Julie Gerber isn't thrilled to be pulled out of school her senior year to follow her parents halfway around the world to unearth a lost pyramid. However, when the cute British guy and the mysterious financier of their project both fight for her attention, things start to get interesting.
The pharaoh known as Djedefre was cursed for the murder of his eldest brother. The work of the archaeologists brings new secrets to light, ones that prove the fallen god-king wasn't the villain history had painted him to be. Can they prove his innocence?
As the team digs deeper into the mystery, members of the party vanish or end up dead. Someone is determined to keep the truth hidden at all costs, even 4,500 years later.
True fear unlike any other suddenly gripped Djedefre’s heart. It overshadowed even the horrendous pain and drove him to his knees. At last he realized where they’d taken him for this unfair trial. Djedefre recognized the hieroglyphics etched into the walls and the face on the many sculptures he’d commissioned. Each one of the effigies bore his likeness. This was his tomb, one of the many chambers within the confines of his great pyramid—the place where his body was supposed to rest so his soul could be reborn. Only it was obvious his well-laid plans were about to be upheaved, as well as the magnificent structure he’d spent the whole of his reign creating.
One by one, the priests of Ra seized each of his statues and smashed them against the walls, shattering them to fragments. Other officials chiseled away at his visage on the paintings upon the wall. Each strike was an assault far more painful than the gaping wound on his side, for this was an attack upon his very soul. To destroy his image was the greatest offense that could be done to any man. Every blow erased part of his spirit and robbed him of an afterlife in paradise. Only Khafre cast his eyes away from the destruction of his brother’s sacred burial grounds. The young prince recoiled each time he heard the granite shatter while their sister Hetapheres wailed her grief with her arms outstretched to the heavens, as though begging the gods to intercede. Still no divine aid came for the fallen pharaoh.
“No,” Djedefre pleaded. “No, you cannot do this. Leave me here to die, but leave my soul to the mercy of the gods!”
The priests ignored his pleas and beside him the newly awakened Manetho appeared to have lost what was left of his mind. He cackled at each new strike through bruised and swollen lips while Djedefre and his family wept at the heartless defilement. As if to prove madness had claimed him completely, the lay priest went so far as to use his tongue to lap up the blood pooling upon the limestone floor.
“Djedefre, you are disgraced. Since you are unable to prove your innocence, you are henceforth stripped of the title of Pharaoh.” Djedefre flinched at the new wave of pain that washed over him when the priest yanked the golden ankh from around his neck and discarded it amongst the piles of fragmented effigies. “You have no right to bear the sacred symbols of Egypt. You are no son of Ra. Stone by stone, your pyramid shall be torn to the ground, but your body will remain imprisoned, left here to wallow in the blood you have spilled, trapped between life and death for all eternity.”
“Bound to this earth until all wounds are set right. Forbidden to walk in Ra’s holy light,” the other priests chanted along with their leader. “Soiled blood has sealed your fate, until your heart relinquishes hate.”
“Your name and your tomb will be lost to the world,” the ancient leader intoned even as his subordinates continued to chant. “Henceforth, you will be known only as the Forgotten Pharaoh.”
Laura “Luna” DeLuca lives at the beautiful Jersey shore with her husband and four children. In addition to writing fiction, Laura is also the editor of a popular review blog called New Age Mama. Her works include romantic thrillers, paranormal fiction, contemporary romance, and young adult.
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Laura DeLuca is giving away Egyptian pen, papyrus bookmark, scarab, ankh necklace, pharaoh pin and charms.
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