Blackhearted Betrayal (22 page)

And seeing as how we didn’t have forty years to wander around the desert like that Moses guy, I had to come up with a better plan for finding the Hall of Two Truths ASAP. I could have run a tracer spell if only I had the blood of Ma’at or one of her guardians, but that wasn’t exactly an ingredient one could run down to the corner mart to pick up. Even if Duat had
had
a corner mart …No, all I had to work with were a couple Warhounds, a sister Fury, a half-Fury-half-Sidhe hybrid, a Death-touched Raga, an earth-friendly Giant, and an unfamiliar Seer who owed allegiance to a Death Lord I didn’t know very …well …

I froze halfway up a sand dune, causing a domino effect of bodies piling one into another and curses flying into the evening air. Not that I took much notice, I was too busy thinking over Mijai’s words when he insisted his wife be the one to come with us.
You may be able to divine something when the Nemesis needs it most …
Considering the insistent Mandate burning a hole in the back of my brain, that Serise and her unborn child were being held prisoner by my crazy
former
mentor and her power-hungry, lovesick god, the fact that other people’s lives depended upon my
not
screwing up, and—the kicker—I had
no
idea where we were going, it seemed safe to say that
this
would be the time I needed help the most.

Durra opened her mouth to bitch, but my wild-eyed
gaze shut her up. I waded through the stupid sand and stopped in front of Jeserit. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks bore dirt-stained tear tracks—something that sent guilt shooting inside again, but I forced that aside. None of us had time for tender emotions just then. We had a
job
to do. Time—as always—to grieve later. Besides, her husband might not even be dead. Anubis might have just let him go …

Yeah, I didn’t really believe that, either.

“Jeserit, I hate to ask this of you, but I have to. We’ve been walking out here for hours, and if I don’t miss my guess, we’ve just been wandering in circles. Your husband had faith in your abilities and—and he somehow
knew
it would come down to this. He
knew
I would need
you
to help me find my way to the Hall of Two Truths. Please—is there any way for you to try scrying again? I know you can’t divine the Hall’s exact whereabouts, but what about—what about something more general, like the best direction for us to travel in?”

Jeserit’s eyes flashed with pain at the first mention of her husband, but resolve replaced it. She clenched her teeth and nodded. “He’s right, and so are you. I won’t let his sacrifice be in vain. But this time …this time I need the proper tools, or as close as we can get in this blasted wasteland.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding and nodded eagerly. “Yes, surely between us we can come up with what you need. Just let us know.”

The others gathered around us and soon echoed my words. Jeserit became more determined with each voice that spoke and began rattling off the items she needed. “A ceremonial dagger—the bastards took mine when they ambushed us.”

Scott produced a stainless steel knife from a boot sheath. “I’ve not even used this yet, so you should be able to bless it for ceremonial use. I know it’s not pretty but—”

“No, that’s perfect!” Jeserit snatched the blade and sheathed it at her belt. “We’ll need something to use to make a pentagram on the ground.”

My hand whipped into a utility pouch at my waist, and I drew out a pack of cheap but functional chalk. “Check! Never leave home without it.” Not since the one time I failed to bring some, and it nearly got me killed.

She nodded and glanced around our surroundings with a frown. “I really need a
flat
surface in order to make this work.”

Something that might be easier said than done. We hadn’t seen a completely flat patch of land since leaving the oasis a good three or four hours earlier …The ground began rumbling beneath our feet, and we all went into attack mode, surrounding Jeserit and waiting for the coming ambush—all except for Charlie, who simply walked to the foot of our sand dune and made some wild gestures. Blue sand smoothed out at his command, packing down into a hard, flat surface a couple of dozen feet in diameter.

“Check!” the earth-friendly (duh!) Giant called out once the ground finished rearranging itself for him.

Sahana offered to sketch out the pentagram upon the hard-packed earth, and I handed her some of the chalk. Jeserit spared a small smile before continuing with her shopping list. “Didn’t I see one of you fill a canteen at the pool?”

Elliana and Mac held out utilitarian canteens that had been clipped to their belts. Mercs could be
so
useful to have around, especially anal-retentive ones.

“One of these will do, thanks.” She reached beneath the neckline of her robe and pulled out a gold chain, which bore a large, cabochon-cut chunk of rainbow obsidian that must have cost her a pretty penny. “The idiots
did
let me keep my scrying stone, with which a Seer can do far more damage than a mere dagger.”

I gave an approving grin at the tone of her voice since it reminded me how often mortals feared my police-issue Sig Sauer more than my innocuous bare hands—which were in actuality way more dangerous, even in only partial Fury form.

Jeserit leveled her gaze upon me. “The last three items must come from you, Nemesis. Since
you
are the one with the gods-blessed Mandate and the one whose needs are most dire, I will need
your
blood, flesh, and hair.”

I’d been half expecting that, since some of the spells I used to summon spirits or trace a person’s location—very much like scrying—required the same items. Scott helpfully offered another of his many concealed blades (likely unsuitable for ceremonial use due to having been used for violence) so I could cut a lock of hair and scrape off a portion of skin covered with drops of blood. The wound closed over even more quickly than usual thanks to my Nemesis genes, but fortunately not so quickly I couldn’t get the flesh and blood first.

Jeserit held out the oversized scrying stone, and I carefully placed my vital essences upon it. She murmured magical phrases, and the hair, flesh, and blood fused together before a spark of black energy flashed, and the obsidian actually
absorbed
the essences, leaving not a visible trace behind.

That seemed easy. Knowing magic the way I did,
too
easy. “That all you need from me?”

“For now. Just wait outside the pentagram with the others. This might take a while.” She got a sudden fierce expression. “Whatever happens, I
must not
be interrupted, or I’ll have to start all over again.”

Good to know. We didn’t really have
a while
for her to do this once, much less twice. And considering the fact Anubis had patrols scouring the desert for us, we couldn’t count on their
not
showing up at the worst possible moment.

Safer to assume that’s
exactly
what’s going to happen and be prepared,
Nike pointed out, and slithered along my arm to get more comfortable.

Out of the mouths—okay, minds—of snakes …

I turned to Scott, only to find him nocking an arrow to his crossbow. “So when did
you
take up archery?”

He laughed at the question I’d blurted out unintentionally. “I don’t tell you
every
thing, baby. Have to keep you guessing so you don’t get bored.”

As if
that
would ever happen in a relationship involving a Fury and a Warhound …I was just relieved to find we
could
share a moment of humor in light of all the crap going down. “Can I count on you Shadowhounds and Charlie to cover our perimeter?”

“Consider it done.” His glance fell upon Jeserit, setting up shop at the center of Sahana’s perfectly sketched pentagram. The muscles in his jaw tightened, and he pulled me to him roughly. My eyes fluttered shut, and I drank in the feminine scent of berry-flavored candy contrasted with the more masculine musks and sandalwoods that comforted my soul because they meant Scott was nearby. He sucked down those candies to stave off his cigarette cravings, the smoking a habit he’d given up for me.

Rather than kissing me as expected, he ran his hands through my hair and murmured sweet Egyptian nothings in my ear. I didn’t waste magic translating his mother’s tongue, just savored his scent, sound, and most importantly, touch. For this one moment I could forget we were on a desperate quest to stop Anubis before he could bring war to both our world and the immortal, forget that Scott had betrayed Anubis the way Jackal-Faced had betrayed his fellow gods, forget that one of us might well have to make the sacrifice Jeserit had made when she chose to carry on knowing that her husband faced certain death. For now, we were just Scott and Marissa, two people who loved each other, who always had and—I hoped—always would.

I opened
my
eyes to find
his
devouring my face as if he could imprint it onto his memory the way a food connoisseur would a meal. My pulse skittered as emotion welled inside me. “Gods, Scott, I love you.”

“I know,” he murmured, fisting his fingers in my hair possessively. “As much as I love you. I gave up my god for you, Marissa, and I would do it again, a thousand times over.
This
is love, not whatever emotion is driving—Anubis—to betray immortal law and steal the free will and bodies of those weaker than he. Remember that no matter what happens, but also remember this: Your Mandate
must
come first.” I opened my mouth, but he pressed a finger against it. “I know you, Riss, and I saw that silent war waging across your face back in the oasis. Love is important and worth fighting for—worth
dying
for—but true love would never ask someone to sacrifice honor and duty for mere selfishness. You
do
what you have to and let the rest of us do what
we
have to. Even if that means letting go.”

Like I’d had to let my grandmother go. Like Jeserit had to let Mijai go. I’d had no choice but to accept Vanessa’s passing months earlier, and that had been the most gut-wrenching loss of my life—worse than losing my father, mother, or grandmother. Scott I loved with even more strength, more fire and passion, and I couldn’t imagine living life without him again. But, if push came to shove, could I honor our love and his request and fight on if I had to?

“I—I will.”

Scott pressed a frenzied kiss against my lips before pushing away. “I knew you’d make the right choice.”

He turned and began organizing Charlie, Elle, and Mac to spread out and form a protective layer in the distance.
Funny,
I thought with a bemused expression.
How did he know that when I wasn’t sure of it myself?

Because,
Nike interjected with that maternal air she pulled off so well,
he loves you for who and what you are, and he sees you the way Nemesis and I do. Strong enough to do what needs doing even when it hurts. That’s why we chose you, why
he
chose you.

Gods, but her matter-of-fact certainty humbled me in a way nothing else had. To hear that she and Nemesis had actually
chosen
me as their Fury—something I always figured had just been some sort of cosmic crapshoot—explained why I’d always felt such a deep kinship with them even when I couldn’t understand them verbally. Hearing Nike confirm something I’d always known but never really
gotten
on a visceral level, that Scott had
chosen
me, made me narrow my eyes and figuratively gird my loins. Our love was amazing and worth fighting for, but Scott was right. Shirking one’s sacred duties out of selfishness only dishonored that love. Something I
would not do
.

Unlike Mr. Jackal-Faced pain-in-my-ass.

“This is
so
on!” I muttered with a feline smile that would have done Harper proud. “And your immortal ass is going down!” Even if that meant I lost mine in the process, or worse—Scott lost his.

SAHANA FROWNED WHEN I APPROACHED THE
spot where she and Durra were keeping watch over Jeserit, who had apparently used the canteen’s contents to bless her ceremonial dagger, offer up some of her blood as a sacrifice, and bathe the scrying stone in both water and blood. She sat chanting magical phrases while twirling the gold chain over the soggy sand beneath the stone.

“I know I’m not a merc, Marissa, but I’m just as deadly as the others. I can pull my weight!”

“I know, Sahi, and you’re probably
deadlier
than the others, which is why I want you here with Durra and me. We’re the last line of defense.”

Annoyance faded, and she nodded thoughtfully. “You think they’re coming?”

“I
know
they’re coming. The only question is when they’ll catch up.”

Durra nodded next to me. “Since Anubis has been playing his games with us, he’s probably herding us somewhere we’ll be easier to find. That’s what I would have done.”

I couldn’t resist shooting her a sardonic expression. “Yeah, you
are
pretty good at forcing people into unexpected ambushes.” She didn’t have the grace to flush, merely returned my sarcasm with an angelic (ha) smile.

Jeserit’s voice rose a few decibels, hinting that we
were making her task more difficult with our chatter, so I motioned for the others to spread out around the pentagram’s edge. The sun had long since disappeared, but twin moons out of some science-fiction novel vied for supremacy in Duat’s night sky, providing enough illumination to make our lives easier. Unfortunately, that fact would aid our pursuers as well.