We will give them a choice, Tia said.
And what if they say no? Ashleigh asked.
They won’t, Tia replied confidently.
It’s a risk either way, I said. But it’s the only solution I can come up with. If you have any other ideas, now’s the time.
Tia and Ashleigh said nothing, so I steeled myself and headed out of my room to find the men. Standing outside the cave, the entrance draped with a cloth, I was about to clear my throat when I heard them talking.
“We cannot let her do this,” Amon said.
Asten answered, “I’m not sure how we’d stop it.”
“I’d rather see them with you than have them disappear,” Ahmose said.
“Come in, Nehabet,” Amon called.
Embarrassed to be caught eavesdropping, I stumbled forward, kicking loose pebbles and catching myself on the stone entryway. Ducking beneath the fabric cover, I entered their much smaller room and placed my hands behind my back, clutching the gemstone I’d retrieved from the hidden pocket in my quiver.
Asten spoke first. “We don’t want you to do it,” he said.
I stammered as I placed Amon’s scarab in my pocket. “Do what?”
“Give yourself over to Wasret.”
Blinking, I said, “Oh. That’s what you all were talking about.”
“Isn’t that why you’re here?” Ahmose asked. “To break the bad news?” His sooty lashes lowered, casting shadows on his cheeks. It bothered me that my Ahmose could no longer look me in the eye.
“No.” I bit my lip. “I’m not planning to make any kind of announcement like that. In fact, my hope is still to avoid channeling Wasret, if it’s at all possible.”
Amon pursed his lips. “Then, what is it?”
“I…” I wrung my hands. “I have an idea. I mean, we have an idea. We think it’s a way to stay connected with you. Like I am with Amon. We want to form a bond.”
“A bond?” Amon said. “Do you mean like the one I used on you in New York?”
I nodded my head. “I mean like the permanent one. The one you cast before you died at the pyramid.”
“You remember what I told you about this?” Amon asked softly.
“Yes.”
“And the others know?”
“Yes.”
“It might not work,” he said.
Amon stood up and took my hands in his. “You know how I feel about you, Young Lily. And I do not wish for you to mistake my hesitancy for reticence, but I need to understand what you hope to accomplish before I attempt to help you wield this spell.”
“Okay,” I said, wetting my lips. “First, you said that having my heart scarab helped you find me, that I didn’t disappear completely from your vision, right?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“You also said that you could read my thoughts if you wanted to but not Tia’s or Ashleigh’s.”
Amon nodded.
“Well, we think there’s a reason for that.” I sucked in a breath, glancing over at the closed-off expressions of Asten and Ahmose. “We think the heart scarab you have belongs only to me.”
“I am afraid I do not understand.”
Asten stepped forward and took one of my hands. “Is it possible?” he said. His eyes lighting.
“Is what possible?” Ahmose asked, thick arms folded across his chest.
Cupping my hand in his and rubbing his thumb across my fingers, Asten murmured, “It makes sense. Their dreamworlds are different.”
“Of course they are different,” Ahmose said. “Get to the point.”
“Ah,” Amon said. “I see.”
“Someone had better explain what all of you are talking about,” Ahmose threatened.
“Ahmose,” I said. “We think that Tia and Ashleigh have heart scarabs of their own. If we’re wrong, we’ve lost nothing, but if we’re right—”
Amon held up a hand. “We will hold back our hopes until we verify with certainty our first premise. Come, then, Lily. Let’s find out.”
Taking my hands, Amon drew me close. Looking into my eyes, he said, “Tia? If you will come forward…”
The lioness uncurled from the back of my mind and switched places with me. My muscles tightened with her strength, and she blinked. Turning to Asten, she twitched up a corner of her mouth and then squeezed Amon’s hands. “Do I have a heart to share?” Tia asked softly. “I am uncertain if I ever did have one.”
“You have one,” Asten said quietly.
“Place your hand over your heart,” Amon instructed. When she did, he cupped his hand over hers. “Now concentrate. Ashleigh and Lily, try to quiet your thoughts. Be as still as possible. Tia, close your eyes and see yourself in your mind. Find your true nature. Think of what makes you strong. What is solely you. Think of your talents. The things you love. Now…concentrate all of those things into one place. Listen to your heart as it beats. Imagine that each beat is freedom. It’s your foot hitting the ground as you run. That’s it. One…two…three…Wrap your fingers around it and pull.”
Amon stepped back, and Tia opened her eyes. Lying in her hand was a gleaming golden scarab. The bright yellow gemstone had a band of light that traced a straight vertical line down the center. At the base were not the spindly legs of a bug, but the claws of a lion, and powerful golden wings shot out on either side. Over the top was a golden lioness with hollowed-out eyes that gleamed with the light of the gem behind them.
“It’s a cat’s eye,” Amon said. “How fitting.”
Tia ran her fingertips across the stone. Asten held out his hands, asking, “May I hold on to it for you?” She nodded distractedly.
“And now for Ashleigh,” Amon said.
Tia retreated to the place where I hovered in the dark, and Ashleigh surged up. Amon repeated the process with her and soon, in her palm rested a green scarab with delicate butterfly legs and fairy wings. With a twinkle in her eye, she handed it to Ahmose for safekeeping.
When that was done, Amon said, “You were right. They each have a scarab. Now, ladies, what are your intentions, exactly?”
“Well, it’s a bit obvious, then, isn’t it, lad?” Ashleigh said, using my voice. “I’d like ta ask the ’andsome bloke standin’ there all sulky-like if he’ll take care o’ my heart.”
Ahmose replied by lowering his eyebrows and taking hold of my elbow, steering me out of the cave so his brothers couldn’t listen.
“Ash,” he began. “This thing you ask—”
“Aye, it’s important, I know. It’s how ya’ll find us in case we lose ourselves again.”
“It means much more than that.”
“Ach, lad,” Ashleigh said, making a clucking noise with her tongue and stepping closer. “After everythin’ we’ve been through together, do ya not desire ta be with me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then what maligned beastie torments ya so?”
He rubbed a hand across his jaw, the stubble scratching against his palm. “I just don’t think you fully realize the implications—”
Placing my hand over his, I wrapped his fingers around the green gemstone. “All three o’ us understand the implications. Don’tcha see? It’s a wee match we’re givin’ ya—a tiny light we can follow ta find our way home in the dark. An’ make no mistake, lad, you are my home. If ya keep it close, I’ll come back ta ya. Have no doubt.”
I took hold of his shirt and pulled him down, capturing his lips with mine. His arms roped around my waist, tugging me closer as he made a low sound in the back of his throat. Ahmose pressed me so tightly against him, I could hardly breathe. Yet breathing seemed to matter very little. I didn’t realize he’d picked me up until he broke away and set me down, steadying my trembling limbs.
“Now, that’s how a girl should be prop’rly kissed,” I said with a mischievous grin and a wicked glint in my eye.
Ahmose brushed a loose strand of hair from my cheek as he gazed deeply into my eyes. There was nothing teasing about the way he looked at me. “I want
you to know, I know what this means,” he said. “I accept your token, Ash. From this moment on, my heart will desire only you.”
He began chanting a familiar spell. The one that would bind us together permanently. After it was done, he stepped back, placing the green scarab over his heart, and before I could say anything, it sank into his chest. When it was gone, a soft smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “It’s as it should be,” he said with a sigh. Lifting his other hand, he touched his chest, and a shimmering light appeared between his fingers. A scarab materialized. It was a moonstone.
With only a slight hesitation, he handed me the gem and folded my fingers over it. “I know you cannot keep it in the same way,” he said. “But it is yours all the same.”
“My lovely Ahmose,” Ashleigh said. “I’ll treasure it always.”
I put his precious scarab into my wide pocket next to Amon’s. He kissed my hand and tucked it on his arm as he guided me back to the others. When we ducked inside the cave, he said, “It’s done.”
Ahmose stepped aside, and I turned to Asten, who held the golden scarab in his hand, thoughtfully staring at it as he sat on the bed. He glanced up at me and bit his lip, his handsome face troubled. After a tension-filled moment, he said, “I don’t think I’ll be keeping this scarab in exactly the same way Amon and Ahmose are,” he said.
In the blink of an eye, Tia rose to the surface. Our claws emerged, and she stalked toward Asten and lifted her palm to his throat. As she squeezed, his eyes widened. The lioness narrowed her eyes and hissed, “I’ll give you exactly five seconds to explain your actions before I rip you into tiny little pieces and toss your shredded, deceitful carcass to the four winds for the scavengers to choke down.”
“Now, wait just a moment, Tia,” Asten managed to cough out.
Amon and Ahmose stepped forward as if to intervene, but Tia’s low growl gave them pause. When we were satisfied that they weren’t going to press, she retracted her claws and moved her hand to Asten’s shoulder, gripping his shirt tightly but keeping her eyes narrowed on him.
As Asten rubbed his throat, a handprint standing out on it, Tia accused, “Do you fear the lioness, Asten? Perhaps you are an unworthy consort and I have chosen my mate unwisely.”
Angrily, she thrust Asten aside and turned her back on him. “Ahmose?” she began, but Asten rose suddenly from the bed, grabbed her arm, and spun her around. He tugged my body against his form and held it in an inescapable grip. With a tight expression that brooked no argument, he said without glancing at his brothers, “A little privacy?”
Amon and Ahmose gave us a long look and then left. Tia was done being manhandled. She broke away from him, but Asten grunted. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her up against a wall, barring our escape with his body. Heat radiated from him, and his skin gleamed in the dimness of the cavern room.
“You will do me the courtesy of listening, lady lioness.”
Tia bristled at the threat she recognized in his voice. Something inside her wanted to rise to his challenge. My breaths came in pants as my chest rose and fell. The anger she felt—no, we felt—was a heady and almost tangible thing. Yet I sensed the rage was draining, slowly changing into something equally powerful and perhaps even more dangerous. Through Tia, I became aware of the press of his body against mine and the way his eyes darted to my lips.
Bucking against him only resulted in him locking my hands against the wall. Tia shot him a cutting glare as my whole body bristled with fire. I could see he wasn’t frightened of the ferocious cat inside me. Still, Tia taunted him, needing to provoke a response. “You are a coward,” she spat. “Admit it.”
Asten tilted his head, a frown marring his features. His grip on my hands lessened, but I didn’t lower my arms because he pinned us in place with his eyes. We were transfixed by his gaze. We were like two predators, staring each other down, seeing who would flinch first. Slowly, he moved his hands lower until his fingertips grazed my palms. Then he came closer, so close his hair brushed my face with a featherlight touch.
Tia’s cat instincts were a jumble. Part of her screamed that she should protect my vulnerable neck, the source of my lifeblood. But another part of her wanted to feel Asten’s lips on my throat. Asten’s warm breath lifted the fine hairs on my neck as he murmured in a low, dangerous voice, “Just because I am cautious does not make me a coward, Tia. Do not mistake my hesitancy with a lack of…desire.”
My body shivered as his lips brushed my earlobe and trailed along my jaw. My eyes closed, the human side convincing the cat side that even though it was dangerous, it was the kind of danger we liked. When his lips found the corner of my mouth, Tia let out a little moan of pleasure. We gave ourselves over to sensation.
As he nibbled the corner of my mouth and kissed my cheeks and jaw, his hands trailed down my bare arms, slowly, tantalizing my skin, lighting each nerve on fire. When he got to my shoulders, he swept his hands up over them and caught hold of my neck. Sinking his fingers into my hair, he tilted my head and kissed me.
Tia wanted furious, blazing heat. To grab hold of him and race through the tall grasses at breakneck speed. But he held her back, teasing and stroking as he kissed her in a slow burn that seemed never to end. He lifted his head and traced his thumbs over my cheekbones. All he’d done was kiss Tia, and yet my heart beat as rapidly as if I’d been chasing down a gazelle.
Asten’s brown eyes were round, glistening pools that mesmerized me. Tia licked her lips, wanting to taste him again. This time he was the one who groaned. “There will be more of that later.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. “I promise,” he said.
It was hard for me to separate Tia’s feelings from my own. Ashleigh was less affected. She didn’t know Asten the way we did, but even she felt the emotional stirrings. The pronouns were confusing. He touched me, my body, and yet I knew it was Tia he longed for.
I didn’t think I was in love with Asten, and yet, in that moment, I could have sworn I was. It was the ultimate 4-D experience. Willing my heartbeat to still, I heard Tia whisper with my voice, “Then why, Asten?” I could feel the muscles of his back stiffen, but she had to know—we had to know. “If you feel for me in this way, why will you not protect my heart?”
“You misunderstand me,” he said, drawing back and taking my hands. He touched his lips to the back of each one, kissing them in a way that left Tia breathless. “I will cherish it,” he said. He looked at us with complete sincerity in his eyes. “I consider it a gift beyond measure, and I vow that I will protect it until I am no longer capable.”
“But you will not keep it inside you,” my voice said flatly. The lioness was confused and heartbroken. She felt like any human would after the first sting of rejection. The idea that she was now more human than lioness bothered her.
“No.” Asten stepped away and turned his back to me. I was about to walk away from him when he shifted. “But I will offer you mine.”
He held out his hands and Tia looked from his earnest face down to what lay nestled inside them. A chocolate diamond scarab with bronze legs and wings rested in his palms. She touched the surface of the scarab, marveling at the smooth, almost-cold gem. A faint pulse shot into my fingertips, and we knew it was his heartbeat.
“But I thought…,” Tia began.
“You thought what?” he asked. “That I didn’t care for you? That a fairy and a human deserved love, but a lioness didn’t?”
She froze. That was exactly what she’d been thinking.
Asten took my hand and placed the scarab into it. “You thought Lily was the one,” he added quietly.
She glanced up quickly, but his lashes were lowered, shielding his eyes. “Isn’t she?” Tia asked.
He paused for a long moment, his mouth twisting before he answered. “I’ll admit, loving a human would be easier in many ways. But”—Asten tucked his finger beneath my chin, lifting my face so he could look us directly in the eye—“I’ve gotten to know both
of you pretty well by now. I like Lily. But it’s you I’m interested in, Tia.”
His words were what Tia wanted to hear, and yet she’d been a witness to the sweet and tender exchange between Ahmose and Ashleigh. Tia knew how Amon and I felt about one another, too. There was something wrong. Something Asten wasn’t telling her, and it chafed. She didn’t like human deception.
“What are you hiding from me?” she asked. “Are you ashamed to tell me your true reasons? Are you ashamed of your feelings?”
His mouth fell open. “No, Tia. How could you even think that?”
She turned away from him and gazed at his heart scarab. A wet drop splashed on its surface, and she smoothed a thumb over it. Tia was crying? Tia was crying! Lionesses do not cry. Her shock over the emotional response reverberated in my mind. Irritated, she wiped the tears away and shrugged off his hand.
Asten came around and took hold of my shoulders. “This has nothing to do with you. I’m not ashamed. It’s just…” He ran a hand through his hair and paced the small room. “…it’s just that my heart isn’t…built the same.”
“What do you mean?” Tia asked, cocking my head.
“I mean I…” He swallowed and sighed. Heavily, he sank down on the bed and rested his head in his hands. “I already tried, Tia.”
“What?” she asked, not sure if she understood the words he’d mumbled.
He looked up, shame coloring his cheeks and neck. “It wouldn’t work. When you were out there with Ahmose, I tried to absorb your heart. I thought I’d save us time. I already knew how I felt, but I…I couldn’t. Amon knows,” he added dejectedly. “He thinks it might have something to do with my judgment in the netherworld. Truthfully, it could also be because I’m not the prince born to this calling. It could be a number of things.”
Tia sat down next to him, so stunned she didn’t know what to say at first. “But,” she began, “but you gave me your scarab.”
“Yes. Apparently, I do still have one of those. If you don’t want it, I’ll understand.”
Not want it? Not want the heart of the fierce and fiery god of the stars? How could he think such a thing?