Page 35 of A City of Hearts and Feathers (The Order of Anubis #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

K ahil's lungs were burning as he held Zoe tight to him and ran as fast as his legs could take him. Kerem was beside them, stopping cars and pushing people out of the way. He had placed a binding spell on Zoe's wounds so she wouldn't lose as much blood, but the magic wouldn't hold for long.

"Stay with me, love. We are almost there," Kahil said over and over. Zoe was unconscious but still breathing. There was only one place that could help her now. They had to get her to the Order.

"Arslan! Where are you?" Kerem shouted into his phone. "Zoe's dying. Get here now!"

Kahil kicked open the doors to the Order chapel and carried Zoe through the darkness. Anubis's eyes looked down at him, and Kahil fought the shudder rolling through him. Those same murals had watched him die on that floor too.

I won't let you have her. Her ka is mine, Kahil snarled at the god. I have devoted over five hundred years to you, Lord of the Sacred Land. Please, please let me keep this one life .

"Kahil!" Arslan's voice brought him back to himself.

"Please," Kahil begged. "Please, Arslan. Save her."

"Shhh, let's get her into the infirmary," Arslan said, pushing the other doors open for him. Kahil smelled the blood on Arslan, and his master only shook his head.

"I'm fine, but Zoe left the library in a riot," he replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Did you know what she had planned?"

"No, or I would've tried to dissuade her. She has made enemies of everyone tonight," Kahil said, holding her closer.

Kerem got the infirmary doors open, and Kahil laid Zoe down on one of the spare beds. Using a pair of scissors, Kerem cut her shirt as Arslan went to the nearest cabinet for supplies.

"You're going to be okay, Zoe. I promise," Kahil said, squeezing her hand.

"Look at this mess. Tell me what happened," Arslan demanded, staring at the deep cut in Zoe's stomach. Kahil looked away. He had seen too many wounds over the years, but he couldn't look at hers and not lose his mind.

"It was Ahmet. I killed him," Kerem stated. He'd met Kahil outside of the shop with Cyrus, and then they'd heard Zoe screaming.

"This is too much damage for me to heal with modern medicine," Arslan said softly.

Kahil sobbed. "Give her the elixir. She can join the Order and be one of us, Arslan. Just save her!"

"I can't give it to her like that. She needs to make the choice and agree to it, or Anubis will never bless the magic," Arslan insisted.

"Get the elixir, and I will wake her," Kahil snarled, his panic overriding any respect or reason.

"You know if she does this, she will have the Sight too. She might not want that," Kerem said, tears tracking down his face.

Kahil felt sick at the thought of Zoe being able to see his tattered soul. "It doesn't matter if she wakes up and is repulsed by me. As long as she lives, that's all that matters."

Kerem touched Zoe's forehead and removed the magic that he had placed on her to keep her unconscious. "Wake up, Zoe."

Zoe's eyes opened, and she let out a moan that tore Kahil's heart to shreds. "It…hurts."

"I know, love. I know. It won't for much longer," Kahil tried to reassure her.

Arslan moved to the other side of her. "Zoe, look at me, child. I need your consent to give you the elixir. If you do this, you will be a part of our Order from today until your last day," he said.

Kahil couldn't breathe, his own trauma of the night of his death coming back to him. He'd been so young and confused and afraid. He had already killed so many people. What kind of god would want him?

Kerem's warm hands came to rest on his shoulders. "It's okay, brother. Breathe."

Zoe reached out to Arslan. "Yes…was going… ask to join. S-so much to tell you. Please. Make it…stop," she whispered, her voice cracking.

Kahil wanted to turn away but knew that he couldn't. The transformation wasn't something he'd had the stomach to watch since his own, but he wouldn't abandon Zoe.

"Zoe, look at me," he said, drawing her pale face from Arslan and back to him. "I'm not going anywhere. I want you to keep looking at me."

Arslan took out a polished case of cedar wood and lifted out a small Canopic jar made of onyx, topped with the head of Anubis. He whispered prayers and invocations to the god of the Duat, beseeching his help, before he opened it. Kahil's eyes filled at the sweet, herbal smell of the elixir.

"T-Tell me a story?" Zoe asked through gritted teeth. Kahil held onto her hand so tight, he worried he was going to crush her bones.

"Do you want to know why the maenads are still pissed off at me?" he asked.

"Y-Yes," Zoe wheezed.

Kerem had one hand placed on Zoe's shoulders, ready to brace her if needed.

"I had a family come and complain to me that maenads had kidnapped their daughter and were making her perform in their rites," Kahil began, stroking her face gently. "Even the wild maenads have to get consent these days, and even though the woman refused to leave them, she definitely had been taken. She refused to press any charges against the maenads. I didn't like that they got away with it, so I snuck into their groves where they have these massive pithoi to brew their wine in. I pissed in all of them and resealed them. I didn't tell them until after Anthesteria, one of their major partying weeks when they open the vintages from the previous year to drink while they feast."

Zoe began to wheeze with laughter. Arslan used the moment to pour some of the elixir in her stomach wound, and she screamed.

"Breathe, Zoe! Just breathe. It won't last long," Kahil said, tears tracking down his face. Kerem held her as she writhed, looking hollow-eyed but determined.

"It's over, Zoe," Arslan crooned softly. Kahil looked at the wound, seeing the organs and flesh mend. Zoe breathed in shuddering gasps, her hands clutching at Kahil.

"Help her sit, Kahil. She needs to drink the rest of this," Arslan said. Kahil lifted Zoe gently and climbed on the bed behind her.

"Lean back here in my arms, balim, right where you belong," he said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm scared," she whispered in his ear.

Kahil kissed her softly. "Don't be. I'll be right here with you always. Anubis isn't going to have you yet, my love. I promise."

Arslan passed him the open jar. "You do it, nipote ."

"Zoe, open your mouth for me," Kahil said and held her chin. "I can't make you drink. This choice is yours."

"Do it," she whispered. He pulled her mouth open and tilted the jar. With tears streaming down both of their faces, Zoe drank until it was empty.

Kahil moved the jar from her and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Zoe," he whispered as her eyes closed.

Kerem slumped down in a chair, and Arslan took the empty jar from Kahil. "And now we wait to see if her soul returns."

Kahil curled around her and prayed like he'd never prayed before.