“May I ask, my lords…whyam I being given this chance?”
“You mean despite how you would have thrown your life away?” The direction of that voice and the unfettered vitriol in it made me certain it was Seth speaking.
“Yes,” I answered, lowering my gaze again.
“Because Meryt’s heart was pure enough to bypass the Duat entirely,” a kinder of the voices said. “It is a rare honor to skip straight to one’s weighing, but his heart proved lighter and worthier than most.”
That brought my eyes up again, because of course it was.
“We would see if the love he has for you is just as well-earned,” said another.
“Then Meryt is already in paradise?” I asked.
“He waits within the moment his heart was weighed, reliving his life in reverse. When he reaches the beginning, you will reach your end. Whether that means a reunion or not will be up to you.”
“If you can resist the temptations offered to you along your journey,” spoke the kinder voice again, “you will prove as worthy of Meryt’s love as he is of ours.”
“But if your love does not prove true,” spat Seth, “your heart will be weighed wanting.”
Then I would die but with my soul eradicated by Ammit, the Devourer, to never be with Meryt again. But to have him back, torisk myself for him as he risked himself for me, I could imagine no greater gift.
“Do you accept?” asked one of the others. “You have two options if you do not. You can have the death you wished for and traverse the Duat, as others do. Or you can return to your life and live out your days as you would have, without Meryt.”
“If it means seeing my beloved sooner, there is only one answer.” I stood, holding firm and tall before my gods. “I accept.”
“Without even asking what your trials entail?” Seth laughed. “I doubt you will even last long enough to reach me.”
“Hush,” said the kinder voice, and Seth grunted as if cowed by him.
Then another, I thought perhaps Anubis, who had yet to speak, finally did. “You have accepted. Your trials begin now. Resist us, prove your love for Meryt…” Red eyes glowed from within Anubis’s shadow. “Or perish.”
The blackness gave way beneath my feet, and what had felt like solid ground, imperceptible though it had seemed, was gone now, plummeting me into the unknown ahead.
The following chapter contains:
Knotting, Bondage, and Praise Kink.
Chapter one
The Caregiver
MERYT
“Youmadethese?”
“Hardly much of a feat. They’re just leather scraps from the armorer, twisted around each other so they won’t break.” Nakht said it as though the act was meaningless, downplaying as always just how tender and thoughtful he was.
We had a rare night to ourselves, free from rehearsing new dances or performing for Pharaoh. We had elected to stroll through one of the palace’s elaborate gardens. Not all were open to us, as some were for Pharaoh and his chosen alone, or specific to rituals, but this one was our favorite anyway, a perfect oasis just outside the palace’s main grounds.
There were date palms bearing fruit, bright blooming blue and white lotus flowers, and a pond where we could walk along its banks and breathe in peacefully as we watched the stars. This garden was especially my favorite, but even more so this night, for after my first glance up and contented sigh at the full moon, I had looked back at my love to find him holding the matching rings.
“Itisa feat,” I told him. “You still thought to make them and followed through. Tell me, what do they symbolize?”
“They’re us. See? Ruddy brown and ashen black, forever entwined.” Nakht took my hand, the left, and slid the ring sized for me onto my finger. “When people wed, they exchange symbols of their love, their promise to each other. I thought it fitting to mimic the rings that chain us”—he indicated the gold bands we wore from Pharaoh—“but as something simpler,humbler, since as slaves, we might not be as valued as gold, but we are stronger when we are together than alone.”
Tears welled in my eyes at what he meant. Slaves could marry. A slave who married a free person could be freed themselves, and two slaves were rarely barred from the bond just because they served another. But it was still rare to call it marriage when we could produce no children and had nothing but our lives and bodies to share. If we displeased our masters, we could still be separated, and those who would have us, while they might know of and accept our union, would treat us no differently than other slaves. We would still live to serve them, to serve Pharaoh. This was no joining of houses, only of hearts.
But it was all I needed.
