Page 24 of Sett and his King
"We need to find them. Whoever was here. We need to locate them," I said and before I'd even finished my sentence, Drew scooped up some sand from the ground and put it into a vial he'd retrieved from his pocket.
"Don't worry. I know just the trick."
He winked at me and walked toward the exit leaving me to stare at him. All of him. And try as I might, I couldn't stop from admiring him in his entirety.
He was so…different. All the witches I'd encountered in my life had been so…meek and helpless. They relied on us, their kings, to give them everything they wanted, but Drew?
He acted as if he had all the power in the world and didn't need anyone, not even a god, for anything. And yet, he'd summoned me to help him with Horus. I couldn't blame him. Escaping my brother's grasp was a grueling task. One I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
But Drew needed me and that…rubbedsomethinginside me. My ego or the desire I'd buried along with my husband, I didn't know.
What I did know in that moment was that I'd do anything and everything to please this powerful witch, and that thought alone terrified me.
Drew
"So…how do you plan on finding this eldritch witch?" Sett asked when we came out of the pyramid and we made our way back to the road where the taxi had dropped us off.
“I think I'll keep you in suspense, Your Majesty. You'll find out when we're back home."
"Mysterious. I like it," Sett answered and the way he narrowed his eyes and smirked made my body heat rise by several degrees.
I flagged down a cab that had just dropped off a bunch of tourists and rushed to grab it before anyone else had the same idea. The faster we got into town, the faster we could find the eldritch witch and the scarab they had stolen.
“You know, back in my time, you could have used any door to get back home,” Sett said, relaxing into the backseat as the driver started the hour-long journey back into Cairo. “You could have used the pyramid door for example.”
“That would be convenient. But unfortunately, I need a door with a key. I guess stegi magic has evolved.”
“Magic always does,” Sett said. “It finds a way to adapt."
I glanced at him but he was staring out of the window, out into Saqqara necropolis. I stared at the back of his head, wondering what he was looking for.
Was he remembering way back when he used to walk these hallowed grounds as all the kings of old did?
I couldn’t even imagine what it must feel like to live for thousands of years. To see the world change so much right before your very eyes. Although, I guess Sett hadn’t seen this world change at all.
What must it feel like to be a god and everyone else so fleeting. So mortal.
Would I be like Horus if I were one? Would I see everyone around me as inconsequential and torture people in my name and immense power?
"You…” I started and hesitated. I didn’t know if I wanted to hear the answer but then Sett turned to look at me with big, almost puppy dog eyes, and I couldn’t resist. “You said you know about your brother's appetites. What…what did you mean?"
Sett pursed his lips and took a deep, weighty breath.
“Let's just say I used to be you.”
He used to be me?
“That-that means…he took advantage of his own brother?"
That was disgusting. Perverted. I couldn’t imagine ever laying a finger on Gene, let alone using him in the manner Horus had used me.
Bile burned my throat.
"If there's one thing you should know about my brother," Sett said, "is that he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He doesn't care about these kinds of relations. To be honest, back then, no one really did. It was a different time. But my brother? He likes power and he will assert it over anyone and everyone, no matter what.”
That made us more alike than I cared for and I didn’t care for empathizing with a god. Who knew what kind of trouble that could land me in.
But…
