We are the secret fears of your heart. Always disquieting, always disturbing, and always seeking your demise.”
When she trailed her finger down to my heart, I felt it flutter. She paused, a triumphant smile on her face. “Even you can feel it,” she stated. “Your heart knows the power I hold over it.”
Her smile faltered. “But wait,” she said, her brow lowering in reflection. “I nearly forgot. There’s more than one heart here, isn’t there.”
I froze, panicked that she knew about Tia and Ashleigh, but then she shifted my leather harness and found the heart scarab. “It’s weak now,” she said. “I nearly missed it.”
The Devourer stroked the jeweled carapace of the scarab. If I’d had control of my arms, I would have shoved her away. Her touch felt like defilement. “Perhaps this is why I was never able to fully drain him. Hmm…I wonder if the spell of the cauldron would have even worked, then. What a challenge,” she said brightly, and then patted my cheek patronizingly. “I so look forward to breaking you, my dear.”
She turned and began whispering instructions to her Minotaur slave. As she did so, I relaxed enough that a single tear escaped my eye. This is it. Something must’ve happened to Ahmose and Asten. I was feeling so sorry for myself that I nearly missed the sparkling dark mist that hovered on the outskirts of the demons. My eyes glued to the shape. It enveloped a demon completely, and when it passed over the place where the beast had once stood, there was nothing. Not even its brother demons close by had noticed that he’d gone missing.
How long had Ahmose and Asten been quietly working? Doing some quick calculations, I could see there were significantly fewer demons than there had once been. It wouldn’t be long before the Devourer would spot the difference. I needed to buy them more time. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to think of anything.
The stench of godlings fills my nostrils! the jackal leader cried. I cannot see them, but they are here.
“What?” the queen demanded. “Who is here?”
The ones she traveled with.
In a fit of rage, the Devourer grabbed hold of the jackal’s muzzle and inhaled. Green light glowed from the creature’s face as tendrils of gray smoke trickled out of his nostrils. The jackal whined miserably, vainly attempting to wriggle his way out of her grip.
She took a deep breath, drawing in the smoke, and then closed her mouth. “Mindless dog!” she spat as she tossed him aside. “Why didn’t you think to tell me of this?”
The defeated creature cowered, tail between his legs, and lowered his head until his nose touched the earth. We did not think them important, he said. You only mentioned keeping watch for the girl.
“You thickheaded mongrel. Am I the only one in the netherworld with a brain? They are the Sons of Egypt!” she screamed. “Go! Find them! Bring them to me!”
The pack began barking wildly and headed toward the scent that assailed their nostrils. Though Asten and Ahmose were hidden in Asten’s magic, the pack soon found the source. They barked and yipped triumphantly as they danced around the mist. Those that entered were quickly tossed out, their bodies broken.
The smoke dissipated and two golden gods emerged. Asten, adorned with bronze armor that mirrored the shade of his glow-in-the-dark eyes, raised his bow, firing his diamond-tipped arrows into the pack and taking down six jackals in quick succession.
Ahmose, his armor as pale as silvery moonlight, lifted his gleaming ax and cudgel and raised his voice in a battle cry. Between the two of them, the pack couldn’t get so much as a bite in. The queen watched the fight, incredulous that the two brothers could keep the jackals at bay for so long. Then I caught her assessing gaze. Her nostrils flared and I knew she was scenting their hearts. Their very immortal, very powerful hearts.
A smile spread across her red lips. “Tear her limbs from her body!” she shouted to her minions loudly enough to make Asten and Ahmose pause. Both brothers stopped and, as one, took to the sky. The Devourer watched their progress with fixed attention.
One of Asten’s arrows zoomed forward, headed for the queen’s head, but she stood her ground, calmly, placidly, and barely took note as her Minotaur henchman caught it in his bare hand and broke the shaft in half. Meanwhile, the demons holding me began to pull.