I closed my eyes and my heart tore.
I felt such love and passion with Doren. I loved him. Now this man was telling me I loved him as well, and the memories in my mind confirming it.
Taotin brushed a tear from my cheek I didn’t know had fallen. “You remember.”
“Some of it,” I breathed. “I . . . I need time to understand.”
He stood with a nod of his head. “I imagine you are exhausted after today’s events. Shall I show you to your room?” He motioned a hand to the doorway, his other tucked behind his back.
“May I take this with me?” I asked, holding up the book.
“It is yours. Certainly.”
I didn’t remember how I got to the lavish room, I was too distracted to pay attention. When Taotin opened the door, Seymour was curled up in the middle of the bed. I gasped and crouched. “Seymour!”
He bounded from the bed and leapt into my arms. He licked my face, whining and wiggling. “You were lost! I was scared I lost you!”
“How did you get here?” I asked.
“The demons took me to that man. I don’t like him.”
I looked up at Taotin. “How did you find him?”
He nodded once. “It’s a bit complicated. I had some men looking for you ever since you were reincarnated. Some of them got a little excited about the dog. They’re rather attached to furry creatures.”
I picked the beagle up and carried him to the bed. “Thank you for keeping him safe.”
Taotin left, and I climbed to the center of the bed. I flipped through the pages of the ancient book for answers. Answers to a past that shouldn’t have been affecting my present but were. I should have been worrying about finals coming up next month, or I should have been out at movie night with my friends.
Friends.
“Collin!” I gasped, dropping the book. How could I have forgotten Taotin’s threat?
“Taotin!” I shouted, then scrambled out of the bed and rushed to fling open the door. Only it didn’t budge. It was locked so securely, no matter how hard I pulled, the door didn’t even jar.
I heard a click and the door opened. Taotin looked down at me. “Yes?”
“Collin. Swear to me you didn’t hurt him,” I snapped. “That you let him go!”
His black eyebrow rose. “There’s nothing to worry about. The boy is in good health and home with his lovely little plaything.”
“His girlfriend,” I said sharply. “You don’t need to speak about women like that.”
The corner of Taotin’s lip lifted. “I apologize. Do you need anything else? A change of clothing, perhaps?” He eyed my body.
I felt my lips tighten. “No.” I slammed the door shut on his face. I reached up and released my hair from the braid squeezing my scalp and massaged my temples.
Taotin wanted me to believe I loved him.
Doren wanted me to believe the same.
All I knew for sure was I was a sorceress caught between two men, and my choice would impact the future. Should I choose Taotin, would his anger stop with me? His search for power? Or would he only pursue more because he had me in control?
If I chose Doren, set him free . . . would Doren leave once he obtained that freedom?
I sunk onto the bed again, and Seymour curled up against my side. “What do I do?”
Chapter 23
Doren
I found myself on my knees in the study of the magi. Jesse leaned against his desk, an indiscernible frown on his face, and I could sense Oliver in the room as well. I knew something bad was about to happen. I could read that much on Jesse’s face.
He finally let a breath out through his nose. “Taotin has approached us with a deal.”
I swallowed, drawing as slow a breath I could manage. “Why would you do that?”
“To ensure our future,” Oliver chimed in.
I turned to look at him.
His eyes were focused on my bloody back. “What happened to you?”
“Taotin’s djinn tried to kill me. So, I killed him.” I looked back to Jesse, who was holding my painting. My stomach dropped. “Me?” I asked.
He nodded solemnly. “We give you to him, and he won’t kill any more magi. It’s an offer we can’t refuse.”
I shook my head. “You know he will never keep his promise.”
Koltic and Adomal appeared.
Jesse handed my painting to Koltic, who smirked down at me.
Adomal pulled me to my feet, causing me to grimace at the explosion of pain through my back and lung. “Say bye-bye to your old masters.”
I punched him in the nose.
He staggered, losing his hold on me, but I held myself upright. He glared at me. “You’re going to regret that.”
“Just take me to Taotin,” I said back.
He practically bore his teeth at me.
Koltic grabbed my other arm, and the two of them transported me from Jesse and Oliver into Taotin’s dark palace.
The man stood in front of a fireplace, and smirked when he saw me. “Take him down to the cellar and chain him up. I’ll take Zenja down in the morning.”
“You better not have laid a hand on her,” I said.
He slowly raised his eyebrow and accepted my painting from Koltic. “I now own you. Let’s see what fun we have, shall we?”
Chapter 24
Gwen
My dreams were flooded with conflicting images of Taotin taking me to a picnic by the river and Doren sneaking me out at night.
How had I met Doren?
What if Taotin was right and Doren had really manipulated my heart? No, what I felt for him now was very real.
My gaze moved to the door, and I wondered if it was still locked.
I climbed off the bed and found a clean set of clothes folded at the foot. My lips curled in a sneer. Taotin had come in when I’d been asleep to leave them behind along with a note telling me to wash up and join him for breakfast.
I needed answers, and if I had to endure breakfast, I would.
When I had washed all the sand from me, I unfolded the clothes to find it to be a flowing dress. The flashes of the sequins reminded me of the first night I took my position at Taotin’s side in front of the royal subjects. His hand had held mine, and my heart had raced with nerves and adoration.
He’d turned to me as we sat and whispered, “Don’t worry. This is only a formality. This entire night is about you. Enjoy it.” He had brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them, eyes alight with joy.
I dropped the dress on the floor, throat tightening.
I wasn’t a dress kind of girl. I never had been. At least, not in this life. I turned to put on my old clothes but looked back at the dress crumpled on the floor.
Doren’s voice reminded me that Taotin was manipulative. He would lie to get what he wanted.
I ran my tongue over my lips.
Wearing only the clean bra and pair of underwear, I wrapped up my hair in a towel and stepped into the massive room to stare at the book on the bed.
“Books weren’t around back then,” I said softly, staring at it. “I wouldn’t have kept a journal in a book.”
All of the memories of writing my spells had been on parchment, which had later been compiled into a book. Pharaoh or not, we didn’t have books back then. It was entirely reasonable, however, that he’d had someone translate the old scripts into a book because a book was much easier to transport than old scrolls of papyrus.
I rubbed my temples, groaning in frustration, then stormed back to the bathroom to put the dress on. It seemed this was my only way to get answers.
I tugged and pulled. The inner lining of the dress kept riding up, and I had to pull it down and then straighten. Then it bunched, and I had to do it again, but finally I got the dress on. I didn’t look half-bad either.
I ran my hand over the embroidered outer layer, realizing the embroidered pieces were all lotus flowers, the Egyptian symbol
. I lifted my gaze to the mirror and drew a shuddered breath, my eyes going to the golden Ankh symbol on my necklace. I needed my mother there in that moment.
I reached up and clutched it. Warmth filled my hand, and I knew she was at my side.
Seymour stared at me from his position on the bed. I’d told him everything going on, explained everything I was going through, and he listened to it all. He told me he didn’t like Taotin at all but liked Doren.
I released my hair from my towel, allowing the damp curls to cascade down my back. I’d always hated the natural curl to my hair, but the vision of Doren entwining one of those curls around his finger on a summer’s eve brought a smile to my lips.
Knowing I’d already taken my fair amount of time, I left the room, only mildly surprised to find the door unlocked, and followed my nose to the dining room. Seymour trotted along behind me.
Taotin sat at the end of the table and stood when I entered. He extended his hand to the pulled-out chair at his side, but it slowly dropped as his hungry gaze took me in. “You look positively stunning,” he said. “And you brought your dog?”
I stepped up to the chair and slid into my seat. “Thank you. I don’t usually wear dresses.”
He chuckled and sat. “You used to love them. Had me import the finest materials in the most magnificent colors.”
“Speaking of our past . . .” I reached to begin serving myself, but he cleared his throat, and a servant scampered over. I snatched the spoon and looked hard at Taotin. “I am more than capable of serving myself.”
He rested an elbow on the table and pressed his lips to his index finger. Finally he waved his fingers dismissively, and the servant stepped back.
“You reincarnated me?” I asked, plopping the herbed potatoes onto my plate.
Taotin nodded, straightening so the servant could serve him. “I did.”
“And how?” I arched a brow, placing ham beside the potatoes. “How did you call me from the slumbers of death and put me back in a mortal body?”
“It wasn’t easy.” He sighed, his shoulders rising and falling heavily. “I went through a lot of djinn. Avashal was the strongest and did the most for me. He found the necessary spells and helped me to execute them. We used power I’d obtained through the years. And then your mother ran off with someone else.” He frowned.
I blinked at him, holding up a hand when he opened his mouth.
“You . . . impregnated my mother? Am I part djinn?”
He laughed. “No, you’re not. And it wasn’t me who did it. Avashal did.”
I felt bile rise at the back of my tongue, my hands trembling visibly on the table on either side if my plate.
“We found your soul,” Taotin continued. “The only way to return it to a mortal body was to impregnate a mortal with it. It’s a little complicated.” He again waved his hand as if it were nothing. “Imagine my disappointment and despair when she disappeared with you. I searched every land, every city for you.”
I swallowed hard, no longer hungry. I stared at my food. How much more information could my little brain take in?
“Eat. I will restore the truth after we have finished breakfast.” He began eating.
The next several minutes were a blur. I managed to eat something, which helped to settle my stomach, but I still couldn’t fill it. And then he led me to a stairwell in the back of the mansion that took us down to a basement. Taotin had sent Seymour back to my room, and he begrudgingly complied. I saw three guards along the way, none of them getting too close to us.
I had to hoist up my skirt so I didn’t fall down the steps. We walked through an entertainment room and stopped at a very heavy door. I knew it was warded with magic just by looking at it, in spite of the two guards standing on either side.
Taotin nodded to the two guards, and one moved to unlock and push the door inward. Taotin looked over his shoulder at me, as if to make sure I was still following, and entered.
I drew a breath and stepped in behind him. The door thudded closed, and I felt the room pressing in on me. The room had symbols etched into the walls—more wards and protections—and the lights overhead were nearly blinding with their brightness.
Taotin walked to one side, revealing Doren kneeling on the ground in front of me. His arms were chained behind his back, and a chain wrapped around his neck held his head only a foot from the cement floor.
He lifted his eyes to me. So weary. So . . . old.
I resisted the urge to run to him, to break off the chains. Taotin could be right. Doren could have lied all along to me, regardless of how I felt in that moment.
Doren must have seen the look in my eye because he lowered his head.
“Such shame, Doren. She knows the truth. I told her,” Taotin said. He roamed in a circle around Doren like an animal ready to pounce on its prey.
“Which truth?” Doren asked dully. “The one you want her to hear or the one she needs to?” He turned his face to look up at Taotin.
The man who had once been my husband paused. “The truth. Where you snuck into her bedchambers and wooed her so you could kill me.”
Doren shifted his gaze up to me.
I saw the flicker of panic. “So it’s true,” I said.
He softly shook his head, not breaking eye contact. “Gwen—”
“You owe me the truth!” I snapped.
Doren’s lip tugged in a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Why does it matter what happened thousands of years ago? This is you now. Who you are now doesn’t need to rely on who you used to be.”
Taotin didn’t like that idea and offered a swift kick to Doren’s ribs, making him grunt in pain. I realized then the stab wound in Doren’s back still hadn’t healed, and I could only imagine how much pain he was in.
Doren shuddered a gasping breath.
“If you remember who you were, you can bring that power again,” Taotin explained. “This was a mistake. He won’t offer you any—”
I threw a glare in his direction.
Doren looked back at me, eyes grazing over my dress and stopping on the Ankh symbol on my neck. His brows shifted, and his eyes darted back up to my face. “He’s right.”
Taotin looked down at the djinn chained to the floor.
I nodded. “Okay. Right about what?”
“Right about my intentions. I did meet you to get close so I could kill him. But you know so much more.” I saw the subtle shift in his eyes, darting down to the golden necklace and back. “So very much more,” he finished softly. “Truth is actually the third point of the pyramid. Love, trust, and truth.”
I reached my hand up to my necklace and felt the warmth like always, but this time a tingle of magic stung my fingertips, and I quickly moved my hand. But Doren gave a quick smile, and I realized he was hinting to the necklace.
“Begging will get you nowhere.” Taotin pushed his foot against the side of Doren’s face, forcing Doren to lean to the side and then put his head to the ground when the chain restricted further movement. “I could crush you now and never regret it,” he said so coldly I knew it was true. “You killed her in front of me. I watched her die because of you.”
Doren began to grimace.
“Taotin,” I interrupted. “I want my spell book. I dropped it in the djinn realm. Besides, didn’t you want to keep Doren as a pet? Surely killing him so quickly is only mercy for what he’s done.”
Taotin smiled at me and released his pressure on Doren’s head. “What would you have us do with him?”
I shrugged. “Something slower. Humiliating.”
He ran his finger down my jaw. “Have you begun to remember us?”
I nodded my head. A lie, but a good one.
“I’ll let the djinn play some games with him.” He straightened and looked at Doren. He reached into his pocket, and shortly after, a man appearing older in age than Taotin appeared. His hair was flecked with gray strands. “I wish for you to fetch some snakes. Get some v
ipers.”
Doren’s eyes glinted in fear, and he slowly shook his head, pulling at his chains.
Taotin smirked. He turned and put his hand around me to guide me from the room, but I looked back at Doren again before the door closed.
I touched my hand to the amulet on my neck.
Taotin sent a djinn to collect my spell book. It had a spell at the back of it to remind me of my past with magic. Even then I knew I would need it. How would I know I would need to remember? Did I know I would die? It was the very last entry in my book, so I had known something.
I found a quiet spot to sit and started at the back of the book and flipped toward the front. The journal entries described my ancient life until I found the knotted symbol of the Ankh at the top of a page. I held my finger to it while reaching my free hand up to touch the matching symbol around my neck.
I spoke the words on the page and felt myself leaving my body behind.
Chapter 25
Zenja
I rested my arms on the brown ledge of my window. Ra had granted another beautiful sunset of purples and pinks pulling down on the horizon as if Nuit were spreading a blanket across the sky, tucking Ra in for a night of rest.
The familiar smell of myrrh and southernwood tingled my nose and I dropped my gaze to the veranda with a smile.
“You’re late,” I said, giving Doren my most disappointed frown, but I was unable to contain it too long. Just seeing Doren made me want to leap from the window into his arms.
The corner of his lips lifted, and he chuckled. His little grin tugged on my heartstrings. He stopped under the window and turned his chin to look up at me.
I leaned forward, our faces inches apart. “May I help you?”
“I believe we are overdue for a meeting.”
“Oh?” I laughed. “What meeting is that?”
“My lips upon your skin.” He smiled coyly, and I had to put my hands over my mouth to stifle my giggles so no one else in the palace would hear.
Doren smoothly lifted himself on the ledge of the window, moving his face is even closer to mine.
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