Page 29 of Ra (The Scarab Prophecy #1)
Ra lifted his hand, intending to place it over the scarab, but Azi reached out, stopping him when she took his hand in hers.
“I’ll miss you. So very, very much,” she confessed.
Ra curled his fingers around hers. “I will miss you. But I’ll be here. You can pay me a visit when you have a bit of extra time.”
He gently tried to pull his fingers away, but Azi held onto him.
“I was afraid when you first arrived. Not of you, but of the whole situation. I just knew I’d be caught and prosecuted for defacing the wall of your tomb. And blamed for you taking over the world.”
“Temple,” Ra corrected.
“Temple,” she repeated. “But it didn’t take me long to be glad you were here. I had forgotten just how dazzling our world can be. You reminded me of that with your excitement and enthusiasm for everything you saw.”
Smiling softly he listened to her, glad he’d at least given her good memories.
“You made the simplest of things so much fun,” Azi said.
“It was joyous to simply be alive again. No matter the experience, it was preferable to none at all. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. The memories will keep me sated.”
“May I ask you something?” Azi asked hesitantly.
“Of course. You should know that by now.”
“Was I just an experience? Was it just that I was convenient and willing?Or was it me?”
His smile faded as he turned to her. “You were never a convenience. A gift? Yes. A dream? Absolutely. A memory to carry with me in my heart for all eternity? Forever.”
“You mean that?” she asked, looking tearfully up at him.
“If I had you and all of the women of the world standing together, with all of the goddesses in existence leading you all, and I could choose any one to be my woman, I would always choose you. Only you.”
Azi blinked away the dampness threatening to overrun her lashes as she looked at him. “Then don’t go.”
“But you were right. Whether I told you about the prophecy or not, it was a manipulation, regardless of my intention for it not to be. It’s not fair for me to be here. The damage it’s done to your life and relationships is reprehensible.”
“I love you. I want you at my side. I don’t want to be without you.”
Ra stroked her jaw gently as he looked into her eyes. “Are you sure?”
Azi nodded confidently. “After all the effort everyone other than me put into placing me in your temple at the right point in time, with the right knowledge, and even the right scarab, the very least that all those involved can do is to give me a choice in what I want. I want you, but only if you want me, too.”
“I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you,” Ra admitted.
“Even if you’re only human forever?”
“What if I’m not?” he asked.
“Are you a god again?” she asked, surprised.
“I don’t know. I don’t feel any differently than I did when I first found myself standing here shouting at you to stop damaging the temple. But Neith implied that I might be. I told her I didn’t want it, but Neith does what Neith wants.”
“Do you want to be a god again?”
Ra thought about it. “No. Because my intention is to live beside you, love you endlessly, then follow you into the next life to do it all over again. If I’m a god, I cannot access the next life. I’d have to make a deal with Anubis, and we all know how unlikely that would be.”
Azi laughed. “What I heard is that you want to be with me.”
“That’s all I want. I’m an excellent historian.
If you choose to continue your exploration of ancient civilizations, perhaps I could help.
It’s almost like I lived in ancient civilizations personally,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Or we could just stay home and be sickeningly in love with each other. It’s your choice. ”
“Does that mean you’re staying?” Azi asked.
“Will you promise me forever, and then forever again?” he asked.
“I promise you forever, and then again!” she said excitedly.
“Then I’ll stay. Forever, and forever again!”
“And we’ll have adventures! You need to see everything!”
“So many adventures!” He held her chin gently in his fingers, kissing her, savoring the taste of her lips, the feel of her skin against his.
He opened his eyes after their shared kiss, and watched as she opened her eyes, looking at him with an endless amount of love in her soul. “I love you, dear Azenath.”
She winced just a bit when he used the term he’d gotten from her when she was frustrated with him. “I wasn’t lying when I explained the dear part was more of prayer to my God to help me deal with you. It was not a good thing.”
“Ah, but when I called you ‘dear Azenath’ I meant it as a term of endearment. I prefer to believe that you were doing the same for me.”
Azi laughed. “So, when I rub my eyes and say ‘dear god’ in the future, it’s a good thing?”
“Always! Whatever we do, it is always a good thing.” He slung his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the exit.
He paused at the top of the staircase and took her in his arms as he looked down lovingly at her.
“Thank you, Azi, for seeing me, the man. For guiding me in this life. For loving me, flaws and all. Though, we both know that flaws in my character are completely imaginary — I was, after all, a god. Quite perfect, really,” he said, as he took her hand and led her the rest of the way up the steps.
“Dear god,” she mumbled, shaking her head as she chuckled.
“You see? A good thing, not an exasperation at all,” Ra said joyfully.
Azi laughed wholeheartedly, as they reached the top of the staircase, her hand clasped in his where it now rested on her shoulder. “Perfectly normal. A good thing, no exasperation at all,” she agreed.
“I love you,”Azi said.
“Of course, you do. Because I love you, too,” Ra said.