Chapter Seventy Eight

S O U P : REMEDY FOR THE SICK

Horus stood at attention as his father looked over his notes. He barely looked human anymore.

Horus felt his throat ache.

They really messed up this time.

Whoever told him that fact lied.

You only have to meet them once for the obsession to set in. Mating is only an aftermath.

“Go.”

He turned and left.

Osiris has only been gone a week.

After he ran, and Masika turned to him with tears already falling, his father appeared.

“What happened?!”

He sounded panicked. Afraid. He ran after him but he was gone. He searched everywhere for him. He even skimmed the Lux Kingdom looking for Osiris.

After they faked their deaths a treaty was formed since neither country could afford to continue. He even heard word the King was finally preparing to hand down the crown.

No one knows these two are still alive.

Horus shook his head as he headed to his sister.

They lied to their father that day.

“H-he said thank you for a-all y-y-you’ve done then l-left.”

“…..”

He’s a fool.

Horus pinched his nose.

A month passed and Osiris was hoping no one would find him here.

He felt guilty using it again.

“All clean!”

He stood with his pants and sleeves rolled up. It was his imaginary Sunday so he was cleaning again.

He wanted to make sure no one knew he was here.

He accidentally broke a few plates, but he still has the pieces and hopes one day he can find a good adhesive that will work for him.

“The weather is nice, well cold, but nice.”

He picked up a habit of talking to the woman on the mantle. She was a pretty little thing with a short, sharp face and a tom boy smile.

She looked spunky.

“I hear-”

“..”

Did he hear something-

SETH FOUND HIM.

He froze.

The man- well he wasn’t much of a man anymore, but the look suited him. He looked-

Like he was going to kill him.

Osiris held his hands up in surrender.

“I-It’s not-it’s not what-”

He prowled up to him.

Osiris made himself smaller.

“It’s not what it looks like I-I-I’m just-”

He snapped his head to the side and waited for the hit.

I deserve this one.

He shouldn't have come back here-

He was enveloped by a hug.

“Seth?”

The man started to shiver.

Osiris thought the man was going to have a fucking seizure from how badly they rolled from his shoulders down his back.

It looked painful.

“What’s wrong-”

“Dad?!”

Osiris couldn’t see them, but he could hear them rushing into the house.

“Dad, why did you suddenly-”

He was completely covering someone on the floor. Masika looked down.

A familiar pair of orange feet stuck out.

Osiris?! He’s been here this whole-

“What’s going on?”

He sounded muffled.

Masika went to take a step and open her mouth when her brother held her shoulder and shook his head.

She fixed her posture.

“W-We don’t know. After you left he-” She motioned in the air. “-became like this.”

Horus still didn’t trust the Prince.

His dad’s mate or not, he was unpredictable with knowledge.

Osiris could feel his hands painfully dig into his sides.

He shivered.

Seth suddenly stilled.

“..”

Osiris tried to stand but was denied.

“..”

He tried again.

“..”

“So what now?”

Horus bumped her with his elbow. Her knees shook.

“W-We were wondering if you could take care of him for awhile?”

It sounds fake, but okay.

Osiris, if he’s honest again, he didn’t want him to leave again.

But he’s is going to leave him again.

Osiris felt his lip wobble.

This isn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that he couldn’t say no.

“How long..”

Masika did a silent fist pump before looking at her brother.

They did it!

She was trying to fix what she did, she really was, and she was trying to do it in a way that also pleased her brother. She looked up to him.

He nodded and flicked her ear.

She shot a sucker punch to his kidney.

He cringed.

He elbowed her and ushered her to respond.

“J-Just until he’s back to normal!”

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“..”

What was he, a babysitter?

“Where-“

“H-Here is fine! We already have some of the stuff down, so it should all be okay for a while!”

He had no clue what she was talking about.

Horus finally spoke up.

“I will bring food and supplies later.”

“..”

“Just do what you want.”

Seth was still as stiff as stone.

“W-we will be back later!”

And they left him there.

“..”

Osiris sighed into his neck and he tightened his hold.

Osiris submitted to his fate and wrapped his hands around the man.

“We can’t stay her-”

He lifted him off the ground and started heading towards a room.

“Hey, wait-”

He started doing something with his hands behind him, and any time he even thought of leaning back a hand would firmly push him back in place.

“..”

He was going to have bruises tomorrow.

The man would not give him serenity.

“Let me shit in peace.”

He slammed the door on him.

“Finally.”

He felt a barrier surround the bathroom.

He popped it.

Another appeared.

He pinched his nose.

The man wasn’t getting any better and it’s been a week.

I’m barely twenty one, how did I end up here.

He was playing house with a married man.

He should be out fucking beautiful-

Something hard hit the door.

“..”

The man was so moody.

Finally there was light.

He could speak now.

“No.”

It might be one worked answers, but it was something.

“Yes.”

He wouldn’t let him be more than ten feet from him.

“We’re doing twenty.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Now he was all up in his face, chest pushing back against his own. Osiris searched his eyes before giving up and looking away.

“Let’s just-”

He lifted him and Osiris automatically put his hands around his neck.

This one was going to hurt.

He’s fallen for straight men before. Who hasn't? But this one was different.

Osiris held him a bit tighter.

He smells good.

Seth could feel a bit of his humanity resurface.

He’s been aware, just, not his usual self.

His serpent blood was a bit strong for him.

His children can get out of it quite easily, but he cannot. Once he regresses it takes time to come out.

When he lost Anat he stayed like this for a week.

He did love her very much.

Seth forced Osiris further up his neck.

He was asleep, but he wasn’t close enough.

His body was lax and bendable. A set of tremors ran up his arms.

He wanted him so badly he-

Osiris’s little hot breath on his shoulder brought him back. Seth might be over a century, but he knows that Osiris left because of his children. It was quite obvious since Masika cannot lie to save her life.

That stutter of hers is going to cause her grief.

But he still left.

You told me their words don’t bother you.

Seth ran his fingers through his hair.

He’s lost weight since the last I saw him.

Seth thought that Osiris went off and killed himself. He looked everywhere for him. It was like he was a ghost. He even skimmed this area but he was gone.

Little did he know, Osiris was just swimming at the time. He may or may not have tried to kill himself.

Seth placed his mouth on his head and growled.

Osiris snuggled in closer.

Seth used to worry about how cold his body was. Anat could only handle it pieces at a time, but Osiris.

His chest vibrated with a pur.

Osiris groaned.

Fuck.

The Prince was hard again.

Seth could feel his dick press against his bottom ribs. His hands tightened as he kept himself still. It was just something that happens sometimes when men sleep. He probably wasn’t helping but-

He pushed him closer and increased his pur. It jumped against his stomach. Seth pushed him harder into his body.

Osiris started to wake up.

Fuck.

He let his growl slowly drop.

“N’ sorry again.”

He was apologizing to him again. He hated that. He always sounded like he was doing something bad. It made him upset.

“It’s fine.”

He let him wiggle and turn his back to him before going back to sleep.

“…..”

They need to talk after this.

Osiris got him talking in sentences!

“Now you can go-”

“No. Not without you.”

The man was still adamant he stays close, even if they can only be a few hundred yards away from each other. He had to wear a ring he gave him, but it let Osiris get some free time away from the man.

But now the man won’t go home.

Osiris pinched his nose.

“You know I’m not welc-”

“You are.”

He looked at him exasperated.

“By who?!”

“Me.”

Osiris frowned at him.

This was going to kill him.

If he wasn’t suicidal before, now-

“For how long?”

When he leaves me again I’m not going to be okay.

He can’t keep doing this anymore.

Haven’t I given enough.

“…..”

The bastard didn’t respond.

“If I want to leave, you know I can, right?”

He towered over him with eyes lit with a heat he could almost place. It felt like an ob-

No.. just.. no Osiris.

“Fine.”

It took another month before he started to look human again. Pity.

“Are you sleeping here tonight?”

Osiris scoffed.

They’ve returned to his castle and now he’s almost back to his usual self. Osiris isn’t able to leave the room, but it was a step in the right direction for Seth.

“When don’t I?”

He was getting ready to lay in bed.

Seth’s bed, but a bed nonetheless.

“I will sleep in another room for the night.”

Osiris’s hands startled but he kept his face neutral.

“That’s fine, I’ll be here.”

He turned and sat with his back to him and started to comb his hair with his fingers.

He heard the door shut behind him.

“..”

He smiled sadly into his lap and dropped his hands.

“So it’s time, huh.”

Osiris looked at the bag he brought back the first time around. It was still where he left it, up against the window bench.

“..”

He laid down and went to sleep.

Tomorrow is another day.

Seth was fucked.

His rut came early.

I'm lucky it didn’t happen sooner.

He doesn’t know what he would have done if he had stayed in that room that night. He was on his third day and Osiris seemed fine sleeping on his own, but he wasn’t.

“Fuck.”

He still has his food sent to him every day after he reviews it himself. He trusts his men, but not that much. He knows Osiris has tortured and killed so many of them that some of them are dying to get their hands on him.

“I’ll kill them.”

He could. He could just kill them all, then Osiris can stay with him. What if they ran? But this territory was his. He had complete control over it and it was safe.

“…..”

I have food, shelter, power, what else can he give him to get him to stay?

Seth bit into a pillow and tore it apart.

He doesn’t back away from my touch, he lets me hold him, cuddle him, but he keeps his distance with anything remotely sexual.

“…..”

They really need to talk.

Seth pulled at the torn cloth, ripping it further.

Seth wants Osiris so badly he almost broke through his own barrier. Seth’s heart filled with dolor. He still hasn’t been able to explain anything. Here he is not a King, but an Emperor. Anat, his Empress, was dead, but he still has concubines.

He never slept with anyone until Anat died.

But what if that’s a deal breaker for him? No, maybe, if Osiris needs a woman-

He tore a hole into the bed.

Fuck, this body is useless.

Seth has only slept with three of them….. maybe a few times together, and a few strangers here and there, but he is loyal when he is with someone.

How many has Osiris been with? He didn’t like the thought, but he wanted to know. Did he have a lover? He didn’t know that either.

He never mentioned one, but Seth never mentioned his past ones. It never came up.

Seth got up from the bed and moved to the windows again. Osiris was jumping around the room today. He looked happy about something.

He wanted to know what it was for.

It’s been three days and Seth has been a ghost.

Osiris thought it was just for the night, but three days, and he’s still nowhere to be found.

Kingly duties maybe?

He still ate and slept and went through their things when he was bored. Anat liked a lot of uniforms. She had a crap ton of military wear and very little dresses or anything relaxing.

Seth was a robe guy, but had suits, and very few casual wear.

What he wore in their fight was nice.

When he had his hair up it did things for him. Osiris sighed as he put the clothes back. He was just waiting for his kids to come tell him to fuck of again.

But I did a good job.

He did, he did do a good job. He, somehow, got him back to normal with having no clue how it happened in the first place. He was, somehow, the best person for the job!..

Or his kids just didn’t want to do it.

“But I still did great!” He posed like a captain on his ship and pointed towards the sky. “I got him clean!”

Osiris snickered.

“What is he, an addict?”

Osiris let himself feel good about it. Even when he leaves me, at least I can say I helped him.

Osiris planned to go straight to Lux, have fun, then go and kill himself behind that cliff off of elven land. It was strictly Eldritch waters against those shores.

I can go down fighting.

“..”

“My therapist would lock me up for this.”

Osiris went and laid on the bed, but got up bored and, instead, grabbed that old bag of his and dumped its contents on the bed. It was just clothes and- why did he grab that picture of Anat.

“..”

He shoved everything back in and put it beside his night stand. He’ll have to return that before they notice.

“It’s time for bed.”