Page 63 of Ra
“Are you sure you want that?”
“It doesn't matter what I want. It’s for the best,” Ra answered. “Go on,” he said, stepping aside and gesturing toward the space in the wall the scarab would fit.
Azi stepped forward and placed the scarab in the same hollow she had before, nestled in the carved hand of Ra’s likeness.
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 stopdamaging 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?”
