a family of his own and deserved one. None was stronger than Bomani. His very name meant powerful warrior. I decided long ago I wanted Bomani by my side for life.

Now, death was upon me.

“No,” Bomani said, sadly. “No, Prince. I only want you to be right.”

“I am. You will see. On Amun, you will see.”

I rounded a jeweled arch, the deep colors fading with the sleeping of Ra.

“May the gods be with you,” Bomani uttered as he left me to my own.

And I prayed the same myself.

***

I paced my quarters, a restless bull determined to get this right.

The Sorceress was coming for Cleo, and it would be soon. Because if I knew her true feelings, it wouldn’t be long before the witch learned of them.

Maybe she already knew.

The quarrelling in my gut warned me I was right.

I needed to intercept the curse meant for my meren. But I had no way of knowing when and how the Sorceress would strike. Without those details, I couldn’t formulate a plan.

And I was running out of time.

Perhaps I could make a sacrifice to one of the gods for help. But which would be tender to my plight?

God of love? God of protection? Vengeance?

Which one hated the Sorceress most?

A throat cleared loudly, jerking my attention to the darkest shadow of my quarters. Who dared to enter without notice?

“That would be me. On both accounts.” A dark voice rumbled from the shadow and I squinted to see who was there. But all I could make out was the faint glow of jewel-green eyes.

“You must not look upon me. Heed my warning and I shall help you.”

I lowered my gaze knowing this must be the answer to a prayer. A visit from one of the gods. “Who are you?”

“I am the jackal,” the stranger answered, and my gaze jerked back to the shadows, heart racing with hope.

The jackal who guards the tombs. The god of the dead.

The one I’d hated for so long.

“Anubis? It cannot be,” I declared, my voice steadier than I felt.

An animalistic growl rolled over the air, the power of it hitting me squarely in the chest. “I have no time for your doubt, human,” he spat. “Nor your hate. Now listen closely if you want my help. For I won’t require a sacrifice… unless you consider the sacrifice of your very life. But you were already going to die for your female, were you not?”

I swallowed air and rasped out, “Yes.”

“Very well then. I will tell you what you need to know.”

I averted my eyes again, even though I wanted to rush forward, take his throat between my grip, and demand he remove the curse from my meren.

“I cannot do that. I am bound. The curse will stand until it is broken lawfully. Lest I suffer a fate worse than your own.”

I gave a hard nod, knowing the rules of dark magic enough to know he was speaking truth. The Sorceress used spells powered by hate. Anubis was bound to her will on this. But it didn’t mean he was powerless.

Which was why he was here, I realized.

“Mmm, yes. Now, are you ready to listen? To hear?”

“Yes.” I forced my fury and worry down into the pit of my stomach. It would sit there until I had the information I needed.

“The Sorceress will have her way this eve. She has bespelled a poison asp to strike the princess after she dines. The asp will hide in a golden wine urn upon the table where the princess will accidently overturn it. The one the asp pricks will remain unwrapped for an eternity. As the Sorceress has spoken, it shall be done.”

I straightened my shoulders.

“An eternity.”

“Aye.”

Anytime I’d heard the terms of the curse spoken out loud the phrase caught me funny.

“An eternity. One. Singular.”

Anubis seemed to smile. Though I couldn’t see it in the dark, I felt the chill of it skitter across the space.

“Aye.”

New possibilities filled my mind. I was going to take her place. I knew there was a way. But I’d been ready for an unwrapped death. A long, torturous journey through the afterlife. One where my memories of Cleo made it all worth it. But now…

“How long is an eternity? And what happens after? And will my meren be safe?”

“To answer your first question, no one knows. As for your second question, no one knows… except myself of course. And I could never tell you.”

“Why not?”

Anubis huffed out a breath. “It is not becoming of a god to answer so many unbidden questions from a human. And telling you those details will affect the outcome. You will simply have to trust me.”

“Trust the God of Death?”

“Indeed.”

It wasn’t as though I had any choice but to trust him. Minutes ago, I had no plan. Now one was forming and solidifying in my heart.

“And my third question?” I asked.

It was the most important and I needed reassurance Cleo would be safe after I was gone.

Sadness scraped along my insides.

Who would keep her when she was finally free? Who would watch over her? Not her silly handmaidens. Enchanted or not, they weren’t enough. And not her father. The Pharaoh was too distracted by the unrest in Egypt.

“Will Cleo be safe?” I pushed once more.

“Safe is such a word in flux. What is safe exactly?”

I went cold inside. “I won’t do this for nothing. Tell me, now. Or I will find another way.”

Moments passed before Anubis’s quiet answer broke the darkness.

“She will have the help of the gods. I can promise you that. That and one more thing…”

I waited, trying to find a trick in his words. Cleo would have the help of gods. Was it enough?

Anubis’s power was a heavy weight on the air, making my breath hard to catch. Or maybe that was fear. Maybe it was doom manifested.

“I promise she will find her way back to you,” he rumbled, and I heard the truth in it just as solid as the stone wall around us.

This wasn’t the end then. I would see Cleo again.

After an eternity.

“Why?” I choked out, because his power was suffocating me. I wondered if he even knew. But he must.

“Why what?”

“Why are you helping…?”

Another long silence, and I braced myself for the fury I felt boiling in the air.

“Because. I don’t like my name being used to invoke a curse that isn’t mine. The bitch Sorceress overstepped her boundary.” His voice sent a shiver down my spine. “She will pay. In death, she will be mine. And she shall pay. And not just for an eternity,” he snarled, “but forevermore.”