Lord of the Desert--a full-length contemporary paranormal romance by Nina Bruhns

Author:Nina Bruhns
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action adventure, alpha hero, alpha hero romance, alpha male, bad boy hero, bad boy romance, contemporary romance, contemporary romance novel, contemporary romance novella, contemporary romance novels, deals, emotional romance, great deals, hot romance, riveting romance books, romance, romance novel, romance novels, romantic thriller, sassy heroine, sensual romance, sexy books, sexy romance, sexy romance novels, sexy thrillers, sexy women’s fiction, steamy romance, super hot romance, super sexy books, super sexy stories, super sexy thriller, thrillers, thrillers with sex, forced proximity romance, hidden identity romance, paranormal thriller, international intrigue, international romance, international suspense, kidnap romance, paranormal romance, sexy paranormal romance, award-winning author, New York Times bestseller, New York Times bestselling author, Egyptian romance, Egypt romance, paranormal Egyptian romance, ancient Egyptian gods, ancient Egypt, sheikh romance, sheikh hero, the sheikh, desert romance, vampire romance, shapeshifter romance, shape-shifter romance, Seth and Horus, demigod hero, magical realism, fantasy romance, Egyptology, anthropologist heroine, ethnologist heroine, historian heroine, archaeologist romance
Publisher: Cajun Hot Press
Published: 2018-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

“You mustn’t be afraid. No one here is going to harm you.”

Gillian met the concerned eyes of the priestess Nephtys. Lithe and petite, with a cloud of angelic copper-colored hair and a penetrating gaze, the woman was a curious mix of youthful sensuality and womanly wisdom. Her shadowed eyes held a patina of emotions that Gillian couldn’t pin down. But she seemed sincere in this, at least.

“Okay,” Gillian said, but sounded unconvinced even to herself.

Nephtys smiled. “It’s a start. Come, let me show you where you’ll be staying for now.”

The rooms and halls they walked through had Gillian’s jaw dropping in amazement. Burning torch-sconces lit their way, illuminating soaring columns, elaborately carved reliefs, gorgeous painted murals on the stone walls depicting scenes of the gods and secular life aboveground, luxurious tapestries, and a collection of glass and precious metal objects and statuary that any museum would envy. The palace seemed to be endless. Josslyn would die and go to heaven for a glimpse of just one of these rooms.

Gillian shoved aside thoughts of her sister. She didn’t want to break down and cry.

Would she ever see Joss and Gemma again?

They came to a set of silver double doors, smaller than Khepesh’s monumental Western Gate but no less magnificent, which were opened by a pair of young women. They smiled genially and inclined their heads respectfully to Gillian and Nephtys as they passed through.

They entered a huge rectangular room with columns lining the walls. “This is the hypostyle hall,” Nephtys said, “where people come to feast and celebrate. And this,” she said as they went through to the next room, “is the Courtyard of the Sacred Pool of Set-Sutekh.”

The second room was made of forest-green marble, including a large, square, raised basin, filled with sparkling water and water lilies, their huge round-rimmed pads bearing bright pink flowers.

“Night-blooming Victoria amazonica,” Nephtys explained at Gillian’s astonished look at the unusual plants. “Rhys received the first one as a gift from Howard Carter.”

Gillian shot her a startled glance. “The Howard Carter who discovered King Tut’s tomb?”

Nephtys waved a hand. “Well. On a tip from Rhys. Carter was getting too close to the eastern tomb entrance to Khepesh, so he was...offered a distraction, shall we say?”

“Sort of like I was,” Gillian muttered, skipping over the whole suddenly questionable issue of the famous archaeologist’s death in 1939.

All right, so she’d seen ample evidence that what Rhys had told her was all true, but she still found the notion of immortality hard to swallow.

“Not exactly,” Nephtys said wryly. “Carter wasn’t half as clever as you, and would never have found the entry mechanism. But he had to be dealt with in any case. Anyone coming too close is a potential danger.”

“I can imagine,” Gillian said, taking in her exquisite surroundings. “If this place were ever discovered, you’d have some major explaining to do.”

“It won’t be,” Nephtys returned with an indulgent lift of her lips. “Ever.” There was a wealth of information conveyed in her slight emphasis of the last word.

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