Soul Unleashed (Key to the Cursed Book 4) (26 page)

“Please don’t ask me to live there.” Kit said with
disgust as she stood by Kamen’s side and stared at the peak of the volcano.

“It is a prison and will remain one. Not all that
we serve will deserve paradise.” Kamen squeezed her hand.

She shuddered to think what they might find left
in Apep’s absence.

“I need your help with a decision,” Kamen said,
dragging her forward into the mouth of the volcano and down the steps, despite
her protests. Molten lava boiled deep within its throat, but not at the level
it once was.

“I am not living here,” she said again for good
measure.

“Even after what I have done with the place?”
Kamen laughed.

“Not funny.” She pulled tighter to his side,
wrapping her arms around his waist.

“You went up against Apep, there is nothing here
worse than him.”

“Don’t count on it.” She remembered the creatures
inflicting pain on the prisoners.

After unlocking the door, he led her down the
labyrinth of black hallways. He paused outside the door of a heavily gated
room. Kamen pulled out the thick key ring. “Our first decision as rulers of
this land.”

Kit stood at the threshold staring into the dark
room with only a sliver of light through the porous stone. Bitterness saturated
this place. “Why did you bring me here?”

Kamen stepped into the room and waited for her to
follow. She stepped forward into a puddle of fresh blood on the floor. Kit’s
eyes focused on the black and white mottled skin of the prisoner who had been
secured by taut chains to the wall.

“Menthu.” Kit gasped. Everyone had wondered
whether he survived the attack on the bunker. The War god had failed Apep’s
command to turn his daughter, Siya. This was obviously punishment for his
failure. The chains jingled as Menthu strained against his restraints.

“We can leave his ass here,” she said with a spike
of anger. The god had caused her family so much pain. Not to mention, releasing
the curse upon the humans and the countless wars he had incited over the years.
Most notably, the war that destroyed the Pharaohs’ rein and obliterated the
Egyptian empire.

Menthu ignored her, his eyes remaining pinned on
the floor. His arm stretch forward so hard the chains had stripped the skin
from his wrists. Kit followed his gaze to a body lying on the floor. A small
vial sat next to the female. Kit picked it up and sniffed. The bitter venom
burned her nose. As she looked around, similar vials lay strewn across the
stone and more unopened containers lined the walls. Tears welled in Kit’s eyes
realizing the death scene had been replayed over and over.

Stooping, Kit brushed back Anuket’s tumble of
thick brown hair. Driven by grief and the forced separation from Menthu, Siya’s
mother had committed suicide, leaving Siya to fend on her own. Anuket had
received her wish to be with Menthu, but this was beyond sickening. “What do
you want me to do with this?”

“Do what you do best.”

Kit turned her gaze back to Anuket, knowing Siya
would never want her mother to suffer in this way. But, the punishment was not
for Anuket’s deed, it was for Menthu. The chains had been secured in such a way
that Menthu was just within reach of Anuket, but no further. Menthu would never
be able to touch or stop Anuket from drinking another vial of poison.

A part of Kit would always hate Menthu and never
forgive him for what he did, but she wouldn’t have any part in Anuket’s suffering.
She gathered as many vials in her arms as she could, but so many more remained.

“Here,” Kamen said, holding out a basket.

Kit dumped the armload into the bottom. Returning
with the basket, she pulled the rest of the vials off the shelf.

Kamen retrieved the discarded bottles on the
floor. “I think that is all of them.”

Kit stared down into the now full basket and
walked to the door. Waking from her coma, Anuket began to stir on the floor.
Soft whimpers sent an ache through Kit’s heart. “She should be in Aaru.”

Kamen pulled the basket from her grasp. “She came
here to be with Menthu.”

Kit blew out a breath, knowing her mate was right.
“He doesn’t deserve her.”

“No he doesn’t.” Kamen stepped out the door.
Shifting the basket to his hip, he pulled the keys out of his pocket.

With her hand on the cell door she paused,
struggling to come to terms with her anger and the scene playing out before
her. The vials may be gone, but Anuket’s whimpers grew.

Before she could think better of it, Kit released
the lever holding the chains. Menthu fell to the floor. His shocked black eyes
targeted her.

The God of War would never leave this place, but
at least Kit would sleep at night knowing Anuket would get her dying wish—to be
with the male she loved.

Kit stepped out the door and slammed it shut.
Menthu crawled across the floor and scooped Anuket into his arms. The sounds of
Menthu’s weeping brought tears to Kit’s eyes.

Kamen pulled her into his warm embrace. “You may
have well just saved his soul.”

“Maybe.” Kit stared at all the other cells that
lined the walls. “Good thing we’re immortal because this may take a while.”

“That’s enough work for today,” Kamen said,
gripping her tighter against his hips.

“Yes, my King.” She kissed him, reveling in how
far both of them had come to share this moment. A moment she would cherish,
forever and always.

Please turn the page for
an exciting

sneak peek

of the next novel in

Jean Murray’s

Key to the Cursed Series

SOUL
AVENGED

Fall 2016

Soul SacrifiCed

Watch for the series prequel

Spring 2016

Inpu parted the reeds, following the blood-stained
trodden grass. Hunting Nebt, he had followed her to Duat and slipped in before
the barrier was sealed. The pain feeding his hatred kept him searching to find
the goddess who had destroyed his life.

Betrayed and humiliated, he had turned his hatred
inward. Festering to a point, he had lost his purpose. Lost his way. He watched
with apathy, not caring who won the war. A sign that he needed to leave this
world.

He entered the split in the stone and followed the
black blood trail. Approaching the core of the mountain, heat and sulfur filled
the tight tunnel.

Nebt stood at the precipice of the burning moat.

Red eyes targeted him and her hand fell away from
her chest, revealing a large ragged hole. Her chest cavity empty of her soul.
“You are too late.”

Inpu paused. His once beautiful wife had been
completely consumed by evil. No goodness remained. The love they had
shared—absent. And now the piece of his soul he had given to her was gone.

“You will never be free of me. I will always live
inside of you.” Nebt sneered and leapt into the fiery moat.

Inpu rushed forward and snagged her wrist. He
grappled to hold himself from falling over.

Even now she wished to cause him pain by leaving
him. Not this time. “If you go, we go together,” he said and stepped to the
edge.

“No,” Nebt hissed. She clawed at his grip.

“In life and in death, my dear.”

Nebt screamed as Inpu released his hold on the
rock.

Inpu jerked back, denied of his descent.

Kit held him by his black robe, her eyes ablaze
with fire. “It is not your time, Priest. We have much to clean up, you and I.”
Ammut pulled him back from the ledge. “You can visit here another day.”

Inpu stared down at Nebt, still gripped in his
fist.

“Free her, Priest,” Ammut commanded.

“He is weak and pathetic,” Nebt snarled.

“Let go.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“She has hidden the Book of the Dead, I need your
help to find it.”

So long he wanted to be rid of her, but he could not
let her go. Not now.

Ammut grabbed Nebt’s wrist and pulled it free of
his hand. The loss of her weight had him stumbling back.

“You are not worthy,” Ammut said to Nebt and then
released her. The Underworld goddess flailed as she descended into the fiery
pit, her screams swallowed by the molten rock.

“No!” Inpu threw himself over the ledge but was
blocked by Ammut powerful arms.

“When the book is found, then you may join her,”
Ammut said, pushing him away from his death. His wife. His only chance to silence
his pain.

A part of Nebt would always be with him, festering
in his soul and reminding him of his failures. He stared at the beast, knowing
this pain was only beginning.

First, I want to say that this series has bloomed
into something far more than I ever imagined in the beginning. The readers’
acceptance of my world has inspired me to expand the original trilogy into a
larger series which will be at least seven books. Readers, thank you for your
continued support!

I want to thank Judy Roth, my editor who did an
amazing job at polishing up Kamen and Kit’s story. Thanks also goes out to
Robin Ludwig for designing the covers, they are absolutely beautiful.

To my husband—we have embarked on something
incredible and I couldn’t have done it without your help.

In her pursuit of a nursing degree, Jean Murray
aspired to see the world and joined the Navy. At the end of 2011 she said a
heart-breaking goodbye to her Navy family and retired after twenty years of
military service. Although her dreams of writing full time have yet to come
true, she continues her writing journey and draws inspiration from her travels
abroad. She enjoys spending time with her family, and of course, writing about
the “Carrigan sisters and their mates, Gods of the Underworld,” to bring you
the next installment of the Key to the Cursed series.

Loved
Soul Unleashed?

Check out the rest of the Key to the Cursed series

Soul Sacrificed – Mut & Jonathan Carrigan (prequel)

Soul Reborn
– Lilly & Asar

Soul Awakened
– Kendra & Bakari

Soul Unbound
– Siya & Bomani

Soul Avenged – Layla & Inpu

Soul Redeemed – Anya & Set

Visit Jean Murray at her website

www.jean-murray.com

Visit Fated Press Publishing

www.fatedpress.com