Page 99 of Sins of the Heart

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mind’s eye. Instinct was telling him she was involved.

Somehow, she was involved.

“I’m going hunting,” he rasped. “For the one that

lived.”

Toronto, Canada

PYOTR KUSNETZOV, HIGH REVEREND of the Setnakhts,

glanced at the diners up and down the long, low

wooden table where they gathered for a ceremonial

meal in the Temple of Setnakht. “A blood sacrifice is

necessary to move forward.”

All conversation died. All eyes fixed on him. As he

let the silence grow, feeding on itself, neighbors shifted

where they sat cross-legged on layered carpets, glancing warily to the left, the right. He let them stew, knowing

exactly what thoughts percolated in their minds.

He’d heard the whispers. There were rumors that

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SINS OF THE HEART

there had already been blood sacrifices in recent

months. Three of their members had left the group,

quietly, without notice or farewell. After years, and in

one case decades, of membership in the Cult of Setnakht, they were simply…gone.

The congregation had been told that the missing

members had rethought their allegiance. That they had

withdrawn from the group and moved to another city.

An unheard-of desertion.

No one believed those assurances. But no one dared

to disbelieve them, either. Not openly.

Pyotr knew the truth.

The missing had wavered in their faith. They had

failed when tested. They had betrayed the precepts of

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