Read The Honey Mummy (Folley & Mallory Adventure Book 3) for Free Online

museum when next you visit. Until then, I remain your friend,
    Cleo
    * * *

December 1889 – The skies over Alexandria, Egypt
    Eleanor surveyed Alexandria from the air with a scowl. It wasn’t that she didn’t find the city beautiful—how could it not be, poised on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea as it was? It gleamed under the brilliant afternoon sun like a tiny pearl she could scoop into her hand. It was rather the idea that Mallory was keeping the newly discovered ring from her.
    They had left Paris behind, but surely not the ring that had been so brazenly left atop her notebooks. She had been given time for a brief sweep of the archive’s known inventory, and had turned up nothing missing. This didn’t completely surprise her. Given that the greater portion of artifacts that remained were unsorted, it was likely the thief had taken something she hadn’t catalogued yet, and this was maddening. After seeing the list of items for auction from Cleo, Eleanor agreed they needed to reach Alexandria—even if they were being led there by the nose. Eleanor took it as no coincidence that the auction catalogue contained potentially royal sarcophagi, or a collection of Egyptian rings.
    Eleanor was certain Mallory had not left the corroded ring in Paris, because this left the mysterious ring unguarded and open to potential mischief. No, Mallory was the kind who thought it best controlled in his own custody. Better than any lock and key, his own pocket was surely where it resided. He had been clever enough to keep her carefully at arm’s distance during the entire journey to Egypt.
    “Wolf,” she murmured, even as she was amused by it.
    He knew her far too well—better than he should have, perhaps, for only having met her two months prior. Still, they had learned a good deal about each other in the ensuing time; she supposed their shared abilities when it came to changing their human shapes into something four-legged gave them a certain simplicity for growing closer. In some ways, it was as if she had always known him, had always understood what he could not share, because these were the same things she could not.
    Now, she pondered Alexandria from the deck of the airship
Jackal
, and could not suppress the excitement that always came with a new mission and a journey to Egypt. Part of her would always be anchored here; Egypt was ever in her blood thanks to her mother. She would not have it any other way and closed her eyes to bask in the warmth of the air, so deeply different from snow-chilled Paris.
    She did not startle when familiar, broad hands slid around her waist from behind. She let her head tip forward a little, so that Mallory could lean in and nuzzle the back of her neck. This he did with such frequency, she had come to expect it, but it had not lost its charm or effect, for her entire body was set on fire by his passing breath. She thought her linen duster would go up in a puff of smoke. She leaned into Mallory and drew his arms fully around her, fingers sliding up his woolen jacket sleeves.
    “Do not even think it,” he murmured.
    Eleanor’s eyes slanted open and she turned to look at him. Oh yes, he knew her entirely too well by this point. “I am certain I do not know what you mean,” she said, but did not move from him arms. She did not flounce away and could neither hide the smile that tipped her mouth up, telling him that she knew quite well what he meant.
    His mouth covered hers in a brief kiss. “Indeed, was your innocence that drew me to you,” he said, and nipped the corner of her mouth before nodding toward Alexandria. “I’ve not been here in years. You?”
    Eleanor leaned back into his hold once more, studying the city from the sky. Alexandria sprawled in a way Cairo did not, a far-reaching crescent against the glittering sea. Atop the lotus-shaped flood basin of the Nile, Alexandria clung to the side like a petal about to be flung into deep waters. Within the sky high above the harbor,