Page 249 of Sins of the Heart

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Daughter of Aset to the fold.

She was going to die, and he’d brought that death

to her door. Had he not come after her, his brother

would not have followed with Gahiji in his shadow.

“Blood,” she whispered.

He glanced down. There was a river of blood. It

snaked along Gahiji’s forearm and dripped to the

ground.

She tried again, but the words were lost. She had

almost no breath. He could see her weakening, feel her

weight sagging onto his arm where he held her.

His eyes met hers. She was telling him something,

something he couldn’t understand, but she thought he

ought to. He could read that expectation in her eyes.

Her lashes fluttered.

250

SINS OF THE HEART

Her head lolled to the side.

“Roxy!” Dagan choked on the swell of liquidnitrogen pain, the cold burn of desperation as he

thought of her gone to the Underworld, gone beyond

his reach, for though he knew not what god would

claim her, he knew it wasn’t Sutekh.

Again, her lashes fluttered and she opened her eyes.

“Pa…ra…siiiite.”

It took him a second to figure it out. Parasite.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” But he had no idea why she

thought it was so important to tell him so with her

damned dying breath.

His reply agitated her. Her bronze-green eyes

flashed and she shook her head. He had it wrong.

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