The Pharaoh

Chapter 26

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Aiden asked with tears welling in his gray eyes.

"Do you really need to ask?" Byron replied hatred gleaming in his eyes that were identical to Aiden's, "Because of you what was left of my family was ruined! I have no one now and it's all because of you!"

Aiden looked shocked and wondered, "What are you talking about?"

"When you ended slavery in Egypt my mother's family was ruined. Their businesses relied on those slaves and without them, they went broke. Some of them even starved to death and those that didn't were killed by the people you freed!" Byron raged.

That's ridiculous, couldn't his family members have just paid those people to do the same jobs that they were doing prior? How on earth did they go broke instead of just losing a part of their income? Were they that bad at financing?

"I heard about your family Byron, and I thought that we had talked this through already. Your grandfather and uncles were torturing their slaves! Whatever retribution they saw once they were free is on them, and the former slaves that took part in the murders were punished as seen fit by the law. How can you not see the atrocities that they had committed!" Aiden exclaimed.

Byron clenched his tanned fists and took in a huff of breath. He threw his hand toward us and yelled, "They were all I had left and you took them from me!"

A beam of hot light came towards us and I threw my hand up to block it somehow. I don't know how, but yet again the light hit an invisible wall and didn't hit us.

"You should stay out of this Alison!" Byron yelled, "You're not even from this plane of existence you have nothing to do with this!"

"You're trying to kill my husband so I'd say I have a little bit to do with this," I snapped at him.

Byron sneered and chuckled, "It's funny how even though you're not a demigod you're somehow just as annoying as one... if not more."

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!" I replied.

"The what?" Aiden asked. Byron also looked a bit confused by what I said but he remained in a fighting pose.

Do they seriously not know that saying? Are our worlds that different? "That's not important right now," I mumbled feeling slightly embarrassed for some reason.

"Please don't let your family's past dictate your future. I don't want to fight you but if you insist on this madness then I must," Aiden declared.

Byron scoffed, "Madness? No, this is the only sane choice. I have to kill you in order to save Egypt. With you and Nyra dead I'll be crowned pharaoh of Egypt and I can return us to the olden days. The days of glory and prosperity for the Egyptian people."

"The same days that painted our lands in blood! Have you forgotten how many people died back then!" Aiden yelled, his face turning red with anger.

I could see white light glowing around Aiden and Byron. It got brighter as each second passed and soon I could feel the heat coming off of Aiden in waves. Neither brother was wavering and I knew there was no peaceful resolution. This could only end when one of them was dead.

Serena used to think that the war at home could be ended in a peaceful manner. A treaty or a ceasefire of some sort. She truly thought that kindness was the answer. I, however, thought she was naive. Some people can't be won over with words... they're too far gone. The Soviet Union and its leaders were like that and they wouldn't surrender unless they were forced to. This was like that. Byron was like that. There was no reasoning there was no bargaining. Just win or lose. You had to choose one, and one of those wasn't actually an option.