Page 48 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
"Don't you dare defend him to me. Ever."
Menyara nodded sadly, then looked at Lydia. "The two of you must go. It's why I've healed him. Your enemies won't let you rest. Not until Seth's powers are fully regained."
Lydia frowned. After what Menyara had just done for Seth ... "Can't you give them back?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not the one who has them. They have to leave Noir and return to Seth and there's nothing any of us can do to rush that happening." Taking a step closer to the bed, she reached out, this time intending to touch Seth, but he grabbed her wrist before she could make contact.
"Don't touch me."
Menyara's eyes misted as she dropped her hand. "Noir has already sent out his hounds to find you. It won't take them long to catch your scent here. They will sense it just as I did. I've healed your body, but-"
"You'll forgive me if I don't thank you."
"I will indeed." She stepped back and whispered under her breath.
An instant later, a tall, extremely muscular man appeared by her side. His short hair was dark brown with blond highlights, and there was something about it that reminded Lydia of a lion's mane. His green eyes were a perfect match to Menyara's, making her wonder if they weren't related as well. His skin tone was much closer in color to Seth's.
Dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark blue T-shirt, he stood as if ready to tear someone's, anyone's, head off.
"Maahes," Menyara said sweetly, in a tone that made his name sound like Me-uhs, "this is my nephew, Seth. I want you to watch over him until his powers return."
Maahes brought his right hand up to his left shoulder and bowed his head reverently to her. "I will guard him with my life, my lady."
Seth sneered at them. "I am the High Guardian of Azmodea. The last thing I need is someone watching over me. Trust me, I know how to fight."
Menyara sighed. "That is the same arrogance that cost your father his life."
"I'm not my father."
"No, you're not. But you are my family, even if you deny it. And now that I've found you, I have no intention of seeing you hurt if I can help it." She pulled the necklace from around her neck and kissed it. She held her hand out toward Seth. The necklace vanished from her fingertips, only to reappear around his neck.
He scowled at it before he tried to snatch it off. The chain wouldn't break.
"The kiss of Ra cannot be removed by violence. Only by love. It will protect whoever wears it from any physical harm."
Seth ground his teeth at her words, hating her for them. It was too little, much too late. His aunt Ma'at was one of many gods he despised. "Where was your kindness when I needed it?"
She glanced away, but he didn't miss the guilt in her eyes. She knew he was right. "Sadly it wasn't there for you. And for that I am very sorry. But things change. People change. There aren't many of us left anymore. And I'm tired of losing the people I love. Of burying my family."
Ma'at looked at the god of war who stood next to her ... another relative Seth had no use for and no desire to be near. "Travel with Maahes. If not for your safety, then for Lydia's. He can protect her should, Ra forbid, you fall. And unlike you, he's familiar with this world. He'll know best where and how to hide her from harm."
Seth started to argue, but she was right. He knew exactly what Noir would do to Lydia if he caught up to them. And he was woefully ignorant of the human realm. Everything had changed so much since the last time he'd walked it as a boy. There was absolutely nothing in this room that was familiar. Not even the peculiar bed he lay on.
Reluctantly, he nodded.
His aunt smiled in satisfaction. "May Ra be between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk." And with that, she vanished and left them.
Seth looked down at his undamaged body, amazed by it. Nothing, absolutely nothing hurt. Nothing throbbed. Nothing pinched. It was incredible. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd seen it this way. The last time he'd felt no physical pain whatsoever.
So used to pain as a constant companion, he kept waiting for it to kick in.
But it didn't.
Unable to comprehend why Ma'at would be kind to him now, after all these centuries, he conjured his armor to cover him, then scooted off the bed. Thank the gods he finally had enough power to at least clothe himself.
Lydia stopped him as he started for the door. She pressed her lips together into an adorable smile that did make one part of him hot and aching again. She swept his body with a bemused gaze, but he'd much rather have her sweep it with another part of her body. "Sweetie ... honey ... sugar-pie, you can't walk around like that. There's not a Ren Faire in town. And people will notice."
There she went with her foreign terms again. "A what?"
"Exactly." She put her hands on his chest and his armor turned into a strange short-sleeved black shirt and a pair of very uncomfortable blue pants like Maahes wore.
Holding his arms out, he looked down at it in disgust. "What is this?"
"T-shirt and jeans. It's what modern man wears."
"But I feel naked in it."
"You'll get used to it."
He wasn't sure he wanted to. It offered no protection whatsoever. "Where do I put a sword?"
"You don't," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "That will get you arrested."
He was completely perplexed by her words. "People have no weaponry here? How do they protect themselves from roaming animals and barbarians?"
"We do have weapons, we just don't carry them out into public, and while some of my past dates would lead anyone to believe barbarians are still alive and well, and thriving, the real thing is something of the far distant past."
Maahes laughed at them. "Good gods, boy, how long has it been since you were in the human realm?"
Seth had to think about it for a minute. "When Neferkare was pharaoh."
Maahes arched a brow. "Which Neferkare?"
"There was more than one?"
Maahes snorted, then laughed. "Damn ... you're old. Not compared to me, but ... you are definitely long in the tooth, and setting you loose in the current world after all this time should be entertaining as hell." He laughed until he coughed.
