“Kill her! Kill the bitch.” Ridley screamed still struggling in the bedding.
“Will you shut it!” he threw over his shoulder. “She doesn’t mean it, Great Goddess.”
Hathor sighed and withered a bit in her chair. “I’m afraid she does. She, more than anyone else, has a right to her anger.”
EJ glimpsed Hathoria Gregory, the woman he knew, beneath Hathor’s flickering façade. Hathor straightened her shoulders. Her visage tightened and all traces of Hathoria vanished. “Ridley Cross, come forth and address me.”
“Only if I get to kill you.”
A whisper of a smile flittered over Hathor’s lips. She glanced at EJ. “Stubborn little girl, I like her. She’s exactly what you need. You have my approval.”
Mouth gaping, EJ choked. He refused to address her last statement. “You like her?”
Ridley finally freed herself from the bedding and stomped over to them. “You die today. If I have to gnaw through your regal neck with my teeth. You. Will. Die.”
What the? “Ridley!” EJ hissed. “She saved us from Sakhmet. Show her some respect.”
“Respect?” Ridley’s head cranked around on her neck. “She’s the goddess who cursed my entire line.”
Ridley’s words had EJ’s brain tilting. He spun and faced Hathor and studied her without his usual reverence.
Her eyes went flat and distant as she stared at Ridley. “You remind me of someone.”
“Did that someone kick your ass?”
“Actually, that someone…is me.” The goddess sighed and seemed to wither in her seat.
That gave him something to think about. “Is that true?”
“Yes.” The Goddess met his gaze with an unblinking stare.
That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. Next to him, Ridley vibrated with anger. In front of him, Hathor sat, the embodiment of serenity. “Want to tell us why?”
Hathor rose, slowly moved to the edge of the circle, and stared outside at the field of flowers surrounding the room. “Sakhmet knows only one thing. She is a weapon. She is—”
“The Destroyer. The Lion of Ra.” EJ nearly growled. “She was proud of that little fact. Then she tried to prove the point by leaving us in pieces.” Being pissed off wouldn’t get him answers. He had to calm down.
“Answer the question!” Ridley actually paced—slowly.
Hathor pivoted, her linen sheath rustling in distress. “I brought you here to save your life, and to show you something. It is imperative you understand and warn the others. Follow me.” Hathor stepped off the platform, into the field and vanished.
EJ rushed to follow, but Ridley blocked his path. “Where are you going?”
“I’m following her.”
She got in his face. “No! We. Are. Not.”
God save him from stubborn women. “Hathor has answers, answers that you need for yourself and—”
“I want nothing from that woman.”
He grabbed her shoulders and stopped short of shaking the shit out of her. “For Josie then. Get the answers you need for her.”
Ridley’s shoulders sagged though the jut of her chin didn’t decrease. She jerked out of his arms and marched into the field without waiting for him.
“Where the hell are we?” EJ heard Ridley say when he joined them on the other side.
“You are inside a memory… my memory,” Hathor’s tight voice contained a wealth of emotion that made EJ worry.
“Why?” Ridley snapped, her hands fisted on her hips.
Hathor whipped around, her fist clenched, sparks flying from her eyes. “The breach of Duat is not the only catastrophe facing the descendants. Be silent and observe.”
They stood in another circular room. From the wall to the floor, smooth gold to beaten gold covered nearly every surface. Lying on an altar, the creature struggled against the restraints holding it. Its many-mouthed head snapped at the Gods and Goddesses arranged around the room. Blood soaked its fur, making the color indistinguishable. The mouths were of many creatures. A jackal, crocodile, leopard, the laugh of a hyena rang from one drooling mouth and the mane of a lion circled the thick neck. The forefeet were those of a falcon while its hind part was of a cheetah. Its cobra tail lashed out, flashing its fangs at the gathered gods. Horrifying and hypnotic, EJ couldn’t tear his vision away.
A miniature Sun descended from heavens. Even though it was a memory, Hathor basked in the blinding rays. Like flowers in a field, the rest of the gods turned toward the sphere. Even the beast was silenced as the bright orb lowered to the floor. The light shrank to an infinitesimal point, then blinked. In its place, appeared a diminutive, baldheaded man.
Leather-skinned, he was neither old nor young. He seemed to be both at the same time. In his hand, a gold staff with a crystal emblem of the sun at the top.
Ra. The name blasted through EJ’s head.
The beast slobbered and snapped.
“Enough!” Ra pounded the staff into the floor and a shudder rolled through the room. “Resume your form.”
Bones cracked, shifted, and retracted. The many mouths closed and disappeared as fur shed and pink skin appeared. A woman, naked and glorious, rose from the table. Skin the color of copper, limbs long, and full, shapely breasts, with hips deliciously flared. Blood smeared her lips and cheeks. The vital fluid dripped from her hand onto the floor. She raised her fingers to her lips and licked each one clean, her grin feral between flicks of her tongue.
EJ’s blood chilled. The grin reminded him of Alamut. All teeth. The face…Hathor’s.
No, not quite Hathor. No softness, no warmth, her face was a study in angles. With freshly cleaned hands, the woman approached Ra. He waved and she halted in mid-step.
“Explain yourself, Sakhmet,” Ra demanded.
“She loved him. I could not tolerate it.” Agitated, her hair squirmed on top of her head.
“You killed the entire village. Four thousand humans over a single male?”
“She loved him!” Sakhmet screamed and lunged, but she could go nowhere. “I loved him! We both could not have him. So I killed him.”
“Who is she talking about?” Ridley whispered.
“Sakhmet speaks of me. She speaks of what she did to me.” Hathor replied.
“But you are, were, her. So you did this to yourself?” Ridley said.
Hathor nodded solemnly.
Ra circled Sakhmet, more predator than supreme God. “You slayed them all. You did not have permission to cleanse a village. I gave no permission for this slaughter!”
Eyes blank. Tone flat. “I am your Destroyer. What I did was as natural as the Sun warming the earth. I killed.”
“Hurt because of the softness inside you. You found love and destroyed a landscape and a people to exterminate a perceived weakness. Twenty thousand years from now those humans would have populated every inch of this earth. One nation serving Ra. You have destroyed more than you shall ever comprehend or understand. For that, you shall suffer.” Ra raised his staff.
Sakhmet screamed and fell to the floor. Twisted and bent, she contorted on the ground. Her head and limbs banged against the floor until her blood ran free. She gouged her flesh, flung the chunks across the room. A river of blood poured out of her. From her face, her breast, arms and thighs, she stripped her bones clean until a scarred skeleton remained. She lay on the ground, her empty eye sockets somehow fixed on her master.
Nu stepped forward and gathered the blood and flesh with a sweep of her hand. She piled the mess on the altar. Light poured from the heavens and coated the viscera. With a few ancient words, a form grew from the mush. A head, neck and shoulder, breast and abdomen, pelvis and thighs. A woman floated off the altar. She went to Sakhmet and helped the decimated goddess to her feet.
Opposite in every way. Sakhmet was now a pale, waxen figure of walking death. This new creature was divine. Her hair, dark as midnight yet shimmery. Her body, chestnut toned. She opened her eyes; they were the color of the amber struck by the sun. They wer
e almost too bright to gaze upon. She was a duplicate of what Sakhmet used to be—only better. Curves more rounded, skin more lustrous, a sensual feast for the eyes as opposed to Sakhmet’s harsh beauty.
“You are Hathor, born from this Destroyer; you are the Goddess of Love and Healing. You are the goodness she rejected in her quest not to love anything with the exception of death.” Nu named her. Hathor bowed low.
“And you Sakhmet exist only because she exists. She perishes; you perish. Your life is bound to hers and hers to yours. That should be enough to control you, yet it does not repay the damage you have done to my legacy.” Ra spoke.
A bolt of plain brown linen materialized in Nu’s hands. Four strips of the cloth snaked across the distance between the two goddesses. The cloth wrapped each limb, met in the middle of her torso and wove together into an interlocking pattern to cover every inch of her lithe body. Except her face. The strips swayed, waiting for permission to proceed.
Ra floated close to Sakhmet. “I would have been the Sun they worshipped.” He almost said to himself. “Now…no more.”
He became the glowing orb, rising again to the sky. “You shall be buried Sakhmet. Your name forgotten. Your worshipers shall now worship Hathor. You shall rejuvenate. Without the rays of Ra, it will take you centuries of pain and scaring until you are whole. And when you are whole, you will still be buried. Buried forever in the dark. That is the punishment you will endure and deserve.” With his final words, Ra winked out of existence.
Hathor turned to Sakhmet and embraced her. “Sister” was the first word she uttered.
Sakhmet yanked away and sneered, “Born from my flesh, yet you are a nothing to me. I am nothing to you. The time will come when I shall be free to destroy everything you love.” She began to sink into the ground. “Everything you love will die by my hand Goddess of Love. Remember me, sister. Remember, Sakhmet.”
The wraps covered her face, muffling the rest of her final words.
The scene faded and they were back inside the bedroom.
Hathor turned to EJ and Ridley. Her eyes haunted, her cheeks sunken, she swayed and leaned against a pillar. “Now you know.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Avery stared out of the windows of the great room, seeing none of the beautiful landscape. His focus was internal, not external. On his Ink. Now that he’d lowered all his shields and accessed what he absorbed, things began making sense. Not everything he accessed. There was still a vast amount of information he had yet to sift through. However, the little knowledge he gained… he now understood his role as The God of Chaos, the power, and the responsibility.
Yet, with all the knowledge and clarity, he was still a hollow man. It had been too long since he’d last seen Emeline. Now he knew how a junkie felt giving up the drug of choice. His skin itched, a sign his Ink was on the move. It sensed his weakness and pushed his control, testing him.
He didn’t have the luxury of losing control. Luxury…wrong choice of words. Nothing luxurious about wallowing in pain while trying to hold it together.
Ink crawled up his neck.
Avery tracked its movements in his reflection on the window, annoyed at the itch it left behind. He closed his eyes to will it away.
Ember’s laughter competed with the yipping of Gypsy as the puppy chased after her. At least someone was happy.
“Hi, everyone.”
Emeline’s voice jerked Avery around. One glance and his guts went loopy. Damn! Her cream-colored sweater dress clung to her curves and flared at her hips. She had her hair pulled back away from her beautiful face, and she wore that berry-something lipstick he adored on her full lips. She stared at him, her hazel eyes shifted down the length of his body in a tangible caress.
“Emeline! God, you’re radiant.” Stella rushed over and hugged her. She whispered something in Emeline’s ear, which caused both women to chuckle.
A chorus of hey and hi issued from the family, though everyone kept their distance. Hesitant, she stepped closer to him. Her hands were clenched, her body tight, her beautiful face tense.
“Would you care for a drink, Miss Gamble? Perhaps a glass of wine?” Hector asked.
A dry half chuckle escaped, and she shook her head. “No thanks, Hector.” She took another step toward Avery. Her hazel eyes finally met his.
“Hi.” Sounded gruff. He wanted to say more, yet that was all he could manage.
She licked her lips. “Can I speak to you…alone?”
His gut tightened as if punched. He nodded. Yeah, let’s get this over with. As he followed her out of the room, down the hallway to the solarium, images of the rest of his life without her flashed through his brain. He had to tell her how he felt, try one last time. She beat him to the punch.
“I have something to say, and I don’t want to you interrupt me. Okay?” Her hands twisted in the folds of her knit dress.
Not okay. He didn’t want to agree. His head bobbed up and down anyway.
She moved deeper into the room, walking slowly as if that would help her with the words. “I’ve been a fool, and you were right. I blamed Ridley for everything that happened when Grand was far from innocent. I found out a lot about my wonderful grandfather.”
“Like what?” He couldn’t stop himself from speaking.
She waved her hand. “I didn’t come here to talk about him. I came here to talk about us.”
Us. The word gave him the smallest bit of hope.
“I’m not the smartest person in the world. If I were, I wouldn’t have pushed away from the only person who ever gave me all of their heart without reservation. I don’t know what you see in me.” She ran a shaky hand down her dark hair. “I’ll probably never understand why you care about me.”
She’s ending us.
“I gave you an ultimatum, made you choose between me and your brother. I knew that would kill you, and I didn’t care. My dead family was more important than your living family. Stupid. So stupid.” She stared into the dark backyard.
He took a step toward her. Emeline spun and held up her hand, stopping him in his tracks.
“Let me finish, please.” She sighed and smoothed her hands down her stomach and hips. “Family. Until a short while ago…” She swallowed. “After Grand’s death, I felt—thought all my family was dead and gone. I didn’t, couldn’t think past that. Didn’t think of the future. Only of my immediate needs. For that, I need you to forgive me. Can you?”
“Yes,” he said with no hesitation, yet her eyes questioned his sincerity. “I love you,” he blurted. “You mean more to me than anything else in my life.”
“Don’t say that.”
Huh? What did she mean don’t say that? “Don’t say what?”
“EJ is important, and you shouldn’t have to choose between him and me. I was wrong to ask you to do that.”
Relief coursed through him, and he approached her cautiously as one would a newly tamed tiger. “And Ridley?” For as long as EJ and Ridley were an item, she would be in their lives.
Emeline sucked in a slow breath and smoothed the cable pattern of her dress over the flat plane of her abdomen. “Some things you have to let go of. I’m working on forgiving her, for EJ’s sake and mine. If I’m going to move forward into my future, I can’t hold onto the hate. It’ll poison me and everything I love. It does help that I no longer believe she is completely responsible for Grand’s death. My grandfather made his own choices.”
Hope burning brighter, Avery reached for her. Cautiously, he gathered her in his arms. Her butterscotch scent enveloped him. He dropped his head to the crook of her neck and reveled in her softness.
“I love you, Avery.” Her voice was husky and low. “I don’t want to live this life without you.”
“I won’t live this life without you.”
Gently, she extricated herself from his arms and touched his face. “Do you forgive me? I need to hear the words.”
“Yes, I forgive you.” He kissed her, wanted to take it deeper. Wanted to fin
d somewhere private, strip her, and reacquaint himself with all her curves, but she broke away much too soon and buried her face in his shoulder. She held him tight, so tight she seemed frightened.
“Sweetheart, I’m…”
Her voice was muffled. He couldn’t be sure what she said, though it sounded like… Emeline pulled away enough to peer into his eyes. Feeling like his world hung in the balance, Avery stared into her face, waiting for his emotional dam to burst.
“I’m pregnant,” she repeated.
His head rang and quickly dulled to the drone of a thousand bees. The room tilted.
“Avery? Avery!”
One second he was on his feet, the next, he was seated with his head between his knees, sucking in air, as if he’d never breathed a day in his life. At least six sets of feet swam into view. He focused on one particular pair. Voices—the sounds of Roman, Reign, Thane, Quin, Brayden, Stella and Alexis—competed with Emeline’s urgent whisper. It didn’t matter what was said, only that everyone shut the hell up.
His head shot up. “You’re pregnant?” Did he shout? He must’ve because the room quieted.
Emeline crouched in front of him. Her beautiful face radiant, yet worry filled her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.
He grabbed her and leaped to his feet. “I’m gonna be a father?” His hand touched her lower abdomen, already connected to the life growing there. It wasn’t as flat as it appeared. There was a definite roundness that wasn’t previously there.
“Yep.” She giggled and nodded at the same time.
He was about to ask when, but suddenly he remembered that night. “After Grand died?” he whispered.
“Yeah.” Her smile waned. “Life and death, then life again. Grand would be happy about the next generation.”
“How long have you known?”
“About two days.”
A knot of dread speared him, yet he held onto her, suddenly afraid. “Why’d you wait so long to tell me?”
Encore (Descendants of Ra: Book 4) Page 28