Belly of the Beast

Chapter 37

"Isis?"

Like a prayer, the name left my lips on a whisper as I stared at the stone goddess sitting on her throne. She hadn't moved, which didn't surprise me. But the fact remained that I had heard a female voice. When I turned to look at Vincent, his wide-eyed expression confirmed this, and I clutched the cube to my chest as I waited for the goddess to speak again.

"It is Isis. Your queen. Can you understand me? I speak not in my native tongue."

"Yes...your highness. I understand."

A whoosh pounded inside my ears as blood rushed to my brain. Could I really be hearing the voice of Isis, or was this a trick devised by that sneaky bastard, Dmitry?

"Very good. I had hoped I heard your intentions correctly when you and your mate spoke at the door. You are here to return the power source to this sacred space, yes?"

"Yes, we are." I held out the box containing the cube, although I had no idea if the goddess could see what I was doing. The statue on the throne still had not moved a stone muscle.

"And what are your intentions for this power source once it is in place?"

"The necromancer has promised to remove a curse from me if I do it. So...um. I intend to return home and never see him again." I surveyed the mostly empty room for the source of the voice, but the more I searched the more I was convinced it was coming from everywhere.

"Explain this curse, child."

I took in a quivering breath, remembering how Dmitry insisted my curse was actually a gift. Would Isis think of it as a gift as well? "It started when I came into contact with the cube. My body temperature spiked to one hundred and five in a very short time. I nearly died. Then Dmitry...the necromancer...he triggered the fever again when I pricked my finger on a sharp object he had infected with black magic."

"Black magic, you say?"

"That was the consensus, yes. But I know nothing about magic, so I had to take someone else's word for it."

Silence fell over the chamber, and I turned to look at Vincent, who stood outside the circle shaking his head in confusion.

"Do you expect me to believe that lie?" the voice said angrily. "You are a bearer of the eternal flame. Yet you claim to know nothing of magic?"

"I was raised by humans. I didn't know I was...different until I met Vincent, my mate. That was only nine months ago."

"How can you claim ignorance while you stand before me without fear of catching fire."

"Dmitry already proved to me that I could withstand the flames of the pyre. All I want to do is return the cube and go home, your highness. I just want my old life back."

"Is that really all you want? Do you even know what will happen when you return the cube?"

Glancing down at the box in my hand, I thought about the plan Christoph and his demon friends devised to outwit Dmitry. It was a stupid, reckless plan against the necromancer's power. And their rescue attempt would, no doubt, lead to someone's death. I didn't want that someone to be Christoph.

"I don't know exactly what will happen. I just know the necromancer will become more powerful. I don't really want that, but I've carried around this curse nearly my whole pregnancy. Who knows what it's done to my baby. I just want it gone."

"You keep calling the magic a curse. Why?"

"It's written in books that the pharaoh's cube holds a curse that affects demons. My grandfather is a demon."