Slay by Matthew Laurence

Author:Matthew Laurence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Imprint

14

EXHIBITIONISM

NATHAN

“Is this cheating?” Nathan asks Sekhmet.

“On whom? Freya?” she replies, looking up from her museum guide.

Nathan shakes his head. “Oh, no—I don’t think she’d really mind us sneaking off to New York for a night on the town.”

“Then why the secrecy?” Sekhmet says with a sly smile.

“Because I wanted to surprise you, and that’s already hard enough when it’s just me with something to hide,” he says. “You’re very good at killing mysteries, you know.”

“I’m good at killing everything,” she says with a wink, and gives her map a shake. “Now, why have you brought me here? Or is that another enigma I must slay?”

Nathan smiles at that. In lieu of an answer, he nods at the soaring entryway of domed arches and stately columns around them. Hordes of tourists stream in all directions, eager to experience the treasures of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s nice, Nathan feels, to be part of that crowd, to take a day off from gods and glamour and just … hang out.

“My dad took me to the Met a long time ago,” he says, feeling unexpectedly wistful. “Awesome experience for young Nate, and a big part of why I went into art and design. There’s this one painting of a girl here—Lady with the Rose, I think. She had this incredible smirk, and I remember wanting so badly to be able to make something like that.”

Sekhmet holds up her map to Nathan and taps the section labeled EGYPTIAN ART. “I am reasonably certain you brought me here for more than mere reminiscence,” she says in a knowing tone.

Nathan can’t help laughing at that. For a five-thousand-year-old cat goddess, she does a remarkable job of keeping him grounded. “Well, sort of,” he says, holding out a hand. “It wasn’t my past I brought you here to see.”

Sekhmet’s smile widens, and those stunningly dark eyes of hers seem to pull at him with passion and delight. “You know, I believe I quite enjoy being surprised,” she says, entwining her fingers in his and letting him lead her into the museum.

“So what did you mean by ‘cheating’?” she asks as they approach the Egyptian wing.

“Oh, right—how I got us here,” Nathan says. “I mean, using the Graces’ spa portals to skip across the country? Feels a little easy, y’know?”

“Magic is, by definition, a cheat,” Sekhmet murmurs, pocketing her map. “It is almost always used to defy natural laws.”

“Does that mean you have a problem with it?”

She scoffs at that. “One must pick their battles, love. My responsibilities concern the laws of Ma’at and the rights of women. So long as it does not violate them, magic is simply another tool to be used in their service … just as you have so cleverly used the Graces’ spells in mine.”

“Well, that’s—”

Sekhmet cuts off his reply with an elated gasp as they move into the following room. “How delightful!” she says, clasping a fist to her mouth as her head twitches in what seems an attempt to look in all directions at once.

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