Read Online The Concubine's Tale by Jennifer Colgan - Free Book Online Page B

on her lips. She shivered for want of his arms around her.
    Where had he gone? She called his name, straining her tired eyes in the half-light, wishing he would appear.
    A faint breeze stirred through her hiding place, and a deep fear gripped her. He’d abandoned her, but why?
    With her heart pounding and her empty stomach aching with fear, she crept from the smooth shelf of sandstone that had been her bed and peered out into the desert between columns of rock. Beyond the wind-gnarled trees of the oasis, a ribbon of stars dusted the black sky. The brilliant disk of the moon seemed to mock her, its smiling face pale and harsh, reminding her of Baakah’s disapproving glare.
    With a prayer to Isis for his safe return, Nayari wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the rocky floor of the cave to wait for her missing warrior.

    “Did he come back?” Grant asked, his voice thick and sleepy now. With Cait’s head resting on his chest, her supple body stretched next to him, he felt completely at peace, except for the nagging anticipation. He had to know what happened to the concubine and her lover.
    Cait mumbled something, and her long fingers flexed against his chest, stirring a feeling in him that he hadn’t expected. He thought of Khanu and wondered if a mere dream would ever entice him to leave a woman he loved at the mercy of the elements, even if the life of a king hung in the balance.
    At this moment, he could think of nothing that could tear him out of Cait’s arms. “Don’t fall asleep now. I want the rest of the story.” He shook her gently, stroked her silky hair and rubbed one foot along the decadent expanse of her leg beneath the tangled sheets. “You said you’d go all the way tonight.”
    “Hmm. I did.” She yawned and stretched languidly beside him. “Okay. Well, the story depicted in the scroll fragment ends there.”
    “No! There has to be more—”
    “Layton speculated only a few more sentences remained of the narrative. His researchers filled in the rest from obscure references to both Ammonptah and Seti found in the tomb of a man suspected to have been the magistrate’s successor. Layton’s journal entry concludes with some blatant embellishments.”
    “You mean he made up the rest?”
    “I’ll tell you what he wrote, and you decide for yourself.”

    Nayari woke stiff and cold at the entrance to the cave. Moments after she opened her eyes a familiar sound startled a scream from her.
    A team of oxen stood in the oasis, tethered to a cart emblazoned with the symbols of Ammonptah’s rank and station.
    Her heart sank. He’d found her, and very likely Khanu as well.
    Her instincts told her to run, but where? There was no other exit from the cave. She scuttled backward toward the sandstone shelf, but a shadow fell across her intended hiding place and a rough hand closed over the back of her dress, tearing the delicate linen as she struggled for freedom.
    The arms of a warrior circled her, drawing her against a hard wall of muscle. Her dress hung, torn at the neckline and spilling from one shoulder. A familiar hand reached up to adjust the fabric against her breast.
    Ammonptah himself stood before her. His black eyes held no compassion, none of the benign disinterest she’d come to expect from her master.
    “Tell me he took you against your will, Nayari,” Ammonptah said, his voice rising over her indignant cursing at the warrior who held her fast. “Tell me the traitor seized an opportunity to avail himself of your nubile body while under my orders to protect you.”
    Nayari clamped her lips shut. She would never betray Khanu.
    Ammonptah paced before her, his wrinkled hands clasped behind his back. “He’s told me as much. That he saw you at my house and wanted you for himself out of jealousy for my station. Thinking you a virgin, he wanted to be the first to sample your pleasures and drew you off the road on the way to Coptos. He claims you put up some resistance, but he threatened