Even If It Means War || Ennead

The beginning

The months that followed were joyous ones. Horus and Seth got married in a private, small circle at Seth's request. The day was beautiful anyway and they had Imsety by their side the entire time. The humans were fed a story of Seth's rebirth as a god and were made to believe that the evil had left his being.

They accepted him as the new king consort, if only because they trusted Horus and Isis on this. But either way, it wouldn't have mattered. Horus would have married Seth either way. Seth intended to repay the people for their trust as best as he could. He had learned his lesson, a new one for every day he had spent in the desert.

Being married was fun, they found. Seth didn't feel like he had to run from it anymore, but he could finally rest again. His days were now filled mostly with state affairs as he helped rebuild Egypt and family activities with Horus and Imsety. Horus turned out to be an amazing father.
The nights were filled with lust and desire, soft touches and longing kisses.

Funny enough, Isis couldn't say anything about their marriage anymore in even a joking manner. Seth had seen the way she and Anubis acted around each other at the wedding.
He was confused by it at first, but then again, Anubis has always been fascinated with Isis. Even when he was a kid.

Therefore, whenever Isis got irritated and jokingly scolded Seth for seducing her son, he would just raise an eyebrow at her and she would blush and turn away.
He was happy to have his sister back. They talked a lot about the past and their feelings and even though Seth had never been good with words, he managed to bring his thoughts across to her. And she was patient, listened, and understood.

So how could she not be the first one to find out?

One morning, Seth found her in the courtyard, looking after the flowers. He hesitated but eventually made his way over to her.
"Isis?"

"Seth?" she didn't look back at him, too busy picking out the dead flowers amongst the healthy ones.

Seth bit his lip. His face was covered with the headdress he was wearing but the heat still rose to his cheeks, "The barley and the wheat sprouted." It felt weird saying it.

Isis straightened up and dropped the dead flowers, "What?" she rubbed her hand together to rid them of the dry earth. Her eyes were big and full of hope and disbelief.

Seth walked up to her and grabbed her hand, holding it up to his stomach. She could feel it then. She looked up to meet Seth's eyes and smiled, "It's true? You're with child."

"I am," Seth confirmed, "I've been checking every day."

Women in Egypt were known to check for pregnancy using barley and wheat. He figured he could try the same, despite being a man. And even though he could feel it already, he wanted to check in every possible way.

"Does Horus know?" She asked. Her son was around Seth every free second he had, she would be surprised if he didn't.

Seth shook his head, "No. I wanted to tell you first." he admitted.

"Don't let him know that. He will get jealous." Isis chuckled at that but couldn't help but let her chest bloom with pride and joy knowing that her brother trusted her like this.

"Oh please, I don't know what you have been feeding him but with the amount of energy he has it was only a matter of time," he complained and shook his head. He wouldn't go into too much detail but Horus' appetites were something else.

"Thank you for informing me of my son's sexual qualities. Anubis is quite similarly gifted."

Seth grimaced, "Don't ruin the moment." He had a hard time imagining his son and his sister doing the things that he and Horus did every night.

Isis shrugged, "You started it. But when do you plan to tell him?"

Seth crossed his arms, "Tonight. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't imagining it. But I don't have much time before it will be obvious."

"He will be happy."

"He better be. I'm going to be a menace." Seth grinned.

–

And indeed, he was a menace. Horus was over the moon when Seth told him, but the following months would have been easier spent in the Duat. Seth let him deal with his ferocious appetite, his sore feet, and the emotional outbursts. He wasn't holding back.

Part of him was happy that Seth was comfortable enough with him to let him partake in the pregnancy's ugly moments. The moments when Seth would hold a bowl to throw up the items that Horus had to fly to the other end of Egypt to buy. The moments when he felt sore all over his body and Horus could do nothing to alleviate the pain.
Feeling their child kick for the first time was worth the irritation, he found.

Sometimes Horus wondered if Seth was simply making him experience double the amount of suffering, as payback for not being around for the first pregnancy.
The worst thing was, that Isis was fully on Seth's side the entire time. But Horus was happy to deal with his pregnant husband anyway. Because when Seth finally went into labor and he held his hand through it all, he realized that it had all been worth it, the appetite, the mood swings, and the tears.

Even sweeter was the moment when they finally held their son in their arms.
Duamutef, they named him. A boy with charcoal black hair and red eyes. Their hearts were filled with warmth like never before as they welcomed the boy into their family.
Seth looked at him and he knew, that it was only the beginning.