Page 68 of Sett and his King
He shook his head. "I tried everything he wanted me to try. I don't know if any of those methods were truly futile. I'm not under his rule now and I've got access to you and all of witchcraft. There must be a way. And I think I know where to start."
I watched him put his clothes back on, different to the ones he'd worn earlier, when we'd gone after Horus. He gave me another pair of pants and a shirt and I stared at him while I put them on.
"What? I'm trying to change our luck," he said.
"You know it's got nothing to do with our clothes, right?"
He shrugged. "It doesn't hurt, does it?"
I couldn't argue with that. There was magic in luck, however miniscule. There was no harm in attracting more of it in however small a way.
We came out of the bedroom and Drew got down on his knees at the living room and dug through the sand until he found the scarab.
He started to put it into his pocket when I spoke.
"Maybe we should leave it here. We know it's safe in the house and it won't fall into dangerous hands."
Drew pursed his lips. "You don't trust I won't give it to him again, do you?" he asked.
"No. No that's not it at all."
I walked across the room and held his hands in mine with fire in my eyes.
"Don't say that. You know I was in your place before. I know what it's like for my brother to control you and make you do things you don't want to do. It's not you I don't trust. It's him. We don't know what he might try and I don't want to have to kill us both again in order to reset the time."
Drew rubbed his neck where I'd sliced it before, and chewed the inside of his lip.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm such a mess. I don't know why I take everything so personally."
I pulled him into my arms and immediately knew how much I missed holding him, which was ludicrous considering we'd only just been together. My body was drawn to him like a magnet even if for a just a caress, a tender kiss, a meaningful glance into his eyes. Any part of him could ignite me and my soul. Reinvigorate me and give me the strength I needed to fight one more moment, one more time.
I brushed his hair back and grabbed his face with both hands. "It's not you. It's him. It's all him. He's been breaking you down one day at a time for the last three years. He's been planting doubt, mistrust and insecurity trying to break your spirit. That's what all master manipulators do whether they have the power of compulsion or not. He wants you to feel like a mess. He wants you to think no one trusts you. He wants you to be alone so that you'll crawl back to him no matter what because only with him you'll feel alive and meaningful again.
"Don't believe him. Don't believe that voice in your head. It's his. Don't let him control you. Don't let him do that to you."
His eyes glimmered as tears formed and fell down his cheeks, but I caught them and wiped them away, as if they never existed.
"I want to. I want that more than anything. To be free of him. But I don't know how."
I pulled him onto me. Into my arms. I wanted him to know he was safe with me. That no matter what, I'd save him. I'd make his wish come true even if it killed me.
I kissed his forehead and he nuzzled against me, the warmth of his body, his magic, spreading through to all my limbs. My heart pounded in my chest. My guts twisted from his pain and the need to make things right.
I couldn't believe I'd spent so long denying myself all this. Denying myself human touch. Human affection. It was as if I'd died with Ra and only now, after several millennia, had I come back to life.
"Come on," I said after moments that felt like centuries in his arms. "Let's go and try to find a way to sever his connection to you."
I let go of him and he placed the scarab in a glass bowl on a shelf behind him.
“Should we start at the library?” I gestured toward the first entryway that took shape in front of me leading right into the home office.
Drew shook his head. “If there was a book in this house I would have found it. We…we need to look further,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?"
Drew turned on his heel, grabbed my hand, and led me through the house to the front door.
It opened in Camden.
