“All right. Now, what else needed to be done again?” Nephthys wondered, having just finished cleaning a table. She started walking away from the dining room. One of the potted plants nearby caught her attention. “Oh right. The garden,” she said as she started walking towards the living room.
“Hey, what are you in such a hurry for?” Set asked.
Nephthys stopped when she heard Set’s question. She turned to find him sitting on the sofa, a glass in one hand. Some fruit was sitting on the table in front of him.
“Set? What are you doing home so early? Don’t tell me you dumped all the work on the vizier again,” said Nephthys. She had heard from the citizens of Egypt how often her husband had shirked his duties as pharaoh to do whatever he wanted. It made her wonder why he even wanted the throne so badly if he insisted on behaving so unprofessionally. “You know you’re supposed to set an example for the people.”
As usual, he simply shrugged off her concerns and chuckled. “I’m sure he doesn’t mind a little extra work,” he said.
“That still doesn’t mean it’s okay to make him do all the work!”
Set frowned, “Give me a break, Neph. I took today off so I could be with you.”
It has been a while since the last time we’d spent some time together, hasn’t it, Nephthys thought. So long, in fact, she couldn’t even remember.
“Here,” Set held up one of the glasses, “Come over here and have a drink with me.”
As tempting as it was to just sit and relax with him, there was something else bothering Nephthys at the moment. “Okay. But what about all those other times you had left work? Where were you back then?” Her tone of voice was far more suspicious and demanding than she had hoped.
Set glared at her. “Why are you acting like I never came back here before? And the few times you were around you brushed me off, talkin’ about how busy you were with chores or whatever. So I went somewhere else instead.”
He’s right about that…
Nephthys looked away from her husband. The only other question she could think of asking him now was one that would lead to yet another huge argument between them. Their relationship was strained enough as is; the other gods - and even some of the humans - could tell.
While Nephthys was stuck in her thoughts, Set continued talking. “I’m not cheating on you if that’s what you’re thinking. You know I still love you, right?”
Even after all these years?
“Yes. I know that” she finally managed to say. But it didn’t matter how many times he’d said it. Nephthys still couldn’t help but wonder if Set was seeing someone else behind her back. That he had found someone who was more open and honest.
That he was getting back at me for what had happened between me and Osiris…
“I know you got somethin’ else you wanna say, so say it.”
The way Set was staring at her made Nephthys wish she could hide her true feelings from others. This wasn’t the path she had hoped their conversation would take - there was nothing more that could be said. Not without it ending in nothing but anger and pain and leaving each other alone again.
So she stayed silent.
Set was the one to break the silence between them, “Neph? What-”
“I’m sorry.” She started walking towards him. I want us to go back…
“Sorry for what?” He moved over to make room for her.
“For bringing up old times. There’s no point in bringing up the past now, is there? What’s done is done,” Nephthys said, placing her hand on his.
“Besides,” she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, “I miss days like this.” If only we could stay like this forever…
Set put his arm around her and smiled. “Yeah. Me too.”
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