Chapter Six

Dominic reclined on the chaise longue in Victor's parlour. They'd returned to his friend's rooms on Bedford Street after an evening at Victor's club. To begin with, it had been the balm he'd needed, good company and interesting conversation that distracted him, and enough liquid libation to ensure he was merry but not drunk. But somehow he'd not carried his ebullience into the later part of the evening and now they were alone, he was again slipping into a contemplative mood.

"What is wrong with you?" Victor asked, his soft Scottish accent usually alluring, although tonight it didn't fill him with the same desire it had on previous occasions. "You are distant. I didn't bring you here for you to be a cold fish."

"Apologies, I did not sleep well and it is beginning to catch up with me." He had thought earlier that Victor could be a worthy distraction, first to exorcise Henry good and proper and then stop him from thinking about Callum.

"I hope you will not sleep well tonight either. But for different reasons."

Dominic laughed. "You are not a subtle man."

"I have never felt the need to be."

Victor rose from his chair with the grace of a cat, and on previous occasions, it would have been enough to have Dominic hard and wanting to fuck, but not tonight. He moved to sit up, to allow Victor to sit next to him. Victor was a beautiful specimen, with dark hair and green eyes, he was perfectly put together. They had been friends for years and had enjoyed each other's company many times without the worry of emotions getting in the way.

They had already discarded their topcoats and cravats, and Dominic leant into Victor's touch as he kissed his neck and laid a possessive hand on Domnic's hip. He closed his eyes and tried not to overthink, to concentrate on the pleasure Victor was offering but something didn't feel right. A wave of nausea rippled through him, and he pulled away, once no longer in contact with Victor the sickening feeling abated.

"What's wrong?" Victor asked, reaching up to stroke Dominic's cheek.

The touch disturbed him,. He skirted away and crouched forwards, staring at the floor between his knees. He took several deep breaths and shot to his feet as Victor put his hand on his back.

"Are you ill?" Victor asked, his concern evident.

"I have no idea, but when you touch me, it is as if there is a wrongness about my person."

"I could take great offence but I think the problem is with you not me," Victor said, sounding more amused than hurt. "Have you a case of a guilty conscience? I thought you had parted ways with Henry with no chance of reconciliation."

"I have." He frowned at the implication. "And there is no one else."

The denial caused his stomach to knot and he doubled over and hissed in pain.

Victor crouched in front of Dominic but didn't touch him. "Should I call for a doctor?"

Dominic shook his head. He couldn't explainbut he knew that no physician could help him. The scent of lotus flowers filled his nostrils. The only thing he knew for certain was he had to leave.

"I have to go." He grabbed his cravat and tied it back in place, his hands shaking.

"Go where?"

He didn't have a destination but had to leave and start walking. "I don't know."

"Dominic, you're making no sense."

He had to go, he needed to be… he didn't know where, but it wasn't here, not with Victor. "I can't explain it. I'm sorry."

He headed for the door.

Victor grabbed his arm. "Stop this. You are not in your right mind, I can't let you go like this."

Dominic pulled his arm away. "I can't stay. I value you as a friend but there's not a power in all the heavens that would stop me leaving."

Victor huffed and put his hands on his hips. "Fine, but be careful."

He didn't think there was any danger, he just had to be somewhere, someone was waiting…

"I'll send word so as not to cause you worry."

"I'm already worried."

At some point, he hoped he'd be able to explain to Victor and himself what was going on. "Thank you for caring."

Victor was a good man, never a regular partner, and not someone he loved more than as a friend, but he cared and Dominic was touched by his concern. He left, exiting the building by the main door. After a few minutes found himself on The Strand not knowing what to do but knew he needed to walk. His instincts took him towards Holborn. It wasn't dark yet, but there wouldn't be much daylight left. He should be more careful with his surroundings as London was rife with pickpockets and thieves. The rational part of his mind was drowned out by an overbearing need to walk. Someone would be waiting for him, and while he wasn't one hundred percent sure who, the image of Callum flitted across his mind along with the name Osahar, and the fragrance of lotus blossom lingered about him again.

Without knowing how he got there, he found himself at Lincoln Inns Fields. Not a place he should be hanging around on his own, but for once he ignored the voice in the back of his head that said he should be on his guard and entered the little square of green situated amidst the bustle of the city. He didn't know this area well, but nothing would deter him and he continued walking, surprised not to see any of the lurkers and vagabonds he would have expected in this part of town, almost as if the force drawing him here was keeping them at bay.

Then he stopped, and waited, his feet refusing to go any further. The sound of footsteps approaching made him turn around.

Callum.

But he was different from the last time he saw him. He didn't know how but Callum appeared to be glowing slightly, and when Dominic glanced down at his own hands he realised he was too.

He found the ability to walk again and they stood facing each other, mere inches apart. "I had to come," Callum said. "I don't know why, I just kept walking and here I am."

Dominic reached out and took his hand, which wasn't something he'd do in public with a man. "The same for me. I was with a friend, and all of a sudden I had the inescapable urge to leave him."

"I was at the Allott's occasion. I usually have no problem with socialising and playing nice, but tonight I couldn't stay."

Every fibre of his being wanted to pull Callum into his arms, to kiss him and claim Callum as his own. Callum seemed to have the same idea. Their lips met and Dominic had never felt so right.

The world around them melted away and they were standing in the bright sunshine, behind a palace that was not in London. "Osahar," Dominic said, the words not his own. "The spell, it worked."

"Oh, Baniti, it is a miracle," Callum replied.

Then they were back in Lincoln's Inn and Dominic knew everything. The spell, his love for Osahar or rather Callum in this time. They had found each other once again, and the emotion welled up inside his chest with a crescendo of happiness.

"What just happened? Why did I call you Baniti?" Callum asked, bewildered.

It dawned on Dominic that while Osahar had been involved he had not known all the details so Callum would not know them either, and he would need to explain, although the revelation of his own knowledge was still something of a shock.

"Because that used to be my name, and your name was once Osahar. Remember now?"

"Yes… but… this cannot be real. My mind must be playing tricks."

"I promise you it is real. We have our time again, but this is not a conversation to have in the open." He dragged Callum out of Lincoln Inns Field, and thankfully it was easy enough to flag down a hackney carriage.

"Where are we going?" Callum asked as they stood side by side. It was a testament to Callum's confusion he hadn't put up any resistance to following Dominic's orders, as Callum had not struck him to be the submissive type.

"I have access to a property in Fitzrovia, we can talk there." He cupped Callum's cheek. "You think you're going crazy, but you aren't. Trust me."

"I don't know why I should, but I do." Callum leant against him.

Dominic remembered back to the first time he'd seen him, not at the card game but thousands of years before, taking notes for a council member. He'd been struck by his beauty and had intercepted him with the pretence of needing to confirm an accurate record had been taken. He'd found any excuse to talk to him after that.

He wanted to kiss Callum again, and then get him home, peel him out of his clothes and then do a lot more than kiss him. Centuries had passed but here they were together, and he couldn't believe it had worked. By rights, he should think himself insane but the ushabti, the dream, the smell of the lotus flower blossom, all told him it was true, and that he should trust in Ra. He was still Dominic, but he was also Baniti reincarnated and it began to make sense why no one had ever felt right when he had taken a lover. Why no man or woman had been a permanent fixture in his life because they weren't who he was meant to be with. While he had been angry at the way Henry had treated him, if he had truly loved him, he would have had more difficulty brushing him aside.

Callum leant closer and Dominic put his arm around him. He looked up at Dominic his eyes wide with wonder. "You were a priest, and you loved me."

"Now I am the son of a duke, and I still love you."

He'd never said those words to anyone as Dominic and he'd never meant them more. The carriage pulled up at the townhouse his father had allowed him the use of. Usually, it was a place where he invited select friends for frivolous evenings full of fun and freedom away from some of the less welcoming members of the Ton.

The door closed behind them, and he gathered Callum into his arms. When he'd been only Osahar he'd been younger and needed guidance, but in the new world Callum was older by a few years and a brilliant man in his own right, as well as having his family's wealth. He didn't know Callum well, but he knew absolutely they were meant for each other.

"I know you, but I don't know you," Callum said. "I remember a spell but I had thought it would link us in the afterlife. Is this really the Field of Reeds?"

He had thought the same to begin with, but he had researched it more over their life together and he thought there might be more of a twist, a chance to live again, in another time when the ushabti bound their souls.

"No, this is the real world. The spell worked, but not in the way we thought. Now we get to spend another lifetime in love."

He'd never told Osahar his suspicions, his theory not provable and he hadn't wanted to upset his beliefs. They'd been so happy as a couple, and he would never have risked Osahar's peace of mind for anything. Osahar had passed over before him but only by a matter of months, Baniti had lost the will to carry on once he was alone. Now Baniti had Osahar back.

Callum crumpled his brow. "I don't understand, we had planned to spend our afterlife together, what has happened?"

"I don't think the spell worked the way we thought it might. Remember the ushabti and how we had poured the potion over it and weaved the spell?"

"Yes, and we placed it in the burial chamber of the tomb so it would ensure when the time was right, we would travel to the afterlife."

"It did work, just in a slightly different way. It's clear to me now that our souls were kept safe but in order to be free, they had to be released to take their place in suitable people. We have found our way back to each other because when I as Dominic, handed you as Callum, the ushabti, it was finally the right time."

"But why not with others, why has it taken all these years and our souls remained dormant?" He looked pained, and Dominic thought it was a mix of confusion and the fear they had lost the chance to be together earlier. "We did not move into the afterlife, or I can't remember doing so."

Dominic thought that was the easier of the questions Callum might ask. "Because I believe now that the spell had to work in a specific way, by means of the ushabti being handled and not that once we died, we would find each other. The tomb has only recently been rediscovered and the ushabti removed."

"But neither of us were the first to handle it."

Dominic knew of at least three others who had held the ushabti, including his brother-in-law. "It will have passed through several hands before landing with us, but only when it reached us did the spell work, because we are the right people for it to do so."

"Did you know it would be this way? When the old man gave you the spell and when we did the ceremony?"

At that point, he'd been as convinced as Osahar that the spell would work as expected, but knew he couldn't lie to Callum. "No, I thought we would meet in the afterlife. As the years passed I began to have some doubts, when I studied further and my skills grew, I must admit I was no longer so convinced."

"You never told me." Callum glared at him.

Dominic really wanted to kiss him. "What good would it have done? We were living our best life, and I knew that somehow we would be together again. When you died, I had no reason to continue, all I wanted was to be back at your side."

Callum stepped closer and held his hands. "I had a fever and went to sleep, I don't remember anything more. But I would have wanted you to have continued living—to have a full and happy life."

"That was not possible once you had gone." Dominic rested his head against Callum's. It should have been strange to have all this knowledge of a previous lifetime, but instead he felt whole as if there had been something missing before.

He pulled Callum closer and claimed a kiss. He lost himself in the passion, a dance of lips and tongues. When Osahar died he'd vowed there'd never be another, and as Dominic, he'd taken lovers, but they had never meant anything, and he couldn't wait to worship Callum.

"Let us get to know each other again. We have new bodies to explore."

Callum stepped away abruptly. "I… I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Have you never taken a male lover before?" He couldn't believe a beauty like Callum would have been wanting for company, but perhaps it was women he had danced with.

"I have, and that is not the reason."

A bolt of jealousy raced through Dominic, that someone else had taken what was his but he chased it away. There was no place for it here because this was Callum, not Osahar. "Then why?"

"My mind is whirring, I need time to think. It's not that I don't want to be with you, but please be patient." Callum stared up at him. "Like you were when we first met. You were kind, and gentle. I know it is different now, but I need some time."

Osahar had been a virgin when they'd first lain together. Baniti had been captivated by him, it had taken several weeks to gain his trust, and even longer to allow him to put his hands upon him. After that first time, Baniti had been bewitched, and he'd known there would never be another for him. Now after all these years, he had Osahar back by his side, and he would do everything in his power to keep him there.

"Take all the time you need. I just thank the gods, that I can once again hold you in my arms."

Callum rested his head on Dominic's shoulder. "If you are willing, perhaps we could sleep in the same bed. I would like to be held."

It was an important gesture and Dominic was delighted. "Come on then. Let us retire to bed—to sleep. It is late and we have had a most memorable day."

He took hold of Callum's hand and led him into his bedroom. He had entertained many people here, and he thought that in the future he would want somewhere else where they would meet and live, but that would be a different conversation. They would need to find a way to be together. The law would not allow him to claim Callum as his husband but that was what he would be for all intents and purposes.

"That is a big bed," Callum said with a grin. The four-poster bed did take up a lot of the floor space—it was a family heirloom and had not been easy to get into place.

Dominic had to remind himself that Callum was a man of the world, Osahar had not been, and so there was a more subtle meaning behind it. "Plenty of room for us then."

"I'm not saying I won't want more, just not tonight. Don't think I don't want you… it's just…"

Dominic kissed him and then stepped away. "Tonight we will sleep in each other's arms, and we will see what the morning brings."

Callum began to undress. He was a different build to Osahar, taller, broader, but still shorter than Dominic. It would be nigh on possible for him to separate the two in his head but as Callum stood before him, just in his white shirt he had no complaints about the pretty package in which his forever lover was now contained. He hoped Osahar as Callum would have similar thoughts about Baniti now as Dominic.

"You appear to still be clothed," Callum said, climbing into bed. "Unless you intend to sleep in your britches… and I wouldn't recommend it. There is no comfort to be had from the restriction, no matter how marvellous your shape in them."

Dominic did not dally further, he undressed and slid under the covers. Callum shuffled closer and lay his head on his chest. It felt so good to hold him, Callum's warmth seeped through the cotton of their shirts. He might have wanted to make love, but somehow holding Callum was even better. In the morning, they would talk, but for tonight he would keep Callum safe, cradled in his arms.