Page 20 of Secrets in a Sandstorm

“The next. They beat and impaled a tomb robber yesterday as a warning to all. I do not want to die without an afterlife.” He tilts my chin and claims my lips. “And leave you alone forever.”

I shudder as though a cobra is slithering over my skin. “Then I will stay here and roam the world with you.”

“I will not ask you to give up your afterlife.”

“You did not. Without you, there is no life.”

CHAPTER TEN

ANCIENT EGYPT

DJAU

The night is cool, and the breeze tugs at my cloak as I make my way to the opening of the cave. It’s little more than a crack in the rock face, though it eventually widens out, making it the perfect hiding place. I slide in, creeping deeper, and once I am deep enough, I see the flicker of an oil lamp.

Ay is already digging in the sand to bury the gold and jewels. He glances up as if sensing me enter and gives me a nod. “It was a good haul.”

We don’t desecrate the tomb, and we don’t take everything. The scribe only wants gold, so that is all we take.

I walk over and kiss him on the neck, the highest part of him I can reach. He tastes of sweat and sand, and I want more than a kiss, though that is not why we are meeting.

“You were safe?” I crouch and peer into the two bags resting on the sand,

“Always.”

Ay crouches next to me and pulls a golden statuette out of a bag. “I saw this and thought of you. It’s much finer than anything I can make you.”

It is a statuette of Bast, a little smaller than mine, and made of gold and far more detailed. I cannot melt this down. “She is beautiful.” I place my hand on his cheek. “Though not as beautiful as you. Nor was she created with the love you placed in the one you made.”

While the golden Bast is a treasure, the one Ay carved will always have a place in my heart. I am not foolish enough to trade love for gold.

In the flickering light, the eyeliner makes his eyes darker, and I want nothing more than to drop to my knees and show my devotion. But we do not stop for pleasure when working.

I mark off the objects from the list the scribe gave me. There is always a list of burial goods. Sometimes, he requests specific items—perhaps with a buyer in mind; other times, I mark off what has been acquired. Sometimes, someone has been there before us, and there isn’t much left.

I do not mark Bast. I place her in a special pocket in my cloak. But if I cannot melt her, I will need something else so I can add to our funds.

As if knowing what I am thinking, Ay pulls something else out of the bag. “The lapis will fetch a good price, yes?” He hands me an armband. It’s thick and heavy and far too pretty to spend eternity buried.

Or to be pulled apart.

Yet that is what I must do. It is transportable and heavy enough to make it worthwhile. I nod and slide it up my arm as though I am a wealthy noble.

Ay smiles, and his eyes darken. “It looks good on you. Perhaps you should wear it with me just once.”

That would be another rule broken. I do not keep stolen goods in my house. Which also gives me a goldenBast-sized problem since I cannot bear to see her destroyed. Perhaps I will hide her inside a jar. A secret shrine.

He cups my chin and leans in to kiss me. The kind that hints he’d be willing to bend the rules this once. We are growing tired of sips and want to feast. His thigh presses between mine, and I grind against it, desperate and aching for the touch of his rough hands on my cock.

Ay freezes, his tongue in my mouth. His gaze at the entrance.

In one smooth, feline move, he releases me, picks up the shovel, and extinguishes the lamp. As if he can see in the dark, he grabs me and pulls me close. His breath ghosts over my ear. “If you see a chance, run.”

My ears strain for noises.

At first, it’s only my heartbeat echoing in my ears and off the rock walls. Then, just as I am about to suggest his nerves have led him astray, I hear it. Soft feet on sand. The bump of metal on rock.

There’s more than one.

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