Soul Awakened (41 page)

Kendra looked up at her sisters. They had been through so much. Regardless of their differences, they would always be there for each other. Her family. “I love you, guys.”

Lilly and Kit hugged each other and then kissed Kendra on the forehead. “Don’t ever do that again,” Kit said with tears in her eyes.

Kendra snorted and then groaned. “I’ll try not to make it a habit.”

“Better not,” Lilly scowled and then smiled.

Despite the room being filled with pain, there was another emotion—love. A family of opposites, light and dark, life and death, brought together by suffering and pain. A common enemy had unified them to create something more powerful than the mutual pain they had suffered. It grew love and hope.

She looked at Bakari, whose worried eyes scanned her from head to toe. Could they find that same strength among the ashes of this tragedy? Would he still want her as his wife?

Kendra’s small body twitched in restless fits as she slept. Bakari lay at her side, unable to close his eyes despite his overwhelming fatigue. Despite powerful healing spells placed on Kendra’s wound by the Mother Goddess, an angry red line marked her back and chest.

Nebt had been aiming for Bomani seconds before Kendra took the hit. The blade had severed her arteries, but spared her heart. A fraction of an inch had saved her soul from being forever ripped from her body. He did not think he could go through losing her again. Not after what they had shared in the fields.

The blood-bond had been negated by their death. His mark gone from her chest. She was free. His heart ached. He had spent hours begging the gods to release her and they had answered his prayers. Now, he wished they had ignored him. He could think about nothing else than bonding with her again. He moved off the bed. If he wanted her in his life, he needed to do it the right way.

With stiff arms he pulled on his black shirt. Lilly rose from the chair next to the bed and came over to him. He regarded her with caution. She never fully accepted him, and why should she? She suffered the pain of his betrayal through her connection with his father.

Her brows furrowed over her brilliant green eyes. He paused unsure of what to say. She struck first, throwing her arms around him. He froze with his arms hanging at his sides. Soft sobs against his chest softened his posture. He raised his eyes to meet his father’s. Asar gave him a grim smile and nodded. Bakari placed a tentative hand on her back. “She will be okay.”

“I only wanted to protect her.”

“I would have done the same thing with the likes of me.”

Asar stood behind Lilly and rested his hand on Bakari’s shoulder. Tears welled at the corners of his father’s eyes.

Asar pulled Bakari into a tight embrace. “To think I lost you twice.”

This time Bakari did not flinch away. He needed his father’s reassurance everything between them was right again. “I am sorry, Father.” He leaned into Asar’s chest not embarrassed by his weakness or affection.

“Your actions speak louder than any words, son. I am proud of you.”

This time Bakari could not suppress his own tears that fell. His father patted his back like when he was a child. A rare but cherished show of affection.

Bakari dropped his arms and stepped out of his father’s embrace. “Will you both be here, if she wakes?” Torn about leaving, he looked over to the bed. “I need to do something.”

“I’m not going anywhere and Kit should be back soon.”

Asar grabbed Bakari’s shoulder. “I will walk out with you. I need to check on Kamen’s progress. Morning will be breaking in the human world.” He turned to Lilly. “Will you be okay, sweetness?” She nodded.

Stealing one last look at Kendra, Bakari departed. Her skin still remained pasty white. He waited outside the door, knowing that Asar’s departure at that same moment was not coincidental. His father wanted to speak with him.

His father’s large shoulders blocked his view of Kendra when he exited the door. Asar grabbed Bakari’s elbow and led him to his office. His father sat in the massive gold chair behind the desk. His face, unreadable. “Tell me what happened. The abridged version.”

Bakari did not want to dishonor Bomani in his father’s eyes. He tapped his chest. “I felt Kendra’s fear and went to Bomani’s office. He was hurting her. I could not let that happen.”

“Nebt lied to us. Bomani left the marks.”     

“I do not think he meant to, he was so angry with me.”

“Do not make excuses for your brother’s actions. He had the chance to tell me, but did not. Nor did he dissuade Nebt’s accusations.”

“I would never hurt Kendra,” said Bakari. He looked at his hands. “On the beach, she asked me to take her away.” He looked up into his father’s black eyes. “I could not refuse her.”

 “You never left Aaru, did you?” Asar cursed and squeezed the back of his neck. “Kit tried to tell us, but I did not listen.”

“I took her to the guest temple. I wanted to give her time. She was so upset.” Bakari felt his mood darken. Shame kept him from meeting his father’s gaze. “Being there triggered memories of my kidnaping.” He shifted in the chair, finding it suddenly uncomfortable. “Nebt assisted Kepi in my kidnapping.”

Asar’s scrutinizing glare penetrated Bakari’s skin. He met his father’s eyes briefly and then looked at his hands again. Based on Asar’s expression, his father was processing the circumstances. Bakari hoped his father would let the matter rest.

His father straightened in his chair. “We were gone when you returned?”

“The palace and warrior village was empty. We found Sin and the fledglings in the temple. He filled me in on what had happened. Aaru was all but unguarded with Nebt at the helm.” Bakari laughed with the rawness in his chest. “The battle at Thebes was a set up. Nebt needed to either eliminate you or bring Kepi to Aaru.”

Asar jerked forward.  

“My kidnapping was all part of the plan. Lure you to Thebes. If Menthu failed to kill you then Nebt knew you would bring Kepi here for judgment. Either way the end result was the same. Nebt would control the Underworld.” 

“Nebt needed the black spell book to resurrect Kepi once she was in Aaru,” his father said with revelation. “She could not retrieve it from the vault with the protection spell in place.”

“The spells to awaken me and resurrect Kepi were contained in the same book.”

Asar groaned. “Kendra retrieved the book that is how she was able to do it. Nebt knew Kendra would figure it out and accidently bond herself to you. Kill her, they kill you, and get the book. We all but gave them the key by bringing her sarcophagus here to the dungeon. Why did Nebt not enact the plan sooner?”

“Kendra had hidden the book, masking it to look like any other in the library. Nebt had to buy her time waiting and I presented her the perfect opportunity,” Bakari said remorsefully.

“I hate to even ask this question, but what role did Bomani play in this.”

“None, I would hope,” Bakari hedged. “He was protecting Kendra from me. I took the one thing he thought he deserved.”

“I knew he had feelings for her, but I did not think he would take it this far.”

“Kendra saved his life by sacrificing ours.”

A long silence drew out between father and son. “Where is my brother?” He needed to speak to him before he asked Kendra to marry him. He owed his brother as much.

 “I still feel him, so he must be in Aaru. I have beckoned him, but he has not come forward. Knowing Bomani, he has realized his mistake and shame is keeping him away. He will come forward when he is ready.”

“What about Nebt? Inpu?” The last he had seen of the Underworld goddess was when she pulled the dagger from Kendra’s back. 

Asar’s eyes darkened. “We do not know where Nebt is. We only knew of her treachery when Sin retrieved us from the human world. We came straight to the cell. We found no book. The Mevt daggers were near your bodies.” Asar cleared his throat and looked away.

Bakari could not imagine what it would be like for a parent to watch their child die. It obviously affected his father very deeply.

Asar waved his hand. “Nebt probably made her escape prior to our arrival. Inpu,” his father paused and met Bakari’s gaze. “You understand the powerful connection with Kendra. Imagine finding out it was all built on lies. Gods are only meant to be bound to one mate. You sacrifice half of your soul to be with them.”

Bakari swallowed against his closing throat. Fear built in his gut. What if Kendra decided he was not the one? She had more than half of his soul. She had consumed it all.

“If it had been Lilly, a part of me would die too,” Asar continued, “Inpu will be lost to us for a while, but we must stand by him.”

“I will be there for Inpu.”

“Kamen is searching for Nebt as we speak. Isis, I am having difficulty coming to terms with this. Why would she do this?”

Nebt had been Asar’s trusted council since the dawn of the Egyptian culture. Her gift of reading souls gave them a strategic advantage. No secret could be withheld from her touch.

Maybe the ability to read souls was no gift at all, but a curse. How long could one stand to be bombarded by unfiltered emotion before it colored your vision of the world? Only one could answer that question. “If anyone can find her, Uncle will. Once Kendra is healed, I will join in the search.”

“I would be grateful.”

A bright flash of radiant light filled the room. “And so will I,” the Mother Goddess said. Asar rose to his feet and bowed.

Bakari, subordinate to both, dropped to his knees at the foot of the goddess Mut and diverted his eyes to the floor. Her flowing white gown brushed the tops of her bejeweled feet. He caught brief glimpses of her at Kendra’s bedside, but he feared to lay eyes on her too long.

The warm brush of fingers grazed his forehead and traced his jaw. He did not resist when she raised his chin with a gentle nudge of her fingers. “Young god, you have surprised everyone by your transformation.” Her smile shimmered. “Surprised yourself, I imagine. Tell me why, when it would have been so easy for you not too.”

“Time in solitude lends well to introspection, Madame.”

The goddess raised an eyebrow. “That is it? Nothing else?” She paused to look at Asar. “Then my foresight was all for not.”

Bakari stiffened. He had chosen this path however misguided when he refused to join Nebt and Kepi the day of his kidnapping. Kendra was his focal point, his beacon, giving him hope when he had none. A future worth fighting for. “You are correct, heavenly mother. Your daughter helped me find my honor. She believed, even when I did not.”

“I know what you seek, Bakari. Rise and ask me the question you are hesitant to speak.”

Surprised, Bakari shot his gaze up to meet her emerald eyes. He stood, as commanded. His throat suddenly dried. His words he had practiced over and over failed him. “Mother Goddess, may I ask your permission to take Kendra, as my eternal mate?”   

“You have killed my enemy and for that I am grateful. But, you are not quite forgiven.”

Bakari closed his eyes and hung his head. Transformed or not, Kendra would never be his, not in this world. And, his only connection with her, their blood-bond, was lost in death. He nodded and backed away. “Thank you.”

The Mother Goddess grasped his arm with an amazing amount of strength. Warmth penetrated his skin, similar to Kendra’s touch. “You give up so easily, Bakari?”

Confused, he met her eyes.

“I cannot have my daughter marry a god that cannot forgive
himself
. Your inability to let loose the bonds of your sins is a weight she should not have to carry. If these good people can forgive you, how can you not forgive yourself?”