Forgotten in Darkness (36 page)
She put a hand against his non-injured cheek. “I have never seen anything braver than what you just did.”
“I’ve been at this a very long time. I am not sure I would label that brave or even particularly smooth.”
Khyan snorted, “Pretty clumsy, if you ask—”
She shot Khyan a
shame-on-you
glare, which shut him up. She pressed the T-shirt against Dakar’s still bleeding shoulder. “You were amazing, no thanks to dumbass over there.” Her panic of the past few minutes overwhelmed her and the tears came. She choked out, “I don’t want to lose you now.”
“What? From this? You think I will pass into my next life from this flesh wound?” He shrugged his bleeding shoulder. The T-shirt pressed there stuck in position from all the blood.
She wrapped her arms under his and hugged herself tight to his chest. “Please, don’t die.”
I love you so much.
He enfolded her in his arms. “Shaiani, love, I will not die from this. It will heal within an hour or so.”
Please, stop crying. Your tears are tearing me apart. You are my heart, my soul. I swear to you I will not die today.
But someday.
All of us live with that inevitability.
Then swear to me on your eternal soul that you’ll never leave me again.
Dakar lifted her chin with a finger. “I swear to you. Never again.”
“Did you just swear to her that you’d never fight with me again?” Khyan asked, his voice cracking and face horror-struck.
Shay narrowed her eyes on him, biting her lower lip against a smile.
Khyan pleaded, “I’m sorry, Shay. This fighting thing just is so fu…boring. But I swear to you I won’t put him at risk again.”
“Swear you will always bring him back alive.”
His brow furrowed. “I swear to you I’ll do everything to bring him back to you. But uncontrollable shit happens.”
She nodded at him, silently accepting his vow, but still unable to forget the lunacy she just witnessed.
And then he ruined the moment. “But, Christ, Shay, you gotta let me spice it up.”
Dakar rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Even if he straightened up for a time or two, he’ll revert to this. You should’ve seen what
his
senariai
said when she tagged along once.”
“Yeah, I imagine this didn’t go over well.”
“She isn’t one to hold back what she thinks.” Dakar worked to twist the bulbous end of his scimitar handle. Finally, it came loose, revealing a small chamber. He shook the blade and emptied a ring into his hand.
Dakar rotated the gold ring between his fingers and held it to her. “’Tis for you, if you will accept it.”
She turned the hefty band. Gold. Hieroglyphs in relief around the edges interpreted into a prayer for eternity. With a rush of breath, she said, “This is genuine? When did you have this made?”
“Within a week of our first meeting. During the reign of Djoser.”
“You waited until now?”
“The night I planned to give this to you was the eve Djoser’s curse first forced you to kill me.”
She paled. “I don’t ever want to…do that again. Each time was awful.”
“Let us hope the curse is over.”
She slipped the band onto her left hand. It automatically fit itself tight to her ring finger as if bespelled. She tugged at it, but it wouldn’t budge. “What’s wrong with it? Can I ever get it off?”
Dakar smiled mischievously. “Was not sure that spell would still hold. Cy cast that long ago. I was a bit, uh, insecure you’d accept it and figured if you tried it on, I wanted to make extra sure it stuck.”
“What if I want to clean it or something?”
“You want to take it off?”
Refuse it?
She shook her head. In ancient times, that simple action of accepting the ring confirmed a marriage. No ceremony or vow. Just that. She smiled up at him. “Forever.”
He captured her lips with a promise for later.
She smiled impishly. “You know, I do need to punish you for leaving me. Severely.”
A slow smile broke out on his face.
Do your worst. Please.
She stared up at his crystal-clear golden eyes. No sludgy swirling. His
kem-seki
had been tamed. She traced the tats on his face and neck. Gods, his inking made her wild. “Take me home, Dakarai.”
Glossary of Terms
Akhrian
: A human chosen to serve as doctor to the Scimitar magi who is gifted with innate preternatural healing power. This sacred healer also serves a crucial role in identifying reincarnated magi.
Bas kadin
:
Highest ranking female associated with Hashishins’ harem.
Bochnori
:
Ensorcelled living tattoo bound to its master by god magik.
Daemon
: The cursed spirit of a human that practiced dark magic while alive, denied entry into heaven and hell, but left to wander forever in purgatory.
Etemmu daemon
: A daemon who is the spirit of a demi-god or powerful dark magik practitioner. The most powerful are Egyptian, Scottish, or Greek.
Kem-seki
:
Pronounced km-ski. An id-based darkness that slowly consumes a magus’s mind, the result of exposure to daemons who emit a corrosive evil.
Order of Assassins
:
A secretive Islamic cult, an offshoot of the Shiite Muslims, founded in the early eleventh century in Persia. The sect is divided into several groups, including the
Dais
(Initiated),
Refiks
(Students), and
Fedavis
(Devoted Ones). The word assassin comes from their nickname, Hashishin (hashish-eaters), which originates from the rumored custom these cultists had of using drugs before their killings.
Scimitar magus
:
Highly trained magus warrior who protects the world against daemons. Each possesses one distinct supernatural power and enhanced mental acuity as well as rapid healing ability.
Seichim
: Pronounced say-keym. A mystical energy endowed to each magus that enhances a warrior’s natural physical and mental abilities to attain greater precision. With this energy, the magus can sense the living energies around him and move faster and stronger than any human.
Senariai
: Pronounced see-nary-eye. The destined woman spiritually bonded to one magus.
A word about the author...
Zoe Forward lives in the South with her supportive family and an assortment of pets. She has a special love for archaeology, especially anything Egyptian. A deep part of her wishes she had a career that would have her at a dig site in a sandy country. But she is a small animal veterinarian, caring for everything from chinchillas to dogs...and there was even one hermit crab in there.
Visit her website at:
http://www.zoeforward.com
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