Playing with Fire (30 page)

“Oh, no!” Tansy cried then, suddenly understanding that the goddess was summoning her attendant back to Tel el-Osorkon. “Please don’t take her! She’s happy here with us, and with Ozzy!”

Bastet straightened, her amazing feline eyes looking directly at Tansy, whose heart was thumping so much that she was sure it could be heard. Time seemed to hang, and then Bastet turned back toward the wall. Accompanied by her throng of kittens, she returned to Tel el-Osorkon and became part of the painting once more. Then the whole scene faded, until there was just the plain wall again. Ozzy and Cleo did not wait for the goddess to change her mind, but scuttled out of the pyramid as fast as their paws could carry them.

Still filled with wonder, Tansy turned to look at Martin. “Did that really happen?” she whispered.

“If it didn’t, we shared the hallucination,” he said.

“I wonder if anyone else will ever step on the bronze cat?”

He slipped his arms around her waist. “I think there is a definite chance, but as to whether another heir will ever be restored to the inheritance denied him by his wicked brother, well, that is another story. Although, there is Tusun, of course….”

“Yes! His uncle stole everything. Oh, I do hope Tusun goes to Tel el-Osorkon again. Martin, we must make sure that he does. When the war is over, we must return to Egypt, find Tusun, and tell him everything. If Bastet has replaced the bronze figurine, we must make Tusun tread upon it, and maybe it will all start again. Can we do that? Please say we can.”

“Of course we can,” he promised.

She linked her arms around his neck to kiss him, and the wonderful warmth that was conjured between them had no need of the bronze cat’s magic.

Copyright © 2002 by Sandra Heath

Originally published by Signet (0451205502)

Electronically published in 2014 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.