Prologue
"I'm leaving."
Those words hung hollow in the air between them.
And neither of them was surprised to hear them. The sensation was that of having dropped a rock down a well; you knew there was going to be an echoing splash at the bottom. You just never knew when it was going to happen. And now that splash echoed through the massive black and red throne room. The red drapes on the black paneled walls didn't rustle, the vents didn't whisper, the arched gothic style windows didn't rattle, the leather of their clothing didn't creak. In fact, neither one breathed as those words remained suspended between them, as if they were afraid further conversation would only further cause damage.
For once, the prince felt fear. Fear, for he had no idea what was to come after. Fear, for he was uncertain about returning to the loneliness that once inhabited his spirit. He was a hollow shell until the day he met that Egyptian deity, lounging about in his father's temple in the mortal realm. It'd been pure happenstance, honestly, but it was one the prince felt blessed for every day. So, too, did the deity.
But, he supposed, it was a facade.
No one knew what went on behind closed doors. No one knew that the two of them hadn't truly been together in years. It was easy to smile and wave. The prince had done it most of his life. It was easier than explaining the truth. And what was the truth, he wondered. Were they going to discuss it, or were they going to continue giving each other excuses?
The prince couldn't stand it anymore. The silence was deafening. His ears were ringing and he felt them on the verge of imploding. And worse still, those deity's dark eyes were pinned on him, waiting expectantly for a response.
"Where are you going?" What a stupid question. He knew where he was going. Perhaps not specifically, but he knew. It was somewhere else. And it wasn't for a trip.
"Back home," the Egyptian responded quietly, pain creasing that brow, "My father and I have been talking recently. He wants me to resume my duties under his guidance." The prince didn't answer. He felt a surge of anger. Not at the Egyptian who stood across from him, but rather, the one who was waiting in the desert land of Duat.
How dare that vile impudent god recall the son he banished. He had no right to extend a hand forth to the son he kicked out. There was no excuse for abandoning a child like that. The prince felt that wound deep in his soul, and how it infuriated him. He wanted to get up and slap the Egyptian across the face, tell him he was a fool if he thought his father gave a shit about him. He suddenly wanted to scream, rip the drapes from the walls, punch the windows, scream until his throat was bloody and raw.
But all he could manage was to sit there in silence upon his macabre throne made of skulls and bones.
"Theo, I'm sorry." Those words succeeded in shattering his control. Rage curled tight in the prince's gut and he rose to his feet, a heat flooding through his veins, boiling his blood, making his vision darken.
"Shut up," he snapped. The Egyptian deity sighed. He always sighed when the prince got like this. It happened far too often for either one of them not to know what this meant.
"Theo, we both know this is for the best," he explained in that calm, rational voice of his that infuriated the prince to no end, because how dare he speak to him like he was petulant child, "It isn't working. Nothing between is us working. And that's not for lack of trying. I just... I can't do this anymore. I don't know if some morning, I'll wake up and you'll be laying in a pool of your own blood. I don't want to hurt you anymore. It's not healthy. It's not right."
And damn him for that logic, the prince thought angrily. Damn him for not being like everyone else. Why couldn't he just accept that he couldn't change certain things? He couldn't change who he was, who he had been shaped into by cruel, callous hands. He needed the pain. He did; he truly did. Without it, he would fall apart. It was the only thing holding him together.
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Empty Pleasures [malexmale]
Romance[Book 20] Heartbreak is never easy, but Theo seems to think he's handling it just fine. In fact, it's time he get back to work, especially with the universe on the verge of ending, so he hires a new second-in-command and gets to work on doing what h...