Journey to the Lost Tomb (Rowan and Ella Book 2) (33 page)

           
No, she must ensure that Ammon continued to
want her
. She reseated herself and picked up the torn piece of goatskin.
When she did, her eyes fell upon the one item from her old life that she still
carried with her, her wedding ring. Suddenly, she realized exactly how she
might ensure her place with Ammon. It was a desperate, criminal idea and many
people might die as a result of it.

           
But
at least he would continue to love her.

The Nile River

           
Was
she somewhere out there? Underneath that same Egyptian moon, below those
hundreds of dazzling stars? Was she looking up as he was right now, having her
breath taken away by their beauty, their timelessness? Was someone keeping her
warm tonight? Holding her? Feeling her soft skin beneath his caressing
fingertips…

           
“The
night is beautiful, isn’t it?”

           
Rowan
was startled out of his reverie by Marvel’s silent appearance at his side at
the boat railing. They had been sailing for only a few hours but the light had
left the sky and the dark banks of the river slid relentlessly by.

           
“It
is,” he said gruffly, annoyed that her perfume which wafted so delicately
around her was so pleasantly familiar to him now. Annoyed too that he had found
himself hoping she would come to him.

           
“I’m
glad we decided to do this, Rowan,” she said, leaning over the railing and
affording him a luscious view of her breasts as she did.

           
He
couldn’t help but grin ruefully. Marvel would never quit. He kind of liked that
about her. “Yeah, it was time to break free of the city,” he said, forcing his
eyes back to the starry sky.

           
She
turned to face him, her back at the railing and when he looked down at her he
couldn’t help but notice how the moonlight made her skin look like flawless ivory.
Her lips were full and stained pink, and her hair was caught up in a ceramic clasp
that left her neck bare and vulnerable. It would only take the barest minimum
of efforts to lean over and taste those lips. He felt the front of his khaki
trousers shift as he hardened at the thought.

           
“You
were quiet at dinner tonight,” she said, her voice throaty and low.

           
Rowan
felt his pulse quicken and dragged his gaze from the tops of her perfect
breasts, pushed up by her dress as if on a platter for him. If he knew Marvel,
that’s exactly what they were. He cleared his throat and looked away. “You tell
me I’m always quiet,” he said.

           
“That’s
true. Sometimes I notice it more.”

           
Rowan
clenched the boat railing in both hands to prevent himself from gathering her
to his chest and kissing her for all she was worth.
Good God! How much must a man take?

           
“Oh!”
Marvel said and her hands flew to her eye.

           
Rowan
frowned at her. “What is it?” The sailors and
dragomen
had a small fire burning in a shallow can on the deck
where they were smoking some fish they had caught earlier. Rowan noted a few
cinders floating in the air.

           
“Something
in my eye,” Marvel said, turning away as she tried to hide her tearing eyes.

           
It
was the fact that she turned from him that made him reach for her. Believing it
couldn’t be a feminine wile but actual distress that made her try to hide from
him gave him a rush of needing to care for her that he had been slowly and
methodically developing for weeks.
To cup
those perfect breasts—his in every sense of the word if her messages of
the last two months could be believed—to feel that full bottom in his
hands, and lifting her to him.
He took her by the shoulders and pulled her
close and tilted her head back, enjoying the small gasp she gave when he did.
The cinder was posed on the bottom of her lashes. He leant over her face and
flicked it away with the tip of his tongue and felt her relax in his arms when
it was gone.

           
His
mouth was covering hers before he even knew he was doing it. Hungrily,
exploring her mouth with his tongue. And she wanted him. Her arms laced behind
his neck and she pressed her breasts against his chest.

           
“Take
me,” she gasped between kisses. “Rowan,
yes
.
Take me
now
.”

*
                     
           
*
                                 
*
                                 
*

           
The
morning Ella awakened with her plan fully formed in her mind was a hot
cloudless day under a startlingly blue sky. As Halima helped her into the bath
and then dressed her, Ella couldn’t help think that the most desperate moments in
life often began with something ordinary. The smell of coffee percolating, the
sight of a butterfly on a bush, a lilac-scented bath.

           
Her
plan
was
desperate. And vile. If it
weren’t for the fact that her life and the life of her unborn child depended on
it, she could never bring herself to attempt what she knew she must. As foul as
the details of her plan were, Ella was surprised that she felt no weakening
revulsion in reviewing them.

           
Only
single-minded determination.

           
After
she was dressed, she drew Halima to her side and took her hand. Sensing what
Ella was about to say, Halima shook her head and tried to pull away. “No,” she
said. “You mustn’t even think of it.”

           
“I
have
to think of it. And so do you. Look
at me, Halima. Today I need three things from you.” Ella squeezed her friend’s
hand to give her courage. “First, I need you to understand why I am doing this.”
Halima looked away as if refusing to even listen.

           
“Second,”
Ella said, unperturbed, “I need you to help me. And lastly, I need you to leave
the palace. For good.”

           
“I
will not leave you.”

           
“If
you don’t, Zimmerman will have you killed when he discovers I’m gone. I can’t
do this knowing the cost of my freedom was your life. I’ll risk everything but
not that.”

           
“I
do not fear death.”

           
“I’m
not surprised. But
I
fear a world
without you in it, even if I never see you again. Promise me, Halima, you will
leave and go far away so they won’t find you.”

           
Halima
wrapped her arms around Ella and the two women clung to each other. “If I
leave, they will bring Horus to take my place.”

           
“I’m
counting on it.”

           
Halima
pulled back to look into Ella’s eyes. “He will torture you, Ella. No one cares
what happens to your baby. As long as you are unmarked, they won’t care what he
does to you.”

           
“It
doesn’t matter, Halima. Nothing matters except the future and I won’t have one
if I don’t go through Horus first. Promise me you’ll leave.”

           
Halima
looked down at her hands; tears streaked down her cheeks. “I promise,” she
whispered.

           
“I
need the drug you were giving me when I first came.”

           
Halima
shook her head. “If your plan is to poison him, it will not work. Horus takes
no food save from his own hand.”

           
“Leave
that to me,” Ella said grimly. “How far along am I?” She placed her hand on her
abdomen.

           
“The
doctor expects you to deliver by the next moon,” Halima said. “But it could
happen any time. Are you feeling pains?”

           
“Not
really. I’m agitated and I’m sure Tater feels that. It’s probably nothing.”

           
Halima
placed her hand on Ella’s stomach for a moment as if to calm the baby. Ella
felt herself relaxing under her gentle touch. “I know, Ella, that there is no
happy ending for your family except the one you make for yourself.” She wiped
her tears away. “I will get you the drug.”
 

           
“Thank
you, Halima.”

           
The
following morning, Ella walked with Halima in the garden. It was a fine day and
the sun was not too hot. She tired sooner these days but so enjoyed the walks,
she wouldn’t give them up. This morning, she could tell Halima had news for
her. Halima matched her gait, her hand under Ella’s elbow to support and catch
her should she take a misstep. Her face was tense and drawn. Twice Ella saw her
look over her shoulder at Horus who walked twenty yards behind them. His skin
glistened in the sunlight as if he’d oiled himself. At the belt of his breechcloth,
a long sword hung between his legs. He walked bowlegged to accommodate it. To
Ella, rather than looking comical and ungainly, he looked insane.

           
“The
Shah is coming in three days’ time,” Halima said in a low voice. Ella felt her
fingers tighten on her arm.

           
“To
see the merchandise,” Ella said, nodding, trying to keep her head down so that Horus
would not suspect she wasn’t drugged.

           
“No,”
Halima said, “he comes to take you with him.”

           
Ella
felt her stomach tighten. She put a hand on her abdomen to soothe away the
flutters.
Things were happening too fast
.

           
“Before
I’ve given birth?” she said. “So you won’t be with me when the time comes?”

           
Halima
said nothing for a moment and they walked in silence.

           
“There’s
more,” she said finally. “It’s about Horus.”

           
“You
found out he can perform?”

           
“It
appears so. He raped the kitchen maid yesterday.”

           
“Dear
God! And he’s still free?”

           
Halima
ignored Ella’s question. “The girl lived to tell,” she said, “but she was badly
injured.”

           
Ella
tried to continue to walk but she felt a desperate need to sit down. “Injured
how?”

           
“Horus
wrote on her.”

           
“
Wrote
on her?”

           
“With
his knife.”

           
“Halima,
I have to sit down.”

           
Halima
led Ella to a small stone bench. “Do you feel faint?” Ella saw Halima glance at
Horus who stopped walking and stood watching them.

           
“More
like throwing up,” Ella said. She directed her focus to the ground at her feet.
“Is there more?”

           
“The
rumor is that he has done this before in his village.”

           
“Raped
and carved up his victims?” Ella felt the heat rise up her throat into her
cheeks.

           
“The
others he cut their throats.”

           
“I’m…he
can’t mark me, can he? I mean, didn’t you say I had to be unharmed for the Shah?”

           
Halima
pulled out a small cloth and pressed it to Ella’s forehead. “All of what I know
is gossip,” she said.

           
“But?”

           
“But
the gossip is that the Shah grows impatient waiting for the babe to be born.”

           
Ella
instinctively covered her stomach with her hand. She was rewarded by a gentle
kick into her palm.
Hey, there, Tater
,
she thought as she rubbed the little round head or bottom.
Everything’s going to be fine.

           
“Horus
brags that he will cut the child from your womb.” Halima said the sentence in a
rush, as if speaking it quickly, like ripping a bandage from a wound would make
it hurt less.

           
It
took every ounce of strength for Ella not to look at the monster who calmly stood
at a distance, watching them.

           
“That
would kill us both,” Ella said, her voice coming in a rasping breath.