Dragon Soul(21)

It took a good fifteen minutes, but at last I worked my way through to  someone at the cruise company who spoke English. "Hello. I'm confirming  the arrival of Mrs. Papadopolous for the Duat River Cruise leaving  tonight at eight p.m. Am I correct in the assumption that she'll need to  be to the ship an hour before sailing?"

"Yes, that is very correct," answered a man in lyrical English. "Let me  check the records. Papadopolous, you say? I do not have anyone by that  name."

Panic hit me. I hadn't even thought about what I'd do if something was  munged up with Mrs. P's reservation. "Uh …  are you sure? Her grandson  told me he booked her reservation himself. Maybe you could look again?"

"Does Madame have another name? I do not see Papadopolous."

Unreasonably, I felt the urge to burst into tears. We'd come such a long  way and been through so much in the last twenty-four hours. "She  doesn't have another name, no."

"I do," Mrs. P said, looking up from the TV where she'd put on a channel  of Middle Eastern music videos. "I am known by many names."

"I doubt very much if your grandson would have booked you under your  hoochie-coo dancer name," I told her, my hand over the mouthpiece. "Did  he book it under your maiden name or something?"

"I have never been married," she said with a sniff, and turned up the  music video. "My beau gives me much leeway in this world, but he  wouldn't allow me to bind myself to another."         

     



 

"What is your maiden name?" I asked, more than a little desperate now.

"My name when I was a maiden?" She smiled. Oddly, it made her faded eyes look brighter. "Aset."

"Asset?" I asked, confusion now adding to my frustration. "Like something a company has?"

"No, Aset." She spelled it for me, putting the stress on the first letter of the word. "It is my child-name."

That sounded like a maiden name to me. "Would you have a reservation for a Mrs. Aset?" I asked, uncovering the mouthpiece.

"Madame Aset? But of course." The man sounded so matter-of-fact it  confused me even more. "We have the reservation for Madame Aset and  companion in Grand Suite B. It is our finest accommodation, you  understand."

"Awesome. I'll have her to the ship by seven …  wait, did you say Mrs. Aset and companion? What companion?"

"We were not informed of the individual's name. Our understanding was  that information would be provided upon boarding. Is there anything else  I can help with?"

"No, thank you, that will be all." I hung up and looked at Mrs. P, who  was now eying a woven cotton wall covering with a speculative eye. "Who  is going on the cruise with you?"

She gave me a pitying look. "Has the prospect of lunch with your man caused you to lose your wits? You are my guide."

"I'm not a guide," I said, startled. "I'm a …  well, helper is as good a  description as anything. I'm just here to get you to your ship. I'm not  going with you on it."

Her eyes narrowed on me. "You must help me across the Duat to my beau.  You agreed to do so. You cannot back out now-I can't face the challenges  by myself. I am a priestess of Heka, not Isis herself."

I sighed, suddenly wishing like the dickens that I'd never answered the door to Jian's cousin. What was his name?

"Mrs. P," I said gently but firmly. "I realize that you have a really  splendid imagination, and that you were absolutely right about Jian  being a dragon, but just because you were right about that doesn't mean  that everything you think is real is actually so. You're just a little  confused. Duat is the name of the cruise line-it's not a real place."

She shook her head sadly at me.

"And Isis is …  was …  an Egyptian goddess. I think. I'm not very hip on  Egyptian myths and lore. So while I agree that you are not Isis, I'm not  sure where this idea came from that I'm your guide."

A knock sounded at the door. I got up to answer it.

"You must guide me," she insisted. "You are a dragon's mate. Only your kind can defeat the challenges that will face us."

"Hi," I said to Rowan when he stepped into the room. I was sorry to see  that he'd not only combed his hair but also shaved. So much for that  tempting stubble. "I hope you're hungry. I'm famished, and I think Mrs. P  could use a little food in her stomach. I suspect her blood sugar is  low and it's making her a bit …  scattered."

He raised his eyebrows and took the chair I gestured at, while I went to  fetch the room service menus. "The trip from Munich seemed fairly  uneventful."

"Oh, it was, and Mrs. P dozed most of the way, but now she's insisting  that I'm supposed to go on the cruise with her, and I'm having a hard  time making her understand that I'm just a helper monkey, and not a tour  guide. Now, Mrs. P, do you feel like something light or a more  substantial meal? I'm sure there will be snackies on the boat when you  get there, but since that's a good four hours away, I'd suggest getting a  full meal now. It looks like they have chicken thighs stuffed with rice  and pine nuts, or a tenderloin with grilled veggies that you might  like. And some lamb dishes, but I personally won't eat a wee little baby  lamb. Not that it matters to you, but still."

"Tell the gel she must come with me," Mrs. P demanded of Rowan. "I  cannot make the trip alone. It is too dangerous. Too many people want my  offering."

Rowan looked startled.

I asked, "Your what now?"

"My offering." She gestured toward her chest. "It is for my beau.  Without it, we can't be together. And I can't give it to him without a  guide taking me to him."

"Mrs. P … " I sat silent for a moment, helpless against her fantasies.  Clearly some sort of dementia was beginning to grip her, despite the  fact that she'd been unusually prescient about my true origins. But this  was just beyond me. "I don't know what to say."         

     



 

"She can't go with you," Rowan said quickly, and gave a little  embarrassed cough. "That is, I got the last available cabin. There won't  be any more available. And I would be more than happy to guide you."

I looked at him with wonder and a wee bit of suspicion. Why was he being  so helpful all of a sudden? And did he just try to get me out of the  picture?

Hurt pierced deep and hot, but I pushed that aside to try to think  rationally about the situation. Did Rowan's sudden offer have something  to do with this ring he was so interested in? Surely he couldn't have  nefarious plans for it, not after we'd spent such a wonderful time  together. And he seemed as much into me as I was in him …

Slowly, my gaze dropped, a sick feeling in my stomach.

Had he used me just to get in a position where he could rob Mrs. P?





Eight




Rowan was panicked, good and simple. Here he thought he'd been one step  ahead of Sophea by booking the last available cabin on the ship, and now  Mrs. P was demanding that Sophea be included in the trip.

Dammit, he had had a hard enough time sneaking into Mrs. P's room  without having to contend with a watchful Sophea, not to mention one  who, if she learned the truth about the ring, might very well take it  for her own purposes.

His brain came to a screeching halt at that idea. As if Sophea-warm,  wonderful, giving Sophea-would do something so heinous. He might have  had suspicions of her at first, but not now, not when he knew just what a  wonderful woman she was.

One who made him hard just thinking about her.

He crossed his legs and thought strenuously for a few minutes about the plight of the Incas under the rule of the conquistadors.

"Oh, that doesn't matter," Sophea said, and for a moment, Rowan had  forgotten the direction of the conversation. Sophea's voice sounded  choked.

It was on his lips to ask her what was wrong when she continued.

"Mrs. P evidently has some super fancy suite, and I'm sure that means it  has more than one bed. But the fact is that I was hired to bring her  here, not take the cruise with her. And certainly not guide her. I don't  know the first thing about the Egyptian sites." She glanced at a clock  on the nightstand. "Although Akbar is due to pick us up in an hour for a  trip to the pyramids, so I suppose I'll learn something there."

"I'm sure you'd much rather be home where the weather isn't into triple  digits during the day and the company is more congenial than a bunch of  elderly tourists," he said, feeling his powers of persuasion lacking. "I  know I would much rather be at home where I could continue my research  rather than be here."

"Oh?" She seemed to be avoiding catching his eye. For some reason, she  was hurt by that, wondering if he'd inadvertently slighted her. Her nose  wrinkled in a way that he found utterly adorable. "Then why are you  going on the cruise if you'd rather be elsewhere?"