Reincarnated

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Day 42.

Kiss me.

The words dance around my mind, taunting me with every tantalising footstep and pirouette. I hadn't realised until now how much traction, how much influence those two words had; because right now, they're the only two words running through my mind. He's suddenly taken over my whole mind. He's become my whole world; he's my moon and stars, his presence enveloping me like the warmth of the sun. All of a sudden I couldn't care less about all the things that had ripped such a gaping rift between the two of us, about all the secrets he had kept and how he had kept me in the dark for so long. All I cared about in that moment was him, and his arms wrapped around me, and his eyes brimming with the same emotions I'm feeling, and his face mere inches away from me. In that moment, he's everything.

Ahmose's gaze flickers down to my lips. Something flashes through his eyes. He swallows almost imperceptibly.

And then he steps back, disappearing from in front of me with that one, heart-breaking movement.

A bucket of frigidly-cold water crashes down on me. I blink rapidly in a weak attempt to see past the mask of ice he's donned. "Ahmose?"

He clears his throat, staring me down with a cool expression. His response comes out snappier than I expect. "What?"

I open my mouth to reply, but the question sticks in my throat like taffy. Suddenly, I can't find it in myself to ask the one question that every fibre in my being is begging to ask. I clear my throat, ducking my head as I mumble out another question. "What did Anubis mean when he said you needed to talk to Osiris? What do you need to update him on?"

Ahmose sighs, remorse wavering through him like a ripple through a lake. He looks down. My heart shatters again, this time for an entirely different reason.

I'm going to be lucky if I come out of this all with even the shadow of a functioning heart.

"Ahmose, you just promised me you had told me everything. You just promised me you wouldn't keep anymore secrets." I tell him sharply, my mood flipping like a switch. "The look on your face is not giving me much confidence that you kept that promise."

He grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "There is... one other thing I have neglected to tell you."

"Okay." I fold my arms protectively over my chest. "Why?"

"Honestly?" He asks, and I nod tightly. He sighs again. "I hoped I never would have to tell you. I hoped that once we solved the curse, it would break this as well, and I would never have to tell you the burden we bear."

"What burden?" I ask, my forehead furrowing in bewilderment. "What are you talking about Ahmose?"

He smiles a little, his expression tinged with sadness. "The two of us retaining the ability to wield the powers of Isis and Osiris, it is not just because we are in possession of Nafretiri and my halqa. It is also because we bear part of their ba within us."

My breath catches in my throat. "We what?"

"When they decided to help us, they fused their divine ba with our own in order to allow the two of us to utilise their powers." He says, chuckling a little at the gobsmacked expression on my face. "We are alalihat ealaa al'ard. Gods on earth."

"Holy crap." I gawk at him. "So you're saying that we're... we're partly divine?"

Ahmose grins, his eyes twinkling. "Only partly."