“She is in London. I imagine she will come to you after you arrive,” Jabari said after letting me twist for a moment in the silence. I had not seen or talked to Sadira since Machu Picchu. I didn’t want to see her now, but I didn’t have much choice.

However, I couldn’t stop the instant curiosity that furrowed my brow at his answer. “England?” I asked before I could stop myself. The British Isles were a hotbed of magic, which nightwalkers tended to avoid. We had our own problems without heading to a place beloved by witches and warlocks. “Has she moved from Spain?”

“No, her main residence remains in Spain. I do not know why she has gone to the island.” His tone was neutral, but something in his eyes made me think Jabari was laughing at me.

Shaking my head, I turned around the room again and stared at my angels. Gabriel had helped Michael onto the pile of cushions. My wounded bodyguard was a sickly shade of white and his arm was wrapped in a white bandage. I knew this was part of their job; protecting me meant that they put their own lives in danger. However, the past few years had been quiet, each of my random trips without incident. The relentless peace had made us all soft in a different way.

“Omari,” Jabari called, breaking the silence that had stretched in the room. “Take Mira’s companions down to my felucca. I will bring Mira down in a moment, and then you will take them back to Aswan.”

I nodded when Gabriel glanced up at me for direction, and then watched as he and Omari helped Michael back to his feet. Michael would bounce back from this encounter soon enough, but I knew it was weak and stupid of me to take so much blood. Such behavior only endangered both our lives.

“Walk with me, Mira,” Jabari said, extending his hand toward me after Omari and the others disappeared out the front door.

I hesitated a second, stunned by the gesture. The pain of the fight from the previous night was still fresh in my mind. My body was still recovering from the fight with the naturi too, and I didn’t need any more fresh wounds. But it was Jabari who reached for me. With my lips pressed into a tight line, I took his hand.

There was no warning. The world around me slipped away and was consumed by complete blackness. I tightened my grip on his hand and felt him pull me to him until I was pressed against his strong chest. One second there was only blackness, and in the next the world rushed back, golden sand and towering walls bathed in a warm yellow light. We were at Philae, several miles south of Elephantine Island and just north of the High Dam. Not far away, a large chattering group of people gathered for the nightly light and sound show.

Jabari tightly gripped my hand, threading his long fingers through mine before turning his back on the crowd and leading me toward the Temple of Augustus. It was darker in this area, and it appeared that the nightly tour would stop at the Temple of Isis before winding south back to the Hall of Nectanebo and the boat landing.

I gazed around, admiring the way the lights and shadows washed over the high walls. The regal faces of gods and pharaohs watched as we passed by in silence. “They did a good job,” I ventured as we neared the temple hidden in darkness. “I really can’t tell the difference.”

Before the High Dam was completed, the government had been forced to move the Temple of Philae from its original island to Agilkia Island, to the north, or it would have been permanently submerged beneath the deep blue waters of the Nile. They had obviously been careful to reconstruct the temple and the surrounding flora almost exactly as on the original island.

“Hmmph,” Jabari snorted. “The island is too small. The temples are too close.”

“Better too close than underwater,” I softly said, but instantly regretted it. When had I become so careless with my comments? Valerio. I blamed Valerio. He had been a bad influence, and too many years at his side made me careless when it came to speaking to other nightwalkers. “I’m sorry, Jabari.”

“No,” he snapped, and then stopped. He sighed heavily, running his free hand over his head as he stared at the Temple of Augustus as it rose up before us. “I am the one who is sorry, my young one.” He pulled me into his arms, releasing my hand so he could wrap both arms around me. I flinched at the contact, but relaxed a moment later when he brushed a kiss across my temple.

“Last night I overreacted when I saw you standing in the quarry with the human. Egypt was always our home until you left, but then you returned…with a hunter of our kind and word of the naturi. I didn’t mean to…” His voice drifted off as I let his words soak into my brain, completely stunned. I don’t know which part took me more by surprise—that he referred to Egypt as “our home” or the quiver in his voice when he spoke of me leaving. There had been no question of me leaving Egypt centuries ago. I told the Ancient that I wanted to return to Europe, and he made no move to stop me. I had no idea that he was bothered by my choice to leave.

Taking a step back, out of his arms, I reached up and cupped his face with my hands. I brushed my thumb over his lips, loving the feel of his smooth skin beneath my fingertips again. “It was time for me to leave,” I whispered in a choked voice.

Jabari took my right hand and laid it on his chest. “I know you are right, but my heart did not wish for you to leave.” There were no heartbeats beneath the palm of my hand, but I understood the gesture.

Leaning forward, Jabari kissed me. At first it was just a light brush of his lips against mine, soft as a baby’s breath, as if he were testing my response. I instantly went up on the tips of my toes, pressing closer to him. He deepened the kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The kiss quickly became hard and possessive, claiming me back from the hunter, my domain, and the wide expanse of years that had separated us. He tasted me, as if trying to relearn me.

I pressed close to him, welcoming him. As he deepened the kiss I also felt him slip into my mind like a finely sharpened blade. For the first time in so long, I could finally sense him. I could feel the presence of his soul, and some tension I hadn’t been aware of eased around my own soul. Jabari was everywhere, everything, for a brief span of time. The world slipped away and the years rewound. I was home and safe.

And then it was over. Jabari slowly pulled away, slipping out of my mind. Yet, my lips tingled and something in my chest burned. I felt as if he had branded me, marked me for all the nightwalkers to see. It screamed, “Mira belongs to Jabari.” Not a Companion, never that, but something…different.

The Ancient reached up and touched my cheeks, wiping away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.

“What is going on, Jabari?” I inquired, unable to completely purge the fear from my voice.

“The naturi have found a way to weaken the seal.” His voice was calm again, the emotion wiped away as if it never existed. Our world had been put right and we were back to the business side of our relationship.

“How?” I asked, struggling to hit the same unemotional calm that he possessed. “It can’t be because of Tabor’s death. That was more than fifty years ago. Why would they have waited so long to strike?”

“I do not know how they have done it. It is one of the reasons that I go to the Coven. Our Liege may know something.” For some reason, I wasn’t sure that Jabari believed it. There were other things troubling him, something dark and grim enough to make my beloved mentor shield himself even from his own.

“How do we stop them?”

“We will reform the triad and destroy Rowe.”

Oh, yeah. Just like making the bed or tying my shoes. “How?” I countered, frustration rising in my voice. Damn it, I was starting to sound like a bad fifties cowboy and Indian movie. How? How? How? “Tabor is gone.”