by Jaclyn Roche
“I’ll give you one more chance to change your mind, Kalissandra. Rule with me.” The corners of his mouth upturned from the laughter.
She wanted to scream but settled on, “I’d rather die,” and spat in his face. She didn’t feel the tingle in her fingertips. Her palms no more heated than the rest of her body. Come on don’t fail me now, she pleaded to her gift.
The minotaur’s roar echoed in the crypt from above. Moonlight danced with shadows of horns and hooves. His call rattled the statues and torches speckled throughout the crypt. Relief flooded her. Viktor would find a way to get to her.
A snarl smeared across his face. “As you wish.” He moved both her arms to one hand and then grabbed her throat with the other, pressing her harder against the stone.
Her back scratched through the thin dress. Kali couldn’t pry her hands out of his grasp and claw at his hand on her throat like she wanted to. She couldn’t call forth her gift. She was going to die, wasn’t she? Seth would kill her, and there wasn't anything she could do. Her vision blurred, the pressure crushing her airway. Her breath rasped. In. Out. Seth shook her like a rag doll. Head smashing against the stone wall. Blood trickled down her face. Pain exploded behind her eyes. The light going dim.
She kneed his groin with as much force as she could muster. Seth, surprised, let go of her hands, but not her throat, which he grasped with both hands, trying to squeeze the life from her. She wanted to cry out to Viktor but could only manage an inaudible squeak.
Kali tried to pry his hands away from her throat. The air was getting harder to breathe, and try as she might, he didn’t let go. Kali clawed at his face instead, raking her nails against his cheeks. She hit her palm against his nose and then slid her thumbs into his sockets. Her hands slick with his blood.
Seth seethed, anger pouring off him in waves. He hit her against the wall a second time before letting her go. Kali slumped to the ground, gasping. Seth kicked at her while rubbing his hands over his eyes and face. Kali screamed, a crack vibrating through her body. Then another crack followed by another scream. She curled into a ball trying to protect herself. Warmth tingled within her. A niggle bloomed in the back of her mind, but it wasn’t enough to send flying at him to stop his beating. Seth’s foot stomped her again over and over. Pain exploded through her like fireworks.
In the distance, glass shattered and fell like rain. Seth turned to see, and Kali could peek out. She unfurled her body, scampering away. Seth unsheathed the sword and raised it above his head, stepping forward to her.
Kali threw her hands into the air as if they would save her from his fury, but the light hadn’t come. She cried out with frustration. What the hell? She could kill Lucy with her light, but it wouldn’t come forth to save her from Seth. Unpredictable was right. Lightning streaked the sky, though she had remembered it being a clear night.
Seth swung. The sword skimmed her retreating palm, slicing into the place she had bit open. He raised the sword going for another stab at her, but she kicked his arms, sending them in the other direction.
Kali turned herself and tried to get up to run, but his hand latched onto her like a vice grip. Kali kicked at his face as the tip of the sword sliced into her ankle. She sighed with relief as much as she did pain when his hand released her. Kali propped herself against the wall and kicked at Seth’s hand with her other foot, the sword and his ring clattered to the ground.
The ground shook. The minotaur’s call bounced off the walls of the cavern behind Seth. Kali’s eyes widened in terror, watching the beast charge Seth. Seth ducked and moved away from the attack with enough skill to distract the beast from her movements.
She swiped up his ring and placed it into her hidden pocket Vassily had sewn for her where she had the other stone safeguarded. She would have time, she hoped, to assemble it with the other two later. Three stones. Two to go.
Kali reached out to a crypt stone and lifted herself up. Her blood stained the In Memoriam while she tried to steady herself before getting away from the monster and the beast. The crypt shook and cracked open. Kali fell back. The stones cracked and separated. Her eyes went wide to the dirt revealed beneath. The dirt stirred. A single skeletal arm raised forth and unfurled, holding a piece of the Osiris stone. Kali swiped the stone and pressed it into her hiding place. She read the headstone—Paloma Ngozi, Mother, Wife, Daughter. May she rest in peace.
“Thank you.” Kali watched as the skeletal arm retreated, having served its purpose. She continued to move herself to the fountain and altar in the center while cradling her palm to her chest. Her leg dragged behind leaving a trail of crimson, swirling with the movements of the water.
The altar and the statues of the god and goddess had to be the key. If she only knew to what. Both covered in hieroglyphs. If only she could read them. The accompanying ancient paintings on the stone gave her clues on how the gem pieced together, but she already discovered that. Goddess Isis holding them and light radiating about her. Kali took out the stones. She had only found four of the five. Kali shouted in surprise as she was knocked backward into the water, the stones sinking to the bottom of the fountain.
Seth turned his head at her distraction, and the minotaur gouged through him. Seth doubled over and fell to the ground, blood gushing from his wound.
12
The minotaur’s wild eyes locked on hers. Its nostrils flared. He stamped his hooves and lifted his head with a victorious roar. He moved toward her, stepping into the water. Kali’s breath caught. There was nowhere to go. Her back was at the altar. She kept her eyes locked on his, terrified to look away and have him charge her. The minotaur sniffed at the air and let out a strangled moan. He moved forward at a quickened pace until he skidded to a stop before her.
Kali shook. Wet. Tired. Bloody and scared. She closed her eyes, acting on instinct rather than logic, and threw her bloodied hand out in front of her. And held it there. She turned her head into her shoulder and squeezed her eyes tight. And waited. Nothing. She cracked an eye open. The minotaur’s head tilted to an angle. Eyes wide and curious. Kali chuckled. He looked like a puppy. A giant, scary puppy. She outright laughed as he bowed down nudging his head forward into her hand and licked it.
Seth stood and raised up taking the sword into his hands once again.
“No!” Kali skirted Viktor, throwing herself at Seth.
The force of her lunge knocked them both back into the water, the Sword of Duat sank into her heart. Kali gasped; water sucked into her lungs. She grasped at the hilt of the sword. Her fingers curled into the hilt just below Seth’s. He stood, pulling the sword from her. Her grasp weakened and her arms fell. Pain unlike any she had ever felt bolted through her insides. Her lungs burst with the need for air. Blood stained the fountain water, tainting her vision rose-colored.
Ripples of water swished about her. A glint of orange—the Osiris stones. She reached out; her fingers closed around Seth’s ring in the palm of her bloodied hand. The other gems below the surface waiting to be plucked. Kali tried to call the stones to her as she must have when she was locked away.
The roar from above and subsequent screams muffled. Seth fell into the water beside her. Eyes widened. He didn’t struggle for breath. It was over. The burning in her lungs forgotten as a woman reached out to her.
“Come home, Kalissandra.”
She was the most beautiful woman Kali had ever seen. Mother. Kali reached for the woman, and they clasped hands. The familiar voice washed away all her suffering. Her lungs no longer burned for air. Pain no longer assailed her senses. Relief filled her. She was home. She was loved. Mother. Water fell away, and she drifted on air. She let the darkness envelope her and yearned for it to enshroud her further. Kali sank down into the dark. Welcomed it. Home. Kalissandra’s eyes slid closed.
13
Heat struck her. It filled her. Washed over her. Through her. In her. Out of her. It burned. Roasted her from within. She was on fire. She was fire itself. Incinerated. The heat burst forth from her earthly
body. Memories assaulted her. Filled her. Confused her. Memories that couldn’t be hers, but they were. Kali and Isis melded together, becoming one as they always had been and would be. The heat subsided. She realized the pain that coursed through her had always been there. Always been a part of her. Hidden deep inside—it waited and watched for a time to come forth the goddess.
She called out, “Mother?” The woman was gone. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped for breath, coughing out water. The memory of her mother washed over her. A lump should have filled her throat, and tears should have burned the backs of her eyes. But Kali had mourned that loss a long time before this and wouldn’t dwell on losing her a second time.
Kali lay on an object. Hard. Solid. Out of the water, though she could still hear the fountain. Streaks of dawn highlighted the night sky above. Few pieces of glass still clung to the edges of the skylight. The statue of Amun-Ra bent over her; his hands no longer clasped. The open palms faced her from above. She tried to move, but her legs were heavy, as if pinned to the altar. She rubbed at her blurred vision, pushing herself up in a sitting position with her hand clasped around the Osiris stone. The minotaur slumped over her. Sword protruding from his back. She pat her chest at Kali’s—her—their memory of being stabbed. She knew she wouldn’t find a scratch. She pulled the sword from his body and looked around at the water. Seth, his body nearby in the fountain. His eyes stared up through unseeing eyes at the pinking sky.
Her lips pursed, and her nose wrinkled “Set.” Or Seth, as they called him in this century if her new memories were correct.
She let the edges of the Osiris stone dig into her palm while she inched out from underneath Viktor. Once free, she opened her palm. The stones. All five. She looked around and saw across the crypt. Another plot also disturbed beside the plot she had gotten the fourth stone from. The Ngozi parents. Must be. Kali had called it to her. Isis smiled. She had called it to her. Her powers manifested before her ascension. That was good news.
The goddess held the five stones tight in clasped hands and closed her eyes. Little focus needed for this task. The stones wanted to be complete. She felt it. They called to each other. Vibrating her palms. Light burst away. They melded together with her grasp. She welcomed the heat as it couldn’t burn her anymore.
It was complete. The stone stained with her blood, but her palm was smooth, no longer wounded. The corners of her mouth upturned. Her body pulsed as if millions of electric currents raced beneath her skin. The water parted with nary a ripple as she slid from the altar.
Power. Power hummed within her, coursing through her veins. This was her birthright. She was risen and reborn into Kalissandra, no longer just herself but not anyone else, either. The two women had merged into one. Kalissandra had become her, and she had become Kalissandra. She chanted low in an ancient language. Long forgotten to this century. The Osiris stone became alight burning bright in her hands. The sword hummed a song of vibrating metal as if calling the stone to it. Palms of the statue turned from downward facing to upward, and the goddess placed an item in each hand.
“Ancient One, I bow before thee, bless us once again.” She supplicated herself before the Father God, Amun-Ra bowing low.
The statue’s hands clapped together and lightning struck from the sky, illuminating the cavern, striking the hands. Lightning faded, and the hands folded open. The Osiris stone ensconced once again in the sword’s hilt. Where it was meant to be.
She took the sword and sank it into the heart of the minotaur. “Blood of my blood be free.” The body burst into flames on the altar of the Mother Goddess and Father God burning away the beastly flesh to the soft supple pink flesh of man. The man beneath heaved with the breath of life, and the sword clattered to stone.
Hope fluttered in her breast. He turned to meet her gaze.
“You saved me.” His olive eyes shone bright, twinkling in the light of the dawning sun that peeked over the crest of the horizon. He reached up and moved an errant strand of hair out of her eye before crushing her to him and devouring her lips.
“I’ve missed you, my queen.” He broke the mating of their tongues to pepper her jawline with kisses. “I’ve waited lifetimes for you.” The tips of his fingers stroked her nipples through the thin fabric.
“I’ve missed you, too, my king.” Heat coiled low in her abdomen. She wanted more. Needed more. She pushed him to lie upon the altar and removed her own clothing so she could straddle him. She throbbed where she longed for him to stroke her with his tongue and cock. The next time, they would do things slower. She slid down on him and took his whole length. She paused. His eyes slid closed, and a strangled moan escaped his lips. He bucked his hips up as if telling her he needed her to move. She smiled. She was in control. He was hers. She swirled her hips and slid up an inch and paused.
“You’re killing me.”
“Not yet.” Kali licked up his neck and nibbled on his ear before undulating. Goddess, he felt so good. His hands clasped her waist, guiding her. Together, they found a rhythm. She threw her head back, screaming her release as his own shot within her.
“I love you.”
“And I love you, my queen.”
Epilogue
A soft breeze whipped at Kali’s upturned face as she drunk the last bit of moonlight before the sun crested the horizon and took over the skies.
“It’s early. What are you doing up at this hour?” Viktor nuzzled her neck from behind and nibbled her collar.
“I just wanted to enjoy this moment of quiet before the island wakes and the new recruits arrive.” She wiggled her body against his and moaned her desire.
“Recruits is a kinder word than the cattle they are.” He pressed his naked self into her backside, strong arms circled her waist and pulled her close. “We can have a moment of quiet whenever you desire, my goddess. Now, come back to bed and please your god.” He led her back to their bed on the top floor of the Minotaur Corporation.
“I was once one of those cattle you speak of.” She slid in and placed her head on his chest.
“Never. Had your mother never stolen you away, you would have known it.” The sound of his voice a comfort to her as it pulsated next to her ears pressed against him. His words were punctuated with a superiority she had never learned.
“She did it so I could know the world,” Kali murmured.
“She did it because she was scared. She feared us ruling side by side. You’ve seen what we can do apart. The power we have. Now you’re seeing what we could do together.” His hands stroked her hair as he did whenever she lay upon him. “You are my queen. By my side, we will rule forever. Nothing shall tear us apart again.”
“I don’t enjoy having slaves, my king.” She turned her face toward him and stuck out her bottom lip in a pseudo pout.
“We’ve spoken about this. The humans would never welcome us. We’d be hunted as we already have been. Our powers only go so far. We’ve just found one another. Finally, after centuries. Let’s take a breath and figure it all out as we go. We will find a way to be safe and not have slaves, I promise. To rule as we once did because they wish us to and know what’s best for them. But until we figure it all out and that day comes, this is the safest course.” The pad of his thumb stroked her cheek before placing a kiss upon it.
Kali didn’t argue, though her belief in his words eluded her. Wasn’t there a better way? There had to be, and they could find one together. But she wasn’t going to start the day and rehash the same argument they had been having. There wasn’t a solution to be had, yet.
“And Seth?”
“Seth won’t ever walk the earth again in his human form. He has been judged in Duat and sent to Ammit for punishment. You’re safe, my love. Our future children, should we choose to have them, shall be safe. I love you more than life, itself. I’d die a thousand deaths to be with you always as I already have.”
Kali’s smile failed to reach her eyes. She had once wished for children, but the knowledge of what had happened to their
last was still fresh from her rebirth. She needed time to mourn him all over again and to mourn the Osiris of then. He had been torn to pieces and it seemed 5,000 years couldn’t make him as he was before that tragedy.
Kali placed her hands over his on her belly, “One day our son will grow within me and he will be a strong kicker like his older brother had been. He’ll bump against your hand and you will know him.”
Osiris had said words with the same sentiment to her prior to this, in a place far more ancient, but she wouldn’t think upon that outcome. Instead, she would focus ahead on their newly-minted life here in this century and all the challenges they had ahead of them.
“I love you, too, my love,” and she did, with all her heart.
More from Jaclyn Roche
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Charming featured in the Limited Edition
Once Upon Another World: A Twisted Fairy Tale Box Set
In Charming, a runaway Princess escapes a dark fate by being transformed into a boy. She hides as a servant in a brothel, and has a chance meeting with a charming Prince who persuades her to follow him on a quest. Will they escape the clutches of evil, break curses, and find their happily ever after?
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