Heart of the Gods by Valerie Douglas

Ryan had said. “Why not?”
    Under Ryan’s careful supervision, Raissa carefully brushed away some of the dirt and soil along the exterior side wall of one of the rooms.
    As Ryan explained it was painstaking work and sometimes the most reward you got for it was to simply expose more of the wall, although they were getting closer to the original floor and they knew what had been found elsewhere.
    When he was certain she was all right by herself, he returned to his own work.
    Raissa found she didn’t mind clearing the sand and dirt away with a small hand shovel, shaking and sifting it in case something small was hidden within it like a bead from a necklace. Each bit was a little fragment from that person’s life, to be buried with them. There was a certain satisfaction in that.
    The sun beat down, browning her skin, warming her as she worked.
    From where she worked she could see the others―Ryan back in his section and Ky down at the end in what had been the rooms of the commander of the watch.
    Slowly but surely Ky cleared the skeletal remains, brushed away the sand. To his astonishment there were the remains of a sword next to the figure. Whoever it was had died backed into a corner, fighting here. Alone.
    And been left, unburied and unmourned.
    Ky felt an almost unbearable sense of sadness for the man.
    Not entirely unmourned, now.
    Looking at the remains of that lone soldier, Ky touched the skull in a benediction of sorts. If his soul was still trapped here, he wished it on to whatever afterlife the man had yearned for. Somehow, it made him feel better to have done it.
    He looked up across the dig, stretching his back a little.
    Like many things in ancient Egypt, the fort had been oriented east to west along the line of the sun and north to south.
    Ryan was in his section, working diligently.
    Earlier Ky had seen him working with Raissa, teaching her the basics of excavation, crouched down, their heads bent together, the long tail of her hair over her shoulder, her eyes on Ryan’s as he talked.
    He scanned the site and found her in one of the empty ‘rooms’ along the south wall. Her legs curled to one side, she was propped on one arm, brushing carefully at the side of one wall, her head bent so her hair formed a wavy golden backdrop to her profile.
    Ky had thought that time and familiarity would have diminished the attraction, instead it only intensified it. The more time he spent with her the more he enjoyed it. He found himself looking for opportunities to get close, to catch that sweet scent, to hear her laugh. There were times when he kept her far too close to sunset, when she’d to leave, as they debated one thing or another, Ryan and Komi joining in enthusiastically.
    There were the times when he caught her glancing at him with a curious expression and her eyes darkened, her lips parted… If the boys hadn’t been there… if he wouldn’t have been taking advantage, if it wouldn’t have been so bad for morale on the team…
    He sighed.
    Then something or someone in the background moved. The movement caught his eye and a chill went through him as he saw who it was.
    Zimmer, his too-dark eyes watching Raissa.
    Looking around, Ky couldn’t find anything else that Zimmer might be looking at with such concentration.
    There was something in the man’s look Ky didn’t like, a cold impersonal avarice, a covetousness that was disturbing in its intensity.
    Focused on what she was doing, Raissa was ignorant of the attention.
    As if aware of Ky’s eyes on him, Zimmer turned his head and looked at Ky, his expression oddly blank and empty. That was even more disturbing. Suddenly those eyes cleared and narrowed with dislike.
    Ky gave him a level look back, a warning clear in his eyes. Stay away.
    For a moment, their eyes met and held.
    It was Zimmer, finally, who looked away.
    One thing was certain, Ky intended to make certain that Raissa was never alone anywhere when Zimmer was around. Watching to be sure that