The Guardian (15 page)

“Fucked up beyond al recognition.” His features sobered back into the deadly sincere expression. “Kind

of like you, only worse. I at least had a choice … Chose wrongly, big understatement there, but I did this to

myself. You…” He let out a long bitterly amused breath. “Yeah. You were born screwed … just like Seth.”

Which brought her back to one of many questions she had yet to have answered about her surly jailer.

And this time she might actual y get an answer—Gods love the chatty.

Thank you, Seth, for bringing me here.

“What is Seth, exactly?”

Jaden shrugged. “Like you, a demigod. Only in his case, his mother was human.”

“And his father?”

“The Egyptian god, Set.”

Wel , that explained how he knew ancient cultures so wel . Interesting that he’d neglected to tel her that

himself. Most people would have bragged about having a pedigree that impressive.

But if his father was a major Egyptian god, especial y one as powerful and feared as Set …

“What’s he doing here?”

Jaden’s answer made her blood run cold. “A pack of Katagaria jackals sold him to Noir when he was

thirteen.”

She sucked her breath in sharply. That explained why he’d kil her if he found out what she was. And who

could blame him? There wasn’t a hole in hel deep enough to even begin to make them pay for what they’d

done to him.

Thank the gods, he’d taken her powers from her when he first saw her. Otherwise she would have

transformed to fight him.

And he would have kil ed her for it.

But she stil didn’t understand why he was a slave here. Why would his father have al owed him to be sold

to Noir, of al beings?

If anyone could have saved Seth from this horrific existence, surely it was
his
father. As a god of war,

chaos, and total evil and destruction—which explained so much about Seth’s personality and nature—Set

hadn’t been the kind of god to play around with anyone. He’d been known as the embodiment of total

aggression, another thing Seth shared with his father. So much so that Set had kil ed his own brother,

Osiris, and scattered his remains throughout Egypt.

If that wasn’t bad enough, during an eighty-year war against his nephew Horus, he’d torn out the god’s

eye. Neither Horus nor Osiris were known for their weaknesses by any means. They’d both been strong

gods, too.

Set’s reputation had been one of lethal vindictiveness and the kind of cold brutality that only someone as

sick as Noir could envy.

Even given al of that, she just couldn’t wrap her mind around Set doing this to his own son. Her parents

would have torn down Olympus to protect or save her.

The jackals must have had some nerve to risk Set’s wrath by sel ing Seth. “Why did the jackals do that?”

“For the money Noir offered them. Why else? Greedy stupid bastards. And the sickest part? It real y

wasn’t al that much. Barely more than pocket change and they spent every bit of it in less than a week.”

She felt il over that. Not that the amount mattered, real y. But a low one would have kicked Seth’s esteem

down a lot harder than a fortune. “Why was he with them?”

Jaden let out a tired breath. “You sure you want to go there? Think long and hard before you answer.

’Cause once you start down this path, there’s no turning back. No way to unsee the painted landscape that

comes straight out of the lowest level of Rod Serling’s
Night Gallery
.”

Now there was an analogy. And maybe he was right. Maybe she should turn back before she heard any

more. Because the more she learned about Seth, the more she was drawn to him.

I’m out of my mind.
He would never accept kindness. And yet …

“I want to know.” Actual y, it was more than that. She had to know the truth.

Jaden moved to stand behind her. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he pressed his hands to

her head. Suddenly, she was in another world. Another time and place.

A place bustling with activity. There were old carts being pul ed by donkeys while men and women

dressed skimpily in linen and flax rushed about to do their daily business. Most of the women had on black

wigs with vibrant colored beads woven into them, while the men wore various styles of linen and braided

headdresses. Almost al of them had their eyes rimmed in black and wore more makeup than a runway

model. The higher ranking men had fake braided beards and wore al manner of jewels that sparkled in the

bright sun.

So this was the ancient Egypt Seth had cal ed home …

She saw him as a child around the age of six. There was no chance of missing him. His blue eyes glowed

with innocence and a happiness she wouldn’t have thought possible. His ringlet hair was longer back

then … al the way down to his thin, frail shoulders.

Unlike the other children of that time and place, his hair wasn’t shaved or concealed because of its unique

color that he’d inherited from his grandmother. A slave who had been captured in a far northern land and

brought to Egypt, then freed. A mother she had adored and stil mourned. He shared his eyes with his own

father and his mother considered their celestial color a gift from Set so that she would always remember

their brief time together.

And that hair, along with Seth’s vivid blue eyes, made him stand out from those in the crowd around them

as they walked quickly away from a temple.

His mother had painted his eyes black, very similar to the makeup he wore on his face here in Azmodea.

Around his neck was a thick reed circlet that held the same colors as his swal ow tattoo … and in the same

order. He was dressed in a thin linen wrap that had been belted around his waist. And in his left hand, he

carried a smal carved lion toy.

He was so adorable and sweet that it made Lydia’s eyes mist.

“Mwt?” he breathed, trying to get his mother’s attention. “I can’t keep up. Please slow down.”

She walked even faster.

He ran beside her. “Please, Mwt, you’re hurting me.”

“Shut up,” she snarled at him. “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”

His face stricken, he cuddled his lion as if it might protect him from her wrath. “Did I do something

wrong?”

She jerked him to a stop and slapped him hard, then yanked him forward again. “I said shut up.”

His lips quivered as tears wel ed in his eyes, but he didn’t cry out loud. Instead, silent tears streamed

down his cheeks as he did his best to keep up with his mother’s angry strides that carried them through

town.

He didn’t understand what was going on. First his father had insulted him when they’d gone to make an

offering to the god, and now his mother was being mean, too. While his mother had never been the most

loving of parents, she had never been quite this cruel either.

What did I do?
He was only trying to understand.

Once they made it home, she slung him into the stable, then forced him up on a donkey. She was so

rough with him that his toy slipped from his hand. He reached out for it, but couldn’t reach it where it lay in

the hay since he was so smal . “Mwt? I dropped my toy.”

She hit his arm so hard, she left an angry red handprint there that stung long after she’d walked away. “Do

not speak to me. Do you understand?”

More tears fel as he nodded. He wiped at his nose with the back of his arm while his mother gathered

several strange items and then secured them to the donkey in a satchel she hung behind Seth.

Her black eyes glittered with hatred as she mounted her own donkey, then led him from the stable.

They traveled for miles outside of the town where they lived until they were deep in the desert. The heat

was so oppressive and painful. Seth leaned over the donkey’s neck, trying to keep the sun from blistering

his skin. “I’m so thirsty, Mwt. Please may I have something to drink?”

She ignored his question.

His lips were so chapped and dry, they had started bleeding. Stil his mother refused to take mercy on

him.

It seemed like hours and hours had passed before she final y stopped and dismounted, then pul ed both

Seth and the bag down.

The hot sand went over and through his sandals, blistering his feet and legs. He tried to keep it out, but

nothing worked. Even worse, he was starving. “Mwt, I’m so hungry. Do you have something for me to eat?”

She paused to glare at him. “I have nothing for you, do you understand? Nothing. You disgust me, you

pathetic little dog.”

“What did I do?”

She curled her lip. “You were born.”

“But—”

She slapped him again. This time hard enough to knock him to the ground. Seth screamed in pain. The

sand was as hot as lighted coals. And everywhere he tried to go, he felt more of it.

Ignoring his cries for help, his mother pul ed a large hammer from the bag she’d packed and returned to

his side.

He looked up at her with a blistered angelic face that would have touched the heart of anyone who had

one. His lips were covered with sand and blood while his red cheeks were streaked by his tears. “I’m sorry,

Mwt. Whatever I did to make you angry, I’m so sorry.”

There was no pity or love on his mother’s face as she brought the hammer down over his legs, shattering

his tiny kneecaps.

Seth screamed out in agony as he fel back into the hot, stinging sand again. But she wasn’t finished.

Over and over, she hit his legs, breaking them so that he couldn’t walk and fol ow her home.

Once she was satisfied that he would die here, she dropped the hammer beside him.

Then she looked to the sky over them. “Whore am I, Set, for birthing and suckling
your
repulsive, defective

seed? Take the worthless bastard if you want him. I’m done with both of you.”

And with that, she returned to the donkeys and left him in the sand to die.

Seth tried to crawl after her, but couldn’t go far with his mangled legs. He cal ed out for her to return, and

for his father to help him, until his throat was too sore to make any more noise at al .

Neither of them came for him. Heartbroken and in utter agony, he lay in the sand with the heat of the

desert sun baking his young body until his skin was as red as his hair.

Al he wanted to do was die. But his father hadn’t even given him that much of a gift.

Lydia heaved at the sight of his suffering. How could anyone do that to any innocent child?

How? The sight of him made her retch even harder.

Jaden handed her a bronze pot right before she lost the contents of her stomach.

When she was finished, he handed her a cold rag.

“You know the worst part?” he asked as he got rid of the pot.

Trembling, she placed the cloth at the back of her neck. “There’s something worse than what I just saw?”

“Yeah. The ancient Egyptians worshipped their children. They were notoriously loyal to family. But not

Seth’s. She should have been kil ed for what she did to him. Instead, his father rewarded her for it. After she

left him there, Set had a newfound respect for her and took her in as his mistress.”

Her own tears fel as the image of Seth in the desert haunted her. “Does he know about that?”

“Of course he does. He could even hear them talk about him and mock him when they were alive. The

thing that haunts him most is how they would laugh over his weak, pathetic cries for help.”

So that was why he wouldn’t ask for help. No wonder.

And stil Jaden took no pity on her. “He lay there for weeks, blistered by an unforgiving sun and chewed on

by whatever found him. No food. No water. In pain. Unable to walk or fight.”

Unable to die. She winced as she realized that was when he’d learned that he was immortal. What a way

to find out.

Again, she understood why he’d refused to speak of it.

“After he’d spent a month in the desert, the jackals found him while hunting for food, and took him in to live

in their smal camp. He thought they loved him. At least that was the lie they told him.”

“Until they sold him to Noir.”

Jaden nodded. “When he asked his adoptive father why he was sel ing him, do you know what his father

said?”

She was too afraid to even guess.

“You were never real y one of us. How could we have loved something as pathetic as you? Not even your

own parents wanted you. Why should anyone else?”

She pressed her hand to her lips to keep from sobbing for him. No wonder he’d been so feral when she’d

used that one word. How many times had it been slung in his face and kicked down his throat?

“And you don’t want to know what’s happened to him since the day Noir brought him here, and dumped

him in with his demons.”

No, she didn’t. She’d already seen the physical scars left by that. “So why does he hate
you
?”

Jaden looked away from her, but not before she saw the shame and grief in his eyes. His breathing

intensified as if he was fighting physical pain. “Seth hates
me
because I’m the stupid bastard who showed

Noir how to drain his powers from him and keep him submissive.”

Her jaw went slack as anger knifed her through the heart. How could he have done something like that?

To a boy, no less? And here she’d thought he was decent.

In the end, he was even worse than Noir.