Soul Unbound (Key to the Cursed Book 3) (20 page)

“Do not bring her into this.” Bakari jabbed his
finger at Bomani. “We both know this is not about her. Kendra was just a
convenient excuse for you to attack me.”

“Bullshit,” Bomani hissed and lurched forward on
the gurney. Had he not been saddled with slabs of mangled meat for legs he would
have slammed Bakari up against the wall. “You used her, just like you used
everyone else.”

The room chilled along with Bakari’s steel eyes.
“Kendra sacrificed her life for you. Our lives. If not for the Mother Goddess
and Lilly, Kendra and I would both be dead because of
you
. Do not
dare
tarnish that for your wounded pride.”

Bomani bared his teeth. His brother was the
epitome of everything Bomani hated about gods and the primary reason he never
fully embraced his god-like powers. All Bomani’s years of honor and sacrifice
meant nothing in the end. It was Bakari who claimed Kendra and his Command.
“Your
sacrifice
paid off.”

Bakari paced the foot of the gurney. “Shit, I
never wanted your Command. Asar put me in charge because you left. I would
gladly hand it back.”

“Yeah, right.”

Bakari glared at him. “After all that has
happened, you sit there with that same holier than thou attitude. I may never
regain your trust or forgiveness and I accept that, but I
am
trying
change. To be the male Kendra and this family deserves.”

“You will never be that male,” Bomani said under
his breath, unable to suppress his anger at both himself and Bakari. He was
wrong and he knew it, but he could not bring himself to admit his mistake. His
brother was right, he was using Kendra to fuel his festering hatred.

“Yet, she chose me, not you. Maybe if you loved
something other than yourself, you would understand.” Bakari shook his head. “I
do not know why I bothered, other than Kendra believes you are an honorable
male worth saving.”

Bakari planted his large hand on the door and
shoved it open. “Kendra prayed every night for your safe return. I will send
your regards and spare her the disappointment.” He walked out and slammed the
door.

A heavy weight pressed down on Bomani’s chest along
with the realization any opportunity to save Siya just walked out the door. Why
when it came to his brother could he not let go of his grudge? He thought his
hatred had waned during their separation, but instead it consumed him. He wanted
to blame someone for Siya’s loss, when the truth be told, it was he who made
the mistake. No one else to blame but himself.

He should have stayed in the temple. Made love to
Siya the right way and told her how he felt. Instead, he had tramped off to
prove himself and terminate the male threatening to take Siya from him.

His brother claimed Bomani loved nothing but
himself, but that was not true. The warmth in his chest flared when he thought
of Siya.

Bomani swallowed against his tight throat. The honor
he had toted on his shoulders all those many years now seemed nothing more than
a front.

In the end Bakari had become the better male.

Siya?

The bond remained cold and silent.

The door slid open and four guardians filled the
doorway. Larger than the average warrior, these guardians provided security for
the palace and prison. Based on the venom dipped shackles in the leader’s
hands, Bomani’s new accommodations were ready.

The bitter taste of venom filled Siya’s mouth as
Menthu withdrew the poison blade from her side. Asp venom, a god’s only
weakness, robbed her of her powers. She had fought him before her strength gave
out fully. Not that she had a chance of escaping with the pungent smell of
death flanking Menthu in the form of six siravants.

“You are making this harder than it needs to be,
daughter.” He jerked her arms up behind her back.

Pain shot through her shoulders, but paled in
comparison to the venom burrowed deep into her tissues and triggered a cascade
of muscle spasms. Her demon form retreated under the onslaught of pain coursing
through her body. Robbed of her strength, she stumbled to her knees.

Menthu tightened the grip on the back of her hair.
“I did not want it to be this way, but you gave me no choice.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She could sense Haru and
Meti’s souls in the siravant just to her left. Flashbacks from the war
assaulted her mind with each breath. The dark demons had combed the
blood-soaked battlefield, searching and consuming the perished souls. She had
seen it time and time again. If they were not poisoning a god’s soul, the
siravants would consume it, feeding off the energy until nothing was left. She
had tried to save the Creation gods that had fallen. But no sooner would she
kill a siravant and release the souls than another would gobble them up. Those
gods she had freed were often catatonic to the point she had finally given up.

She prayed for a quick death, despite the
knowledge her father had something more devious in store. He had transported
her several times, enough to disorient her to their location. Based on the
energy, they were still in the human realm. The cold air cramped her already
contracted muscles. Small puffs of white vapor formed when she exhaled.

Thick concrete walls flashed in her narrowed
vision. A bunker? She had difficulty forming any rational thought before Menthu
dropped her to the ground. The siravants went to work restraining her hands and
legs in thick studded cuffs linked to a heavy gage chain.

The spurs on the inside of the manacles dug into
her wrists and ankles, effectively rendering them escape proof. Her skin burned
with the all too familiar poison, weakening her further. The sound of the chain
and pulley echoed in the small room. She grimaced as the cuffs pulled and dug deeper
into her flesh. Her arms were raised above her head until the tips of her toes
touched the floor.

Warm blood trickled down her arms and dripped down
to the cracked cement. She swayed with each strangled breath, sending ripples
of pain through her wrists, arms and shoulders. The room spun and her vision
dimmed for a moment. She closed herself off as best as she could, but nothing
could extinguish the sorrow in her soul.

Without Bomani, her father would break her. Of
that she had no doubt. His cruelty was beyond measure. The fact that she was
his daughter made it personal.

“That is far enough,” Menthu barked at the
siravant. The deformed hands tied off the chains and locked her into position.

The siravant snapped its jaws as it shifted close
to Siya. Its demon breath washed over her. She suppressed the will to breathe,
fearful it would try and enter her as it did the humans suspended in the
basement. The once human face was distorted with long jagged teeth smeared with
black saliva and eyes, the color of tar. The overemphasized bones stretched the
skin of the face.

Siya met the demon’s stare. Similar to the time
before, the energy connected with the demon inside her, coaxing and prodding it
to come out. She could see her reflection in the oily stare, but in the depths
behind the mirror writhed something sinister. Apep, the Lord of Darkness was
watching her through the eyes of the siravant.

A sudden rush of power filled her. She gripped the
chains above her head, twisted and snared her legs around the siravant’s neck.
The demon’s eyes widened in surprise and a choked scream escaped its black
lips. The snap of bones and cartilage filled the room. Siya ignored the gush of
blood from her wrists in favor of snuffing the demon. The siravant thrashed
against her legs in a failed struggle to expel itself from the body.

The other siravants stepped clear of the violence
and looked towards their master. “Will you not stop her,” one of them asked.

“Why should I,” Menthu said without looking. “It
was stupid enough to get close. Maybe that will serve as a lesson for the rest
of you.”

Siya’s breath burned in her lungs, and her strength
faded as quickly as it had come. Only when the eyes paled did she release the
siravant. The body crumpled to the ground. Black oily blood flowed from the
mouth. The siravants stepped away from the pool spreading on the floor.

“Restrain her legs, unless another one of you has
a death wish.”

Siya gasped as the shackles cinched tighter on her
ankles. A fresh dose of venom flowed through her veins. A yellow fog filled her
mind and her head hung forward. A bitter scent jerked her back to
consciousness. Her father gripped her hair and lifted her head to meet his
gaze.

“I admire your tenacity. Soon we will put your
skill to good use. No one will stop us. Even the Underworld will bow to our
forces.”

Siya lurched back. “You might as well feed me to
the siravants because first chance I get I will kill you.”

“Spoken like a true warrior,” he said with a
laugh. “I have someone who wants to meet you.” He looked over his shoulder to the
doorway.

Once with beauty to rival her mother’s, Nebt now
stood with black skin and red rimmed pupils. Festering wounds on her forearms
oozed black oily blood. In Nebt’s hands, she clutched the black demotic text.

“It is nice to finally meet you, Sekhmet. Your
father has told me so much about you. We will get to know each other
intimately,” Nebt said with a smile, her fingers tracing the gold hieroglyphics
on the black page.

Siya exhaled a breath, her hope faltering.

Death could not come soon enough.

Each step jolted sharp pains up Bomani’s legs, but
damn if would he have the guardians carry him to the prison. He would go on his
own accord no matter the amount of pain or blood trail he left along the sandstone.

Males he had once commanded stared at him in
contempt. As he suspected, he no longer belonged here. Nor was he welcomed and
that was fine with him. Problem was, he needed to get back to the human realm
and save Siya. She did not have long. Although he was concerned about Menthu,
he feared Nebt.

He stared at the shackles bound about his wrists.
How many had he placed on others? Far too many to count. The barbs dug in
precision points on the wrist. The more the captive struggled, the deeper the
penetration into the skin, releasing more venom. If he remained still he would
be less affected by the poison, preserving his ability to dematerialize.

Flanked by the wall of muscle he rounded the
corner, but slowed when he saw Kit, the middle Carrigan sister. Dark circles
rimmed her normally bright blue eyes as if she had not slept in weeks. Her
black leather uniform emphasized the paleness of her skin. She leaned against
the wall and twirled one of the blades from her belt. He scanned the hallway,
looking for his uncle. Kamen was tasked to protect the black haired beauty.

Bomani stared at the floor, unable to muster the
courage to look her in the eyes. She pushed off the wall and fell in step with
the group. He had no words to make up for hurting her sister. Not waiting
around for Kit to lay into him, he forged down the steps of the dungeon,
despite the bone rattling pain. His pants stuck to the fresh blood on his legs.

By the time he reached the cell, Bomani feared his
legs would crumble beneath him. He received a hard shove from behind, which sent
him stumbling through the iron gate. The lead guardian slammed the door with a
resounding clang that pierced his ears.

He turned and raised his wrist, still bound in
shackles. “You are not going to remove these?” Bomani said, looking around the
cell designed to contain even the strongest of gods.

“Key is on the bench. Unlock them yourself.” The
male smiled and left him to his isolation.

Bomani waited for the last of the four to be out
of sight before collapsing down on the small bench. Nausea rolled through his
gut. He leaned his head back onto the cold black stone. His warrior-half was
not strong enough to regenerate. He had been stupid not to allow his powers to
do the job for him. Siya was right, he was thinking like a warrior and not a
god.

See it and take it, she had said.

Looking around the damp black prison, he had few
options. Focusing on healing his wounds, he searched for that dark place. After
millenniums of suppressing his god’s will, it was like a skeleton key in a rust
encrusted lock.

Sharp daggers ricocheted in his soul until it
burst. An inferno shot through a network of arteries in his body. He grabbed
his chest, fearing it would explode. It was now or never.

Bomani loosened his control and let the god’s will
take hold of him. Inside the threads of his powers, Siya’s essence consumed his
body. Her hold on him spread far greater than his soul. He fell forward on the
floor, wincing as the shackles bit into his wrists. Sweat dripped from his
brow. Healing power infused his lower extremities, spiking his pain.

He rolled onto his back, no longer able to support
his weight. Finally, his agony faded. Steam rose from his body in the cold
cell. He jerked his wrists apart, ignoring the burn of the venom. The shackles
snapped and fell onto his chest. He lay a moment gathering his wits and registering
the change in his body.

Grabbing onto the jagged rocks, he pulled himself
to his feet. Weakness filtered through him, but his legs were solid. His senses
hyperactive. Voices that had been distant now seemed clearer. Energy bounced
off the walls of the cell and penetrated his skin. He experienced a new
awareness of the proximity and temperature of the objects around him, even the
subtle changes in air currents.

Shit, he should have done this a lot sooner and saved
himself the pain. He blew out a breath. The back of his neck prickled with pins
and needles. He did not need to turn to see who it was.

“After all this time, you finally open yourself
up.”

“Never expected to see you again,” Bomani said and
straightened to face his brother through the bars.

“That is what we do, isn’t it brother? Push each
other away as we always have.”

True.

Bomani never could stand to be in the same room
with his brother. Polar opposites, like repelling magnets both determined to
win. Bomani had always been the victor on honor and will alone, until Kendra.

After losing her to Bakari everything changed.
Bomani was the outsider. The monster. Bomani thought he loved Kendra, but since
meeting Siya it made his affection for the demi-god seem like some prepubescent
infatuation.

Bomani shook his head. The Goddess of War had
connected with him in a way that made him crazy, disoriented and impulsive.
Willing to give up everything to find her. His life, if necessary.

Shit, he hated being wrong. Bomani stepped towards
the metal bars. “We have perfected it, it seems.”

“Fucking perfectionists.”

Bomani huffed in agreement. A lifetime at odds. A
rivalry from the day of their birth, each hating the other. For what? Jealousy
and greed. Even now it was hard to face Bakari without anger welling up, but
his brother
had
changed and regained his honor.

“Kendra chose the better male,” Bomani conceded.

“I am not sure
better
, just destined.”

Bomani was surprised by his brother’s humility, a
quality lacking prior to Bakari’s kidnapping. Oddly, Bomani understood what he
meant.

Prior to the Carrigan sisters’ arrival to the
Underworld, Bomani started questioning his bachelorhood. Warriors should not
want a companion, a female to bond and share life. Yet, it consumed his
thoughts. He had thought the demi-gods had been a sign of some kind and mistakenly
assumed it was Kendra.

Fate had brought Bomani to Siya as if it was
written or spoken in the past. Even though they bonded by accident and their
own mutual lust, they had found each other. Siya certainly deserved someone
better than he.

“Things are good? Kendra is okay?” Bomani asked,
remembering the mortal wound.

“She is stronger than I am, especially when it
comes to getting over the past.”

Bomani met his brother’s haunted gaze. Tortured,
starved and entombed, Bakari must have nightmares to match the darkness of his
eyes. It dawned on Bomani that maybe Kendra was the catalyst for much more.
Salvation and reconciliation.

Why now was everything so clear? Even his feelings
for Siya. Sadly, Bomani had not told her.

“Tell her I am sorry,” Bomani said.

“I will let her know.”

A long silence settled between them.

“Listen, I have something to ask you about
Sekhmet.”

“Is that how it is?” Bomani frowned. His brother
did not descend into the dungeon to resolve their issues. He wanted gods' damn
information.

“Please do not take it the wrong way. I was wrong
to get angry with you before. Things are very on edge right now.” Bakari held
up his hands.

Bomani stepped back from the bars. He had fallen
for Bakari’s sincerity. Damn if he was going to give his brother any ammunition
against Siya.

Bakari rubbed a hand on his skull trimmed hair.
“Kendra sent me to talk to you for several reasons. I want things to be better
between us, but I also need information.”

“If you think I am going to offer Siya up so you
can be the hero, you are fucking high.”

“Kendra wanted me to ask you about this symbol.
She thinks you might know what it means.”

Silver glinted in the corner of Bomani’s eyes. His
brother held out a blade. Not just any ordinary blade, Siya’s saber. “Where did
you get that?” Bomani growled and advanced towards the cell door. He jabbed his
hand through the bars. Sparks of energy burst and burned through his hands.
Shaking it off, Bomani forced himself to relax. His anger would only serve to
extinguish any opportunity to save Siya.

Bakari balanced the saber in his palms. “The
youngling, named Dennu, brought this and the Book of Creation under Sekhmet’s
instructions. Dennu was given specific orders to give it to the
demi-gods
.
Do you know why Sekhmet would do this?”

“No. I did not even know she had the book. I suppose
Siya wanted to keep it safe.”

“And the saber?”

“Khalfani gave it to Siya during the ancient war. She
would never give it up unless—” Bomani could not speak the words.

“The symbol Kendra is interested in is here.”
Bakari rubbed the hourglass figure on the handle. “Did Sekhmet ever tell you
what it meant?”

“No,” Bomani said on a sigh. “I have few of
Khalfani’s memories. He made the blade and tattooed the same symbol on the
inside of her wrist. I had assumed it was because she was born of both bloods.
Light and dark.”

“Sekhmet was marked?” Bakari’s eyes widened. “With
the same symbol?”

Bomani looked his brother in the eye. “Yes. Why?”

His brother backed away from the cell. “Sorry,
brother. I need to leave.”

Bomani grabbed the cell door and shook it. Sparks
and overwhelming pain drove him back. “Bakari!”