Chapter 18: Truth Behind the Lies

The silence was unbearable, the darkness ever making things worst. The pharaoh's eyes glowered in anger and hurt. Was it that easy to forget about a thing in the past? Seth's eyes, he knew, bore on him yet he continued to avoid them.

"Do you fare well, my pharaoh?" Seth asked, his voice impassive, his hands reaching for the binds behind his cousin's back.

Atemu moved away before the other could even get near him, scurrying away from the one who treated him as one would treat a monarch—distant and unresponsive. "I am fine," he said.

He fought down the urge to chuckle bitterly. Gods, what a fool was he! And to be pharaoh of such a mighty country? A fool like he? He shook his head, what was going on with him? Should he not focus on answering this query for his and his cousin, for their sake?

"You need not send the troops to look for me, my pharaoh," Seth suddenly claimed, his voice less audible that it sounded like a hushed whisper. The priest sighed, "They would have protected you and kept you in the palace."

"And nevertheless, Ranmen would kill them like one would kill a horde of ants with a stomp of his foot. You know better, Seth," Atemu countered, determined never to give the other a chance to know how deeply affected he was with their conversation.

The blue-eyed priest winced at the harshness of the tone, and thanked silently for his wince to remain unseen by the monarch. Pain marred his face until it was strategically hidden in a mask again. "The priests would be earlier warned then, my pharaoh," he answered.

"You cannot undo the past. It did not happen, and I am here. What you and I should be doing is looking for a way to escape and return to the palace," Atemu interrupted, knowing full well the other wanted to speak further.

At that precise moment, silence reigned like second air, and the tri-haired ruler regretted his words. Yet those words weren't enough for Seth to know how pained he was when the other treated their love as if it was unsubstantial, he sought to assure himself.

And with the way he was saying it, it sounded as if he was convincing no one else but himself. By the looks of it, however, he knew he was failing miserably. Atemu sighed.

He thought he could handle his emotions when he would finally see Seth. He thought he could survive ignoring every action and effort the other exerted. His cousin had hurt him, turned his back on that profound emotion they had mutually shared. He fell in-love, and Seth did nothing but played with him.

It hurt, he recalled, and he swallowed thickly, tears inevitably threatening to sting his eyes, and it still hurts, he ended his trail of thought. Angered by the fact that everything was returning to the same line of thinking he wished completely to avoid, he fought down the urge to scream.

"My pharaoh, are you al—" Seth started to ask until Atemu glared at him and he stopped midway.

"You will stop pretending you care, High Priest Seth!"

If Seth was taken aback at the reaction of the pharaoh, he did not show it. All he knew was that his efforts to protect his cousin were proving to be futile. His heart ached terribly as his cousin turned away, knowing the other would be plagued with various thoughts. His longing was excruciatingly painful—to not be able to comfort the other was enough punishment for him but to hurt him like this? Gods, it was like dying a thousand deaths, Seth realized.

Why must things always be complicated?

Moving ever so slowly, Seth tried to reach for the other's binds again, and was not surprised at all when the other tensed and attempted to get away.

"You will need unbound hands when you escape, my pharaoh," he whispered, his words easily heard by the apprehensive king in front of him.

Atemu scurried away for a few meters, hoping the other would just take the hint and leave him alone. But, like all the misfortunes in his life, things resulted in a different way. For when he opened his eyes, he didn't see the smiling face of his friend, Mahado, or the sincere gaze his cousin would always bear him every time he wakes up. All he could see was the darkness that seemed to drive him silently, powerfully crazy with these thoughts a-wander.

"My lord, it would be better if you would escape once you—"

"And I'll leave you alone, right?" Atemu interrupted again.

"Atemu…"

When will Seth realize that he didn't care about the future anymore? What would it take for Seth to accept that it was his fate? To sacrifice for the sake of everyone else? Why can't he understand that?

He was falling in-love with his cousin again, after indignantly proclaiming that he never will. To this man, his cousin whom he treated like a brother, and loved like no one else could, he was to be protected.

Love was an unexplained emotion, mutually shared by lovers, and when Atemu felt his hands break free from his binds, he turned around and slowly backed up to the wall, seeing that emotion in the other's eyes—sincere, apprehensive, determined, and loving all in one.

It pained him much to see his cousin again, Atemu said to himself, "You learned your lesson. Move on," he added. He promised himself he wouldn't fall in-love anymore, no more pain, he promised.

And like all promises, it was eventually broken.

Seth gripped his arms tightly and pulled him in an embrace, his head buried in his pharaoh's nape, embrace fixed as if he was afraid of letting the ruler go.

"I'm sorry, Atemu," he whispered.

The pharaoh shook his head, unwilling to let his resolve break. It was over, unnecessary and permanent, it will never be fixed. He had to move on, he just had to! The more he denied this, however, the stronger the temptation to just let go, he realized.

"Seth, we cannot…" he trailed and simply buried his head in the nape of his cousin's neck.

His cousin held him tenderly, soothing him, vowing never to hurt his pharaoh again. "Hush, dear cousin," he whispered, "I promise I'll never hurt you," he repeated again and again.

The path their love has taken was not an easy one to follow, they knew. Everything seemed to be against them, it would be difficult to reach the end. But Seth realized, after his foolishness and mistakes, that he can never ignore his heart's calling—a rather scoffed cliché at first. And as he made his promise official, he vowed he would stick to it until death.

"Seth…" his cousin whispered in his sleep.

"Shh… I am here, worry not," he said, calming the other.

"Don't leave me… not now…"

"I never will."

Seth hugged his beloved tightly, no more tricks, he told himself. If fate was so determined to make their love miserable, then he would just have to prove that it was entirely wrong. Again.

A/N: Wow, 19 chapters. Only a few more chapters and this story will officially be over. Sometimes it's not easy to admit that you've lost the err… inspiration to write, especially when everything backfires. To those who will read this, thank you. Like any writer out there, it's enlightening for me to read your reviews.