Passage to Queen Mesentia (9 page)

“Thebes,” Ben said.

“Yes,” Lilly said. “Thebes... Luxor... Wade!”

“What?”

Lilly felt sick. “Do you know what you did?”

“I’m guessing something wrong.”

“We weren’t supposed to come to Cairo; we were supposed to go to Luxor. That’s over four hundred miles from here!”

“Sorry. It said capital. I knew New Kingdom meant Egypt. Cairo is the capital of Egypt. I thought I did pretty darn good.”

“It’s the capital now,” she said. “But Thebes, which is now Luxor, was the capital in the New Kingdom.”

“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?”

“If you had shared this information at the beginning...”

Wade lifted his hands in the air and then let them fall at his side. “Lilly, I did what I thought I had to do to keep you safe. I’m sorry, all right. At least I got us to the right country. Can’t we just hop a flight?”

Ben walked down the hall to the guestroom. Wade sat in one of the chairs and put his face in his hands.

Lilly couldn’t believe he’d cost them so much time—first, with the passport and now this.

 A few minutes later, Ben came back, fully dressed, and walked over to Lilly. “I will go get the tickets. You two pack just enough.”

Lilly smiled at Ben and then nodded her head.

“Ben to the rescue.” Wade stood up and walked out onto the balcony, slamming the patio door.

Lilly cringed and thought perhaps she had been too hard on him, but at the same time wondered why he had to be so stubborn about things. “I’m sorry about all of this,” she told Ben. “He should have told us in the first place.”

Ben gently touched the hair by her face, sending tiny spider chills from her back up to her neck. “You remind me of her,” he whispered. “So exquisite, yet so strong-minded. Don’t worry so much, Lillian. All will be very well.”

After Ben walked out the door, she noticed how her heart raced. When she remembered Wade on the balcony, a flash of guilt heated her cheeks. Even though she couldn’t see anything out there in the darkness, she felt Wade’s stare.

She walked quickly to the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she put her hand over her mouth. She had denied noticing the hurt in Wade’s eyes and ignored the rude remarks he had been making for the last week, because she kept telling herself that he was just being his usual jealous self. But now, the way she’d reacted to Ben’s touch, she wondered if Wade had been correct.
It’s ridiculous. I’m not sexually attracted to this man who is over five-thousand years old.

Wade was so frustrating she could strangle him. Technically they had broken up… so why did it bother her so much to think that he knew how Ben made her feel?

“Pull yourself together,” she said to her reflection in the mirror. “Focus on the agenda.” She had to put her feelings, whatever they were, for both men, aside. 

She took a quick bath, and then went to her room. She hated looking like a tourist, so after rummaging through her bag and her mother’s closet, she dressed in a long, dark brown skirt, a long-sleeved light sweater, and sandals. As she put a blue scarf over her head, she heard voices in the front area.

“Yes and no,” Ben was saying to Wade as Lilly walked out of the bedroom. “There are no flights available until sunrise. We are taking a train.”

Lilly said, “The train to Luxor takes ten hours!”

“We have no other choice,” Ben said, looking at Wade. “The next one will leave in half an hour.”

Chapter 11

Ben paid the conductor as they boarded the 12:30 a.m. non–air conditioned, second-class train headed for Luxor. Lilly took a seat and scooted down by the window, and Ben sat down next her. When Lilly glanced up, Wade stood beside them, staring at her, his backpack slung over one shoulder, a mixture of hurt and disgust covering his face. He shook his head and walked further down the aisle. She realized she was biting her nails and yanked her hand from her mouth and scoffed, turning to stare out the window at nothing in particular.

“Lillian, is everything all right?” Ben asked.

“Yes,” she said still facing the window. “I’m sorry about the wrong city and...”

“There is no need to be sorry. You have sacrificed everything to help me get the statuette, like your parents did, and I have so much appreciation for you.”

She turned to him. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly does it look like?”

His dark eyes glistened, catching the light outside the dimly lit car. “It is a perfect palm-sized pyramid made of gold and copper. The gemstones on three of its sides represent the three elements of its power:  amethyst—love; garnet—blood; and emerald—hate.”

“What about the forth side?”

“It holds all three stones representing the importance of their union.”

“I hope we can find it before Schelsteder. What if we’ve given him too much of a lead?”

The train jolted a little and then began moving slowly out of the station. Lilly sat with her right leg crossed over her left leg and her hands clasped together in her lap. Ben cupped his hand over her hands, bringing back the sensation of that morning’s touch. “Everything will be fine,” he said.

She tried to stay focused on the conversation and not be distracted by the fact that his hand lingered. “What if it’s too late?” she said avoiding eye contact. “We don’t even know exactly where we’re going except for Luxor.”

“I’ve been thinking about the letter, and I believe they put my statuette in the Luxor Museum.”

“Right! That makes sense. It said…” When she went to retrieve the letter from her bag, his hand naturally dropped to her thigh. When he didn’t move it away, chills combined with confusion caused her to forget what they were talking about for a second. However, she did her best to recover and to pretend not to notice, because she really didn’t want him to move it. She held the paper out in front of her and quickly read over it again. “Right, it says stuff about ancient tombs, gold, and metal. It makes sense. My parents certainly had access to the museum and the staff.  But if you figured it out so easily, what’s going to stop Schelsteder?”

“Me,” he said. “First we will go to the museum and see. That will tell us. If the museum has been robbed, it will be closed to the public. If not, it is either still there, and I’ll have time to retrieve it because Schelsteder will most likely wait until dark to steal it. Or, if it’s not there, we will have more thinking to do together.”

Lilly nodded thinking about all the possibilities. “If it’s there, how are you going to get it out before he does?”

“This is not a problem for me. I, like your parents, have many acquaintances.”

Lilly stared at him. Once upon a time, he had been a king.

“And nothing will stop me from my quest…”

Lilly stared at the noble man who had been cursed for love, cursed for a desire that had lasted centuries. He had lived a tragedy that would have broken a weaker man. He had such fervidity… and he made her feel passionate… and as though he wanted her. She imagined how Queen Mesentia must have felt, running to his bedchamber when she knew he had come back to see her. How her heart must have pounded the first time he’d touched her.

She watched Ben’s lips move as he mouthed her name—Lillian, Lillian—but she was so within herself that she heard nothing except for her excited heart. When she felt him clasp her hand, the sounds of the train suddenly burst back into her head as she sucked in a lung full of air.

“The journey is too much for you,” he said with deep concern.

“No,” she said, trying to stay focused. “I was thinking… about my parents and what they would have wanted to ask you.” When he shifted in the seat, she realized she held his hand as much as he held hers. She hoped he didn’t notice the way it shook as she removed it from his and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“We had many talks,” he said.

“I bet they loved that.”

“They were very knowledgeable about their history. There really wasn’t much for me to fill in. Is there anything you are curious about?”

She smiled at the question. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’m kind of curious about Atlantis. Not like my parents would have been, though. I don’t care about its location. What I want to know is what was it like? Was it wonderful? Like a paradise? Heaven?”

“I’m afraid I only saw it at night. I was kept underground, mining, and only brought up to the surface to sleep.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” 

“A long time ago.” He smiled. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

She licked her lips, wondering, how personal. She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess not.”

“Why Wade? You two are like the night and the day. You, my love, deserve a man who will show you the world. A man who fulfills you so much you see no one but him, hear no one but him…
want
no one but him.”

“That’s a question?” She laughed, trying to hide her nerves.

“When we first met, I thought I was in a dream. I had to leave your presence quickly because you make me forget my purpose. I have never known a woman since Tia who made me feel as though I could love again.”

Lilly’s skin tingled and her heart pattered as Ben stared at her, his dark eyes deep with passion. Finally, he looked away, but only for a second before turning back to her. He placed his fingertips under her chin, lifting gently before leaning in. He stopped a whisper away, the heat of his restless breath on her face. Lilly could no longer deny the desires she had avoided for days and didn’t pull away. Instead, she closed the inch of space between them. Ben’s kiss was teasingly soft at first and then gradually became hungrier and harder. Every drop of her responded, and she gave herself over completely to the moment, forgetting about where they were and who may have been watching.

Until simultaneously, the kiss ended, she opened her eyes, and Wade roared, “Get off her, you son-of-a-bitch!”

Wade pulled Ben out into the aisle, his fist finding Ben’s complacent expression immediately.

“Stop it!” Lilly cried. “Stop it!”

Ben had absorbed several blows before Lilly made it out of her seat, and the passengers began to gather and clamor. Ben grabbed Wade’s next punch mid-air, whipping him around until he faced Lilly, his arm pinned behind his back.

Wade’s chest heaved in and out, but he didn’t make a move. “I can see a pattern here, seducing other men’s women.”

Ben said, “It did not feel as though she belonged to anyone, except for me.”

Wade stared at Lilly, searching her eyes. She knew he was waiting for a denial, but she couldn’t blame it all on Ben. He hadn’t forced the kiss on her; she had wanted it. Embarrassment for her compulsive behavior and remorse for hurting Wade caused any words to catch in her throat.

Instant tears flooded Wade’s eyes. “Let me go.” He jerked away, parting the crowd as he made his way back to his seat.

Even though the damage had been done, Lilly couldn’t bring herself to sit back down beside Ben. She sat next to an elderly man who had slept through the entire show.

Her head ached with confusion as she thought about Ben. She wished she had not allowed herself to step over the boundaries of friendship or whatever their relationship was. She wondered what he was going to think now, after they had kissed. What did she want him to think? She also wondered what would have happened if they had been all alone. Would she have surrendered to him completely?

She kept replaying the moments before, during, and after the kiss over and over in her mind. She thought about what Wade had said about there being a pattern.
A pattern
. Why did she feel so ashamed now, but not then? When in Ben’s presence, she couldn’t think rationally.

She eased her stare to Wade who sat across and a few seats up. He had traveled across the globe to keep her safe. He had been there for her through her grief, even when she’d pushed him away.  But she knew him and knew he had limits. And she was pretty sure that watching her kiss another man would be one of them. That had been what she had wanted all along… she wanted him to be able to move on. Now he would be able to do that. “That’s what I wanted,” she whispered to herself. “Right? Is that what I wanted?”

When the train pulled into the station at 9:40 a.m., Lilly was exhausted. She hadn’t been able to sleep a wink. Wade on the other hand had snored all the way to Luxor. As everyone started getting off the train, her two guys didn’t move. She noticed the sunshine pouring in all the windows and remembered what Ben had said about being nocturnal. “Oh, no.”

“Ben, we’re here,” she said after she walked to his seat.

He nodded, but his eyes were closed.

“Are you going to be able to walk?”

He didn’t answer her.

“Great.” She walked down the aisle to where Wade sat snoring.

“Wade,” she said. “We have a slight problem.”

“What? What?” He looked up at her. “Oh, it’s you.” He folded his arms and closed his eyes again.

“I’m going to need your help getting Ben off the train. I don’t think he can walk. It’s daylight and I think, you know, I think he’s
out
out.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Wade stood up. “He’s not a small man.”

Lilly followed as Wade walked back to Ben.

Wade shouted and nudged him at the same time. “Ben, come on. Let’s go.”

Ben opened his eyes and nodded his head. He reached out for both sides of the chair in front of him and lifted himself up.

“See,” Wade said. “He’s fine.”

Ben fell back down into his seat.

“Shit,” Wade said. He stepped around Ben’s legs and stood on the other side of him. “All right, let’s get him up.”

By time they made it outside the train station, Ben had fallen completely asleep. They had to hold him up and drag him to the taxi. Lilly opened the door with one hand while Wade handled most of the bulk.

The taxi driver watched from the front seat as they continued their chore of getting the 6-½-foot man who, at the moment, seemed to weigh 500 pounds, in the back of his car.

Lilly sat first and scooted in to the other door, pulling Ben as Wade pushed. Ben’s head fell against Lilly’s shoulder, and he snuggled against her in comfortable sleep. When Wade didn’t have a smart remark, she knew he had passed the jealous mark… he was crushed.