Page 22 of The Tanglewood Witches (The Three Sisters 1)
Chapter Ten
Orpheus stopped Alena just in time, hands gripping her wrist from behind her, his heart hammering against her back. “When you reached for it, lightning formed in the air around you like a cloud.” He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “It’s protected with strong magic.”
“Of course it is.” Alena’s voice cracked through dry, parched lips. “Cleopatra wants vengeance. She wouldn’t want this grimoire if it weren’t ultimately powerful. The gods aren’t going to just let us take it.”
“No.”
“But Orpheus, we have to try.” She rotated in his arms to face him. “Look at us. We can hardly stand. If we don’t seize the grimoire now and go through those doors, we are as good as dead.”
Orpheus scowled. If anyone was going to touch the thing, it had to be him. He refused to put her in any more danger. He was sure now that he loved her. If they survived this test, hewouldmarry her, even if he had to carry the pigheaded woman home over his shoulder. And if this grimoire was cursed, he would do his best to save Alena from it. If one of them had to risk death, it was going to be him.
Rubbing a hand across his mouth, Orpheus tried to think through his growing hunger and weakness. He licked his cracking lips. “If we knew the nature of the magic protecting it, we could use either logic or magic to defeat it.”
“Yes.” Alena rubbed her temples. “But in order to learn the nature of the ward, one of us would have to trigger it.” She squatted to retrieve a rock from the ground near her feet and hurled it at the book, but the stone skimmed harmlessly across the cover.
“At least now we know the wards are sophisticated enough to identify an actual threat.”
“What now?” Alena asked, looking up at him with terrified eyes.
Gods, she was beautiful. He stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her firmly on the lips. “Here’s what will happen. I’m going to try to take the grimoire. After you see what happens to me, you will know the nature of the ward and will find a way through it.”
“No! You can’t. It could kill you.”
“You’re a healer, Alena. Whatever happens to me, you can fix. Bring me back like you did the goat.”
“Please. Please don’t make me. I wouldn’t be able to bear it. What if I don’t have the right herbs?”
He gave her a solemn smile. “Then you will go on. You’ll find a way to go back, and you will live a happy life without me.”
“No. No. You can’t do this, Orpheus.” She tugged at his arm, pleading with him.
“Why not?” Beautiful, tender Alena never failed to do the right thing. He’d wronged her once. Didn’t she understand that this time he must put her first?
“Because… because I love you, you fool.” Oh, how those words fell bittersweet on his ears.
“And because I love you, I can’t bear to see you in this place a moment more. I’m going to get that book. You take the grimoire back to Cleopatra.” Before she could protest further, he pushed her aside and leaped toward the altar, reaching for the grimoire.
Lightning formed in a circle around him, the air so charged with power that all the hair on his body stood on end. But he never reached the book. He hung, frozen in the air, the sharp tip of a glowing blade pointed at his heart. A blinding light shaped in the silhouette of a woman appeared between him and the book.
“Gods!” Orpheus cursed and found he was able to move to shield his eyes from the light. His feet came to rest on the slab of stone in front of the altar.
“Just one,” boomed a powerful female voice. “Stop, hero, and heed me.”
Alena appeared beside him and took his hand in hers. Gradually the light dimmed. Standing before them was a woman as vibrant as the Euphrates, with two horns rising on either side of her dark head, framing a red solar disk. Her arms were raised, as were two colorful wings that seemed to put off their own light.
“Isis,” Alena whispered, voice trembling. She bowed her head and dropped to her knees.
Orpheus thought he’d better show his respect as well and knelt beside her despite the pain it caused his aching legs. He didn’t think it was a good idea to anger a goddess, especially not in the heart of the underworld.
“Rise, Orpheus, Alena. Your selfless love for each other has proven your worth. You have overcome every obstacle the gods have put in your path. You have truly earned this grimoire. Now I must beg you to forgo your prize and leave it in this place where the gods protect it.”
Orpheus felt his shoulders hunch and couldn’t stop himself from speaking out. “Goddess, the gods offered Cleopatra the door. She forced us through it. We cannot go back without the grimoire or she will kill us.”
Alena squeezed his hand, her expression filled with fear for him.
“Cleopatra.” Isis scoffed. “She claims to be a reincarnation of me but is nothing more than a scared narcissist. It is Apopis, the Egyptian god of chaos, who whispers in her ear. Her time as ruler of Egypt is over. If she gets this book, all balance and order of things to come will be thrown into chaos and Apopis will grow in strength. He knows this and therefore revealed the door to Hades to her, knowing she’d leap at the promise of power. Thankfully, up until now the Greek gods have protected this grimoire. Its origins are from Zeus and Hera, you see. You have passed their tests and earned this grimoire, but if you allow Cleopatra to have it, she will stop at nothing until she rules the world.”
Alena sat back on her heels. “As Orpheus said, if we leave without it, she will kill us.”
