Free Mills & Boon : Seducing The Jackal by Seressia Glass Page B

She
slid from the bed, reaching for her gold silk robe draped over the nearby chair.
She followed him through the kitchen to the back door. Obviously he didn’t want
anyone to witness a jackal leave an Isis witch’s house.
    Bitter regret rose in her throat, harsh and acidic. Trying for
nonchalance, she shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, well. Maybe the one good thing
that comes out of this is peace between jackals and witches. If so, I’ll count
that as a win.”
    “So will I.”
    “Yeah, well.” She wrapped her arms across her belly. “Once
there’s some distance between us, I’m sure we’ll both get back to normal pretty
quickly.”
    “Normal. Yeah.” He turned to her, golden eyes dark. “Tia—”
    “Don’t. Just don’t, okay?” She took a deep breath, then kissed
him on the cheek. “Have a good life, Markus, Son of Anubis.”
    With a hand to his chest, she gently pushed him out the door,
then closed it.

Chapter Eight
    After a long hot shower and an equally long hot cry,
Tia dressed and braced herself to check her phone. A handful of messages from
her grandmother, and two texts from a client greeted her as she reset the
Smartphone. She deleted them, thankful that she’d only missed one appointment in
the time she’d spent with the jackals. Promising her client a free session as an
apology would work. She hoped. At that moment though, she couldn’t think about
work. She could only think about jackals and witches.
    She wasn’t going to give up. Markus would come around to her
point of view, realize that what they had together was way better than being
apart. If she could get the Daughters to agree to a truce, one huge obstacle
would be gone. She didn’t know if being with Markus would fail or fly, but she
was certain failing would be better than not trying at all.
    Her hand trembled as she placed the call to her grandmother.
“Tia! Where have you been? I could sense you expending a great amount of magical
energy, but couldn’t pinpoint where you were.”
    “I had an emergency.” She paused, taking a steadying breath.
“With the Sons of Anubis.”
    “Oh.” Silence on the other end.
    “Oh?” She’d never known her grandmother to be at a loss for
words, not once in all the time she’d known her. “Is that all you can say?
You’ve taught me all of our spells, all of our rituals and prayers, but you’ve
never once told me the story of Asharet and Sekhanu. Your parents.”
    “I know.” A sigh crossed the line. “Believe it or not, I had my
reasons, Tia. Now, I think, it’s finally time you know them. We need to
talk.”
    “Yes, we do.” Tia cleared her throat. “Grandmother, do you
remember who told you about Asharet’s death?”
    “Tia.” Centuries-old pain filled her grandmother’s voice. “Do
we really have to go into this now?”
    “Please, Nana, it’s important. How did you get the news?”
    “One of mother’s priestesses ran to our house, covered in dirt
and blood. Amansuanan, I think. She said that jackals attacked the temple,
killing my mother, our high priestess. I might have been twelve at the time,
about to enter service myself. I gathered the remaining priestesses and
fled.”
    “What happened to Amansuanan? I don’t think I’ve ever met
her.”
    “No, you wouldn’t have. We lost her centuries ago, shortly
after we crossed the sea. Why do you ask this?”
    “Because Markus said he returned from a campaign to find
Asharet and Sekhanu dead together, as if defending each other and the temple of
Isis. He seemed to think witches were the cause. Just as he thinks the Daughters
are behind the curse afflicting his people.”
    “Does he now?” Aya asked, acid creeping into her tone. “Can’t
say that I’m surprised.”
    Belatedly Tia wondered if her grandmother had been involved
with Markus sometime during the last four thousand years. Ew. Surely he would
have said something. “He’s not the only one, Nana,” she said, keeping her voice
free of accusation. “When I