Crucible of Fate

laws and then there’s Logan. He does what’s right, and he and his mate will protect you and your girls from Elham El Masry.”
    “But, Domin—”
    “Let’s face it; no one wants to tangle with the nekhene cat. Period.”
    “You’ll get no argument there,” she teased me.
    I rushed forward, grabbed her tight, wrapped her in my arms, and squeezed until she caught her breath. “Just do what I say, my mastaba.”
    She coiled her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder. “You have shown me more respect and love as your mastaba than I was ever afforded as yareah. I am so proud to belong to you, Domin Thorne.”
    “When I claimed you, I was doing it to protect myself from having to take a female mate to reproduce, but now I would do it again even if you had no children. I sort of like you.”
    “I sort of like you too.”
    I bent my head and kissed her cheek. “Please go and do what I’m telling you.”
    “I will.”
    “Okay,” I sighed, but I didn’t let her go and she didn’t pull away.
    I lost track of how long we stood there.

Chapter 5

     
    I DIDN ’ T sleep at all. Everything hung on a challenge I had no control over.
    Crane was nowhere to be found, and no one could report having seen him. His rooms were empty, his bed was not slept in, and I could not reach him by phone. I didn’t think I could be any more worried until Kabore came to see me in my private suite on the second floor, in one of the smaller sitting rooms.
    “Where is Lilitha?” I asked, because in the morning I normally saw the same serving woman. She always brought me my tea.
    He was nervous and his coloring was off. “I’m sorry, my lord, but she’s dead.”
    Crossing my arms, I stared into his eyes. “Why?”
    “This morning I observed her putting honey in your morning tea.”
    I squinted at him. “But I don’t like honey.”
    “As I am well aware, my lord.” He sounded sad. “It is only goat’s milk that you like, and only ever at night.”
    “Yes,” I agreed with him.
    “So you understand my concern when I saw her adding it.”
    “And?” I pried, even though I understood the outcome already.
    “And so I confronted her, and when she tried to tell me that she had simply made a mistake, I had her drink the tea for me,” Kabore rasped, his eyes searching mine. “She apologized, insisted that she liked you, but that, really, Elham El Masry was the one and only true ruler of Sobek.”
    “Sure.”
    “It was quick and painless,” he asserted gently. “She was gone in seconds. It would have been the same for you. She didn’t want you to suffer.”
    I took a breath, walked across the space to the edge of the roof, and there gazed out over the balcony. It hurt to learn of her betrayal, but it was also terrifying. My first thought was: what if Yuri had been home? My second was: what if Kabore were not so vigilant and the tea had come through to my chamber? Yuri actually took honey in his tea. He could have been…. For a moment I could barely breathe.
    “My lord?”
    I had liked Lilitha. Her sweet face, her laugh, and the way she made sure that if there were pomegranates in the kitchen, one was always set aside for me. She had cared, or so I thought. Apparently I was a terrible judge of character.  
    It took me a moment to pull myself together.
    “Thank you for saving my life,” I finally said, not ready to look at him. “It seems that every day I understand why you were first Ammon El Masry’s steward and now mine.”
    “Pardon, my lord, but I was not Ammon’s steward.”
    This was news. I glanced at him over my shoulder.
    “I came to this household with Ebere from Cairo. I was merely one of many, and when she went back home, I stayed on.”
    “I didn’t know that,” I said.
    “So when you came, they all inquired who wanted to run the house of the infidel, and I said that I, Kabore Nour… I would. I think it was fate.”
    I frowned slightly.
    “As I am of Ebere’s household, from the tribe of Khepri, and not from the tribe of Rahotep, there would never be another semel whose trust I could gain.”
    It made sense.
    “But you, the maverick semel from America—”
    “Maverick?” I teased him.
    “It’s true, my lord,” he said, gesturing at me. “You are a sin, are you not?”
    “I’m a sin?” That was new.
    “You are impure, you are not of the first tribe, and they say your reign is heretical, but I think not.”
    “Oh no?”
    “You seem to me like a man who has been