this animal’s foul smell.”
I grinned in agreement. She couldn’t be more right.
Gazing at Hasani’s face which was still set in a deadly expression, I asked, “How did you find me, Hasani? How did you know that I needed you?”
He glanced at me briefly before returning his watchful gaze to the eunuch. “Olympus wanted me to locate Cleopatra. Iras’ fever has broken. She is going to be alright. He thought her majesty would want to know immediately.”
Relief flooded through me so quickly that my knees went weak. “Thank God,” I whispered. Cleopatra’s face mirrored the relief found on my own.
“I searched everywhere for you and couldn’t find you. As a last ditch effort, I decided to try the beach, even though I specifically told you not to come out on the beach now,” he glanced at me reprovingly. “The guards told me that they saw you both sneaking out in dark cloaks. Obviously, by that point, I knew something was wrong.”
I looked sheepishly at my feet.
“You said not to come out alone,” I clarified. “I wasn’t. Alone.”
The glare he shot me was sharp and I averted my gaze.
“I’m sorry, Hasani,” I mumbled in a rush. “I wish I could explain, but it is so complicated. And …”
“And it is best that you not know,” Cleopatra interrupted smoothly. “I’m sorry, Hasani. At my orders, Charmian has concealed dangerous secrets from you. It was for your own good- the more people that knew, the riskier the whole thing would become. For Charmian and for me.”
I shot her a grateful look.
Hasani knew that he could not argue with the queen. But from the harsh set to his jaw, I knew that I hadn’t heard the last of this. He glared at me over the silver metal of his sword.
“Don’t you realize that you could’ve been killed? If I lost you, I don’t know what I would…” his voice trailed off and I remembered.
Warriors never, ever cried. He had told me that once with a confident smile. But as I gazed at him now, I saw wetness glistening in the corner of his eye. Pain stabbed my heart like a knife. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him.
“I’m sorry, Hasani,” I whispered softly, as I dabbed at it with my bare fingers. He nodded wordlessly, but his expression had softened.
And just as quickly hardened into a lethal mask as he lunged in front of me, shoving me to the ground behind him. I stared up at him in bewilderment and then in realization as Pothinus stepped away from him, a triumphant grin on his putrid face. He held a dagger in his hand, dripping with blood. Hasani’s blood.
I gasped.
Hasani lifted his hands from the wound in his side and blood streamed in rivulets. There was so much blood. Too much. He crumpled to the ground and I dropped to my knees at his side.
“Hold your hands tight right here,” I commanded him, yanking off my cloak to staunch the blood. His eyes sought mine, and I noticed that the shine in his had dimmed. A lump formed in my throat.
“I’m sorry, Charmian. I was distracted and I didn’t see him…”
“Shh, save your strength.” I brushed my lips across his brow. “I distracted you. I’m the one who should be apologizing. You saved my life, Hasani.”
From my periphery, I saw Pothinus take a step toward me and I grabbed Hasani’s sword, jumping up to brandish it at him.
“Take one more step and I swear to every god you hold holy that I will slice your head off. My sword is longer than your dagger and I’m very, very tired of you.”
My threat was sincere. I had never in my life hurt another living being, but I would kill this man without so much as a blink. I tightened my grip on the handle.
“But if you kill me, Charmian, Hasani will bleed to death right here at your feet. He will die in your place. Do you want that?”
Pothinus’ voice was matter-of-fact. To my left, I felt Cleopatra attend to Hasani. She murmured comforting words to him and I felt an overwhelming sense of panic.
He would bleed to death. The eunuch was right. Hasani would die because he saved my life. My mouth went dry as I frantically tried to decide what to do. I couldn’t let him die. I couldn’t.
“Give me back the bloodstone, Charmian. I’ll show you how to heal him. You know he wasn’t meant to die by my hand.”
Pothinus eyed me calmly, keeping his voice soft and reassuring. I faltered.
“Charmian,” Cleopatra began gently, “Think about this. Don’t do something foolish. We are all going to die soon anyway.”
Hasani coughed and I could hear the blood in his mouth. Visions of his real death- the one planned for him at the end of a Roman sword assailed me. And I squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like someone was holding my heart in a vice-grip. The pain was excruciating.
“Don’t bow to him, Charmian,” Hasani choked. “Whatever this is about… don’t do it. Not for me.”
Oh god. Pain wracked me and the room spun for a moment.
Hasani didn’t even know what was at stake here. He didn’t know my secrets… but he trusted me anyway. He loved me that much….enough to die in my place. My resolve strengthened and I stiffened my spine.
I didn’t need the eunuch. I could feel power coursing through my veins, building and pulsing with each beat of my heart. It was there for the taking. I just needed to harness it. I needed to follow my instincts.
“Do it,” Ahmose whispered in a hiss. I glanced up in surprise, to find him standing behind Pothinus. “You know what to do, Charmian. Do it.”
He shifted his piercing stare toward the eunuch and as I watched in amazement, Pothinus flew against the stone wall of the cave and hung there squirming. Ahmose ignored his angry howls as he kept his gaze locked on him, holding him tightly to the wall.
“Do it,” he hissed again.
I nodded and dropped to Hasani’s side.
Please, please god give me the strength. Please.
I clasped the bloodstone in my hands and pressed against Hasani’s wound with all of my strength. His warm blood gushed over and around my hands, something that I tried to ignore. Instead, I focused on the power pulsing through me, focused on the way it was trying to escape from my body as it writhed and burned and moved…and I focused on channeling it into Hasani.
I watched Hasani’s eyes flutter closed.
“I love you, Charmian,” he murmured weakly, before his chest trembled to a stop.
I screamed, a wretched, debilitating sound and collapsed on top of him, keeping the bloodstone pressed between us.
“Please, Hasani. Open your eyes. Stay with me,” I begged, my lips brushing against the soft moistness of his neck, right where his pulse should beat. I could taste the dried ocean spray on his skin, but could not feel the beat of his heart. I closed my eyes and cried.
Insane with grief, I wept as sadness and despair overwhelmed me and combined with the churning power of the bloodstone. Suddenly, my body could no longer contain it.
Light from my fingertips exploded into the cave as the walls began to shake and crumble. I physically felt energy from within me transfer to Hasani’s still body and I opened my eyes wide, focusing harder on his beautiful face.
“Please, please, please…”I begged in a whisper.
The powerful, raging energy drained from me and I felt weaker and weaker, but I still kept the strange portal between us open. I wasn’t sure how I was doing it, but I knew that if I stopped concentrating for even one second, it would be over… and it wouldn’t be enough. I couldn’t stop until Hasani’s eyes opened.
And then suddenly they did.
His dark eyes opened in confusion, glinting in the darkness.
“Charmian…” he whispered, lifting his hand to my face.
The room began swirling and I dropped my head to his chest as everything went black.
I felt detached from my body and I could hear muted voices… Ahmose, Annen, Lachesis…. But I was unable to open my eyes. Weakness had overtaken me so completely that I just wasn’t strong enough. The voices melted together a
nd it was difficult to tell who was saying what.
“Take her back to the palace,” Lachesis implored.
“What about the queen?”Ahmose asked hurriedly.
“Take her as well… and Hasani.”
“The Keres will not tolerate this, Lachesis...” Was that Annen? Who were the Keres?
“Dim her memories,”Ahmose suggested.
“Yes,” Lachesis agreed.
I felt my consciousness slip further and further away from me, as though someone had reached in and grabbed it. I tried to hold onto it. But it was no use. My mind was already losing the details of what had just happened.
“I will try again and next time I will not fail.” Annen?
Then everything was quiet and I succumbed to the blackness.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Light streamed in the open window as I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by the crispness of my bedding and the sea breeze ruffling my hair. I was in my own bedchambers, safe and sound. I glanced around me, instantly panicked, but unsure why.
Hasani was lying next to me, his breathing rhythmic and even in his slumber. I relaxed and lay back in my pillows.
What had happened to me?
The details from the cave were blurry and the more I thought about them, the more everything swirled together. But one thing was clear. I had somehow saved Hasani. He had died right in front of me, and I had brought him back.
The magnitude of that fact forced my own breathing to slow as I pondered the implications. The bloodstone was indeed very, very powerful. And with it, so was I. I quickly clutched at my neck, only to find it hanging right where it should be. I relaxed once again.
“I’m impressed.”
Lachesis appeared from thin air into the chair next to me. I startled for a moment and then sat up to face her.
“You’re impressed?” I purposely kept my voice quiet, so I wouldn’t wake Hasani.
“Of course. You balanced a thin line between life and death. And you came back from it.”
“I don’t know how I did it,” I admitted.
“Of course you don’t,” she agreed. “But the important thing was that you were able to do it. There is something special about you, Charmian. I’ve known that all along.”
“What does that mean?”
She shook her head gently.
“The rules haven’t changed, my dear. Things will be revealed to you only as necessary, not before. I just wanted you to know that you have pleased us.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“And now you know what you must do,” she prodded.
I nodded sadly.
“Life will continue on. And you will be returned to where you belong. But first, because you have pleased me, I will grant you one more day here. You may spend one more night with your love. You have earned it.”
She stared at me with glistening icy eyes, as old as the sun.
“Hasani and Cleopatra will have no memory of the incident in the cave. Our secret is safe from Hasani and Cleopatra will only be aware that you were able to retrieve your bloodstone. You are now back on track. Handle your Daedal. Finish your mission.”
“What about Annen?” I asked.
“He is gone. There is no need to concern yourself with him now.”
“And Pothinus?”
“Ahmose escorted him back to where he belonged… and he has died the death meant for him.”
A wicked sense of satisfaction grew in me at the thought of his head on a spike outside the city. That cur had almost killed Hasani. He deserved anything he got and then some. I hoped the blade had been dull.
Lachesis’ expression grew gentle.
“Sleep now,” she instructed, her hand brushing my hair back. “You need the rest, little Keeper.”
I closed my eyes and I knew she was gone.
* * *
“Tell me what Annen meant,” I demanded several hours later, squarely facing Ahmose.
The ancient Aegis stared at me stubbornly, his lips pressed tightly together.
“You know that I cannot,” he finally answered.
We stood alone in the quiet midst of what would become the renovated Temple of the Phoenix. The construction efforts had ceased for the day and the light from the moon cast oblong shadows along the stone walls of the empty temple.
“You can, though. We have broken out of the confines of ordinary, Ahmose, simply by being here. You haven’t been forthcoming with me, priest. And I want to know why. Is it possible to withdraw from the Order and live a normal life?”
“How do you define normal, Charmian?” he asked softly. “Each individual on the planet has a purpose. That you already know. Do you feel it would be normal to turn your back on your own?”
“I’m not sure. But I would love to find out what it felt like to live a life that didn’t always end in death and tragedy.”
“Ah, Charmian. Death comes to us all. But yours always means something great. Don’t you find comfort in that?”
I stared at him steadily. “I’m not sure anymore. I think … that I find it a little unfair.”
“Of course it is unfair. But there are many things in life that are unfair. Is it fair that Cleopatra must carry so much responsibility in each life? So much heartache? I think not. Is it fair that some are born as lowly servants in every life- condemned to struggle just to survive? I think not. But it is the way of the world. You can’t change it.”
“But I can,” I argued. “If I wanted. Annen knows a way.”
“But Annen is gone. And he cannot possibly know of the consequences. And quite frankly, neither do I. I’ve consulted with the Elders and no one has ever seen such a thing. I think, Charmian, that deep down, you know it is too dangerous. Otherwise, you would have asked Annen when you had the chance.”
He was right. I had been afraid that I might be tempted by Annen’s story- enough to risk catastrophe. I couldn’t be sure of what would happen to me. Was purgatory or hell real? If so, if I challenged the Fates and God and whatever was planned for me… perhaps I would wind up in eternal punishment. That would not be pleasant. There was too much unknown to act on it now.
“Charmian, in every life, you make an enormous difference on the world. Millions of people are dependent on your actions. Do not take that lightly. What you have been given- your role in life- is an honor.”
I nodded slowly as I listened. That much was true. It was an honor. And a burden. I sighed heavily.
“What did Annen mean when he said ‘the Keres wouldn’t stand for this’? Who are the Keres?”
Ahmose stared at me quietly with his lips pursed, then shook his head slowly.
“That is not something meant for you to know. Not right now.”
I sighed again and changed the subject.
“When will you return me to Macy’s life?”
“You mean, your life?” he asked with a small smile. “You always speak of Macy as a separate person, when you are the same.”
“It’s just how I differentiate- how I keep my sanity. You’ve thrust me into a strange world, priest.” I scowled.
“I didn’t,” he answered softly. “But I do apologize. In every life, you act with grace. You don’t complain about your lot. You simply do what is expected of you. I admire you for that.”
I turned to him in surprise. “You do?”
“Of course. You have a very good soul, as pure as I’ve seen. Lachesis was right. There is something special and different in you. It is an honor to work with you.”
He bowed his head slightly toward me and I stepped back in astonishment. This ancient Elder was honored to work with me? Craziness.
Sensing my discomfort, he smoothly changed the subject.
“You have until tomorrow, my lady.”
I stared at him once again.
“Tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Yes. Lachesis has instructed me to return you tomorrow, before Alexandria is conquered by Rome.”