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The charms he wore to make him appear human had made the ichor in his wound look like blood, so she had no clue that she was washing the wounds of a god.
Oh God, he saw my underwear, she thought randomly and started laughing. "I'm sorry, it's a stress response," she blabbered, but she couldn't stop. "Set, I'm sorry...oh, fuck. The Set. You're—" She didn't get to finish as he took her face in his hands and kissed her.
When I seduce you, I'll become the only type you ever want." "You mean if you manage to seduce me," Ayla corrected. "When," Set reiterated. That one kiss was enough to make seduction a certainty. It didn't matter that she was Kader's daughter. That most of Egypt would be trying to kill her for a bounty. The doctor made the ichor in his veins burn, and he would find out exactly why.
"So you didn't seduce Horus and eat a salad covered in his semen?" Ayla asked. It was the one part of the story that always had Ayla cringing. Set opened a large golden eye. "Have you tasted semen recently? It's not exactly something you would mistake for a salad dressing and keep eating."
"Grief is like love. It is different for everyone. There used to be rituals in place to help not only the dead, but the living. Grieving was given its proper respect. Now everyone seems to think you should start getting over it as soon as they are buried. It's not how it works. It's okay for you to be angry."
He wanted whatever I had. That included Nephthys. It didn't matter that I loved her, that she was the one to soothe the storm in me and keep me balanced. He wanted her, and that was it."
"Stay with me," he whispered, almost pleading, and she didn't know if he was talking about that night or forever. It didn't matter. Ayla's hands tightened on his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere."
Can I ask who the woman is?" Fuck. "Which one?" he asked, feigning innocence. "The fancy one." Double fuck. Set cleared his throat. Angry voices shouting at him for centuries ago filled his mind. "That is Nephthys."
It took a good fifteen minutes of rummaging through his desk for Set to find the thick white business card embossed with the head of a woman wearing a helm. On the back was a single line of numbers.
"I do belong to you," Ayla interrupted. There was a long, tense moment when her heart stopped beating. Then Set leaned over her, his dark hair curtaining around them. "You do, and I'm glad you know it, malikati," he whispered. My Queen.
"I did find a purpose again, and they came into my house, hurt my people, and stole my queen. I'll kill all of them for this," he snarled, his voice changing to the timbre of a vengeful god.
"May I introduce the God of War." Ayla caught the burning eyes of the god in front of the cell bars. "And the keeper of my heart." "Ayla, my queen," Set growled through blood-stained lips. "You took your time, beloved," she replied, knees weak with relief.
Where are your bodies?" "Cairo prison, in the cell of a man named Kader Ayad," Set said. "Kader fucking Ayad has your bodies?" Thoth pinched the bridge of his nose and hissed through his clenched teeth. "You are going to owe me, just… so… fucking… much."
"Your Ka's are—" he interlaced his fingers. "Tangled. It could mean that Ayla is now an unconfirmed, brand new immortal. You're effectively sharing your godhood with her.
"Good boy," Tahirah said. She leaned back against the stone, staring at the stars. "Stay a while, there's only the night and the dead out here, and both make good company." Trapped inside the jackal, the god Anubis sat with the woman, looked up at the stars, and could only agree.
Staring at the jewel-encrusted book in her hands, it no longer felt like a game. It felt like a ticket to her freedom.
"A woman, dressed like a bride. Plain, but with a pretty smile." The owner lifted a quizzical brow. "Sounds like she's not interested in getting married today." "She's only a little nervous. She's young and has been brought up in a convent. She loves her intended very much." Kema shook her head, eyes wide and pleading at the stranger to not give her up. Pissed-off annoyance flashed in his bronze gaze before it vanished. "Well, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for her, but I can assure you, she's not in here," he said, moving around the counter and out of sight. "Let me show you and your friends
...more
In the years since, Kema had sold the book eleven times, tossed it into the ocean thirty-two times, burned it to ashes eighteen times, and every morning she woke, the book was back.
The third thing was that when she had drawn a set of cards using the illustrations from the book as guides, the cards gave spookily accurate and not always nice readings to her customers.
That fucking thief. Thoth had cursed the damn bride every day since he realized she had stolen from him. He had done his first good deed in centuries by not turning her in, and how did she repay him? By stealing his damn journal.
"But you saved her?" Set asked. "Only because she's got my book!" Thoth had every intention of annihilating her as soon as he got her into his house, and then she had used those big brown eyes on him again, and he couldn't do it to her.
"You put your mark on her, Thoth. You want to be able to find her wherever she goes and know when she's in trouble. The Thoth I know wouldn't do that unless he had good reasons to," Set threw back at him.
The truth was, he didn't know what compelled him to brand Kema with his cartouche. He knew he didn't want to lose her again, or his book, for another decade. He could've handled twenty supernatural creatures, and with her deck of cards destroyed, there was no way she could summon more.
The golden spine of The Hermetica shone out to her and reminded her how she had gone over and over it, trying to find something that would link to the other book, to real magic. It was meant to be the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the combined version of Hermes and Thoth that the Greeks and Egyptians alike revered.
Thoth went hot and then cold as a strange new panic rattled through him. He had to get her out of there. "Come on, woman, you can't die on me now," he told her, scooping her up in his arms.
He carefully wiped some muck off her flushed cheek and took a leaf out of her black curls. "Don't worry, little sorceress, I'm not going to let you die just yet," he whispered softly. "I like fighting with you too much." And after he'd said it, he realized it was true. She argued back instead of backing down, and he liked that too.
Why had this woman come into his life again? Why had his book refused to leave her no matter how many times she threw it away or destroyed it? Something tugged deep in his chest the longer he stared at her. Thoth frowned. This thief was a riddle, a puzzle, and Thoth hated a mystery he couldn't solve.
Kema shrugged. "I suppose you know best, Set." "Set knows best," Thoth muttered under his breath. "Ask Hermes for help. And you wonder why I don't want her for an apprentice."
"It doesn't matter. It's gone now. You got what you wanted, and that's all that matters, right?" Kema bit down her temper and tried to open the door. It didn't budge. "Let me out." "I'm…sorry," Thoth said through clenched teeth. Kema stopped struggling with the door. "You are?" "Yes. I didn't want you to get hurt." Magic fizzed in the air between them, and Thoth held out a pack of cards. "Here. You won't cause an ifrit to burn down the city with these."
Thoth laughed, and the night around them seemed to still just to listen to the sound.
but what if I end up hurting people because I don't know how to use the magic I have?" she replied. "I would stop you." "You can't watch over me all the time." "Can't I?" he said softly. Kema didn't dare look at him. She didn't know what to make of the warmth that sparked in her stomach either.
"People without ambition are boring. That you are curious as well is what makes you dangerous," Thoth replied. "Here I thought it was my devastating smile," Kema said. Thoth shook his head at her antics. "That too." Kema's devastating smile spread across her face at his small confession, and Thoth grinned back.
"What? Why are you staring at me?" "I just…" Thoth began and then stopped. I just want to kiss you all of a sudden. Kema saved him from that embarrassment by turning back to the book.
He didn't want to tell her that he had no old friends, and he had nothing worth offering a new lover. He had always been better off alone and always would be.
"How?" Thoth demanded. "I have a good memory, especially for things that interest me." "But you don't even know what they mean!" Kema offered him the charcoal back. "Do I need to?" Thoth suddenly knew why he had such difficulties with her and the cards she created. "You are wielding magic you have no understanding of and are doing it just because you know it works. You have no sense of self preservation." "If only there was someone out there that could teach me," Kema said mockingly.
Thoth knew she would make a good student, but still wouldn't take her as an apprentice. That sort of arrangement came with too many rules, and he didn't want any when it came to her.
Thoth sat up slowly, lifting a shaking Kema with him. "What happened? Is that blood?" He lifted her chin, and his eyes darkened. Her right eye was swelling up, and blood was leaking from her mouth. "Who the fuck did this?"
"Thoth, be careful. I told you, Ibrahim isn't someone that takes kindly to losing," Keema said, worry clenching inside of her. Thoth smiled unpleasantly. "He's about to learn not to touch things that don't belong to him."
Thoth hadn't felt truly angry in centuries. It had taken strong Kema crying in his arms to set his rage ablaze. Now he was after blood.
"I'm going to tell him in terms he will understand that if he ever comes near Kema again, I'll rip out his spine," Thoth replied. Set barely batted an eye. "Maybe you should ask yourself why you're having such a strong reaction to this first?" "Because she is mine, Set. She bears my mark. She has my favor and protection. He thought he could just buy her when she was only fifteen years old. I wouldn't let him have her then, and I won't let him have her now."
"But I love her! You know her. You could convince her to come home to me," Ibrahim began. Thoth grabbed him around the throat, the asp from his tattoo pulling free to hiss close to the frightened man's eye. "She will never be yours," Thoth snarled in his face, his god aspect tearing loose. He lifted his fist to hit him when Set caught his arm.
Kema almost told him to put on a robe or a shirt so she could concentrate, but she decided she deserved nice things after her night of almost being forced back into matrimony.
Who's the girl? Your apprentice?" "Absolutely not," Thoth snapped. Hermes infuriating grin was back. "No, you know better than to take an apprentice you want to fuck." "Don't be lewd. It isn't like that." "How flustered you're getting tells me that you want it to be."
"You poor thing getting caught up in Zeus's bullshit," Thoth said sympathetically. "You know, we never would have tolerated a tyrant like that in Egypt." "Only because Set killed yours," Hermes pointed out. Set's smile was particularly vicious. "Osiris had it coming."
He didn't want to know whose bloodline Kema belonged to because if that god was still living, they would have a claim on her, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Finally, Hermes let out a surprised laugh and looked at Kema. "Well, what do you know, sweetheart? You're one of mine."
"You have his blood, which means you belong to him and can never belong to anyone else!" Thoth exploded. "He's always going to have first claim on you, and I don't share with anyone. Especially not with fucking Hermes Trismegistus."
"I surrender. Thoth helps," Hermes replied, hands going up. He winked at Thoth. "You big softie." "Fuck off, Hermes."
"It's because I was born invisible, and I found there's power in being unnoticed. But you have always seen me, even when I was worth nothing more than a bride price, and you're the only person I've met that I want to be seen by."
Do you think she likes you back?" Well, she put my cock in her mouth last night and sucked me dry, does that count? Thoth cleared his throat. "I have solid evidence that supports that she may be in favor of courtship."
