The unnatural flow made him deviate from course again. Oliver pulled harder on his left shoulder. It worked for a few strokes, then he felt himself drift once more. He twisted his upper body this time and continued to methodically tread water in time with his kicks. His shoulder was starting to ache from the constant correction. Endless pools weren't his favorite but the pool was too short for real laps and he didn't dare leave Chloe to go for a run again. Not after meeting Savage at the Akropolis.

He'd briefly considered giving her the small crossbow and go anyway. He'd discarded the idea almost immediately. She would laugh to his face or point out she'd never used one before or fret because he would be left without a weapon. Probably all of the above.

His deltoid protested more loudly against the strain. Oliver exhaled the last of his air and allowed the flow to carry him to the other end of the basin.

Giving some training to Chloe was a good idea. She had some self-defense skills thanks to Lois' decorated father, and she carried pepper spray in her purse. Neither stopped her from risking her life on an almost weekly basis. At least when she was in Kansas, the Man of Steel was a scream away. But here, where they'd run in a situation neither of them expected, she had only him, and he didn't even have his gear. The mere idea of Chloe at the mercy of Savage turned his stomach.

Oliver pushed himself up and out of the water to seat on the edge of the pool. From here, he could see Chloe engross in whatever she was reading on her screen, curled in her seat. Strands of golden hair kept coming forward, no matter how many times she put them away from her eyes. Her chin rested on her folded knee, her other leg swinging back and forth under the chair. Her foot didn't even touch the ground. Any determined assailant would simply use his superior size to bowl her over. Even Jiu Jitsu had its limits when you were less than half your opponent's weight. She couldn't very well carry a staff or a sword and throwing knives would leave her without a weapon if she missed her shot. A taser would do nicely, all she needed was to point and shoot. Which brought him back to square one: he had to teach her how. A crossbow and a stun gun weren't that different.

His decision made, Oliver stood and walked back into the house to shower, rolling his shoulder back and forth to ease the ache.

The noise woke him up. It was soft, barely a whisper. Fabric rustling again fabric, or the night breeze kissing the curtains. The archer rolled on his stomach to recapture his fleeting slumber. It'd been a long day and tomorrow promised to be even longer. The upcoming celebrations would have him raise at dawn, go to bed late and not alone… He looked forward to that part.

The moving air caressed his skin, bringing with it the scent of honey and delicate bath oils. Soothing. Arousing. He rolled on his back.

"We'll be married tomorrow. You shouldn't be here…"

Her beauty and strength held him in place when she straddled his lap. There was little he could do to stop her. Her knees blocked his arms along his sides while she brushed her fingertips on his face, down his throat and chest while he did his best not to struggle against the demands of his body. "Fair is fair… Be my husband tonight since I am to become your wife tomorrow…"

Oliver shuddered violently. The shower had run cold while he… dreamed? Remembered? What would Chloe say if she knew she haunted his fantasies as an exotic princess from a kingdom long gone? Shivering, Oliver shut down the water and toweled off quickly before he dressed in jeans and a fresh shirt.

His bedroom was hot as a furnace. He closed the terrace door to allow the air conditioning to kick in then ventured toward the living quarter. It was barely six in the evening but the sky was dark with angry clouds.

"Chloe?"

"In the kitchen!"

Oliver found her rummaging through drawers. "I'm looking for matches. We have candles and I found a flash light already."

"Huh…"

"I prefer to be prepared if the power falls? With the storm?"

Storm. Right. He'd better get on with the program quickly. Whiffs of her perfume floated toward him. She'd smelled the same in his dream, something sweet and precious.

"Huh, yeah. Good idea. The weather turned real quick."

Or did it? How much time had he lost in the shower?

"I know! At least my laptop and phone are fully charged. You should make sure yours are too. I don't mind bad weather, I'm from Kansas after all. But I don't like being cut off."

A rumble echoed far away. Oliver scowled at the sound. He didn't like bad weather, period. "Guess we'll see if it holds. I'll put something together for diner while you hunt for supplies."

Her fingers traipsing his arm raised hair all the way up to his neck.

"Is your shoulder bothering you?"

"It's fine. Just a twinge. The endless pool drafts left."

He caught her hand. "I don't need healing Chloe."

Her soft smile reduced his defense to rubble. "Let me…"

Her nimble fingers dug into the muscles through his shirt and he wished he had forgone dressing just to feel her hands on his skin. Her thumb pushed hard on the sore spot while her other hand manipulated his arm around her pressure point. Pain shot through him, blinding, then there was none.

Without thinking, Oliver spun her around and dipped his head to mold her mouth to his. Chloe surrendered to the kiss, parting her lips for him in welcome. She tasted like her favorite creamer and the chocolate she must have indulged in with her coffee. Delicious. He took his time savoring her until they ran out of air. Oliver tucked her hair behind her ear. Chloe blushed and he wanted to kiss her all over again. The stampede in the sky above suggested to postpone.

"How do you feel about candle light dinner?"

"I like it better when it's a choice?"

Oliver released her hips with a laugh. "Not a romantic bone in you, Sidekick. We'll keep all lights blazing then."

He considered the content of the fridge for a minute before taking out fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and eggs.

"Do you want to catch me up? What's in our favorite magpie's nest?"

"I wonder how many bird jokes you can do before you run out."

Oliver minced the peppers and dropped them in the pan along the sliced tomatoes and olive oil. "He started it. Toucan play that game."

Chloe gave him a dirty look.

"Seriously, though. What did you find?"

Chloe sat at the table with her computer. "The most common key-words among all those documents are Egyptian Gods' names. Isis, Horus, Seth, Amon, Ra, Ramon-Re. He also researched antique ceremonial weapons extensively."

Oliver cracked an egg on his sauté, then another. Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "What are you making?"

"An eggs piperade. It's a Basque dish. There's no map with a "dig here" note, then?"

"Afraid not. I've set up a search through the National Library of Congress and the Ramsey Collection databases with the drawings he had, but I'm not holding my breath. If it was that easy, Carter would have found it already."

Thunder cracked above their heads. Oliver glanced up as he spread white and yolk around to cook. "Make sense to look into weapons and gods when you look for something called the dagger of Amon-Re. He didn't tell you what happened exactly, did he?"

"No, but I pieced it together, I think." Chloe typed on her laptop to call a document on screen. From the corner of his eyes, Oliver saw some sort of yellow sheet—a papyrus most probably— with faded Greek letters and glyphs. The translation on the right side looked much more readable.

"Herodotus is most known for his historical records, but apparently, he dipped into lore as well. This text relates his early travel up the Nile to the first cataract. That's where the Aswan Lower Dam is. He wrote about the legend of a cursed price who was killed by a sorcerer."

"Sounds familiar."

"Then Fleet Horus, Bright Son of Egypt, extended his benevolent winds and carried her to his temple," Chloe read.

"Poetic. And cryptic. Hath-Set killed Khufu/Carter and his wife, but their daughter escaped. With the dagger?"

"That's how I read it. It would explain why Savage is interested in me."

Oliver bit the inner side of her cheek. Telling her again how desirable she was, just for herself, wouldn't serve his cause now. "That's assuming he recognized you."

He wanted to know if she dreamed bribes of her past lives like he did. He didn't know how to ask. Oliver grimaced. "I'm not sure I'm buying it."

"Why not?"

"He probably went down that road several times before. And it went nowhere since they are still looking for that dagger. Egypt was pilfered by the Romans, the Arabs, the French, the British, the Germans to name only those. Even if you remember something, it'll probably be useless."

Oliver watched a lightning bolt cut through the darkness outside. An explosion immediately followed. He shut down the stove. "Diner's ready."

He plated the colorful meal and grabbed a jug of water in the fridge. Chloe gave him a small smile in thanks and took a bite. "It's good."

"Thanks. It's nice to cook for someone who appreciates it."

"Contrary to cook for Bart who all but inhales his food?"

"I've given up cooking for Bart a long time ago. It's too much trouble. Easier to call for twenty pizzas."

"Or to send him to Mexico."

"Or that." Oliver grinned back. "Did you give any thoughts to what you want to do for your birthday?"

"My birthday?"

"It's tomorrow."

"Yes, I know that."

"Well then. What would you like?"

Her green eyes scrutinized his face as if she didn't know what to make of his question. "Cake?"

She sounded so earnest he started to laugh. Chloe slapped his forearm lightly. "Don't mock me! Last year I was stuck in the hospital with Jell-O and the year before that I had to buy myself a cupcake because people forgot."

Oliver collected her from her seat to perch her on his lap, diner forgotten. "No hospital and a real cake. I hope I can meet your standards. You're horribly demanding. Next you're going to require the cake to be chocolate."

"Is there any other kind?" Chloe pretended to be horrified at the idea. Her arms looped easily around his neck for balance. It was so natural he wondered how they'd managed to ignore their attraction for so long.

"Well, there's that catering place in Star City. They make a layered wild berries mousse with a passion fruit flavored genoise in between. It's really good."

"We can have that for your birthday. Tomorrow's mine and I want chocolate."

The gates of heaven broke and water poured down from the sky to drown the external world. Oliver pointed with his fork. "See? Demanding."

Chloe pouted and pushed on his chest to get up. Oliver enjoyed her squirming, resettling her firm on his lap every time she came close to freedom.

"Let me go!"

"Nope…"

Chloe struggled even harder almost sending his plate flying. Oliver put her on her feet abruptly. "That's what's not adding up."

"What is not adding up?"

Chloe looked as unhappy now she was free than she'd been a minute earlier. "You're fighter. Always were. All the versions of you Carter mentioned fought for what they wanted, one way or another. And all versions of me were warriors. We wouldn't flee without avenging the ones we lost. This thing about the horus… You wouldn't have refused to go, and fought the god if you had to. It must mean something else. Can you read the full translation out loud?"

Chloe pulled her laptop toward her and reactivated it. "It's not very long. The beginning is fragmented. The first complete sentence reads "And … fell under the blows of the traitorous Seth. More illegible text. Then Fleet Horus, Bright Son of Egypt, extended his benevolent wings and carried her to his temple. The next sentence is missing. It finishes with "to rest in… house of light and stone under the Sky God's watchful eyes."

Oliver straightened up. "Read that again? The full thing."

"And … fell under the blows of the traitorous Seth. Then Fleet Horus, Bright Son of Egypt, extended his benevolent wings and carried her to his temple… to rest in… house of light and stone under the Sky God's watchful eyes."

"Horus Temple."

"What?" Chloe stared, flabbergast.

"It's not poetic or cryptic. It's literal. Someone, I'm betting the Pharaoh, since they called him living horus or something alike, picked up the dagger and decided to store it in the temple of the god Horus for safe keeping."

The light went out.