Page 79 of Death and Desire

Seth’s gaze dropped to the jewel on her wrist. “The Heart of Anubis.”

Violet clasped her hand around the bracelet, hiding the jewel from view. It burned hot in her palm, and her own heartbeat echoed against the hard stone.

“You can pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

Seth’s countenance darkened, if that were possible in this form. Smoky shadows swirled around him, teasing the edges of his skin, as though he were smoldering under intense heat.

“You are in no position to negotiate, my dear,” Seth growled. “Surrender the heart, or Iwilldestroy all you hold sacred.”

“Wh—you lie.” She tilted her chin in defiance, and yet, a small kernel of doubt had been sown with his threat. Would he hurt Anubis? Her family? Her friends?

He’d been watching her since her arrival in Cario; he knewexactlywhere her loyalties lay.

Protect the heart of the man she loved or betray her own. Tears pricked her eyes.

Anubis, forgive me.

A cloud of black smoke erupted beside her, accompanied by a swirling cloud of gold. Violet gasped with relief, and her tears turned from grief to joy.He heard me.

Seth snatched her arm, his clawed fingers biting into her flesh as he dragged her to him. She fought his hold, trying to pry his fingers from her forearm. He growled, and his grip tightened on her as his other arm banded across her torso, threatening to suffocate her with the pressure against her ribs. She cringed at the stink of sulfur surrounding her.

“If you wish to see your family again, you will cease,” he whispered in her ear, his hot breath blistering her skin.

With the size difference and his sheer strength, Violet knew her resistance would be futile. She stilled in his hold and the pressure eased, just a fraction, just enough for her to suck in a deep breath and quell the panic in her mind.

Seth straightened as the air cleared to reveal two intimidating figures. Anubis and Bast stood proudly in their true forms.

Anubis’s eyes fixed on her.Has he hurt you?

No, but he threatened those I love.

His golden eyes glistened with rage.What has he demanded?

Your heart.

Anubis squared his shoulders, his hand coming to the sheathed blade on his hip. Fury poured over him, casting him darkness, highlighted only by the gold woven through his garments. He turned his ire on Seth.

“You dare threaten someone under my protection?”

Seth’s body tensed. “I merely made a bargain—her safe return in exchange for this.”

He lifted her wrist to display the jewel. It caught the light, twinkling in invitation. His black fingers bit into the pale skin of her forearm as she twisted against his hold.

“You steal her from the mortal realm, threaten her family and friends, sow discord...for some iridescent trinket?” Anubis scoffed.

“I delight in chaos, remember?” Seth replied, his tone bored. “Webothknow this is no mere trinket, Anubis.” His thumb caressed the jewel, as well as her flesh, making her shiver with distaste.

“Had I known you had your heart removed sooner, I would have been more diligent in retrieving it.” Seth’s taunt stung her ears.

Violet couldn’t see his expression, but she could read the reactions of both Anubis and Bast. The former impassive, the latter’s eyes widening in interest and shifting to the being beside her.

“Where did you uncover such a rumor?” The question rolled easily from Anubis’s tongue as he seemed to stifle his rage.

“It matters not.” Seth chuckled. “What remains a mystery is why you would choose to place something of such value inthis?” He dug a bony finger beneath the gold band. “Your heartisin this piece of stone, is it not?”

“If it is, what business is it of yours?” Anubis flexed his hand, tapping a claw on the gilded hilt of his blade.

Seth tutted, the sound of amused disappointment echoing behind Violet. “Come now...you cannot be ignorant of the power such an object would yield. An immortal’s heart in the possession of a mortal would grant them what humanity has sought for millennia.”

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