Soul Awakened (14 page)

“I am home?”

“In Aaru,” she confirmed.

A sudden pain hit him in his heart. He grasped his chest and leaned against the chaise for support. He could not hold the sob that came forth from his throat. Funny that being home would cause him so much pain. Kendra sat up pulled his head into her lap. Her fingers tracked the line of his face on one side, same as she had done in the cell. His pain slowly dissipated under her touch. 

With the pain lessened his other senses came to life. The scent of her permeated his brain. Something in his mind snapped and a sudden darkness filtered into his thoughts.

Hunger. Depravity. Domination.

A dark shadow moved in to the right of them. Before he could counter a large hand grabbed his arm and ripped him away from Kendra.

“Hello, brother.”

Too weak to fight the incoming fist, Bakari braced himself for the impact. Four hard knuckles contacted his jaw with a crack and splitting pain.

“That is for Ari and the others. And this…” Bakari’s head recoiled with the second powerful blow. “is for Kendra.”

Bakari stumbled and hit his back and head into the stone wall. His world tilted and he fell hard to the floor.

Kendra lurched off the chaise and put herself between him and… Bomani?

“What are you doing? Have you gone mad?” she yelled and knelt next to him. Blood dripped freely into his mouth from his nose, which felt like it was broken. She bunched the sleeve of her sweatshirt cuff and pressed it to his face. Another enormous figure moved in and shoved Bomani toward the door. Kamen?

“What the hell are you thinking?”

“He was going to hurt her. I saw it in his eyes.”

Bomani tussled with Kamen but it did not last long. There was not a warrior that could match his uncle’s strength. All the familiar voices echoed through Bakari’s head. His father’s soon came in tune.

 “Back to your quarters, I will deal with you later,” Asar growled at Bomani. His father’s distinctive features came into focus. He approached cautiously. His stance, guarded.

“Bakari?”

Bakari looked at Kendra for reassurance. She nodded and smiled. He looked to the group that had gathered a safe distance away. Kamen, Inpu, Asar. Even Nebt, the Underworld goddess and counselor to Asar. They looked the same as the day he had last seen them. Two human females stood by the door barricaded by the row of Underworld gods standing before him.

By the love of Isis, he was home. “Father.”

Relief passed over Asar’s features and he came quickly forward. “Come,” Asar coaxed and lifted him up to his feet.   

Inpu approached in his flowing black robe and reached out to grasp Kendra’s arm. A sudden possessive growl escaped Bakari’s lungs. With his teeth bared, Bakari pulled Kendra behind him. She was his,
damn it
. Inpu pulled back and raised his hands. “Easy. I am helping her up. She is very weak.”

Bakari’s brain swirled. Still unstable, his emotional grid shifted without warning. His father still held his arm to support his weight. One thing was constant and that was Kendra. This auburn headed human grounded him somehow, making sense of reality. He had no intention of letting her go. She had been taken from him before. He pulled her into his side and stared down at her. Dark circles under her eyes stood out against her pale skin. Her freckles, almost imperceptible. Her once shiny hair now appeared dull and flat, the curls unwound and interlaced with white. Why had he not noticed before? An abrupt concern for her wellbeing refocused his control. He cleared his throat trying to present some semblance of civility.

“Sorry. I…” He looked up into the faces in the room. It gnawed at him to see pity written on all their expressions. “Sorry.” It was the only word he could muster at this moment. He loosened his grip on Kendra and forced himself away from her. His father guided him to the bed. Bakari locked eyes on Kendra, despising that Inpu touched her. The priest set her on the chaise and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

Bakari sniffed and wiped the blood from his nose. The pain should be killing him, but it rarely fazed him anymore. It was a mere hangnail compared to what the goddess inflicted upon him for her own sick pleasure.

Asar handed him a wet towel. Bakari pressed it to his mouth, nose, and chin where his blood ran red. He imagined it black and tainted, as he scrutinized it on the towel. He smelled death in his nose which caused waves of nausea. Sweat broke out over his body and beaded on his upper lip. He lurched up and staggered to the bathroom. The eyes of the room followed him.

Finding the marble sink he retched and spewed black oily liquid from his throat. The foul serum coated the sides of the basin. His repulsion forced his stomach to clench into a hard knot.

Bakari shuddered with each violent contraction. His body repelled the fetid evil inside of him forcing it out his mouth and nose until nothing came. He fell to his knees and lay his head in his hands. In reality no one could help him. The goddess’ blood lived inside him, churning putrid wickedness. He could feel it moving underneath his skin. He stared at the sink fully expecting the blood he vomited to crawl over the sink’s edge and try to get back into his body.

Asar laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Despite his father’s attempt to comfort him, Bakari recoiled. “Do not touch me,” he hissed. “Get out.”

“Everyone.”

Kendra stood up with every intention of following Bakari, but Inpu stepped in her way. His long brown hair cascaded over his black robe, reminding her of a wizard. “Better to give him time, little one.”

Barkari’s voice drew her attention to the bathroom. Everyone?
Did that include her
? Her answer came with the look in Asar’s severe eyes.

“Everyone out,” Asar barked. His hardened gaze came to rest on Kendra a moment and then he returned to the bathroom. More retching and moaning sounded from the other room. Overcome with the compulsion to care for him, her feet refused to budge toward the door. The words,
save him
, repeated over and over in her head, like a skipping record.

Kit wrapped a warm arm around her shoulder. “Com’on. We’ll get you cleaned up in the meantime.” Surprisingly, her sister had an understanding look in her eye, as if she somehow understood her reluctance to leave. Maybe it was the same feeling that drove Kit to watch out for her day in and day out. The need to protect something. But then again, she and Kit were family. Kendra had no connection to Bakari other than the long hours in his cell.

The scorpion on her chest attested otherwise. She brushed over his mark that lay hidden under her thick sweatshirt. What happened to her in that cell? To her knowledge there was only one way to be marked by a god. A shiver ran down her spine. Could it have happened without her knowledge or consent? Her body felt as it always did, but so much had happened, maybe she missed it? Unlikely. There was only one person who would know, and she had every intention of asking him the minute she got him alone.

For now she would hide the mark until she had evidence to support another alternative, especially after Bomani reacted the way he did. Bakari didn’t need another black mark against him. Three dead warriors. Half the life sucked out of her.

Did he have the potential to do more? The question gnawed at her insides. Kepi had made it much too easy to seize the sarcophagus. But then again, Bakari was out and now it was a whole new ball game. He had been with her for five years. Enough time to brainwash someone.

Kit guided Kendra to her room. Steam scented with honeysuckle greeted them when they entered her quarters. The servant had drawn a bath for her. Kendra mustered her strength to walk the last twenty feet to the edge of the tub.

There was the trouble of removing her clothing. Way too much effort. She actually considered submerging with clothing and all. Plus, how could she hide Bakari’s mark from her sister who stood less than five feet away.

Kit leaned on the stone’s arched doorway and crossed her leg over the other with the tip of her boot planted on the ground. Kendra struggled to find a plausible excuse for her to leave.

“So are you going to tell them?”

“Tell who what?”

Kit crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. She followed it with a tap of her finger above her heart.

Kendra’s heart skipped a beat. So much for keeping a secret. If she had been thinking straight, she would have realized Kit had seen her naked in the cell. How many more noticed the mark? “Does Kamen know?”

Kit pushed up off the wall, walked over to the vanity and sat down. “I’m not sure. He didn’t say anything.” Her sister frowned. “But then again, he barely says shit.” She shrugged and then leaned on her elbows. “So what happened in the dungeon?”

Kendra’s tailbone found the oh-so-hard floor with her ungraceful attempt to sit down. “Everything blacked out. I don’t know how long I was out, but it was there when I woke up.” Although her logical side said it was improbable, it still didn’t stop her stomach from doing flip flops. “You don’t think he could have…” She couldn’t even bring herself to finish the last few words.

Kit sat forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “You’re not bleeding, are you?”

Kendra shook her head.

“Trust me. Based on how that guy is hung there is no way you wouldn’t be, especially since it would be your first time.”

Kendra rubbed her forehead. Kit’s reassurances actually loosened the knots in her belly, but it still left a big gap. How had he marked her? “Are you going to tell Lilly?”

“Not me. That’s on you when you’re ready.”

“Never.”

Kit laughed. “Well, I would recommend sooner versus later. I hate to see how Bomani’s going to take this.”

Kendra tilted her head. “He’s been intense.”

“And you seem surprised?” Kit asked, raising her eyebrows again.

“Yes, I mean he’s usually so composed.”

Kit shook her head. “Think. Could it be that he has the hots for one particular red head? And he doesn’t like the fact that another man, or god in this case, is muscling in on the girl he likes?”

Kendra’s mouth dropped open. Bomani likes
me
? “But…”

“But what? You’re beautiful. Why wouldn’t he like you? Plus, you have the innocent, school girl look. Guys can’t resist that.”

A music video with a singer with blonde pigtails, short plaid shirt, and knee-highs flashed through Kendra’s brain. She looked at the clothes she was wearing. Oversized sweatshirt and pants with her sorority letters monogramed in the front. Not what she would consider sexy. Kit on the other hand exuded sexuality in a way she could only wish to imagine.

Her sister caught her self-assessment. “There is a lot to be said about leaving things up to the imagination. You don’t necessarily have to flaunt it to get men to want it. And the fact that you don’t know how gorgeous you are adds to the wow-factor.”

Kendra searched her sister’s face to see if she was trying to be nice, but in Kit’s typical fashion she was as honest as the expression on her face. But what her sister said didn’t stack up against the years of no dates and barely turning a male’s eye. She wasn’t a virgin because she wanted to be virtuous and wait until her wedding day. The opportunity never presented itself in an acceptable manner. The last guy she was with in college threw up all over the bed minutes before they were going to do the deed. After a while she gave up.

Kendra fingered through her tangled hair. She did not feel or look sexy one bit. “I think you overestimate my qualities, dear sister. I’m a virgin remember.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but maybe there’s a reason it never worked out before. Asar’s always saying there are no coincidences, only fates determined by the gods. Maybe there’s a reason you are who you are.”