17. Sett
Sett
I jumped up, back in the bed I'd claimed and awakened Drew not too long ago. The sheets were still damp from our combined efforts, my limbs were achy from being a subject of his control, but there was something else. A stinging pain where the blade sliced my neck.
Naturally, there's no scar. That part of the day never happened, but it didn't hurt any less. After all, only seconds before, I’d been holding the paper knife against my throat.
I turned around. Drew was lying next to me, eyes closed, face expressionless and for a second my breath caught and my heart raced. What if it hadn't worked? What if I'd killed him and there was no turning back?
But of course that was nonsense. There was no wound on his neck and no blood in sight. Besides, why would the house save me and not its master?
"Drew?" I grabbed his shoulder and shook him gently, leaning into his lips so I could plant a tender wake-up kiss.
He stirred and only when his eyes blinked open was I able to draw in a breath.
He stared at me for a moment. A smile crept across his face but a moment later he shot up in full panic.
"Wh-what happened?"
He snapped his head around, searching for something, Horus probably, but I put my hand to his back and it didn't take him long to realize he was safe and sound.
"I'm so…confused. What happened? The last thing I remember is walking into his office and you putting the scarab on his chest. Was…was it a dream? Please tell me it was."
He turned to me with almost pleading eyes and my heart broke having to tell him the truth. "So it didn't work. Your sand magic. My power," he said and his voice broke before he'd even finished his sentence. "It doesn't matter how strong I get, what protections I use, I'll always be his, aren't I?"
I huffed and grabbed him by the jaw.
"Listen to me Andreas Matsoukas! You're not his. You'll never be his no matter what. You're your own person no matter what he puts you through."
His gaze wavered and his lips quivered. Whatever confidence he'd gained was all gone, like dust in the wind. And it was all thanks to my brother.
"But no matter what, I'll always go back to him. I'll always be his puppet. I'm the strongest I've ever been and he still controlled me."
I eased my hold on him and sighed.
"My brother is smart and strategic but even he can’t tame your power. It’s not your fault. It’s the scarab. It’s as if…as if it nulled your freeze over him. I don’t know why.”
"But he’s still stronger than me. Even though you freed me from his compulsion he can still take over again. My power is nothing against him.”
I rubbed his cheek with my thumb.
"Your power is stronger than any one of us, Drew. Nothing's changed. Everything I said still applies. You're one of the most powerful creatures in this world. Believe it! This wasn’t your fault."
Drew pulled away from my touch and stared at the wall instead of me. "What good is power if I can't use it to save my brother. Or your son. Goddess. He's got us under his thumb."
I forced him to look back at me and tried to think back thousands of years, when Ra had rescued me. When he had used his kindness and his gentle words to convince me there was a way out of Horus's reign.
I tried to project as much of my late husband as possible. To assume his confidence and his conviction. It was the only way Drew wouldn't lose hope. I knew because I had been him once upon a time. I understood his withdrawal and desperation. I understood him better than he understood himself.
"He thinks he does, but we have an ace up our sleeve too, Drew. He doesn't know we have time in our literal hands. With the house's help we can fail a hundred times and come back stronger every time."
Drew glanced up at the ceiling, the wardrobe to his right. The door to his left, until he settled on my eyes.
"It is a pretty handy trick," he said. "But…I don't know how long it'll last. I don't want to risk it. Risk you."
I smiled at him and brushed his lips with my thumb before kissing him again.
He might be similar to me but he wasn't me. He was thinking of others even when his own life was at stake. He was concerned about a virtual stranger more than his own flesh. And that was how I knew he was worth more in this life than I, or anyone, could give him. He deserved the moon and the stars, and whole galaxies as jewels on his body. He deserved all the magic of the world inked across his skin as if he was its master. He deserved the past, present and future as a cape over his shoulders, a king of it all.
And I'd die if only to make sure he got all that and more.
"We need to prepare. We need to think like him. It is the only way to defeat him."
Drew nodded and pulled away but buried his hands in mine.
"Yes. And we need to start by finding a way to shield myself from his compulsion."
I let go of him and nodded. "I need sand. I can't leave it to the residue lying around the house. I need to have it at my disposal so I can free you as many times as we need until we kill him."
Drew shook his head and rose from the bed. "No. That won't do. That's distracting and would have you more focused on me than beating Horus. We need to find another way."
"I don't know that there is another way. The only thing that was able to stop him before was Ra's sand magic."
Drew bit his lip. "Well, it's a good thing there's a lot more magic around these days, isn't it?"
I frowned.
"I thought you'd tried everything."
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.
Drew turned to me and huffed.
"It's time I paid a real visit to Mother Red Cap," he said.