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“Al-uqsur!” the conductor announced. “Luxor! Le dernier arrêt!”

Luxor.

Ellie snapped out of her tired fog. Past a slow turn in the tracks, she could make out the modern town, a mix of low mud-brick houses and tall, finer buildings framed by palms and leafy trees that clustered along the broad, glittering length of the Nile. Closer by, the sand-blasted columns of an ancient temple rose from the sand.

Ellie recognized those columns. They were possibly the most important columns in the Egyptian archaeological landscape.

She leapt from her seat to press herself to the window. “That’s Karnak! There’s Hatshepsut’s obelisk! And the Avenue of the Sphinxes!”

She was too far away. Ellie gripped the sill and stuck her head out of the opening. Wind tugged at her hair, peppering her skin with tiny grains of sand.

“I think I can see the Temple of Mut!” she shouted, the stiff breeze trying to steal her voice.

A pair of small but sturdy hands gripped the back of her waistcoat and gave it a firm yank. Ellie popped back into the carriage, half falling into her seat.

“You will see it better when you get there,” Constance said. “Which will happen faster if you refrain from tumbling out the window.”

“It is only one of the most important ritual sites in all of Egypt,” Ellie grumbled in her defense, smoothing out the folds of her skirt.

Sayyid flashed her an understanding smile. Neil frowned down at a newspaper—one that he had been holding for the better part of an hour without turning a page.

Ellie shifted her gaze to Adam. It locked there, captured by the intense, admiring heat she saw in his eyes. Warmth pinked her cheeks, and Adam cleared his throat and looked away awkwardly.

Her heart beating just a little faster, she restrained herself to only slightly craning her neck as Karnak drifted past them.

?

A few minutes later, the train slowed for the approach to Luxor station. On the platform, Ellie found herself submerged in a crowd of travelers. Voices in Masri, Greek, Armenian, and Turkish clamored through the air, echoing off the high ceiling of the obviously modern building, which was accented by garishly painted faux-Egyptian columns like some dreamy French architect’s tribute to an ancient palace.

Their party was immediately swarmed by local fellows in a mix of galabeyas and second-hand suits shouting about hotels and carriages.

Sayyid slipped into the lead. With a careful look, he picked an older gentleman out from the buzzing crowd. After peppering him with quick, determined questions, Sayyid authoritatively waved the others away.

In the chaos, Ellie idly glanced over the bustling lines of passengers both embarking and disembarking from the steaming train. Something caught her eye through the shifting mass of bodies—a flash of pale skin, dark eyes, and coal-black hair around the merest glimpse of cold, aquiline, terrifyingly familiar features.

Her skin chilled despite the dry Egyptian heat as a name blazed across her mind like an alarm.

Jacobs.

“Adam!” she gasped, her hand instinctively flashing out to grip his arm.

“What is it?” he asked, suddenly serious.

“I…” she began—but she had blinked, and the crowd had moved. In the place where she thought she had seen Jacobs was only a light-skinned Turkish gentleman in a dark suit, glaring as he shooed away a ragged boy angling for baksheesh.

She supposed something about the lean, sharp lines of the man’s face somewhat recalled those of Mr. Jacobs.

Adam was still waiting for her to answer.

“It’s nothing,” Ellie concluded. “Sorry. Just my imagination running away with me.”

Adam frowned down at her, then directed a sharp blue gaze out over the crowd, a protective hand still resting against her lower back.

“This way,” Sayyid called over. He waved them toward the exit, where the guide he had been talking to waited for them.

With a final uneasy look over the busy station, Ellie let Adam guide her away.

They were loaded into a worn carriage for what turned out to be a very short drive to where fine limestone buildings and leafy trees parted to reveal a glimpse of the river. Just before the water, the driver turned them onto a straight driveway that led through an elegant garden accented by exceptionally tall palms.