Set by Alessa Thorn

7

They meandered slowly up the Nile for the rest of the day, Set dropping the anchor a short sail from Edfu.

Set didn't want to have to deal with the city just yet, and if anyone had been watching the boats during the day, they would have hopefully looked like the tourists they were playing.

A part of him wanted to race Ayla to Cairo as soon as possible for her own safety. She wasn't meant for this kind of violent, dangerous life.

If Set tried to go by car, they would undoubtedly have roadblocks and people shooting at them again in no time.

He didn't only want to keep her alive. He tried to keep her feeling safe. He could play captain for a few days, and sailing along the Nile with a beautiful woman was a nice change of pace. Even if that woman was off-limits in every way.

Set glanced in Ayla's direction. She was sitting at the front of the boat, watching the world go by with a battered paperback she had found in the cabin.

She wasn't only beautiful; she was brilliant too, an alluring combination he tried to steer clear of in the women he bedded to avoid complications.

Stop it. She's not the type of woman to sleep with someone she doesn't know, and she's certainly too clever to bother with the likes of you.

Set ran his hands through his hair and tied it up in a knot. That he was starting to question his self-esteem was a red flag that he liked the doctor too much already. He had never cared what anyone, gods or man, thought of him. When he found something he wanted, he took it.

Set's phone buzzed to let him know that he had come back into phone reception. He pulled it out, checked the missed call from Abasi, and quickly dialed him back.

"Masaa' al-khayr Set, still alive?" Abasi answered with his smooth, cultured timbre. After growing up in a wealthy family and the schooling that went with it, Abasi had a voice suited for boardrooms, not back alleys.

"Sorry to disappoint. Please tell me you know who the spy is and want me to kill him," Set said hopefully.

"Unfortunately, we haven't nailed down the person just yet. Kader asked me to check-in and find out where you are. I've never seen him so agitated."

"Ayla is fine," Set replied, casting another look in her direction. She was lighting lanterns on the boat's deck, the warm light of the fading sun making her glow golden.

"Is she as pretty as her photo?" Abasi asked. Set shoved down his irritation.

"Too good for the likes of us."

Abasi laughed. "So she's prettier. Best make sure you keep your more charming self locked up, Set."

"Can't lock up your natural personality."

That made Abasi laugh even harder. "If you say so. Where are you?"

"Outside Edfu. I'll go into the city tomorrow, get some supplies and keep heading towards Cairo."

"By boat? That's going to be slow going."

"I know, but until you find out who our traitor is, we don't have a choice."

Abasi hummed. "We have another problem. Knowledge of Ayla has gone wide, and everyone with a grudge against Kader is going to be looking for her, not just Moussa."

"Fuck, Abasi! I thought you were meant to keep this situation under control," Set growled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Moussa's men being loudmouths can hardly be blamed on me. It was inevitable. I need to send you some backup—"

"No. More people will just bring attention to her. Let me smuggle her in."

Ayla was watching him now, a worried line creasing the middle of her brow.

"You're risking her life by dawdling."

"I don't tell you how to do your job, so don't tell me how to do mine. I won't let anything happen to Ayla. You have to trust me."

Abasi let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay, fine. But I'm telling you, if you let this drag out another twenty-four hours, the whole of Egypt will be looking for her. You can't protect her if you're dead, Set."

Set grinned. "You might be surprised."

"Check in tomorrow. Kader is a wreck, and you know how hard it is to reason with him when he gets like this."

"Will do. You focus on finding this mole, Abasi. I want their blood on my blade by the end of the week."

"There is the Set I know. Keep safe, brother."

"Ah-huh." Set hung up, turned, and nearly crashed into Ayla.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Nothing to worry—"

Ayla held up her hand. "No. Stop. Don't do that. Tell me the truth."

"I don't want to worry you about something that doesn't matter," Set replied. Ayla's full lips pressed into a stubborn line.

"Ah, the silly little girl doesn't need to worry her pretty head about it because the men are taking care of everything. Is that it?" she retorted. "It's my life, Set! Tell me what the hell is going on, or I'll..."

"You'll what, princess?" Set asked, stepping forward into her space. It was a move that usually intimated, but Ayla just poked him hard in the chest.

"I'll push you overboard and feed you to the crocodiles," she huffed.

"Sobek's children are not interested in eating the likes of me. Besides, I can shapeshift, and they wouldn't try and attack a predator bigger than them," Set pointed out. His smile infuriated her even more, cheeks flushing with anger.

"Maybe you can shapeshift into someone who's not an asshole."

"You're not the first person to make that joke."

Ayla placed a hand on his chest. "Please, Set. Just tell me, I don't want to fight with you."

Set's heart started to hammer, all of his focus on the warmth of her palm. "You're playing dirty."

Large hazel eyes blinked doe innocent up at him. "I'm not playing anything. Just tell me."

Set squirmed inwardly. "Abasi thinks that news of you has spread around Egypt. It's not just Moussa's men that will be after you now."

Ayla nodded. "I thought so. You still think you can protect me?"

Set thought of the whole armies he had decimated on his own, the blood that soaked through and stained his very Ka.

"Without a doubt." Set placed his hands on her shoulders because it seemed to be the safest place. "It might get messy, but you're going to get through this."

"A good thing you're a god." Ayla's hand tightened on his shirt. "To think this time yesterday, my biggest worry was paperwork. This kind of excitement was a thing that happened to other people."

"Stick with me, doctor, and the excitement won't ever stop." It earned him a half-hearted laugh.

"I don't know how much more excitement my body can take," she sighed.

"Depends on the excitement," Set replied automatically. His hands had drifted down the soft skin of her arms of their own accord. He quickly dropped them, and Ayla removed her hand from his chest. She was still far too close, the air humming between them.

"I'm going to go make some tea," she said, stepping around him and down into the cabin.

"Fuck," Set muttered under his breath. He stared at the darkening waters of the Nile and wondered if throwing himself to the crocodiles might be a good idea after all.

* * *

Ayla appeared sometime laterwith more food and tea. She placed it down in the sitting area.

"Come and eat something. There were enough ingredients for a couscous salad. All that glowering you're doing is giving me a headache."

"Not glowering, keeping watch." Set joined her, and she passed him a bowl. "I thought you said you couldn't cook."

"Salad isn't cooking. It's throwing things together in a bowl."

"Fair enough. Thanks," Set added.

"Seems like the least I can do. I'm scared and stressed, but I do appreciate your help. Even if you're getting paid to do it," Ayla said quickly.

"You're a good person, Ayla. It makes protecting you worth it," Set replied with a slight shrug. "You're prettier than drug dealers, who are my usual charge."

"Should you be telling me that?" she asked, fork halfway to her mouth.

"Probably not. I can't help it. You're easy to talk to." It was the truth. Set hadn't spoken about his past or acknowledged his godhood in centuries. Kader knew what he was, but Set had never answered the questions he'd asked. Set found that telling Ayla about it didn't hurt like it usually had.

"Can I ask why you do it? You're a god, Set. Aren’t there better things you could be doing?"

"When life is an endless line of boring eternity, you need to find something to keep you busy," he replied honestly.

"That sounds bleak."

"Okay, if you were immortal, what would you do?"

Ayla didn't even have to think about it. "I'd help people."

"God of war, remember?"

"You keep telling me that's not all you are. God of protection, too, right? You could put that to good use if you wanted to."

Set gave her a patient look. "Stop thinking I'm better than I am, Ayla. I can see you like to believe the best in people, but I am what I am. And I'm fine with it."

"Are you? Seems to me that you're bored, lonely, and tired."

Set felt the accuracy of that assessment hit him straight in the balls. "Is that so? And you know this from the whole day we have spent together."

Ayla poured him tea. "Am I wrong?"

Lie. Set shook his head, his tongue refusing to obey. "You're not wrong, but killing people is what I'm good at."

"Surely that's not all you're good at," Ayla said, the slightest smile forming on her lips.

"Still thinking about that kiss, are you?" Set couldn’t resist asking.

"What kiss?" Ayla replied, popping his ego like a balloon. "Oh, that. No. I was talking about sailing and cooking. Maybe you should hang onto the boat."

Set laughed. "Gods no. My tolerance for people is too low for tourism."

"Okay, but by the end of this adventure, I'm going to have a list of better career options for you than guarding drug dealers."

"Why do you even care?"

"I don't," Ayla replied a little too quickly. "I have few talents, Set, and one is knowing potential when I see it. You, my friend, are wasted as a drug dealer."

My friend...Shit. How long had it been since he had a friend? He didn't even consider Kader, a friend.

"I'm wasted as a god too. Just ask any of them," he replied and then added. "The ones left anyway."

"There are more gods in Egypt still? Who?" Ayla asked, brightening up at the prospect.

"Thoth is in Alexandria and is probably as crazy as ever. Anubis will be in Egypt; he doesn't like leaving the country. Maybe Sobek, though I haven't seen him in a millennium. Osiris and his insufferable self are still in the Duat." Set shrugged. "There could be others, but none that I've seen for a long time. We always tended to keep out of each other's way. I heard Isis was seen in Turkey a few years ago, but I can't verify that."

"You're kidding me," she said, her smile widening.

"Don't look so surprised, Ayla. Gods are hard to kill. Mostly, we go crazy from time and kill ourselves. Other pantheons are the same. Look at the Greeks. The Romans went the same way, though I've crossed paths with Bellona, their goddess of war, on more than one occasion. Hell of a woman in a fight."

"What is she like?" Ayla couldn't resist asking. Set thought about it for a long moment.

"Think of a woman who looks like a more muscular Anita Eckberg but who can kill you about eighteen ways with a toothpick," he said at last. "That's Bellona."

Ayla shook her head. "Should I even ask what happens when two gods of war meet?"

"In our case, it was a bet and a lot of bad wine," Set recalled with a laugh. "We were in Mesopotamia somewhere at the time. She was backing the Romans, of course, and I was working for Parthia. Kicked her ass so hard that every time we've crossed paths since, she's re-challenged me. Last time she lost, we were in Beirut, and she had to fight naked the next day."

"I've only known you for a few days, and yet nothing about that story surprises me," Ayla replied with a wide smile. "You really don't keep in contact with anyone else? There's not like an Egyptian gods support group or reunion every hundred years?"

"No. Could you imagine? We'd all kill each other from slights five thousand years old," Set laughed.

"You're still holding grudges that old?"

Set thought about it for a long moment. "Only against Osiris. I get along fine enough with the others these days."

"Really? Can I ask why?" Ayla pressed.

Full and content, Set lay on his back to stare up at the stars.

"I'll tell you another time. It's a beautiful night, and I don't want to ruin the mood by talking about the giant orifice that is Osiris. Why don't you tell me why you wanted to be a doctor?"

"In the beginning, it was to be like my father. I thought it would be a way to understand him better," Ayla admitted, lying down beside him but maintaining a safe distance. "Then, as my mother's breast cancer kept returning, I did it because I wanted to be able to help people like her."

"Now, you put yourself in danger to keep helping people. That about right?"

"That's pretty accurate. Everyone needs help sometimes, and I think good deeds come back to you."

Set turned his head to look at her. "If that's true, I want to know what bad thing you did to get all of Egypt after you."

"You mean what Kader did. I think my good deeds ensured that you would be the one assigned to protect me," Ayla replied.

Set groaned. "Again, stop trying to make me out to be better than what I am, doctor."

"I'm not. You might not be 'good,' but you're doing a good thing right now. No, don't try and argue. You won't change my mind."

Set knew she was wrong, but it didn't stop the smile on his face. "Oh, Ayla, time will take care of that for me."