“He asked me, ‘Are you ready to die, traitor?’ I nodded, but requested that he might hold off on my execution until after I’d killed Set. And he laughed! He told me that perhaps he wouldn’t kill me just yet—that he might have a use for me—and we fled the fortress together. He showed me the truth, and I learned of Nuin’s prophecy and that killing Set would destroy the easiest path to all of his offspring—possible harbingers of the doom predicted in the prophecy.”
I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, but unable to hold in my curiosity, I asked, “Who was he? The man who stopped you, I mean.”
Dominic looked at me quizzically. “Heru, of course.”
“And you’ve been working for him ever since?”
“With him, yes,” he said. “Fighting the good fight, and all that.”
“Thank you for telling me, Dom. I can’t believe what Set did to you and your mom … he … I’ll …”
“I know, Lex. For the first time since my mother’s death, I have family again,” he told me somberly. “Just try not to destroy yourself in the process of destroying him.”
“Do you think he’ll try to use my family against me, like he did with you and your mom?”
Dominic sat up abruptly. “I can’t imagine him not trying that. I’m sorry, Lex … I should have thought of it sooner.”
“Oh my God!” I exclaimed and launched off the bed. “I need to talk to Marcus.”
In seconds, I’d unlocked the door to the sitting room, opened it, and almost run straight into a six-and-a-half-foot wall of hard muscle covered in expensive, exquisitely tailored fabric.
I took a step backward. “Have you been standing here the whole time?” I asked, avoiding his eyes.
“No,” Marcus replied with a voice like silk. “I listened as you wept and then as you fell silent. When I heard nothing for nearly two hours, I left briefly to search for Dom and asked him to check on you.”
He listened to me cry? He stood out there for hours? “Oh, um, thanks.” I finally raised my eyes to his, but he wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was glaring at Dominic, who was still sitting on the bed.
“Dom,” Marcus said, his voice low with warning.
Dominic instantly stood, and I would have been curious about what he’d done to set off Marcus—this time—but there were far more important matters on my mind.
“Marcus … my family,” I said, worry straining the words.
“Ah, yes … I think it’s time for another little meeting.”
Promptly, the three of us, along with four bodyguards, returned to the meeting room downstairs and waited for the others. Carlisle, Josh, Neffe, and Alexander all appeared within ten minutes of our own arrival.
After a long discussion, I made a list of everyone Set could possibly use against me as he’d used Dominic’s mother against him. It wasn’t a long list, consisting of my immediate family, my few aunts, uncles, and cousins, Grandma Suse, a half-dozen friends, Dr. Ramirez, and my cat. I hesitated only a moment before adding Cara to the list. After all, she had only spoken the truth on the witness stand.
“Are you sure that’s everyone?” Alexander asked.
I scanned the list. “Yep.”
“There must be more people you care about,” he insisted. “We need to know every single one, otherwise we won’t be able to protect them.”
“That’s it,” I said, growing self-conscious. I reexamined the short list of people, of the handful of meaningful relationships I’d accumulated over the first twenty-four years of my life. It wasn’t a very impressive list. Why so few? Have I always known I was different? Could others tell?
“But this is barely—”
“Let it go, Alex,” Marcus said quietly.
At his friend’s words, Alexander closed his mouth and studied me. Whatever he found troubled him, creasing his brow and pulling down the corners of his mouth.
“Carlisle,” Marcus said, “set up teams to monitor each person on this list. Dispatch them immediately. They are to report back as soon as they make indirect contact. Under only one circumstance are they to engage with their charge—direct threat from Set or his followers.”
“Yes, Sir,” Carlisle said as he pulled out his cell phone and began texting ferociously.
We spent the rest of the evening brainstorming the possible threats and acts Set might use to coerce my obedience. Until that night, I’d had no idea how many ways a person could be physically, mentally, and emotionally tortured. I felt like I was halfway to cracking under the pressure already, and Set was nowhere in sight.
“Lex, did you hear me?” Marcus asked, squeezing my knee.
“No,” I said, feeling empty. I had the vague impression that everyone was staring at me.
“I know you’re tired, but you can sleep on the plane. This is important. You need to focus,” Marcus urged. I felt him give my knee a shake.
“I … I … it’s …” I couldn’t seem to form a complete thought, couldn’t get a grip on reality. I was stuck in my head, imagining my fingernails being torn out with pliers, or being forced to watch my mom being raped.
“Leave us,” Marcus said quietly, and I heard the sounds of the others exiting the room.
When we were alone, Marcus spun my chair so I faced him. Slowly, his hands slid up my thighs and gripped the swell of my hips, pulling my butt to the edge of the seat. He knelt on the hardwood floor before me, parting my knees and fitting himself between my legs. All numbness—mental and physical—immediately vanished. I became hyperaware of every part of my body, and his.
“I don’t think I can do this,” I said quietly.
He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, “Of course you can. You’re my she-falcon.”
I smiled faintly, and he mirrored the expression.
“This is very important, Lex,” he said softly, his voice somber. “If it comes down to physical torture, you must leave your body and enter the At. You won’t feel the pain there.”
“But what about my body?” My voice was small, childlike.
“It will heal.”
“It will heal if I stay, too.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “But your mind might not.”
“Oh.”
Chastely, he touched his lips to mine. “You are the daughter of two of the most powerful Nejeret lines. You are the Meswett. But most importantly, you are mine.”
Tears welled in my eyes, overflowing at the corners.
With more tenderness than I’d thought possible, Marcus kissed away each salty droplet. “You are mine, and I command you to survive this,” he whispered.
I shook with soft laughter. “There you go again, ordering me around.”
Marcus touched his lips to mine, but all of the chasteness of his previous kiss was gone. “Contrary to what you think, I don’t want to control you,” he said as he pulled away, reclaiming his seat.
I scooted back in my own chair and crossed my legs. “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
Marcus raised an eyebrow. “But … I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t let other men lie on your bed. I don’t want to smell them when I’m in it with you. It should just be the scent of you and me … together.”
My cheeks flushed. “But it was just Dom. He’s my—”
Shaking his head, Marcus took a deep breath. “Sibling relationships are different among our kind, Lex.”
At his implication, I gagged. “Are you saying that brothers and sisters … that Nejerets are incestuous?” I asked Marcus, appalled.
Marcus replied with a question. “Is there incest when the female half of the species cannot procreate? Surely you must have considered that my grandfather—”
“Don’t say it,” I warned, standing and taking several steps away from Marcus.
“—is your great-grandfather through Set—”
I clapped my hands over my ears and closed my eyes, chanting, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”
“—and the same, only a little further removed, t
hrough your mother. Why, that would make us—”
Turning around, I blurted, “Okay! I get it … loud and clear.” I think I’m going to be sick.
“I don’t think you do,” Marcus said, stalking toward me. I stood my ground. How had he gone from tender and caring to such a vicious creature in a matter of seconds? “You’re disgusted. You want me, but now you’re conflicted. You’re concerned with human social norms. Well guess what, Lex? You’re not human. You’re Nejerette. Get used to it and keep Dominic off your bed.”
“Fine,” I agreed, and he actually looked surprised. “But you have to stop ordering me around.”
Raising his hand, Marcus gently stroked the side of my face with the backs of his fingers. Before I could lean into his touch, he clamped his hand around my jaw and clenched his own. “Fine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Do & Damn
I grew up in a middle-class, apple-pie-with-vanilla-ice-cream, American home. On Christmas, a holiday that had no religious significance to my family aside from the worship of one exceptionally jolly, exceptionally fat man, our tree always sheltered a moderately generous cache of presents. Frosty and Max, our family cats, would play with any ornaments they could reach, adding new scratches to those left over from years past. We didn’t buy new, perfect, and shiny baubles to decorate the tree every year, and we didn’t give each other everything we could ever want. We couldn’t afford to. And in a sense, it was something I appreciated—not being handed every little thing I wanted gave me something to work toward.
I was sitting alone on an unbelievably soft, beige leather couch on one of Marcus’s huge, super-luxurious private jets. Marcus had abandoned me to pace while he carried on a heated phone conversation with somebody important, not that I knew who.
While staying at the Heru compound, I’d managed to trick myself into thinking of the chateau and its outbuildings more like a resort than a private residence. But I couldn’t ignore Marcus’s obscene wealth when it was shaped like a metal tube and was hurtling me through the air at breakneck speeds. One of the few things seers were always allowed to look for in the future At was a means to make money. Playing the stock market, investing in business ventures, gambling—it was all Council-approved so long as it bettered Nejeret-kind.
Briefly, I wondered if Alexander was anywhere near as well-off as Marcus, and if he was, why Grandma Suse didn’t live in some opulent mansion. Unless … maybe she didn’t want to? Grandma Suse was a proud, honest woman—a human woman—and I could easily imagine her rejecting Alexander’s money as soon as she’d learned the truth about him and how he gained it … however he had gained it. She probably considered it cheating … an unfair advantage over “normal folks” or something like that.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” Marcus said as he settled beside me, draping his arm over my shoulders.
I rested my head against his chest. “It’s okay.” After a moment, I said, “I didn’t know you could use cell phones on airplanes.”
“Ah … our plane is different.”
When he didn’t explain further, I glanced up at his face—his lips were pressed into an unusually thin line. “What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “All of the people on your list are accounted for and are being monitored … except one.”
“Who?” I asked. I could feel Alexander’s eyes on me from a dozen feet away.
“Your sister.”
I glanced at Kat, who was sitting beside Alexander. “Jenny’s missing?” My brain instantly tried to come up with possible explanations. “She could be … maybe she’s just—”
Marcus held me more tightly against his side. “We have finders looking for her current location in the At. We’re doing our best to figure out where she is and if something has happened to her.”
“Something … ? Like, if she’s been hurt … or … or killed?” I asked, horrified.
He exhaled bitterly. “That is unlikely. She’s useless to Set dead.”
My chest felt like it had been pulverized by a meat tenderizer from the inside out. “He has her, doesn’t he?”
After kissing the top of my head, Marcus released me and I sat up straight. “I think so. Otherwise we would have been able to find her in the At by now.”
“Can I use your phone?” I asked, holding out my hand.
“No, but you can use your phone,” he said, placing a shiny new iPhone in my waiting palm. “It’s already programmed with all of our people as well as everyone on your list.”
I didn’t need pre-programmed contacts to call Jenny, but my hands were shaking so badly that I had to dial her number four times before I got it right. It went straight to voicemail.
“Shit!” I hissed before the beep. “Jenny, call me back as soon as you get this. It’s important, like life-or-death important. There are some things about you and me that I have to tell you. I love you, J.”
As soon as I hit “end” I was dialing another number.
“Hello?”
“Mom—”
“Hi, sweetie!” my mom exclaimed. My chin began trembling at the sound of her voice—an involuntary reaction from all the times she’d comforted me growing up.
“Hey Mom, do—”
“I thought you were flying out today,” she interrupted. “Are you already in Egypt?”
“Uh, yeah, just landed,” I lied. “But—”
“How was it? I always hate those long flights. My legs get so achy.”
“Yeah, it was … long. I’d love to talk, but I really need to know how to get ahold of Jenny. I promise I’ll call you back when I’m settled in.”
“Oh, of course, sweetie. Are you going to try to meet up with her?”
“What?” I asked, instantly confused.
“Jenny. You know, since she’s in the same neighborhood as you?”
What? “Yeah …”
“I bet she’s having the time of her life cruising around the Mediterranean with that new boyfriend of hers.”
Something in my chest clenched. Please let her new boyfriend not be who I think he might be, I thought frantically. “Yep, sounds awesome,” I said. “But, uh, she forgot to give me a way to reach her.” Liar, liar, pants on fire …
“Oh good! You girls will have so much fun together. It’s just what you need to mend things. Now let’s see … I know it’s around here … hmm … did I put it … ah, here it is. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, Mom,” I said, accepting a pen and small notebook from Marcus. I jotted down the numbers and then repeated them back for confirmation. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you soon. Be safe.”
“That’s my line,” she said, laughing softly. “Be safe, Lex. And have fun!”
“Love you, Mom.” I didn’t want to end the call; I wanted to keep talking to her forever.
“I love you too, sweetie. Bye.”
“Bye,” I said and listened as my mom fumbled with the phone, trying to disconnect the call on her end.
Taking a long, deep breath, I dialed the unfamiliar combination of numbers. It seemed to take hours to connect, but finally it rang once … twice …
“Hello, my darling girl.” It was the last voice I wanted to hear. I’d suspected, all the while hoping desperately to be wrong, that Jenny was with Set … her new boyfriend. That is so wrong …
“Where’s my sister?” I asked icily.
Set chuckled. “She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she? She lacks some of your … hmmm … severity. I wonder if Heru is so drawn to you because your eyes are the color of his favorite thing.”
Marcus was as still as a statue beside me, and Alexander joined us, sitting on my opposite side.
“And that would be … ?” I asked.
I could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Blood, as it thickens and dries. Do you really know so little about him, daughter? Perhaps I’ll enlighten you when I see you next.”
Ignoring his taunts, I repeated, “Where’s my sister? If you’ve hurt her …”
“We need
not be enemies, my—”
“Oh, I think we need be,” I said, cutting him off. “Where’s Jenny?”
“Sunning on the deck,” he answered pleasantly. “And if you call again or try to contact her in any other way, I’ll cut her throat.” He hung up.
I dropped the phone on the floor and stood. Numbly, I hurried past a handful of Nejerets to the large bathroom in the rear of the jet, locking myself inside. As soon as I looked at the toilet, I fell to my knees and vomited. My stomach heaved until it was empty, and then dry-heaved a few more times for good measure.
Still crumpled on my knees, I flushed the toilet, trying to get rid of the smell, then searched the drawers and compartments in the bathroom until I found what I needed.
I took my time, brushing my hair, rinsing my face with cold water, and cleaning my teeth with enthusiasm. I remembered the thousands of times I’d gone through similar morning and nighttime routines, shoulder to shoulder with Jenny as we shared the sink in our bathroom. We’d been so close when we were little girls. How did we let ourselves drift so far apart?
Suddenly, I felt overwhelming determination to find my sister … to save her from Set. I had begun mending things with her over the holidays, and I wouldn’t let her die without finishing what I’d started. She was my sister—if Set hurt her, I would do my damndest to make him pay.
I emerged from the lavatory with a plan. Marcus was waiting for me just outside, leaning against the opposite wall. I blinked in surprise, then grabbed his hand and pulled him into the rear bedroom cabin and closed the door, shutting out dozens of sets of prying eyes. I led him to the foot of the bed, then sat down. He followed suit.
Reaching behind me, he began rubbing my neck, somehow knowing I was developing a monster of a headache. I slouched, letting his fingers work their temporary magic and murmuring, “Mmm …”
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