Set by Alessa Thorn

19

The following day, Set slid his khopesh into the sheath on his back before loading a bag with various knives and guns. Ayla watched him, a concerned look on her face.

"I don't like this," she admitted.

"Ayla, I'm a god of war. I'm not going to be hurt. You saw what I did in Kharga without breaking a sweat."

"It's not that. This doesn't feel right to me. If they know who is betraying them, why do they need you? Why don't they take care of it themselves? I thought Kader had a whole army of thugs doing his bidding."

Set slung his bag over his shoulder. "Because I do all of Kader's wet work." It was harsh, but true. Set was the one who made examples of people.

"I still don't like it," she said stubbornly.

"I know. I'll see Kader too and ask him to get Abasi off my back about knowing where you are. I can't stop Kader from keeping tabs on you when you return to your job and your life, but until I'm satisfied you're safe, no one gets to you," Set promised.

Ayla followed him out to a garage, and he strapped his bag to the back of a motorbike. "I'll be back as soon as possible. Don't leave the village."

"I know," Ayla replied. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him close. "Don't get hurt, and watch your back. I'm telling you, I don't trust this."

"Don't worry, I don't trust anyone."

"Good." Ayla kissed him fiercely. "Don't forget, Set, you belong to me too. This is the last time you answer my father when he calls. You're not his. You're mine."

"Yes, malikati, I know, and I intend to tell him that myself." Set swung a long leg over his motorcycle. He winked at her. "Keep working on that list of future careers for me while I’m gone."

* * *

Set madeit to Cairo in five hours, speed limits and police not a concern he had in any way. The sooner he got the trip out of the way, the better.

He thought about everything that Ayla had said over the past few days, how she seemed to slot quickly into his life where no one else ever had.

He knew he couldn't give up what he was, and Ayla wasn't asking him to. In fact, she was pushing him to be more himself than ever.

My Ayla.

Set wondered how Kader would react when he told him that Ayla made his soul turn to fire and cool the chaos of his magic.

Her fierce face flashed in front of him, and he knew that if Kader thought he had a say in the matter, Set was going to send him straight to her. If Set couldn't argue with her, Kader didn't stand a chance.

Cairo felt tense as Set entered the city as if readying for a storm. He wondered if people could feel the power vacuum Moussa had left. Kader must've been trying to clean up quietly, which Set could appreciate.

He pulled into the prison, and the guard at the boom gate raised an eyebrow as he checked over the list of people on his clipboard.

"Mr. Akhom, we weren't aware that you were visiting today," he said politely, a sheen of sweat on his brow.

"I'm sure there is a lot that goes on around here that you're not aware of. Kader summoned me," Set explained. The guard didn't question him further. If it was the last time he had to traipse through the Cairo prison, it wouldn't be soon enough.

The trip back to Naqada made him wonder why he had stayed away for so long or put up with Cairo the way he had.

You didn't care, that's why. Bellona was right. Ayla has made life interesting again for you.

Hiding his grin and good humor behind a cold mask, Set handed over his weapons and followed the guard through the labyrinth of cells.

Kader looked up from his desk, his face slipping into a frown.

"Set? What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Ayla?"

"I got a call from Abasi last night, summoning me to deal with the moles he had found. Where is he?"

"He never told me about finding any traitors," Kader replied.

"He made the call from your number here at the prison. I thought you knew. He told me you wanted me back in the city."

Kader shook his head. "I never asked him to get you back here. Where is my daughter?"

"Safe, as I told him. Ayla doesn't need the protection you want to put on her. I have her stashed somewhere, and no one will ever find her," Set assured him.

Kader paled. "I know that, Set, which is why I never said I wanted to send men to guard her."

"But Abasi…" Set swore. "Fucking Abasi. He's the one that's been feeding Moussa and everyone else information."

"He can't have. Abasi is as loyal to me as you are!" Kader argued.

You fucking fool. Your enemies are so close you can't even see them. Moussa had tried to tell him, and Set had ignored it, thinking that it was a rambled threat of a dying man.

"No, he isn't. It all makes sense now. I told him that we were going to Edfu from Aswan, and we were attacked the next day. He's been trying to get me to tell him where we have been hiding ever since. He was pissed about me clearing out Moussa and his snakes too," Set said, pacing up and down in front of the cell.

"I thought that was well done, and I should have gotten you to do it sooner. Moussa overstepped, and you made an example of him." Kader gripped the bars. "Let me deal with Abasi. You need to get back to Ayla, Set. If Abasi has been somehow making calls from the prison, he's using tech, and he hasn't told me he has."

Set pulled a knife out from his boot and passed it to Kader. The stupid guards always forgot about his boots.

"Take this. Abasi might have people inside the prison, which is why he could use the phone lines."

"Thank you, now go, Set. Don't leave her alone again," Kader replied, taking the knife.

"Gut Abasi for me. He's always pissed me off."

"Just protect my daughter. She's all that matters."

"With my life."

Set jogged through the prison, grabbed his weapons, and roared out of the prison grounds. Logically, he knew that Ayla was safe in Naqada, that there was no way Abasi would know where she is, but Set wasn't going to settle until he saw her safely for himself.

Ayla had told him that she felt something wasn't right, and he vowed to listen to her intuition without question from that day forward.

Set smiled because they were one step closer to getting her freedom back, and then he would press his suit, hoping like hell that she would give a broken war god a chance.