Sins of the Flesh

“What? Killed them?” Her usual calm deserted her, and all she seemed to be able to do was parrot useless questions at him as horror surged. “No. Took them. Kidnapped. We don’t know who or why.”


“So that’s the real reason you were slinking through my house. Because you weren’t sure if there was a threat hiding somewhere.”

“No. I would have sensed a threat. And I could sense your energy signature.” He offered a half smile. “I really was trying to be considerate in case you were asleep.”

“Why would someone take Naphré and Roxy?” She felt sluggish and slow, as if her brain was chugging up a steep hill. Roxy was in trouble. Calliope couldn’t help the protective urge that made her want to wield the sword Mal had just returned to her and cut down any who threatened her charge.

For years, Calliope had been Roxy’s mentor, responsible for guiding and teaching her. Then their relationship had evolved and Roxy had found her feet, become a formidable force in her own right. But Calliope could never quite shake the feeling that she needed to watch out for her, as though Roxy was her kid sister.

“Dagan…” She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. She knew he loved Roxy. Truly loved her. She remembered the look on his face when he’d had the choice to go after Gahiji and possibly find information about his dead brother or stay with Roxy because she needed him. He’d chosen Roxy, and he’d saved Calliope’s life for her, though she had been his enemy.

“Dae’s ready to kill someone. As is Alastor.” Mal stared at her for a long moment. “I’d feel the same way.”

She heard what he didn’t say. That if he’d returned to find her gone, he would have been after blood.

“They’ve gone ahead. We’re to meet them.”

Calliope shook her head. “But why? Why take Roxy and Naphré? And why take me with you? You’ll move faster without me, and I can help here. I could contact the Guard. I could—”

“No.” He caught her wrist and drew her close against him, his gaze locked on hers. “I’ll answer the last question first. I’m taking you with me because where I go, you go. Until we fucking figure out what the hell is going on, we’re joined at the hip. I’m not letting you out of my sight. Because if I come back and you’re gone—”

The skin around his eyes tightened and there were lines etched on both sides of his mouth. His lips drew a hard line. “You stay with me, pretty girl. We stay together.”

She swallowed. Nodded. Hearing all he said and all he didn’t say. That he cared about her. Maybe too much. That he wouldn’t risk her. And that there was a real danger here that neither of them would be coming back.

He looked down at his fingers where they braceleted her wrist, and he let her go. She could feel a bit of tension leave him when she made no move to draw away.

“Now tell me about Roxy and Naphré,” she said. “Who took them? What do they want?”

“You ever hear a prophecy about a god rising? The blood of Aset. The blood of Sutekh. And the God will pass the Twelve Gates and walk the Earth once more.”

A shiver chased up her spine. She’d didn’t recall ever hearing those words, yet she felt as though she had. Or as though she should have. “What does it mean?”

He raked his fingers back through his hair. “Fucked if I know. Dae and I think it’s something about Sutekh. About using Aset’s blood and Sutekh’s blood to raise him. To allow him Topworld.”

“That breaches the agreement,” Calliope said. “All the Underworld gods are confined to their own territories. It’s the only way to keep peace.” It had been keeping peace for 6,000 years.

“Yeah. But if someone’s using that prophecy as a blueprint, then it explains everything. The Daughters of Aset who were murdered in the past quarter century, right back to Roxy’s mother. The involvement of the Setnakhts. Of course they’d want Sutekh to rise. Can you imagine what they believe their reward would be if they managed that?”

“But this raises more questions than it answers. Why kill your brother? And why take Roxy and Naphré now? Tonight?”

“Actually, it explains everything. If they needed the blood of Sutekh to make him rise, what better way to accomplish it than taking the blood of one of his sons? Lokan’s blood, or mine or Dae’s or Alastor’s, is the purest source outside of Sutekh himself.”

“Why Lokan? Why not—” She broke off, unwilling to say it. Why not you?

“Lokan had a weakness none of the rest of us had, an Achilles’ heel. Hell, she’s an impossibility. She shouldn’t even exist to be Lokan’s weakness. They used her to draw him out, make him weak. Make him go along with whatever they had planned.”

“She?” Calliope shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Mal stared at her for so long, she thought he wasn’t going to say another word. Then something in his expression shifted, as though he’d silently been warring with himself and finally come to a decision.