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Amen woke up in a damp sweat, his chest heaving as the echoes of his nightmare faded into the dim light of dawn. The memory of his parents' murder clung to him, a vivid torment that haunted his waking moments. The vision of their lifeless bodies played in his mind like a cursed memory, a torment he relived each night.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the lingering horror, but the weight of his grief was too great. With trembling hands, he wiped the sweat from his brow, as if he could erase the cruel fate he was forced to endure. He buried his face in his hands, seeking solace in the darkness behind his closed eyes, but there was no escape.
As his hands slid down his face and reached his waist, something caught his attention. His fingers brushed against a piece of papyrus tucked into his clothing. Frowning, Amen pulled it out and held it before him, the soft crinkling of the papyrus the only sound in the stillness of his chamber.
"What’s this?" he muttered to himself, his brow furrowed in confusion. "How did it get here?"
The hieroglyphs were delicately traced, each symbol carefully crafted with an artistry he recognized immediately. Evthys' handwriting. She was the only one who drew each character with such precise care, the only one who infused each mark with a depth of emotion that could be felt in every curve and line. His heart tightened in his chest as he began to read, the very first line stealing his breath away.
"Please know that I have not betrayed you. All the words I said were sincere. My feelings, my fears... But without trust, I can't give you the honesty you need, so I can't stay with you. I have a debt that I have to repay by myself."
Amen's eyes scanned the words, his mind reeling. A debt? he wondered. What debt could she mean? He had seen nothing under her name, no obligations to bind her. What was it she hid from him?
"I can't avoid this obligation. I can't escape this. Until I'm done with that, I'll always be under someone else's control."
His pulse quickened, anger flickering to life in his chest. Someone else? His thoughts immediately turned to her mentor, the one who had always held a shadowy influence over her. Amen's jaw clenched. If that man had anything to do with this… The idea of someone else controlling her, pulling her strings like a puppet, filled him with a dark rage. He had enemies of his own, prey he had hunted for years, but this was different. This was personal.
"First there was my stepfather, then my mentor, then you, now him. I want to feel safe and at peace, so that's why I'm running away."
His grip on the papyrus tightened. Running away? The words echoed in his mind, disbelief mingled with fury. She was leaving? After everything they had been through, after she had come so close to truly committing to him, to being his? The idea was unbearable. The thought of her leaving him, abandoning him after everything they had shared, cut deeper than any blade.
"Oh, Neferut. Tsk, tsk, tsk. We are hunters, we like the hunt. You run, I chase, and I won't stop until I have caught you."
Amen's chest heaved with the weight of his emotions, the storm inside him growing more violent with every word he read. With a sudden, fierce motion, he crushed the papyrus in his fist. The delicate paper crumpled easily under his grip, but it did nothing to ease the rage and anguish boiling within him.
She had left him. Eva had walked away, taken her secrets and fled into the night, leaving him alone with only her carefully chosen words as a farewell. His heart ached with the loss, but beneath that pain was a fire of determination. He would find her. He would get answers. The need to confront her, to understand the reasons behind her actions, was overwhelming. But more than that, there was a fierce, protective instinct that surged within him—an instinct to shield her from whatever shadows haunted her, even if it meant protecting her from himself.
Amen rose from his bed, the crumpled papyrus falling to the floor, forgotten. His mind was already set, the course of action clear. He had been a hunter his entire life, and now the hunt was on. But this time, it was not prey he sought to destroy; it was the one who had left him. The one he would find, no matter the cost.
This was going to be dangerous, deadly even. He knew that. He had always been capable of terrible things, and for her, he would unleash them all. The world saw him as a monster, and perhaps they were right. But he would be that monster, he would become everything they feared if it meant protecting Eva. He would kill for her if he had to. The power she had over him was undeniable, unshakable, and it still held him captive, even now, despite her leaving him.
He would find her. And when he did, he would demand the truth, no matter how much it hurt. Because he needed her, in the way that the Nile needed its flood, in the way that the sun needed to rise, in the way heart needed heartbeat to exist. And nothing would stand in his way.
Not even Eva herself.