“I had to raise the stakes.”
“For whom?” I said, exasperated.
She sighed. “For you. I question your motives. Do you really want to rule with me, or will you try to go behind my back and free her the first chance you get?”
“If I heal her, I die, and I don’t want that. Regardless of my motives, know that I don’t ever want to give her up.”
My sister narrowed her eyes. “Very well. I suppose that’s all I can expect for now.”
She was quiet for a moment and then turned to look out at a vast expanse of dunes. They stretched, burnt and golden as far as the eye could see. “I always felt sorry for you, Tageset. You were groomed for the throne, but cursed never to see your destiny; usurped by an illegitimate child who came from nothing. At least Mother had the foresight to have us trained by the sorcerers. It saved your life in the end. You wouldn’t have survived this long without their teachings.”
“I know,” I admitted. Sekhmet was right. I would have died in Egypt alongside my siblings if I hadn’t taken an interest in sorcery.
“Good. Don’t forget that we are the last. We can survive together. Forever.” With those words, she walked to the golden tent and disappeared inside.
I needed to talk to Porschia, but first I needed to feed her. She weakened a little more with each passing second, and eventually the arid climate would kill her. The Infection within her would weaken her body and would soon become more dominant than her vampire half. In this place, she would slowly shrivel. I could see it beginning in the way she licked her cracked lips, the way her voice would crack as if she just needed a single drink of water to quench her thirst. But one drink would never be enough here.
Inside the dark tent, the others spoke and tried to dream up ways to get out of this place; but there was no way out, except through me or Sekhmet. I’d made myself invisible and strode straight to Porschia, who was alone on the chaise, looking paler than ever, if not a little green. I appeared before her in an instant and then made an invisible, rounded wall around us, impervious to sound or harm. The others figured out what had happened a moment too late, not that they could’ve stopped me. They beat upon the outside of the barrier completely in vain, their fists falling upon the impenetrable barrier but making no sound. We were alone.
“What do you want, Tageset?” she said wearily, enunciating my name. “Here to finish me off?”
“I’m here with a peace offering,” I answered, and revealed a hare in my hands. I stroked his soft fur, calming him. “Drink and eat,” I said, handing the animal to her. She wasted no time sinking her teeth into the hide. I knew her petite teeth could pierce it. That was why I chose him. Plus, my kitten loved rabbit.
She drank until there was no more blood left and then tore a leg off before stripping it of the pelt and biting into the meat. I watched as she groaned in delight, reveling in the taste and feel of food, fullness, and of a thirst finally quenched.
“You’ve forgotten your manners, kitten.” I smiled. “Where’s my thank you?”
“I’ll thank you when you and your sister heal me and let my family leave this awful place.”
“That’s not an option right now.”
She curled her lip. “Because Sekhmet says so? What happened to your balls, Tage? Does she have them, too?”
“You have so much fight in you.”
“No I don’t,” she said, stopping her assault on the hare. “You don’t see it, but I’ll die here, Tage. I won’t last a month.”
“The heat won’t harm you. I can even make it more temperate, if you’d like. I’ll provide you with all the food you need.”
She huffed, “You just don’t get it, do you? I don’t want to be a bird in a cage, some kind of pet for you to keep as long as you’re entertained. I need more than just a better temperature and food. I need to live. I need my family, but not here. I need them to lead lives of their own and to be a part of those lives.”
“You need me. You need us. I can give you all the love you’ll ever need. Just let me try to make this work.”
“I don’t need you like this! And I can’t live like this either, Tage.”
She was frustrating. I sat on the end of her chaise and watched her recoil from my touch. “I’m still Tage, and I still love you. Just because I didn’t tell you everything about my past, doesn’t mean that what I felt wasn’t genuine.”
“Sekhmet says it was all a game to you, and based on how you’re acting now, I have to believe her. You never loved me, Tage. You only loved yourself. And the evidence is that you’d rather damn the whole world for the sake of your selfishness. I swear to you Tage – if you do that, I’ll hate you as long as I live.”
My heart stalled for a minute. I swallowed. Could I live with her hatred? I saw what it did to Saul.
“Just heal me,” she pleaded. “Heal me and let everyone go.”
I stood up. Enough.
“Wait,” she said. “Isn’t that what your father was told? To let the slaves go? It’s history repeating itself, Tage, and you have a chance right now to do what should have been done back then! You can change all of this and make the world better...if you have the backbone to do it!” She stood up, dropping my offering to her.
“You don’t know what you’re asking of me,” I pleaded.
“I’m asking you to do what your father’s pride wouldn’t allow him to. I’m asking you to have balls and do what’s right, despite your sister or history or anything else. It’s your turn, Tage. You have to make a decision, but remember whatever you choose, we all have to live with the consequences.” She sat back down. “I hope you’re as brave as I think you are.”
I wasn’t. I wasn’t that brave at all. I’d already run from my kingdom, my duties, my family, my life. But in running, I found her, and she became everything to me. Now she was asking me to let her go, and I wasn’t strong enough to do it. I was weak.
She looked at me and moved closer. “I still see you. I see your heart, and as black as I thought it was when we met, I know it’s not black at all. You are good, Tage. You just have to believe it. Don’t let her ruin you. Don’t let her darkness smother your light. This isn’t you. It might have been you thousands of years ago, but it’s not the Tage I know.”
Her hand brushed my face and I closed my eyes.
And disappeared.
Dropping the barrier around her.
“What the hell was that?” Mercedes asked, throwing her arms around my neck. “Did he feed you? What did he say? It didn’t seem like he hurt you. Did he hurt you?”
“I’m not hurt.” Physically.
“What’s that?” Saul pointed at my feet. Just beside my toes was a piece of paper.
Picking up the paper, I unfolded it. In bleeding black ink were the words: My brother will never let you go.
“She was listening.” I held up the scrap of paper for everyone to see.
Ford cursed. “They can make themselves invisible. She was probably in there with you two the whole time.”
Saul ripped the paper out of my hands and tore it in two with his teeth. He was fuming. “She’s probably here now. Listen, you ancient bitch! We’re done with you!”
Sekhmet’s laughter filled the air, a ghostly quality that made it echo through the room. “Big words for a simple vampire boy,” she taunted.
An enormous cat appeared, its fur black as night. It stalked forward as we inched back until our backs hit the tent wall behind us. The feline jumped at Saul, knocked him to the ground, and licked his face once. Suddenly, the creature morphed into Sekhmet herself. She straddled Saul, barely clad. “I am not a bitch, young Saul. You should watch your tongue. I might just decide to tear it out.”
He panted as she moved her hands over his torso and then he cried out, sweat bursting into beads on his forehead.
“Get off him!” I screamed, knocking her onto the sand beside him.
She sniffed the air, blotting at her busted lip. I knew she would bleed. Someone just had to m
ake her. She laughed once and stood up. “That… was a big mistake. You see, my brother believes you should live. He and I could rule the masses with our powers of healing, except for you. If we healed you, the people wouldn’t need us. That damned prophecy,” she huffed. “You are the factor we need to remove from the equation. And right now, I think you should die.”
She spelled the others, freezing them into place so they were unable to combat her, and then pounced at me and clawed at my face. Though frozen, they could still speak. Saul yelled for Tage, who appeared between me and Sekhmet in an instant.
“She isn’t expendable, Sekhmet. Learn to control your impulses!”
He caught her wrist as she began to shoot some sort of gold, glittery magic into the air. It swirled around me, tightening around my body like a coiling serpent. “We don’t need her!” she fumed.
“I need her!” he shouted.
She stopped spouting the golden magic and stared at him. “You need me, not her,” she said softly, seductively. Sekhmet pushed the hair from his face tenderly, but he moved away from her. “You need me, Tageset,” she repeated, more firmly this time. “We are the last of our kind.”
“We are siblings, Sekhmet,” Tage answered stiffly.
I was going to be sick.
“The old ways—”
“Never mind the past. Is that all you can think about? You’ve lived thousands of years since then. The old ways don’t matter anymore!”
In a flash, they were gone, and we were no closer to figuring out how to leave this place – this tent, the sand, the magic – as we were when we first got here. The sun through the fabric shifted suddenly toward what I assumed was the west, and then sank beneath the horizon. The air was still except for the sound of locusts. I wondered if they were from The Sand or if their echo from the forest in our world could resonate here. Maybe this place was thin and delicate. Maybe escape was possible, if only we could make our way outside.
“What if we dig under the walls?” Ford asked quietly.
Roman perked up. “It’s worth a try.” He grinned at Mercedes. “I’ll help him. You and Saul dig over there,” he pointed across the space to the opposite tent wall.
“No way in hell,” she spat, running over to help the pair of them, positioning herself between them.
“What is going on?” I asked Saul.
“No clue, but I think your sister might eat Roman if he keeps it up. We’re all pretty hungry.”
“I’m sorry. He should have fed you, too.”
Saul waved it off, but I could tell that he was already faltering again. He didn’t get much sustenance from Sekhmet.
For hours they fought to dig a hole that the sand kept falling back into, but they could never find the bottom of the walls that enclosed us. “This is pointless,” Saul said, holding his arm out. I clasped hands with him and hoisted him out, then Ford. Mercedes helped Roman. When we turned around, all the furniture in the tent was gone, replaced with a circle of enormous beds.
Silently, I thanked Tage. Sekhmet wouldn’t have cared if we slept on the sand. In the center of the circle of black sheeted mattresses was a table with water, a few pitchers of what smelled like blood, a cooked hen surrounded by vegetables for Ford, and a raw one on a long, white platter next to it for me. Everyone rushed to the bounty and began to feed from what they needed most. We didn’t know when we’d eat or drink again. Sekhmet was unstable, yet powerful enough to deny us anything she wanted.
The dry heat was affecting everyone, and so was the feeling of finally-full stomachs. That night, when everyone’s breathing became steady, when even the night-walkers needed rest, I stared at the flowing dark fabric above me and wished to speak with Tage. As if he heard me, he appeared beside me, his finger over his lips. His familiar hand filled mine. “Come with me?”
I nodded and removed the sheet that covered me. In an instant, we were standing outside. The air was fresh and the sand was blissfully cool beneath my feet. The night sky looked as thick as tar and the stars twinkled, happily trapped inside it. “I had to see you,” he whispered, squeezing my hand.
“I wanted to see you, too.” It was difficult for me to admit it, but I wanted to talk to him. My feelings were all over the board, ranging from blissful love to blinding hatred, and he could feel them all through the bond. In the darkness, he looked like the night-walker I’d come to fear, then befriend, and finally love. Some colonists called them night-dwellers, believing for the longest time that the sunshine affected them in some awful way. It didn’t unless they were newly changed, but in this setting, on the sand at night, the name fit him. He was as intense as the night, broody and exotic. The night fit him. It became him.
“What about Sekhmet?” I asked, wondering if she was around.
“She won’t bother us tonight.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I just am. You have to trust me,” he pleaded. His eyes, the ones I’d known as a crystal blue were gone, replaced by ones even more beautiful. I didn’t know it was possible. They were like honey trapped in glass, threaded with gold and strength.
I squeezed his hand once. “Okay.” I trusted him more than his sister. I knew he never wanted to hurt me or see me harmed in any way. He lied about who he was and it hurt my feelings, because although he said he loved me, I wondered if maybe that was just part of the act to lure me in. He had lied about his identity for so long, maybe he forgot who he was.
Leading me away from the tent, long-trunked trees suddenly sprouted in front of us, a whole forest of them. They only had a few leaves each, but they were beautiful. “Palm trees,” he offered.
I couldn’t stop staring up at them. The warm wind tickled their leaves, creating a dry, rustling sound.
“Where are we going?”
“This is my own private place inside The Sand. I wanted to talk to you without being overheard or interrupted,” he said.
I appreciated that more than he knew. Between Saul and my brother and sister, there was no way to keep a conversation private. Mercedes was able to whisper to me while trying to dig a hole beneath the tent that Roman knew about Pierce. He hadn’t tried to kill me yet, but if I knew Roman, revenge weighed heavily on his mind. He was being quiet, which wasn’t like him. I couldn’t blame him.
In the middle of the forest of palm trees was another clearing, and inside the clearing was a small house made out of palm trees thatched together into a roof and smooth, earthen walls. “This is amazing, Tage.” Candles flickered from within, spreading their warm glow into the night.
He tugged me forward when my feet stopped of their own accord, a brilliant smile spreading across his face. This was him. This was Tage. Genuine and happy for a moment.
Inside the cozy house there were lush furnishings; couches, pillows, blankets, tables, and a large canopied bed draped with sheer white fabric.
“Is this where you’ve been staying?”
“Yes. This is where I hide away when I get too frustrated to stay around my sister. You want to sit down?” he asked, motioning toward a couch.
I gave him a small smile. “Sure.” Were things ever awkward with Tage? Even when he creeped me out the first time I met him, they weren’t awkward. My feelings were vibrant, even when they were negative.
He sat beside me and let out a long breath. “Can I hold you for a sec?”
Nodding, I sank into his open arms and breathed him in. He smelled different, like sweet spices and something rich and dry, but his arms felt the same. His heart beat in the same distinct rhythm, and I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that it had beat this way for centuries.
“Tage?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m perfect, kitten.”
I shook my head and pulled away from his embrace. “I mean with Sekhmet. I’m worried about you.”
He furrowed his brows. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”
“Your other siblings... What happened
to them?”
He swallowed, then answered simply, “She killed them.”
“She’ll try to kill you,” I said. That was one thing I understood about crazy; it was determined as hell.
“I know. I’m ready for her.”
But how could he be ready? How could he know when she would strike? How could he prepare for an attack when he didn’t know what strategy she’d use this time?
“Calm down, kitten. I can hear your heart racing.”
“You seemed so…human before. When I met you at the rotation, the first time you fed from me, you seemed like a night-walker.”
“I am a vampire.”
“Yes, but you seemed like a new one.”
“I wasn’t really in Frenzy. I know I let everyone believe that, but I needed to see if you were truly human. Taste is one of the most sensitive senses we have, but I couldn’t smell rot on you. I didn’t see fangs when I saw you across the pavilion, but I knew your face.”
“So you knew it was going to happen if it hadn’t already?”
I could feel him exhale deeply. “Yes. I didn’t know what you’d be like, and I certainly didn’t expect you to be afraid me, but you trembled when I approached. I could feel the pavement beneath your feet quiver ever so slightly. I thought you might somehow know about the prophecy, or be lying about being a hybrid just to stay in Blackwater. But when I tasted you, I knew the change hadn’t happened yet.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me who, or what, you were?”
“I had to wait for the change to happen, and then for you to calm down. You had people around you all the time, but even then it wouldn’t have mattered. If we were going to heal you, my sister had to be present. She had to find you, too. So I bided my time. I knew she’d come eventually, and thought we might have years before she showed up. Then I got to know you. My fascination quickly turned to infatuation, and you showed me something I’d never been able to allow myself to do.”
“What’s that?” I looked up, watching his thick, dark lashes fan the skin beneath his eyes.
Fraud (The Frenzy Series Book 5) Page 5