Soul Reborn (Key to the Cursed Book 1) (13 page)

“Things are changing
so fast. I’m changing.” Lilly sniffed and wiped the tears escaping her eyes. “I’m
in over my head, Dad. I don’t know what to do.”

Her father’s eyes fixated
on the glass where she was standing. His once gentle brown eyes burned red with
hunger. Never exposed to the elements or other revens, her father’s body was
well preserved from decay, unusually so. She assumed Mother had been feeding
him. Despite being well nourished, his skin retained a sickly gray color with a
spider web of veins visible beneath his skin. He’d become only a shell of the
great man and father she once knew and loved. Still loved.

She fully expected
him to charge. It wouldn’t be the first time. His head tilted slightly
registering her voice. He approached slowly and deliberately, not normal reven
behavior. Her father stopped at the glass and put his hands against it. The
grayish skin smeared across making an eerie squeal.

Choking on her
tears, she placed her hand on the glass to mirror his own. “I’m so sorry, Dad. The
goddess. The revens. You told me not to touch the sarcophagus, but I didn’t
listen. I didn’t believe you when you said it was cursed and now everyone is suffering.
You. Kit and Kendra. Asar.”

She leaned her forehead
on the glass of the observation window. Tears rained down her cheeks. “When he
finds out I caused all this, he will never forgive me.”

Unexpectedly, her
father howled and lurched at the window with his teeth drawn, dragging his lips
and tongue across the glass where her face had been. A heinous snarl escaped
his pale drawn mouth, ripping through the thick reinforced glass, as he lunged
at her again and again.

Startled by the
sudden change, Lilly slammed herself against the back wall. She turned to run,
but an all too familiar dark shape and the ebb of cold air pulled her up short.

He drew back his
mouth over what looked to be large fangs, letting out a wild hiss. The ripple of
hatred and pain in Asar’s black eyes was unmistakable. She covered her mouth to
suppress her scream.

“It was
you
!”
Asar closed the distance in two large strides and grabbed her wrist. Twisting it
painfully, he trained in on the distinct markings on her forearms. His eyes glowed
red at the sight of them. “You purposefully deceived me.”

Her heart lurched with
fear. “No! Oh, god no! I didn’t know.” She cried out in agony. “I didn’t know. It
was an accident. God, please. I would never hurt you.”

Asar wrapped his
hand around her throat. “You already
have
. I should kill you for what
you have done. Your father exhumed the goddess’ tomb. It was
your
blood
that released Kepi from her prison.” His bellowing voice echoed in the small
chamber.

Her worse nightmare
came true. “Please forgive me. I didn’t know it would happen. My father took me
with him on his excavation of the site. It was no different from the others. I cataloged
all the artifacts, took measurements of the sarcophagus and its key—” Her words
cut off as he tightened his grip on her throat.

Rage surged through
the face of the man she loved. “How could I be so stupid? You have been working
with the goddess this whole time. Manipulating me into trusting you, sharing
myself with you, so that you could fully transition. You are no better than her.”

The accusation of
his words ripped through her heart and deep into her soul. He hated her as much
as he hated the goddess. “I would never do such a thing,” she yelled in a hysterical
pitch through her compressed larynx. “I love you. I didn’t know. It was an
accident. I was going to find a way to tell you.”

A pain like that of
a sharp knife pierced through her heart. She cupped a hand over his mark to prevent
him from taking it from her. “Please, don’t. I want to be with you. No, don’t
take it away.”

Despite her pleas, she
knew it was too late. The irreparable damage came complete with no chance of
recovery. The man she loved despised her. He had no reason to keep her, even as
his slave. If he had any level of empathy, he would kill her. She prayed he
would suck every last morsel of life out of her, relieving her from the pain
and guilt ravaging her soul.

With her soul
completely stripped of his essence, he released her neck and wrist and gave her
a hard shove to the floor. She sank to her knees and sobbed. A new level of
agony boiled deep within her. He backed away without saying another word and
vanished, sparing her miserable life.

Death was too kind.

The pain erupted
like a volcano in his chest, spewing a tortuous blaze in his body. He bellowed
in anguish when he arrived in Aaru. Lilly betrayed him. With guilt in her eyes,
her declaration of love dripped like acid into an open wound. Kepi professed
her love in her last moments of judgment, only to lunge for his throat when he
was in striking distance.

He would not make the
same mistake.

Asar vowed to kill
everyone involved, which now included the Carrigan family. The blood lust curled
like fire in his fingers the moment he wrapped around her graceful neck. She was
defenseless against a god like him. Just a small squeeze of his hand, and he
would fulfill his promise to himself and his son. So easy.

But for all the
malicious hatred, he could not bring himself to do it. Instead, his weakness
for her stoked the already uncontrollable inferno, and he violently reabsorbed
his mark from her soul.

In his office, he
exploded and incinerated each piece of furniture present. His royal guard and
Inpu stormed his room.

“Get out!” he snarled.

All complied but
Inpu.

The priest held up
his hands in surrender. “Easy, friend. Tell me, what has put you in such a
fury.”

“It was Lilly, Inpu.
She released Kepi. She released the curse.” The smell of sulfur and fire combusted
in and around Asar, charring everything in its path. He picked up his desk
chair and smashed it against the stone wall, shattering it into a multitude of
pieces.

Inpu backed off
slightly. “That is impossible. A human could not have released the goddess.”

Asar looked up from
his clenched hands, and scanned the room for something else to destroy. “Lilly
is a demi-god. I have seen her marks. She used me to release her powers.”

“She did no such
thing.”

Both gods turned
toward the furious voice. Nebt stood in the doorway, anger distorted her
beautiful face.

Barely glancing at
the destruction, she crossed the threshold. “Lilly has no knowledge of her
heritage. All she knows is her father and she were present when the curse was
released. She came to the conclusion it was her fault.”

The Underworld goddess
glowered up at Asar. Inpu put a restraining hand on her arm and shook his head,
attempting to warn her off, but it was too late. “For the love of Isis, Asar. I
thought you a better man than to blame
her
for this.”

Asar grabbed Nebt roughly
by the arms and shook her, barely containing his power. “You knew she released
the goddess and you did not tell me?”

Nebt straightened and
stared him in the eyes. “I am not your spy. It was not my place to reveal that
to you. It was Lilly’s, but I do not blame her for not telling you, considering
the first conclusion you jumped to. After all you have seen and know of Lilly,
you would rank her with Kepi?”

“She lied to me!”
he bellowed in her face.

Nebt’s face screwed
up into a tight ball of fury. She hit him in the chest with her palms,
loosening his grip on her arms. “Get over yourself. You were less than honest
with her. Do not forget, Lilly risked her life to get your key and your soul. She
has done nothing but try to correct her mistake, which is more than I can say
for you. Lilly is not responsible for Kepi,
you
are!”

“Nebt!” Inpu yelled,
seizing her elbow to pull her away.

Shaking off her
husband’s grasp, Nebt poked her finger in Asar’s chest. “We all warned you
against your involvement with Kepi, but you have taken no responsibility for
what happened to you and your son. You are more interested in exacting your
revenge than the effect your war is having on the human world. In my opinion,
Lilly is better off not getting involved with a stubborn, narcissistic ox, like
you.”

Nebt turned on her
heel and stormed out of the room before Asar had time to retaliate.

Inpu’s mouth hung
open. “Asar, I am so sorry. I do not know what has gotten into her. Please
accept my deepest apology.”

“I am not
responsible for Kepi,” Asar bellowed. Despite his denial, guilt swirled among
his anger. He sagged against the wall, his pain overwhelming his fury. “Am I?”
Asar asked of Inpu.

His friend for over
five millenniums, Inpu was a male of principle and would never speak false
truths. “It is not my place to assign blame.”

Inpu’s non-answer
buckled Asar’s knees. He groaned and sank into a crouch against the wall with
his head in his hands. Too many emotions warred inside his chest to make sense
of things. If he believed as Nebt did, and apparently Inpu, he was responsible
for own suffering, as well as his son’s and the reven curse.

A guilt too much to
bear.

Inpu knelt beside
him. “We are far from perfect, despite our belief and want to be, which makes
it harder to turn the mirror on ourselves.”

Asar’s chest
fractured in two. He gasped for breath, as he struggled to gain control over
himself. His thoughts of Lilly only worsened his agony. He did not hesitate to
believe Lilly would betray him, as did Kepi, despite the females being so
vastly different. Kepi’s treachery had always been present, he just chose to
ignore it in favor of fulfilling his lust. His experience with Lilly—there were
no words to describe the effect she had over him and those around her.

Gods, he hated
himself.

He covered his
ears, hearing the echo of Lilly’s pleas ringing in his head. She was trying to
tell him and he refused to listen. Worse, she had told him she loved him, and in
return he punished her.

She loved him.
The thought made his chest roar with pain. A pain only
she could extinguish. If she could ever forgive him for his cruelty, that is. “Gods,
Inpu. What have I done?”

“Well, your office
is irreparably damaged,” Inpu said, surveying the destruction. His gaze came to
rest on Asar. “As for Lilly, that depends on what you chose to do next.”

Asar pushed up and
went to seek Nebt. He found her in her quarters with her back to the door. Before
he could speak, she prostrated herself on her knees in front of him. “I am remorseful,
cousin. I should have not spoken to you in such a disrespectful manner. I will
accept any punishment.” She reached out and kissed his hand. “Please forgive me.”

He knelt down and
embraced her. “You have nothing to apologize for. You are the first person with
the courage to tell me what I did not want to hear.” Asar voice cracked. He
shook his head. “What do I do?”

“Are asking me as
your counselor or a female?”

“Both.”

“Go to her. Tell
her how you feel. Do not stop until she gives in to you. Her soul is heavy with
guilt. She needs to know she is forgiven.”

“Forgiveness? I do n0t
know what that means anymore.”

His cousin touched
his face. “You have forgotten who you are, as a man and a god. I saw a glimpse
of that man through Lilly’s eyes. She believes in you.”

Asar hung his head.
Kepi had succeeded in destroying him. Once a great man of conscious and ethics,
he separated those precious souls from those of deceit and malice. Without his
soul to guide him, he lost his way, falling into a pit of his own despair and hatred.
He was no better than the criminals he condemned. Could he ever recover? Somehow,
his only chance seemed to revolve around a beautiful huntress. “How did we not
know she had deity blood?”

Nebt wiped her face
with the sleeve of her gown. She rose and pulled Asar with her. “It is unusual
a goddess would take a human mate, but it is not unheard of. Lilly’s markings
will give us some clue as to which goddess gave her life—or at least the
bloodline. It is highly probable her sisters have the same mother.”

“My seed released
her powers. The timing of it was mere coincidence to her exposure to the
goddess and revens.” Asar remembered Kit’s accusation.
Haven’t you done
enough to her?
He clenched at the fire burning in his chest.

Nebt squeezed his
hands. “Maybe you knew on some level. Fate has a strange way of bringing us to
our goal. Now.” She straightened his tunic, and placed her palm over his left
chest. “You have the love of your life to rescue. Let your heart guide you.”

He gave a sardonic
snort. “Those words would be fitting, if I truly had one. I guess you and Inpu
should get to work.”

Nebt smiled. “Oh,
cousin. Lilly already did the work for us.” She patted the left side of his
chest. “Can you feel it growing inside you? It just needs her love to finish
it.”