𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐓 ; ahkmenrah

fifteen.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

❝Hold me like the night holds the moon in its arms.❞

Alexandra Vasiliu

✦✧✦

"Ahk, what is going on?" Luna asks, frowning. "We don't have time to talk!"

"Then freeze time!" Ahkmenrah insists. Luna's never seen him this worked up. She focuses her energy on the outside world, feels time like a rope in her hand. She closes her eyes. Ties the rope in a knot.

Everything freezes except the two of them.

"Now what?" she asks, opening her eyes and looking up at him.

"It--" Ahkmenrah sighs, his hands tightening around hers. "It's more serious than I thought. And you should just know. Because it involves you."

He pulls her down to sit against one of the statues of Anubis and begins. "You heard my brother talking about the prophecy earlier tonight. About how it involves you and me. Well, that prophecy is just the second half of a larger prophecy.

"When I was born, a prophet from the temple of Khonsu, the moon god, came running to my father. He said that he'd had a dream, and he recited this prophecy for my father: 'A child, born in absence of light/Holds the key to reborn life/An infant king, loved by all/Immortalized in words of gold/But words of gold will fade in time/And so the king will forever shut his eyes/Unless the daughter of the moon/Chooses one to save and one to lose.'

"Eighteen years later, on the eve of my death, the self-same prophet made the second half of that prophecy to my brother: 'When the new moon wakes/The healer and king meet their fate/Dark and light collide in two/And become one in a matter of moons/Khonsu's child grows ever more strong/While the rays of the moon creep toward the dawn/And only the power of selfless love/Can stop the destruction that comes.'

"I've had four thousand years to think about the beginning of the prophecy, and now I think I know what it means." Ahkmenrah swallows hard, takes a deep breath, and continues. "You are the 'child born in absence of light'. Your powers are the 'key to reborn life'. I am the 'infant king' and the tablet is the 'words of gold'."

"Okay..." Luna's following along so far, though it's slightly difficult, considering she's about to fall asleep sitting up. "I'm with you so far."

"As for the second half, here's what I've come up with so far: Something's going to happen to the tablet around the new moon and--and its powers won't work, which means I will--I will die." Ahkmenrah swallows hard again, squeezes her hand. "Unless you choose someone to die in my place."

Luna's heart freezes, just like everything else. "What?"

"You're the 'healer' and I'm the 'king'. I think the prophecy says that we'll fall in love, and that when the tablet does fade or whatever happens to it, you'll have to choose between my life and someone else's life."

"I can't." Luna shakes her head, eyes burning suddenly. "I can't choose. You can't make me choose."

"We can't change fate, Luna," Ahkmenrah says softly, beautiful eyes sad. "Believe me, if I could, I would, but fate is an unmoving thing. Destiny calls and we must answer."

"You want me to let you die? Or kill someone else?" Luna stands up, running her hands through her hair. She feels like she can't breathe. "Ahk, I can't! I can't do that."

"You're going to have to." Ahkmenrah follows her, reaches out and takes her hand again, pulling her towards him. "But I promise, I'll make that decision as easy as I can when the time comes."

"No." She shakes her head, a single tear escaping, despite her best efforts. "No. I won't let you die."

"I've died before," Ahkmenrah says, attempting a grin. "Surely it can't be that bad the second time."

Luna takes a deep, shuddering breath. "And we don't know when this will happen?"

Ahkmenrah gives her a sad, knowing look. "No."

"Shit," she breathes, staring around at the statues of Anubis. They're unmoving, frozen in the knot in time that she created. "Shit."

"I know." Ahkmenrah rubs her back comfortingly. "Just as I've begun to fall for you, the gods have to throw a twist into our paths."

Luna's heart freezes again, but this time for a different reason. "You--you what?"

Ahkmenrah blushes softly. "I've fallen for you," he says, even more quietly.

"Oh." Luna suddenly can't look him in the eye. 

"And--and have you?"

"Have I--have I what?" You idiot, Luna, just answer him. 

"Do you feel the same way?" Ahkmenrah asks nervously, biting the inside of his cheek.

Luna nods, blushing herself this time. This room is so hot. She looks anywhere but at him.

And then Ahkmenrah's hand slips from hers. Comes to rest on her waist. She looks up.

There's a split second where they stare at each other, understanding passing between them, time literally frozen around them.

And then Ahkmenrah breathes, "Gods, you're beautiful," and kisses her.

His hands slide from her jaw up into her hair, cupping her face, pulling her against him. He tastes of cinnamon and cloves. She sighs against his lips. He pulls away, only to ask, "Is this alright?", and when she nods, he pushes her up against one of the statues and kisses her even harder, hungrily, like he's waited his whole life for this.

(To be fair, reader, he has.)

Luna finds the edge of his crown-thing and pulls at it, knocking it off, her hands finding his curls and tugging on them. Ahkmenrah whispers her name against her lips, against her neck, against her collarbone, and his hands find the edge of her shirt, running his fingers along the bare strip of skin there, tracing fire against her stomach.

Luna loses herself in his touch, in the way he says her name, and for a split second, she forgets that he could die, forgets the prophecy, forgets everything but him.

And just as it starts to change between them, to be too much to handle, Luna pulls away, gasping for air, and whispers, "Ahkmenrah, not tonight."

He pulls back slightly, breathing hard, and rests his forehead against hers, a sleepy smile on his face. "Alright. Not tonight."

Luna loosens her grip on time, not fully, though, so that it moves ever-so-slowly, like sand through an hourglass. They stay like that for a long time, holding each other, as the sun peers in through the window, washing away the lingering touches of the night.

Ahkmenrah presses a final, gentle kiss against her lips, whispers, "Good night, my love", and then it is morning.

Dawn pours into the museum and all is still.

✦✧✦

eeeeee the first kiss oh my good gracious

q: on a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfying was the first kiss?

a: 12/10. would recommend.