The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter XVIII

Carolina 

Charles carries Jay all the way to his car with Elijah and I following closely behind. At first, I allow Elijah to lean on me and use me as a crutch. Though, by the time we had make it to the car, he is already mostly walking on his own. I don’t like the slight limp he has though. 

The ride to my apartment is silent. Charles is driving with Elijah in the passenger seat. Jay and I are in the back seat, though seeing from how silent and stiff Elijah has been, I’m guess he’s not happy about that. 

I stop the two men from getting out of the car once we make it to my apartment building. “Let me check to see if anyone is in my apartment. It will be hard to explain Elijah’s stab wound and the unconscious person.” 

“You should at least let Charles escort you. We don’t know if a member of the Dark Sand Society is waiting for you up there,” Elijah grunts. 

“The ring is up there in the apartment, so maybe not,” I say hopefully. 

“That’s reassuring,” Elijah says dryly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “If you’re not back down in 10 minutes, I’m coming up to get you.” 

“Fine,” I huff under my breath as I head into my apartment building. 

I cautiously open the door to my apartment. I glance around the living room and kitchen area to see that the space is empty. “Anyone home?” I call out. 

I hear some shuffling near my room and my heart jumps in panic. I quietly move towards my bedroom and slowly open my door. My fear evaporates into slight irritation when I see it’s only Alexa rummaging through the things on my vanity. 

“What are you doing?” I ask, causing Alexa to jump out of her skin. In the process, she drops an object she was inspecting in her hands. My eyes widen when I see it’s the beetle ring. I quickly pick it up and give Alexa a stern look. 

“I was just borrowing your eyeliner. I ran out and I have to meet my friends at the club soon,” she huffs, crossing her arms like a spoiled brat. 

“Did you get what you came for?” I ask with my brows raised skeptically. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Alexa says as she rolls her eyes. “I was just looking at that weird ring. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s an artifact that I’m studying for my lab,” I explain. “I’m supposed to return it soon.” 

“Whatever,” she mumbles as she stomps out of my room. I follow behind her into the living room where we find Elijah sitting on my couch. We both are looking at him stunned. How did he get here? I locked the door before!

“Oh my god,” Alexa gasps. “You’re Elijah Seka.” 

Elijah gives her a smile, which for whatever reason seems to tick me off. Now I’m even less happy with the fact that he’s here. “The one and only,” he says. 

“What are you-“

I cut her off. “He’s a sponsor for the lab I work at. He is actually the one who wanted me to study the ring. He came by to talk to me about it,” I say quickly. It’s not really very believable but Alexa doesn’t really seem to care as she’s too busy drooling over Elijah. I have to keep myself from rolling my eyes at her obvious lack of self control.

She’s soon sitting beside him, leaning into him. “I’m Alexa,” she says offering her hand to him to shake. “I’m Carolina’s very single roommate. I'm also a very very good friend of hers. Had she told me you were coming, I would’ve had her clean up a bit more.” 

“The apartment was clean when Tori and I left before classes today,” I say with a scowl. Alexa is the one who doesn’t clean up after herself. 

“Yes, yes,” she says, waving me off. She probably didn’t even hear what I said. 

"Carolina, why don't you be a dear and bring Elijah a drink or something," she says. And leave you two alone? I don't think so! I just linger in the living room in front of them. Alexa is probably too busy throwing herself at Elijah to even notice if I'm still in the room with them.

I don’t like how close she is to Elijah. Since she is dressed for the club, she’s in a crop top with a plunge neckline and a tight black mini skirt paired with stilettos. To make matters worse, she was pulling Elijah’s arm into her cleavage. 

“You know, I’m very familiar with a lot of high end restaurants. If you want, I can tell you about some of the best places to visit in the city,” she purrs. 

Elijah gives her a somewhat puzzled look. “Thank you but I’m confident I can get my secretary to find out about that kind of stuff,” he says. It’s taking everything in me not to smack him upside the head and rip Alexa off of him. Can he really be that oblivious to what she's trying to do?

She just lets out a flirty giggle. “You’re so funny! And strong,” she adds while feeling up his arm. I grit my teeth in annoyance. “Maybe you rather I be more blunt. How about we get to know each other better over dinner?” she asks. That’s it. 

“I don’t-“ I barely let Elijah start his sentence as I place my hand firmly on Alexa’s shoulder. 

“Listen, Alexa, Mr. Seka is here on business and I don’t want to keep him waiting. Besides, didn’t you say you had to meet up with friends,” I bite out almost a bit too harshly. 

Alexa just pouts before getting off the couch. “You’re right. I have to get going,” she sighs dramatically. She sends Elijah a wink before walking towards the door. “Until we meet again, Mr. Seka.” 

“Why are you here? This was why I told you to wait for me in the car,” I snap once Alexa is finally gone. 

“I was worried about you. You didn’t come back immediately and I assumed the worst,” Elijah defends. “Do you have the ring?”

“Yes,” I huff in annoyance. “It’s in my bedroom.” 

“Put it on,” he demands. I raise my brow at him which causes him to mutter a small “please” in response. 

When I come back into the living room after retrieving and putting on the ring, I see Charles setting Jay down on the couch. 

“What are we going to do with him?” I ask. 

“Well, it appears you healed him with magic, your highness,” Charles states. I scrunch my nose up at the phrase “your highness”. Did he really just call me that?

“Please don’t call me ‘your highness,’” I cringe. “It’s just Carolina. Also, how could I have healed him? I’ve never used magic before. And Elijah and I aren’t exactly, well...” I trail off. 

Elijah frowns as he glances at Jay before turning to me. His eyes sweep over my face for a while before looking over my body as if to look for injuries. When he doesn’t seem to find any, his body relaxes ever so slightly. “I had a feeling you would develop magic upon being my soulmate. But I didn’t think you would start manifesting those powers so soon,” he finally says. “This can only mean you’re going to easily become an extremely powerful healer. It would explain why you didn’t outright faint after healing that friend of yours. Healing magic is very draining and yet you were strong enough to stay conscious. I wouldn’t expect less from my queen.” I don’t miss the way Elijah disdainfully spits out the word “friend” when referring to Jay. 

I glance down at my hands in slight awe. I can use magic? But how? How do I control it? Can I do it again? Then a new thought comes to me. 

"Elijah, your wound! Aren't you still injured?" I ask as I semi-frantically step towards him. It seems like my concerned comment went in through one ear and came out the other because Elijah completely ignores me and starts talking about Jay.

“Since the boy seems to be fully healed, the next logical step would be to wake him up,” Elijah states. Fine, then. I guess he's not that injured. “I can use the Eye of Horus on him while he’s asleep to compel him to believe that the events at the park were just a dream. I’ll also make it so when you wake him up, he’ll believe whatever story you tell him.” 

Charles nods in agreement with his plan. Elijah places two fingers on Jay’s forehead and his eyes turn a deep red once again. A soft groan escapes Jay as I see him start to stir. I take that as my opportunity to push Charles and Elijah into my bedroom so they don’t raise any suspicion. 

I return to my living room to see Jay sitting up on my couch looking a little dazed. My hand finds its way to my chest as I let out a small breath of relief. He seems to be okay. 

“Hey,” I say cautiously as I walk towards him. “How are feeling, sleepyhead?”

“Um, okay,” he mumbles while rubbing his eyes. “What happened? Where are we?”

“We’re in my apartment, remember?” I say. “You offered to commute with me back to my apartment. Once we made it, I invited you inside. I went to get you something to drink but when I came back, you were passed out on my couch. You seemed really tired. Have you been busy this week?”

A look of confusion crosses Jay’s face before he seems to accept what I said. “Yeah, I’ve been a little busy. I’m sorry that I fell asleep on your couch,” he apologizes. 

“You only closed your eyes for like a second,” I say with a forced smile. “It’s no big deal.” 

Jay looks at my face for a second. He’s giving me this blank expression that I can’t seem to read. Does he know I’m lying? He then snaps out of it and shakes his head. 

“Sorry,” he says again. “I just feel like I had this weird dream.”

“What was it about?” I ask innocently. I’m trying to hide my nervousness but I don’t know if it’s working. My heart is racing. 

Jay gives me a strange look before shaking his head again. “It’s too weird of a dream to describe. Forget I said anything.” 

I give him a small nod and a smile, relieved that the Eye of Horus seems to be working. Jay then gets up, stretching his body a bit. “I think it’s time for me to get back home. I’ve over stayed my welcome,” he says. 

“It’s fine,” I reassure. “You’re welcome back to my place anytime. But I think you should get home and get some rest.” 

Jay nods in agreement. “I think you're right. For whatever reason I feel like I've been hit by a truck so a good night's sleep sounds good right now. I’ll get home and get some sleep if you promise to get some sleep, too.” I raise my brows at his comment. 

“You just seemed a little out of it when you first met up with us today,” Jay explains. “You seemed so tired. If you wanted to leave sooner, you could’ve told me.” 

I feel my lips curl up in a genuine smile for the first time since the attack tonight. “I was a little tired. But I really wanted to hang out with you and your friends. Going to the movies was a nice much needed break and I had fun. So, thanks for inviting me,” I say. Jay returns my smile, his cheeks turning a bit flush. 

We say our last good byes as I manage to get Jay to leave. Closing the door behind him, I let out a sigh. Now to deal with the two oafs in my bedroom. 

“So! You really wanted to hang out with that boy, huh?” Elijah growls as he barges out of my bedroom. 

Oh boy.