No.
True desire was the trembling he felt in his limbs when he looked at her, the need to absorb her completely into himself. To fashion a world where only the two of them existed, one where they could step into their proper places as king and queen of the cosmos and have all others kneel at their feet and worship them. That’s what he envisioned when he looked at Isis. There was no one else worthy of him.
Especially now that he had finally come into his own power. Despite all the exhaustion, anxiety, and fear that had crippled him because it had taken so long to appear, Seth realized that it had all been worth it. For his ability was the most terrible and fantastic of all—he had the power to unmake.
It was evidenced in the form of the writhing woman on the ground. Seth had been annoyed by her frantic wailing. He had set fire to the woman’s field of wheat, mostly because he knew Osiris had visited within the last year, haranguing everyone about the need to cultivate and grow their own food.
Seeing the ripe evidence of Osiris’s sad, pathetic, and, in his opinion, pointless little abilities with plants had angered him, so he decided to burn the field. Perhaps it was out of pettiness, perhaps jealousy. Either way, it would hurt Amun-Ra’s favorite golden boy. Also it pleased him to watch all the fleeing animals as they attempted to escape the smoke and flame. Seth liked knowing these sub-creatures feared him and his power. And using his newfound ability to thwart his brother’s made him feel right, superior.
Then the woman appeared. She ran from her cottage and fell at Seth’s feet, wrapping her thick arms around his legs. Her round face was red and splotchy as she begged him for mercy, asking the “powerful god” to save her husband who was gleaning in the field.
When Seth ignored her and shoved her roughly aside, she exclaimed that he must be the one she’d heard about, the “impotent god.” She raised her voice to the sky, keening and crying out to Osiris for help.
That a mortal would dare call him impotent left Seth shocked and, ironically, immobile. But that quickly turned to a fury, which surged through his frame. Any compassion he might have felt for the woman before, as unlikely as it was, melted in the heat of his rage. Seth normally felt next to nothing for the mortal creatures that Amun-Ra and the others always harped on.
With the name of Osiris still on her lips, Seth seized the woman by the throat, lifted her off the ground, and shook her. “You will cease your caterwauling immediately.” When she didn’t, he threw her on the ground and shouted, “By the gods, I wish the heavens would erase your face from my view!”
Her cries were suddenly cut off and all that could be heard was the bleating of the animals and the crackling of the wheat as it burned. The woman had crumpled to her hands and knees. Her whole body shook but no sound came from her.
Sticking the toe of his boot beneath her bulky form, he thrust her aside and her body rolled away. Seth gasped. Where there had once been a hooked nose, thin pale lips, and eyes that sat too close to one another, he now saw a blank oval. Skin as smooth as a reddening peach stretched where a face should have been.
The woman’s hands reached up, clawing, gouging the skin where the mouth and nose once were. But as if a switch had been flipped, her body jolted and then she slumped over, dead. Without a mouth and nose, there was no way for her to take in a breath. Seth lifted his head, shocked and fascinated and sick. Had he done this?
Just to make sure, he lifted his hand and stretched it over the woman’s foot, willing it to disappear.
Suddenly the foot, including the muddy boot she wore on it, evaporated in thin air, leaving only a stump at the end of her leg. In quick succession, Seth unmade a snake that slithered from the burning stumps of wheat. Several mice disappeared next. Then, he ran, unmaking animals both completely and in parts.
He caused rocks and trees to vanish with the wave of his hand. And, when he came upon the dying form of the burnt farmer, the once husband of the now dead and defaced woman, Seth unmade him bit by tiny bit. He decided to leave only the man’s torso and head so he knew exactly how much he could take away from a mortal while still extending their pain-filled life.
Now he was ready. Now he was whole. His power had finally arrived. And it was mightier than he’d ever hoped it would be.
Nothing.
No one.
Could challenge him now.
The world, the cosmos, was ready to be plucked and his first stop was the beauty that haunted him.
Isis was a ripe fruit dangling from a low limb—succulent, juicy, and begging to be consumed. And Seth had never been hungrier.
Chapter 1
Budding
A horn sounded, its echo filling the hills and valleys surrounding Heliopolis. Isis stood quickly, causing the stool where she’d been sitting at the spinning wheel to topple behind her. The bundle of gray wool in her lap tumbled to the dust. The mortal women surrounding the goddess laughed and clucked their tongues good-naturedly as they picked up the soft mass and shook the dirt from it.
“Go. Go,” they admonished, shooing her away. “You’ll come back when you can. In the meanwhile, we’ll take turns practicing what you’ve taught us.”
Isis gave them a graceful smile and though she attempted to act godlike in her demeanor as she left the village, nodding at the townspeople and patting the heads of the children who always flocked to her, her mind was elsewhere. As a result, her responses were more curt and distracted than usual. The moment she passed the stone wall signifying the border of the town, she shook out her powerful wings and took to the sky.
Energy surged through her body as the golden rays of the sun beat down upon her wings, filling her frame with heat and warmth to the point where she could feel the sting of a blush in her cheeks as well. She laid her hands against them and wondered at the excitement she felt simply because he had returned. Her shadow far below flit over the hills and valleys she passed, rising and falling like the tempestuous emotions that seized her mind.