Page 77 of Death and Desire

“Very well.” With a pout, Bast sighed. “I will show you.”

Khalid nodded before gathering Violet in his arms. She sank into his embrace, burying her face in his chest.

“Take me with you,” Violet murmured. “Don’t leave me.”

“Your father and brother await your presence.” He kissed the top of her head. “I shall return. I promise.”

Frustration and desire warred inside her. She wanted to remain with him, but there was nothing she could do to convince him. Besides, he was right. Her father would grow concerned at her continued absence.

Just say my name, and I will be by your side.His whispered promise inside her mind soothed her agitation.

Violet rose onto her toes and kissed him soundly. He held her tight, tasting her briefly before pulling away and placing distance between them. Bast grinned at the display.

The two deities vanished in mirrored plumes of smoke, one black, the other gold. Violet’s heart ached at his departure.

Desperate to distract herself, she finished braiding her hair and rushed from the room. She didn’t know how she would hide her distress from her father and brother, but she had to try. They knew her too well to overlook the nervous twitch of her fingers or the absent way she toyed with her hair when she was worried.

When she reached the lobby, Violet struggled to make her way through the guests milling around the corridors. Was there an event today? Where had they all come from?

She spied a side door leading to the garden and dipped around a portly man smoking a cigar. Opening the door, she sighed at the soft caress of a warm breeze drifting through the garden.

Violet pulled the door closed behind her.

“How lovely to see you again, my dear.”

With a gasp, Violet spun to see him. Aziz. The man from the club.

He was no man. This was Seth in disguise. He lifted his hand and blew across his palm. The sweet scent of jasmine and sand surrounded her.

Before she could run—or think—her mind clouded. Words blended into shapes inside her mind. Her tongue grew thick. Her limbs hung heavy.

The world around her swayed, coalescing into colors, blending until it spiraled into darkness.

Chapter Twenty-One

Violet was trappedin an endless void without starlight or sun. Panic infused her, but there was nowhere to run, only fathomless expanses of black in every direction. The scent of sulfur and frankincense teased the edge of her consciousness.

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