True to my promise, I rush forward, catching Meritaten as she falls backward from the altar. Her weight sags into my arms, shockingly slight, as though life has already begun to flee her body.

I kneel carefully, cradling her against my chest, my hands shaking with the enormity of what she’s done for me.

“Thank you,” I whisper into her hair, my voice cracking under the force of grief. “For your years of loyalty, for your unwavering devotion to Egypt. For this final, greatest gift. For your love.”

The last words are the hardest to say, scraping my throat raw.

“You will be remembered, Meritaten,” I swear to her. “I swear it by the gods and all the stars above.”

A small smile ghosts across her lips even as blood bubbles there, staining her chin crimson.

“Remember… me…” she breathes, every word a battle. “Happy. Remember… me… choosing… this…”

Her body shudders violently once and then falls limp in my arms.

I lower her carefully to the ground, brushing a blood-matted lock of hair from her forehead with infinite tenderness. She looks peaceful now.

Peaceful, and terribly, terribly still.

But then, from the altar, I catch a gasp that rends the air and snaps my head around.

Neferet. Gasping, struggling for air, her back arching off the stone as if life itself is being poured back into her.

I remain frozen, caught between the woman returning to life and the one who has just departed it. The terrible arithmetic of divine balance holds me paralyzed – joy and grief so perfectly matched that I cannot move toward either.

Neferet struggles to sit up, her movements uncoordinated as if she’s forgotten how to control her own limbs.

The golden mask of Osiris slips from her face and clatters onto the altar with a hollow, ringing sound. Beside it, the wound at her throat – gone. Smooth, perfect skin unmarred by the blade that had taken her from me.

My heart slams against my ribs, hope surging like wildfire through my blood.

Tears blur my vision as I stagger upright, turning Meritaten’s lifeless body respectfully over to two priests, who lift her with reverence and solemn grief.

I don’t waste another second and rush to Neferet, reaching for her with hands that tremble so badly I can barely touch her.

“Neferet!” I cry, laughing through tears that fall unchecked down my cheeks. “My sweet lotus flower… you’ve come back to me!”

Her eyes flutter open, beautiful green, clear and vibrant, locked onto mine. Recognition dawns there, confusion giving way to something brighter, something fiercely alive.

She reaches for me, and we collide with desperate, gasping sobs. Clutching each other so tightly it’s as if we could merge into one being.

I fall to my knees again, holding her against my chest, burying my face in her hair. Inhaling the scent of lotus and blood and the sharp tang of tears.

“How?” she whispers, hoarse but gloriously alive. “I was… I was in darkness. Cold. Moving toward something vast and terrible.”

“Meritaten,” I choke out, pressing my forehead to hers. “She gave her life for yours.”

We cling to each other, stunned by the enormity of what has happened – too overwhelmed to speak, to move.

Simply breathing each other’s presence as if afraid the gods might snatch this moment away.

“You were gone,” I say simply, the words inadequate to express the devastation of those hours. “You left me…”

Tears fill her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. “I thought it was the only way; to free us both from the curses. To absorb it all with my essence and let it go. To save you.”

“Never again,” I whisper fiercely, pressing her palm to my lips. “Never make that choice for me again!”

Neferet’s other hand rises to my face, her thumb brushing away tears.

“I’m here,” she says softly. “Somehow, I’m here.”

“It’s over,” I whispered, pressing my forehead against hers, breathing in the scent of her skin “Seth’s influence, Osiris’s curse… We’re both finally free. Just as you dreamed.”

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