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be-ginning to lose it. I knew him too well. I could see the signs of the poison a nervousness, a
clamminess, a glaze to the eyes.
We were running out of time!
"You're no warrior," I told Phil. "You're a coward."
Which is when Lex swayed, took an uncertain step and dropped to his knees, looking confused. Not
confused about what was happening to him. His golden gaze, on Phil, told me just how poignantly he
understood that.
Confused that a body he'd been training since childhood really was failing him.Dying .
"I win," gloated Phil, as if I weren't even there.
"You cheated," I said, my voice cutting clearly past his. My day job includes lecturing to halls of up to
seventy-five students at once. I know how to project.
Thirteen sets of eyes fixed on me. Only a handful of them seemed unsurprised. Phil's his expression
was the pure, furious rage of the guilty. Ahmed Khalef, the moderator who must have made sure Lex got
the poisoned cup. Why hadn't I caught before that he wasn't Lex's attorney, butIds family's attorney?
Two other men whom I did not know but who, I had to assume, were in on Phil's plan the same way the
sentry had been.
And Lex, even as he sank forward, tried to catch himself with hands that couldn't hold him.
As Lex slumped to the floor one man, a middle-aged blonde, hurried to his side, felt his pulse, looked
concerned.
"I'm no coward," Phil insisted. "And I don't cheat. How dare you interrupt our sacred ritual with your
baseless "
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"Sacred? If this were sacred, you'd know better than to rig the competition. You don't look sick, Phil.
Everyone can see that you haven't even been drinking valerian, much less arsenic."
The blond man, clearly a doctor, swore. "We have to get this man to a hospital. Call in a helicopter, Phil.
Now!"
"So that he can challenge me again? We're a warrior society, Ken. Survival of the fittest."
More of the men protested, coming forward, surrounding Lex but I stopped caring about that At some
point I would care more about bringing down Phil, about escaping from this pyramid with my own
life and all that life entailed. But for now, I had only one concern.
If Lex could be saved, somehow save him.
And if he couldn't&
His supporters, about five of them, parted for me as I went to him, knelt at his side. "Will a helicopter
really help?" I asked the doctor named Ken.
He was rummaging in his black bag, drawing out a bottle of black pills. "Probably not."
No.No no no . No wonder the goddess's water had tasted so bitter, this time.
Seeing Lex like this felt nothing like last week's fears for an injured Rhys. Seeing Lex felt likeI was dying.
My soul had made its decision long ago. Him.
I pressed my hand to his clammy cheek, all the more terrified when his gaze took too long to find me. If
he was going to die, he deserved to know one thing, anyway. So I leaned close to him, kissed his lips,
and whispered, "I seem to be pregnant."
His eyes, holding mine, warmed with gratitude. His lips tried to move, but I couldn't tell what he was
trying to say.
Then his eyes went blank.
Chapter 21
Funeral.Tombstone. Widowhood, without ever having married. Single motherhood.
Not if I could help it.
I had to lift Lex's heavy head in order to press the chalice to his lips, to pour a swallow of water
between them.
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"What are you doing?" protested Ken. "He could choke!"
I stroked his throat.Swallow, my love. Swallow .
His Adam's apple moved as he did just that.
The way of the goddess was sometimes unbearably bitter.
So was the water from her chalice.
Lex's body convulsed. Ken and I rolled him quickly onto his side as he threw up not just the briny taste
from the Isis Grail, but a great deal of the poison.
"Emetics are chancy with this kind of poison," protested Ken, glaring at me. "If he aspirates it, the
damage to his lungs& "
But Lex's lips were moving. I leaned closer.
"Again," he rasped. His hands pushed futilely, trying to sit himself up, so Ken and I and another man
helped him, supporting him against the rock wall. Then I lifted the chalice to his mouth.
Please, Lady Isis. You saved Osiris. Please give me the ability&
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