EPILOGUE
-Set-
A couple of days later
Home sweet fucking home. For a while there, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this place again. Or Eight-Ball, who immediately comes rubbing against my feet, the moment I step into the penthouse.
Serena is still mad at me because Draco just had to mention the ass shape we left on his window as we were leaving. And how he’s now stuck explaining to the maid another eccentricity that went on in his house.
Not that I care. All I care about is the memory we created. And that was some memory. I’m actually planning a repeat the first chance I get.
There’s also something else I need to do as soon as I get the chance.
I might be facing eternity, but lately life’s been moving on fast-forward.
I love the thrill—not the getting shot part.
But all the rest. Still, I feel something’s been off with Serena ever since L.A.
, and I have an idea of what that might be.
I give it a few days to let her cool off before I make my move.
I’ve got my own ways of calming her down, which always work.
Besides, I need the time to set things up at the hotel because we’re going on another trip.
This time, one that I planned. I want to show Serena a piece of my past I rarely let anyone see—the place I love most in this world.
I have her pack for a week, and we take the jet for a whole day flight. Though the time doesn’t seem to pass with so much difficulty, especially since I make her join the Mile High club.
Several times.
The look on her face when the flight attendant knocked while her legs were still shaking was priceless.
I didn’t tell her where we were going or why we were flying across the world, but as soon as we got close to the Cairo airport, she figured out where I was taking her. To see the pyramids—the place where I became Set, God of Chaos.
A car takes us to my property. I’ve got a few more properties across the world, even if most of my business is rooted in Vegas these days. But Egypt could make no exception. I’ve had this house ever since Cairo’s birth in 600 AD, and did my best to keep it exactly as it was the day it was built.
The Byzantine elegant mudbrick walls feature intricate geometric carvings, while arched courtyards spill over with date palms and jasmine. Inside, cool marble floors lead to long halls lit by narrow windows and bronze lanterns.
A central fountain echoes through quiet chambers where silk drapes and carved wooden screens shield my private world from the city’s pulse beyond. Its sandstone walls are etched with sacred hieroglyphs and guarded by towering statues of Horus and Anubis.
Golden columns glint beneath the sun, framing a large courtyard with a lotus-filled pool, while inside, stretch cool alabaster floors.
I own more antiques than the Cairo museum. Not that anyone knows about them. The people taking care of the property are very discreet and very well-paid to stay that way.
Serena’s eyes light up with every new arcade, every echoing corner, and every new room she explores feels like a treasure chest. She can feel the magic of the place, and it’s surprisingly nice sharing it with someone else, basking in each of her reactions.
The way her fingers brush the carvings, the awe in her voice as she discovers pieces of my past—it makes this place feel complete for the first time. It makes me feel complete.
I’ve never brought anyone else here except for my family. Now, she’s also my family, even if I’m yet to take the necessary steps to make things official—at least my version of it.
In fact, that’s why I brought her here today.
“Wow, this looks like the palace from Aladdin,” she chuckles in awe, her eyes sweeping across the walls, unable to stop admiring the architecture and taking it all in.
“Just wait till we get to the top,” I guide her up the stairs to the second floor, which has a direct view of the pyramids.
Fuck, how I’ve missed this place.
My staff has already set up drinks and food there. Something like an indoor picnic. Not that I’m good at this kind of thing. But I think I could become good at anything for her.
“Set, this is amazing,” she utters, running toward the open balcony.
Actually, the whole floor is open, and they only bring furniture here when I come around.
Not that we need a lot of furniture. Just a few low tables stacked with Egyptian delicacies, layered rugs, and enough pillows to make the whole place feel half sacred, half indecent.
Just the way I like it.
We have dinner right there on the floor, and after we watch the light show dance across the pyramids. They’re a little too touristy and theatrical for my taste. But not even that can make me love it any less.
Serena settles into my arms—the only place where she belongs—taking in the view.
“After I’m done with Vegas, maybe we could stay here for a while. I could talk to my father about assigning me to Cairo if it’s available.” No one can stay in a place forever. People would get suspicious, and I haven’t been in Egypt for a long while.
“It’ll be a while before you’ll be done with Vegas,” she says from between my arms, her head resting back on my chest. “I just hope I’ll still be around when that happens.”
“Didn’t realize you were going somewhere, again.” I mutter, making sure she remembers her mistake. It’s in my nature to do that, and it’s not something I’ve let slide yet. She’s got a lot of making up to do before I even think about it.
“No, not going anywhere,” she trails off, confirming my suspicions. The reason she’s been acting so strangely lately is so simple and so complicated. Immortality.
“Ya’amar,” I whisper, and I feel her jolt in my arms. It’s the first time I’ve called her that, since she ran off to Italy. “I feel you’ve been avoiding a specific question. And it’s time you ask it.”
She suddenly turns to face me, pain reflected in her beautiful blue eyes.
“What exactly do you imagine is going to happen to us?” I ask, thrown off that she’d ever think I wouldn’t go to hell and back just to keep her to be mine for eternity.
Because that’s exactly what I’ll do if necessary.
“You’re going to… stay the same… watch me grow old and…” She doesn’t continue because the words are too painful. Not the thought of death, but the thought of being without me. Which, somehow, only makes me laugh.
“If that’s what’s eating you, why didn’t you just say something before now?” I ask, my tone unreadable, not revealing my intentions just yet.
“Would you have let me go if I did?” She shoots back, pissing the hell out of me.
“I won’t let you go,” I growl. “Not in this life, not in the next. Not even if the end of time comes. We’ll be together beyond that.” I make a promise that not even the devil himself could make me break.
She lays her head against my chest like she’s humoring me—like I’m fucking hallucinating or something.
“Ya’amar,” I murmur, brushing my hand through her hair, “I’m not promising to sit beside you as you wither away. I can’t have that.”
She lifts her head to look at me.
“You see, gods don’t usually get married,” I say, watching her closely.
“But we can choose a partner to spend eternity with, even if that partner is mortal. Because what I’m promising you is.
.. immortality.” I pause, taking in the shock in her eyes.
Her expression is priceless. “I just need my father’s approval.
He’s the only one who can make that happen.
And I don’t doubt he will. We just have to wait a little because it can happen only once a year. The last night of October.”
“Halloween,” she breathes, stunned, trying to piece things together.
“Yeah, it’s a night of liminality, the edge of something mystic, something usually forbidden to mortals.
It’s called the final night of mortality, the final moment of hesitation before crossing into something irrevocable.
That’s when most people celebrate my Father.
A moment when time feels suspended, when the world holds its breath, worshiping the true powers that rule this earth.
More attention is focused on him on that night, more reverence, more power.
” She’s still, staring at me like I just peeled back reality for her once again.
“It’s not just a publicity stunt. This thing is real, has something to do with focused energies, to the way belief changes the world.
And trust me, he’s a lot more popular these days than he used to be. ”
“I thought…” she breathes, relief thick in her voice.
“That you’re finally getting rid of me at some point?
” I arch a brow. “Not a chance,” I say, right as her arms wrap around my neck and she jumps up for a kiss, her body lifting into mine like she’s done waiting—the union of lips that seals our eternity.
It’s not gentle. It’s not sweet. It’s desperate and deep, like she’s staking a claim—and offering one.
I catch her without thinking, my hands grabbing her like she might vanish if I let go. I don’t ever want to let go. I just kiss her there, the moon watching above us, pyramids glowing in the distance like ancient sentinels, quietly bearing witness to our forever.
Because forever starts here.
“What about... what about kids?” she says, her lips still merging with mine, like she won’t ever let go.
“As I said before, I’ll have to get Father‘s approval. Creating new entities has to be somehow... controlled. But it won’t be a problem.
Not too many, though, we don’t want to spark an apocalypse.
” I feel her kissing me even fiercely. I never thought I wanted kids before.
But I want anything she’ll give me. And if that means one day some little troublemaker is gonna run around ruining my life, then so be it.
I just want to wait for a while and enjoy a very extended honeymoon. Give it a few centuries or so.