His Equal [Tom Riddle]

nineteen

Anubis placed the heart of the deceased in the scale delicately, nodding at Maat when it was fully set.  Maat smiled softly and plucked the ostrich feather from her headdress, dropping it softly into the carrier below her.  

Set watched with annoyance, his eyes darting between Maat and the feather.  She had called him to her . . . and for what?  So he could watch a procedure that he'd seen—literally—a million times before?

When the feather hit its scale, the heart's side did not budge.  It remained put in its downward position, as if it were full of lead, causing Anubis to sigh and pick the heart up in one hand.  He tossed it to the open jaws of a most garish figure—Ammit, the part-lion-part-crocodile-part-hippopotamus demoness— and Set cringed.  

If it were his heart being judged, Ammit wouldn't even wait for it to be given to her.  She would simply leap up and take what's her's.  

Luckily, Set didn't anatomically posses a heart.  

"Thank you for waiting," Maat spoke up, plucking her feather from its scale and fastening it once again to its spot on her head's garment.  "I have some information that you might like to hear about your little pet." 

"My . . . oh.  Kepi Nassor?"

"The one and only," her tongue was sharp as she stood up and led Set out of the room into an infinitely long hallway.  "Your mortal was never supposed to meet Tom Riddle."

"You're telling me," Set grumbled. "I thought I raised her better to be some boy-chasing thing. She's being entirely too open with him."

"Yes . . . well," Maat winced slightly, her slender hand reaching up to fiddle with her feather.  "That part might be my fault."

"And how is that?" Set crossed his arms, muscles tensing.  

"Well, you see, Tom Riddle's mother upset the balance of things when she conceived the boy," Maat began, wrinkling her straight nose in disgust.  "Nasty woman, that Merope Gaunt.  She gave a local man a love potion . . . tried to make him love her . . . had a baby with him . . ."  Maat shook her head.  "She died in the end.  I didn't even have a part to play in that - sometimes fate does not need intervention. The tricked man still deserved justice, though.  Plus, I knew of Tom Riddle's ancestry—of the role that Apep played in his ability to communicate in parseltongue.  And so, I just couldn't resist . . ."

"For once I actually have no idea where this is going," Set mumbled, leaning back into the wall.  

"I cursed Tom with the inability to love. It was poetic really, given his mother's actions . . . but I added a loophole."  

"Ah, loopholes. Gotta love 'em," Set groaned, not liking where this was headed.  

"He was an innocent baby boy, who did not ask to be born. He paid for his mother's actions, but I still wanted to give him some kind of chance ... so I decided to allow him to have these feelings with only one person on the entire planet: the first woman he met who also was gifted with deital powers." She gave Set a nervous smile. "Funny, right?"

"Oh, come on, Maat. You can't leave anything be, can you?"

"Well, to be fair, I didn't think it would ever happen!  I thought that he would die alone and miserable, with no way to pass on his family's name. Apep's gift of parseltongue could die out forever, and Merope's son could suffer the same fate that his father did; he would not have a say in who he did and did not love."

"So his soul is what ... bound to Kepi or something?"

"No, no, that would just be tacky - soulmates are Hathor's domain. He simply has the emotional capacity to care for the girl. There is nothing forcing him to do so." Maat clasped her hands together.  "This emotional availability can manifest itself in whichever way he chooses.  With someone as similar-minded and attractive as your pupil, however—" her eyes narrowed at the mention of Kepi.  "I think you can tell what their future holds."

"Kepi has things to focus on, though!  I have plans for her!"  Set groaned.  "I knew this would happen.  Ever since they met, something was off.  I didn't think she would succumb to such—"

"Such what, mortal feelings?"  Maat scoffed.  "This is what happens when you deal with humans, Set.  Have you not learned from the others?"

"Well, I thought she was different."

Maat rose a brow, and took her feather out of its place quickly. "I am about to give you some advice, okay?"  

"Why'd you take the feather out?"

"Cause it isn't very moral of me to be sharing my thoughts with you, but you're hard to resist." Maat gave him a knowing look.

Set smirked, grabbing the goddess by her elbow and pulling her closer.  

"Ah, tell me more, Miss Goddess of Balance and Order."

If blood coursed through her veins, she'd surely be blushing. "You are upset by the partnership between Tom Riddle and Kepi Nassor.  You do not like how she is sharing her secrets—but this can be used to your advantage.  It seems that Kepi has already planted the seeds of your war in Tom's mind, and Tom was already headed in that direction before they met.  Together, they will be strong..." Her eyes widened as Set pressed his lips against her neck.

"I did hear him praying to me the other night," Set hummed against her skin.

"I watch them from time to time...she misses you, you know.  And despite your absence, she is building an army for you."