The excerpt, from close to the beginning of the book. Mayet, a new priestess, is in the inner sanctum of the temple, cleaning the altar: 

The sound of the heavy door opening caused Mayet to spin with a gasp. She wasn’t finished yet—the high priestess was early. Punishment for disappointing the goddess would be swift and Mayet would walk in pain for several days after the whipping she knew would be meted out. Or perhaps the priestess would be more merciful and spare the rod but put her on bread and water for a few days.

But the door seemed to be stuck, opening only a small way and Mayet heard whoever was at the entrance breathing heavily, almost gasping. She rushed to the portal, finding the high priestess clinging to the locking mechanism, her dress stained with blood, her wig askew and her eyes wild. Her elaborate makeup was smeared and the kohl left tearlike marks on her cheeks.

“Help me, child,” Inu said in a weak voice.

“What happened, my lady?” Trembling, Mayet supported the other woman and half carried her to the closest surface where she could sit. She glanced at the door, worried about the sounds drifting in from the outer temple area. Shouts, screams and the clang of metal. Swords? Here?

“Close the door quickly,” Inu said, slumping against the wall, smearing blood across the vivid paintings of the goddess in her garden as she moved.

Terrified, Mayet rushed to obey the order, forcing the door to swing shut as fast as the mechanism would move. “What is it? What’s going on? Should I go for help?” she asked as she hurried to rejoin Inu, sandals slipping a bit in the trail of bright red blood on the black-and-white tiled floor. The high priestess was plainly not much longer for this world.

With a bitter laugh ending in a gurgling cough, Inu shook her head. “There is no help.”  She grabbed Mayet’s wrist with surprising strength. “You must get the sacred statue of the goddess away from here. The effigy must not fall into their hands.”

“Whose hands?” Mayet rushed to select a goblet of the wine which had been offered to the goddess the night before and brought it to Inu, kneeling and tipping the alabaster cup to her lips. “Take a moment, my lady, gather your thoughts and explain matters to me.” She hoped to assist the priestess’s memory. “You and the others went to the formal greeting ceremony at the mayor’s palace, to take part in the welcome for the delegation of the southern tribes—”

“It was a trick, a trap, the fucking bastards slaughtered everyone and then their soldiers poured through the city gates. We’ve been betrayed by false promises of peace and trade and now it’s a war. I managed to flee through a side corridor—I had guards with me but they were cut down.” Belatedly recognition dawned in Inu’s face how severely she was injured, as she glanced at the slashes in her dress and touched the one on her belly with a fingertip. “I’ll be in the Afterlife by sunset. Promise to sing the proper chants that I may pass to my judgment.”

Depositphotos

DANGER ON THE NILE (CHILDREN OF FATE) by Veronica Scott

1550 BCE. Mayet is a newly appointed priestess at the temple of Isis in a southern Egyptian border town. When enemies attack the city, she must flee alone with a sacred effigy to keep the invaders from claiming it and using it for their own magic rituals. Joining with other refugees from the stricken city, she has to hide the statue from curious eyes and comfort her companions as if she was a learned, senior priestess. They all look to her for leadership on their desperate trek north. With the enemy close on their heels, Mayet stumbles over an ancient, abandoned fort, where her party takes refuge. Surrounded and trapped by the invaders, she faces a bleak future.

Khay is a high-ranking Egyptian officer, sent by Pharaoh to negotiate treaties with various southern tribes. He and his soldiers narrowly escape an ambush at the city where Mayet’s temple was located and are on the run from the invaders when he sees the shelter of an abandoned fort. Now he and his men are also trapped inside the stout walls with no food and no hope of rescue. Yet he has no regrets for the priestess leading the refugees is the woman the goddess Isis has shown him in a vision, the one who could become his wife.

Together Mayet and Khay must find a way to bring their people to freedom. Will Isis listen to pleas from such a fledgling priestess? Khay comes from a famous family, smiled upon by other gods – will any of them come to his aid? As the pair struggle to stay alive and save the other Egyptians, attraction grows and unites their hearts. But is there to be a future in this world, or only in the Afterlife?

Amazon     Apple Books     Kobo     Nook     GooglePlay

My other ancient Egyptian paranormal romances…