“Or that,” I said with a chuckle.
He didn’t seem amused.
“So you can stop time?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, I can stop time as long as I hold my breath. Ironic, isn't it? That I'm asthmatic."
Sett shrugged. “Or maybe it's nature's way of saying maybe you shouldn't have all that power for yourself."
I laughed.
“If nature was funny like that, it wouldn’t have given Horus all that power without a drawback.
“Nature’s a bitch,” he said without pause.
“It is,” I said, biting back a laugh. He was so cute. So different from his brother. "If it weren't for you I might have died."
I took a step toward him and took his hands in mine.
"I wouldn't have let you die,” he grumbled.
His voice reverberated through me like a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm that roused my body from slumber and illuminated the darkest parts of my soul.
His breath on my face made my skin tingle and my body alight.
“I…I don't know how to thank you," I whispered and made my move.
Fuck it.
He had saved me from death. He’d agreed to help me find this scarab and he was hot as sin. I couldn’t resist him any longer.
I searched for his lips with mine but he leaned away, stepping back, before I could show him my gratitude.
"Oh!" I gasped. "I'm sorry. I…I don't know why I did that. I thought you liked me but I guess I read the signs wrong?—”
"No, that's not it,” he said.
“It's okay. I understand I…not everyone likes men. Especially dirty men like me. Horus ruined me for everyone, I guess. Of course you wouldn't want someone like me."
I didn’t know what hurt my pride more.
That the one man I’d been genuinely interested in didn’t want me back or the fact that the one time I’d taken some of my own initiative it had backfired like that.
I thought I was worth more as a man. But Horus had taken that from me too. He’d taken so much from me.
My dignity. My honor. My self-esteem. My confidence.
I hadn’t been anyone but Horus’s for three years. I hadn’t been allowed to be free. To be my own man but for some reason I thought I could escape his grasp with Sett.
I was clearly wrong.
Even when he couldn’t control me, he was still here, haunting my every move.
Would I ever be my own man again? Or had Horus stolen that from me for life whether I destroyed him or not?
Sett
