Page 46 of Vengeful Mates

“Great Record Keeper and Great Lady,” he said in the ancient Egyptian tongue, casting a glance Aaliyah’s way, nodding his acknowledgment at her.

I repeated the gesture. “What have you summoned me for, Great Scribe?”

He passed me a book. “I thought this might interest you.”

Months ago, I charged him with reviewing all the scrolls for any mention of the Dark One or Rulers of the Nine Bows.

“What did you find?” I had my woman with me, and I didn’t want to waste time trawling through books when I could enjoy her company. Get that damn second blow job she agreed to. Fuck her again before we returned to the club. Time alone with her these days became rarer than painite stones.

“It is an account written by a scribe about his master,” the scribe recalled. “A priest of the Dark One cursed a god.”

Right up my alley, by the sound of it. “Thank you.” I took the scroll and tucked it under my arm. “Anything else?”

“No, master.” The scribe bowed and walked away.

I took my woman to my office, setting the scroll on my desk, rolling it open and placing a paperweight on each edge.

My finger trailed each hieroglyph as I read them, hope feeding my desire to break the curse. “It says the scribe’s master, named Baska, cursed Isis and Osiris.”

Aaliyah chewed her fingernail again, and I jerked her wrist to stop the action because her fingers and sexy dark nails got me hard just looking at them... even harder when they grazed my skin… hard as fucking stone when gripping my cock. “That correlates with Mad’s information.”

Yeah, it did. Victory tasted sweet on my tongue as I inched closer to solving this fucking riddle and breaking the curse.

“Worshippers of Isis struck him down with their blade, and he’s buried in the Valley of Kings as per his burial rites of priests for Anubis.” I swiped a hand through my hair, taking in my woman’s worried face. “Now we just have to find his tomb.”

Her gaze shot to my balcony, to the river and deserts beyond. “We’re going tomb raiding?”

As a fan of the Lara Croft video games, I dug the reference. “I surmise we can break the curse if we destroy the canopic jar with the priest’s entrails, and leave no piece of him on this Earth.”

Aaliyah tapped her lip, uncertain. I didn’t blame her after my last spell failed to free her of the curse. “Do you know where his tomb is?”

“Its location is recorded on this scroll.” Eidetic memory gave me instant recall of the location, but I rolled up the document and tucked it in a leather quiver, throwing it over my shoulders for her. “Come on, Sorceress. Let’s get the camels.”

She smiled. “Not exactly what I had in mind for a date, but I love a good adventure.”

Quests in books were my jam. Less danger. No chance of injury. Better statistics for survival. But I loved my woman’s enthusiasm and that she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

Riding a camel was an adventure in itself. I could have used Thoth’s magick to portal us to the location, but where was the fun in that? Specific avatars like Zethan and I were granted access to the world of gods and pyramids, and I wanted my woman to have the ancient Egyptian experience. Camels, spitting, whining, and their unique stench. Sand and harsh sun. Tombstones, tomb raiding, and curse breaking! A story worthy of a book. Maybe one I’d write when I retired.

A short time later, our rides were saddled and ready for mounting, groaning, mine nibbling my ear, and I shrugged it off.

I hooked the scarf over my woman’s face to protect it from the brutal desert environment. “Keep this on unless you want to eat sand.”

Her smile tempted me from beyond her veil. “Not your first rodeo, cowboy?”

“No, ma’am.” I spanked her on the ass and guided her to her camel. “Now giddy up.” I lifted her up and she hooked her foot into the stirrup I taught the blacksmiths to forge for me.

I patted the neck of her camel and crossed to mine, climbing onto it, adjusting my cock, which chafed against the saddle. “It’s a half-hour ride to Luxor on the west bank of the Nile.”

“Yee haw!” Aaliyah cried as our camels commenced trotting along the banks of the Nile, headed for the Valley of Kings.

“Go, cowgirl,” I teased, rocking in my saddle.

I herded my camel to the water’s edge, giving her a closer view.

Aaliyah's gaze swept over the workers harvesting wheat and grain from the fields planted on the edges of the river. Palm fronds wriggled like waving fingers in the breeze. Skiffs carrying fishermen returned from higher up the river with piles of fish to sell at the markets. Servants collected water in amphoras to take back to their master’s homes. Obelisks, statues, and temples stretched along the river’s boundaries, dedicated to all the gods. Most times I came to Thoth’s library, I sat on my balcony, admiring the splendor, the rhythm of the tides, and momentum of the people bringing me into a peaceful and meditative state.

“This is beautiful,” my woman murmured.

---