Page 47 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Chapter 15
A golden mist shimmered in the air like beams of sunlight first thing in the morning, then slowly turned into a beautiful, tiny woman. Her cafe au lait skin glowed and accentuated the greenness of her almond-shaped eyes. Her dark brown sisterlocks were pulled back from her face and held with a leopard-print scarf that matched her long skirt.
Lydia was stunned by the elegance of the woman who was so beautiful, it was hard to look at her.
Making a sound of total disgust, Carson relaxed and dropped the scalpel back onto the tray. "Menyara, you scared the shit out of us with that over-the-top entrance. What are you doing here?"
At first, she didn't seem to hear him. She stared at Seth as if she were looking at the ghost of a loved one.
Taking her cue from Carson, Lydia stood down as well. Obviously Menyara was a known entity here.
When Menyara finally spoke, her voice was incredibly deep and powerful for her dainty size. "I felt the blood call of one I thought was long dead. I couldn't believe he was here, in this realm, after so long." She approached the bed almost reverently so that she could stare down at Seth and study his pale features. "But he's not the one I feel." She reached out and traced the line of his swallow tattoo. "Still ... they are very similar and yet so different. I don't understand how this is."
Lydia started to speak, but Carson motioned her to silence. "She is Ma'at," he whispered. "The Egyptian goddess of justice."
Menyara turned Seth's face toward her, then frowned as she smoothed down his left eyebrow. "Where did he come from?"
"He serves Noir," Carson answered.
"Is he a demon, then?"
Lydia cleared her throat, testing to see if Carson would let her answer yet.
He nodded at her to continue.
"He's not a demon. He's an Egyptian demigod. Noir bought him when he was a boy, just coming into his powers, and enslaved him."
Menyara winced as if the mere thought caused her pain. "His mother was human?"
"Yes."
"His father?"
By the way she asked the question, Lydia could tell Menyara knew the answer, but wanted it confirmed before she spoke it out loud. It was almost as if she feared by saying it first, it would somehow make it true even if it wasn't.
Lydia licked her lips before she answered. "Set."
Menyara spoke rapidly under her breath in a language Lydia had never heard before. But it sounded like she was cursing someone. She hoped it was Set and not Seth.
After a few seconds of her anger, she calmed down, then closed her eyes and hovered her hand over Seth's heart.
Seth's eyes immediately flew open as he sucked his breath in sharply and arched his back. It was as if someone had a hook in his chest and was trying to lift him from the bed. He panted in pain as every muscle in his body tensed and bulged.
"Stop it!" Lydia snarled. "You're hurting him." She rushed for Menyara, but Carson caught her.
Still, Menyara chanted in that lyrical language, not caring how much agony she caused Seth.
He groaned and cursed as if he were being tortured all over again.
Shrieking at them, Lydia wanted to stop her, but Carson wouldn't let her. "Damn you, let me go!" She tried using her powers on both of them, but somehow they deflected them, making her feel weaker than she ever had before.
How could she not be able to stop this? How could they hurt him more? Couldn't the goddess see he'd been through enough already?
Suddenly, light streaked out of Seth's wounds. One by one, they began knitting themselves closed. The bruises and cuts on his face and hands slowly faded.
Lydia froze as she watched it.
When the last one was healed, he fell back flat on the bed where he lay panting. At first, he stared up at the ceiling as if waiting to feel pain again. Then he turned his head toward her and she saw the relief that filled his beautiful blue eyes. Eyes that were no longer haunted by his battle with physical pain.
It was the first time she'd seen him without any injuries or marks. Only the tattoo showed on him now.
She smiled in amazement. While she'd known he was unbelievably handsome, she'd never quite imagined the exact beauty he would hold once he was whole.
Now ...
He was stunning. His coloring so unusual and exotic. And those curls ... They made him irresistible.
"You need a shave, hon," she teased, walking over to him so that she could playfully scrape her fingers against the auburn whiskers that darkened his cheeks. Even they didn't mar his looks. They only made him appear more rugged.
More masculine.
And if they were alone right now, she'd be nibbling her way down that angular jawline until she tongue-bathed him all over.
"What happened?" he asked in a low whisper as he reached up to finger his lips and eye that had been so damaged by Noir's cruelty. "Why don't I hurt anymore? Where did it all go?"
Those words brought home the fact that this was probably the only time since Noir had bought him that he hadn't been in excruciating agony.
Lydia indicated Menyara with a tilt of her head. "She healed you."
Frowning, he turned his head. The moment he focused on Menyara's features, he curled his lips in disgust.
Whoa ... that was not the reaction she'd expected. By the look on Menyara's face, it was evident she was expecting something a little kinder too.
"What are you doing here?" he growled at her.
Menyara's gaze turned dark with sadness. "Shh, child," she said soothingly. "I won't hurt you."
His cold expression showed every bit of his denial. "Your presence here offends me."
Menyara winced. She reached out to touch him, then stopped herself as if she feared how he might react to it. "What was done to you by your father was so wrong, and for that I apologize even though I know no amount of apology will ever take away the pain of what he did. I weep for that, too. But I am not my brother and I would never deny my kin."
The pain and accusation in his eyes was tangible. "You didn't come when I called for you and I screamed for all to have mercy on me until my throat bled."
"I didn't hear you, or I would have come."
"I don't believe you. You are a goddess. One of order and justice. When I called for you, your silence judged me unworthy, and you left me to suffer unspeakable horrors."
Lydia wasn't sure if she believed Ma'at either. But either way, it didn't matter. No apology or anything else would ever be able to undo the hell they'd all damned him to.
Menyara swallowed as if she heard Lydia's thoughts. "You look so much like my brother." She held her hand out toward his face as if she imagined she was cupping his cheek. But she didn't make contact with him. "It's been so very long since I last saw his face. In spite of what you think, Set wasn't always bad or evil and I did not judge you. While your father was born of darkness, he also fought against it every night by our father's side, making sure that Ra would rise and drive the evil back for another day ... Like you with Noir ... You have the better part of his nature."
