“Aye, Khian, yet who knows? That jackal is safest which has a hole to run to when its hunters are afoot.”
“Sooner would I be killed in the open than go mad here in the darkness with the dead for fellowship,” he answered doubtfully.
“Nay, Khian, you must not be killed; now you must live on—for me and Egypt.”
She set down the lamp in its place and moved to the foot of the tomb. He did likewise, so that there they met and stood a little while, gazing at each other in the midst of a silence that was so deep that they could hear the beating of their hearts. Speech had left them, as though they had no more words to say, yet their eyes spoke in a language of their own. They bent towards each other like wind-swayed palms, nearer and nearer yet, till of a sudden she lay in his arms and her lips were pressed upon his own.
“Beloved,” he said presently, “swear that while I live you will wed no man but me.”
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him with her large and beautiful eyes that were aswim with tears.
“Is it needful?” she asked in a new voice, a deep, rich voice. “You have little faith, Khian, and I ask no such oath from you.”
“Because it would be foolish, Nefra, for who, having loved you, could turn to others? Yet there are many who will seek the fairest lady on the earth and Egypt’s Queen. Indeed, has not one sought her already? Therefore, I pray you, swear.”
“So be it. I swear by the Spirit that we worship, both of us; I swear by Egypt which, if Roy be right, we shall rule in the days to come; and I swear by the bones of my forefather who sleeps within this tomb that I will wed none but you, Khian. While you live I will be faithful to you, and if you die then swiftly I will follow you, that what we have lost on earth, we may find in the Underworld. If I break this, my oath, then may I become as is he who sleeps beneath my hand to-day,” and she touched the tomb with her fingers. “Aye, may my name be blotted from the roll of Egypt’s royal ones and may Set take my spirit as his slave. Is it enough, O faithless Khian?”
“Enough and more than enough. Oh! how shall I thank you who have given life to my heart? How shall I serve you whom I adore?”