Soul Unbound (Key to the Cursed Book 3) (27 page)

"And you think Apep will breach the
gates," Bakari asked, his previous conviction wavering.

"You and Kendra both confirmed the dead were
stagnant on the banks of the river. Apep is keeping them from passing into the
afterlife. He will grow stronger on the deads' misery. The question is, what
will he do with it?"

“The boat,” Kamen whispered to himself. There was
one thing that could get through the gates. The souls of the dead had to
navigate Duat via the river to the gates of the Afterlife, ferried by no other
than
Set
.

“Excuse me?” Siya’s gaze rose to stare at him from
across the room. All heads turned to look at Kamen.

“Nothing.” Kamen did not want to alarm Asar in any
way until he knew for certain their brother was a threat. If there was one god
Kamen did not want to see again, it was Set. Kamen had been a fool to believe his
brother’s lies. The very reason Kamen’s soul was not his own, but the beast’s.

“The Underworld curse will prevent us from
fighting in daylight in the human realm. The Creations must know this,” Bomani
stated.

“They know.” Siya touched Bomani’s arm.

“Lilly is working on the council to abolish the
ancient law,” Asar said, sitting into his chair.

“Is that safe? Theris confessed the Creation
Chancellor had been compromised.” Bomani wrapped his arms around Siya's waist.
The War goddess leaned into her mate.

“Trust me, I am not happy about this, but Lilly
insisted. If we change our behavior, it may raise the Chancellor’s suspicions,
and right now we need to get closer to him to find out what they are up to and
how many have been turned by Apep.”

“I will not put Kendra at risk.” Bakari’s silver
eyes flashed bright with anger.

“She and her sisters have been at risk since the
moment they were conceived. This is the Mother Goddess' plan. We cannot second
guess her. The sisters are vital to the fight,” Siya interjected.

“What of Kit?” Bomani asked.

The heavy weight of Bomani's question hung in the
room. The war needed all three sisters transitioned to their demi-god form,
rendering great powers to their fight. Sex with a god would release Kit’s
powers as they did her sisters. The only catch, Kit refused.

“We can only hope she comes to her senses,” Asar
replied, resting his stare solely on Kamen.

Kamen refused to acknowledge Asar’s hope. It was
sorely misplaced, for he knew full well it could never happen. The beast would
not permit it, and Kamen would not risk Kit's soul on the chance they could
mate. He had given up long ago.

Rolling his shoulders to relieve the growing ache
in his spine, he shifted away from the group and out onto the balcony. The
serpentine river snaked off into the distance to the large gold gates glinting in
the sunlight.

Unease settled over his chest. Kamen may have come
to Aaru as a criminal, but Asar had given him a second chance and a home.
Difficult as it was, Kamen had come to appreciate his life. His family.

And if his hunch was correct, something worth
killing for.

"I want a full assessment of the threat.
Failure is not an option." Asar slammed his fist onto the desk. "I
want updates before the sun rises in the human realm. Get to work."

"Yes, sire." Bakari, Siya and Bomani
filed out the door.

Kamen waited, the ache in his chest had yet to
lessen.

Asar closed the door and turned to Kamen. "I
have never seen you this ill.
Isis
, you can barely stand on your
feet."

"It will pass." Despite his reassurance
to Asar, Kamen was not so certain of the fact. The weakness should have lifted
by now. Even his vision had yet to clear.

"I would relieve you of this burden, if I
could."

"We both know you cannot. Nor would I ask it
of you."

"This will only get worse." Asar
squeezed Kamen's shoulder.

Kamen nodded. He tried not to think of the
suffering, only the power he would gain.

"Go rest."

"I need to take Kit to the Nehebkau base. The
weapons shipment is coming in today."

"First, you are in no condition to go.
Second, I spoke with Lilly this morning. She made no mention of any weapons
shipment."

"Kit said Lilly gave her orders to oversee
the initiation and the shipment." Kamen met Asar's gaze.

Asar sighed. "Lilly and I spoke at length
this morning before she left for the Council. She said nothing about a weapon's
shipment. Perhaps Kit heard wrong."

Kamen’s anger threatened to erupt, knowing Kit
knew damn well what she was doing. The weapons shipment was a down right lie.

Asar tightened his grip on Kamen's arm. "I
will talk with Lilly about Kit. I want you in your room, resting."

"Yes, Sire." Kamen stalked out of the
office, his anger numbing the pain.

"Leave it alone, brother," Asar called
from behind.

Kamen followed the path to his room. With each
step the heat of his fury burned hotter in his veins. His brother's last words
were easier said than done. Kit would have her day of reckoning. If it was one
thing he despised, it was being lied to. The fact that he did not detect it,
made the insult far worse. He would never let what happened with Set, happen
again.

Ever.

Derailed from her objective, Kit stalked down the
hall to Kendra’s, and now Bakari’s room. Irritation fueled her ever growing
hatred for this place. She was happier when it was just her and her sisters.
Sadly, her sisters had crumbled under the Underworld charm.

Intriguing at first, Kit refused to be bowled over
by this whole grand paradise and supernatural power thing. Not when it was
ruining her life and worse, bringing her closer to their mother. A mother who hadn’t
bothered to be part of their lives until now. The fact that the Mother Goddess
was one of the most powerful gods among the Pantheons meant little to Kit.

She grumbled under her breath just thinking about
how fucked up this was. Had her father just listened to her, none of this would
have ever happened. She rapped on the door and waited with her booted foot
restlessly tapping the floor.

She looked up and down the hall. Where the hell
was everyone?

Apparently, no one thought to let her know of the
day’s events. She pivoted on her heels and headed towards the library. She
paused outside the archives’ enormous gold doors, stretching floor to fifteen
foot ceiling. Muffled voices sounded through the metal.

Kit yanked open the door and surveyed the room.
The library tables and chairs had been shifted to the far wall. Half of the
bookshelves had been emptied of their load. Some texts sat on the tables while
others were being loaded into the well-muscled arms of the dark warriors. A
procession of males with scarification tattoos lined the main isle to the back
of the library. Each with his arms laden with books.

“Hi.” Kendra waved from across the room. Her
sister's sweet voice bounced off the black marble, carrying a new confidence.
Framed by auburn ringlets, Kendra grinned ear to ear.

Kit couldn’t help but smile back. Kendra’s
cheerfulness was irresistible and could break most of Kit’s moodiness. Since her
sister’s transformation to her demi-god form, Kit hardly recognized the once
meek mouse. They were inseparable most of their lives—until now. Bakari filled
the space Kit once occupied. 

“What’s going on?” Kit asked, feeling more
isolated than ever.

Kendra’s smile faded to a mere curve of her lips.
“We are securing most of what we can in the vault.”

“Oh.” Kendra didn’t have to explain any further.
War was on the horizon.

“Want to help?”

“Y—” The Mother Goddess floated into the room,
along with her golden aura as bright as the blonde strands of her flowing hair.
Her mother’s green eyes sparkled with energy and vitality, something Kit felt
devoid of most of her life. “What is she doing here?”

“She is helping me sort the most valuable texts.
We can only fit so many in the vault.”

“I'll take a rain check. The weapons shipment is
coming in today.” Kit stepped back towards the door.

Kendra grabbed Kit’s hand. “She is trying. Really
trying.”

“Where was she when Dad needed her help?” Kit’s
throat tightened with emotion, which only angered her more. “I’ll see you
later. Have fun with the smelly old books.”

Kit shoved open the door and headed down the hall.
Her walk accelerated into a run. She bypassed her room and leapt over the stone
railing into the soft sand. She broke into full sprint down the beach, not
letting up even as fire burned through her lungs.

Five years of suffocating pain chased her down the
beach. Rock and water blurred in her vision, yet she kept running. To where,
she didn’t know or care. She just needed to get away.

Gold gates stretched from the water to the sky so
far Kit couldn't see the top. The metal barrier penetrated the rocky cliff at
the water's edge. She staggered to a stop.

Dead end.

The theme of her life.

Bitterness soured her stomach. She leaned over
with her hands on her knees, less to catch her breath than to lessen the pain
in her chest. Frustration welled up into a scream in her throat, but no matter
how much she wanted to let it loose, she held it tight in her chest. She choked
on a sob instead.

Looking over her shoulder to the now distant
palace, she was even more convinced she and her sisters didn't belong there.
This was the realm of the dead, not the living. But with each day that passed,
Kit stepped closer and closer to it. She was losing what was left of her family,
and there was nothing she could do to stop it. This war would tear them apart.

She returned her focus to the gates of the
Afterlife, wanting nothing more than to rip them from their hinges. Upon closer
inspection the cliff had been cut into a sheer vertical face. The hieroglyphics
chiseled into the surface climbed to the summit. She traced her fingers against
the markings. The symbols were vaguely familiar from her father's lessons at
one archeological dig or another.

If she had paid more attention, she would've known
what the hell it said.

It didn't matter in the end. Her father was dead,
wrapped up like a mummy in the dungeon. For what? His soul would never make it
to Aaru in time.

The black water rushed through the metal gates.
The turbulent currents smoothed and stretched towards the opposing isle. Those
worthy in death were granted access through the gates to live the rest of their
existence in paradise. She squinted her eyes, but even with her enhanced vision,
she saw no one on the island in the distance.

Paradise appeared quiet. A peace her father would
never know.

She stepped into the water, just enough it washed
over the tips of her boots. She leaned forward to see around the stone and past
the gate into the Egyptian equivalent to purgatory and beyond that, hell.
Somewhere on the other side her father's soul languished, imprisoned in Duat.

Curiosity drove her deeper into the water. She
gripped the stone, but her fingers slipped and prevented her from grabbing the
scallop of the gate. The cold water rushed into her boots.

She pushed in further and stretched enough to
catch the curved metal. The rapids pushed at her hips. She tightened her grip
and swung out to snag the gate with her other hand. The water slammed into her
legs unsettling her footing. She grappled to keep her balance, but the water
rushed faster around her waist. She held on long enough to look through the
slits of metal. A boat floated in the distance, unmoving despite the flow of
water towards her. As far as she could see, the boat was empty, its master
absent. Movement in the water drew her gaze beyond the boat and into the
darkness.

A chilled breeze brushed her face.

Katherine,
the wind hissed her birth name.

Her nerves tingled and her hair stood on end. Fear
crept along her spine. She released the gate and fought the current to get to
shore. The once peaceful water now churned and pulled her under. She could see
a dark shape slithering through the water beyond the gates. She kicked and thrust
her arms to break the water’s hold.

She gulped and sputtered but finally made it to a
depth she could stand. She back peddled, unwilling to turn away from the gates
for fear something would follow. Her heart ricocheted in her chest so fast and
hard it ached.

Her back slammed into an unyielding barrier.

She screamed and rolled to her feet, fear still
driving her to move.

"What are you doing?" Kamen's voice was
rough and honed with suspicion.

An odd sense of relief and gratitude washed
through her. She wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him.
Resisting the urge, she stared back at the gates. The water had once again
smoothed into a lazy current.

His hard gaze swept over her.

She laughed, giddy and fearful all at the same
time. The kind of laugh when you realize you just survived a near miss of a
grizzly death.

At least today was not the day. Someday, though. She
would see death again real soon.

First, I want to say that this series has bloomed
into something far more than I ever imagined in the beginning. The readers’
acceptance of my world has inspired me to expand the original trilogy into what
is now a five book series. Readers, thank you for your continued support!

I want to thank Judy Roth, my editor who did an
amazing job at polishing up Bomani and Siya’s story. Thanks also goes out to
Robin Ludwig for designing the covers, they are absolutely beautiful.

To my husband—we have embarked on something
incredible and I couldn’t have done it without your help.

In her pursuit of a nursing degree, Jean Murray
aspired to see the world and joined the Navy. At the end of 2011 she said a
heart-breaking goodbye to her Navy family and retired after twenty years of
military service. Although her dreams of writing full time have yet to come
true, she continues her writing journey and draws inspiration from her travels
abroad. She enjoys spending time with her family, and of course, writing about
the “Carrigan sisters and their mates, Gods of the Underworld,” to bring you
the next installment of the Key to the Cursed series.

Loved
Soul Unbound?

Check out the rest of the Key to the Cursed series

Soul Reborn
– Lilly & Asar

Soul Awakened
– Kendra & Bakari

Soul Unleashed – Kit & Kamen

Soul Sacrificed – Mut & Jonathan Carrigan

Visit Jean Murray at her website

www.jean-murray.com

Visit Fated Press Publishing

www.fatedpress.com