The night continued and midnight was already long past midnight in the French capital. Beneath its streets, in the depths, the catacombs were also plunged into marble silence. Within the sanctuary which had been given the name "den of the misunderstood", the various monsters had returned to their occupations, most of them not needing sleep and occupying their time as they could.

At the back of the sanctuary, in the room that was given to them as a bedroom, Mathias and Ahmanet indulged in this new love that now united them, not wasting a second in savoring these moments of true tenderness. It didn't matter if they had been doing this for hours now, they didn't care about the time passing, nothing was more important than the present moment. Huddled together, hugging each other delicately but also with loving strength, the couple continued to gently make love. Leaning over Ahmanet, Mathias sensually caressed her thigh while kissing her passionately, first on the lips then on the neck. Ahmanet moaned with pleasure when Mathias, carried away by his desire and his love for her, delicately caressed one of her breasts while continuing to kiss her lovingly on the neck.

_"Well well, setepai..." Ahmanet chuckled softly with naughty pleasure. "I didn't know you had that kind of talent."

_"I could say the same thing about you." Mathias replied between each smooch, also teasing her with love. "Maybe we were both waiting to express them with the right person?"

She smiled, liking his way of seeing things and she wanted to believe it too, it was destiny that had brought them together. They continued to make love like this for a good part of the night, then tired, Mathias, panting but happy, came to lie down again next to Ahmanet. The couple, lying side by side on this mattress, looked into each other's eyes in a loving but very expressive silence, the young man even gently brushing a lock of hair from his princess's forehead in order to better see her eyes, which many would call monstrous but he found hypnotizing and magnificent. But Ahmanet could see, despite this moment of pleasure and love shared together, that doubt was in Mathias's eyes. With her cold, soft hand, she caressed his cheek.

_"Tell me what weighs on your mind, my love." she whispered, concerned.

_"It's just that... I still have to realize everything that's happening to me." admitted Mathias, thoughtfully. "A week ago, I was just a man lost in his lonely life and searching for true purpose. I thought I would never find love and you came into my life, for my great happiness."

The couple smiled at each other, shared a short and tender kiss then Ahmanet came to lean over Mathias.

_"I know you very well now, my beloved, and don't forget that I can read you like an open book." Ahmanet whispered. "There is something else."

_"Exact." admitted Mathias, knowing that he couldn't hide anything from her. "I also wanted to ask you a question: is this true? Did you intend to stab me with Set's dagger to invok him to this world?"

The young man asked this question out of curiosity and not as a reproach or a judgment. Ahmanet for her part didn't even seem surprised by this question, as if she expected it sooner or later and she didn't try to deny her intentions beforehand.

_"Yes, I admit it." she said. "Understand me my love: I had such hatred for humans, after everything they put me through. I wanted their destruction, to obtain what was rightfully mine: to reign as queen. I was going to make my setepai a living god, my immortal king. Together, we would bring the world to its knees and exterminate the vermin that swarmed there."

_"But, when I was at the temple, you had multiple opportunities to invoke Set." added Mathias, trying to understand. "I was alone, lost and I had no way to escape you. Why did you spare me?"

Ahmanet didn't respond right away, smiling then coming to snuggle up against Mathias, their bodies touching and hugging. She gently rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and enjoying his human warmth on her.

_"Because as the days went by, I learned to discover who you were, setepai." she said with undisguised love. "I saw your human mind but much more open than I had ever seen it. Unlike other humans, you are not blinded by what your eyes are only able to see. You can also see through your mind and your heart. You never showed contempt or hatred towards me, on the contrary, I fascinated you, I felt it, you wanted to discover who I really was, even if I was a monster. At the beginning, I I didn't understand such an attitude and little by little, confusion turned into attraction. So, I was unable to deliver your soul to Set and out of love for you, I made the decision to give mankind one last chance."

Mathias listened and was more than touched and happy to hear that, and guessing that she was more than sincere in her words. He understood how hard it was for her to curb this contempt for humans, especially when you are a different and misunderstood being.

_"I really appreciate this effort you are making for me." he said to her and kissed her tenderly. "The monsters are lucky to have you as their queen."

Ahmanet blushed and smiled at him, silently thanking him for these sweet words. The princess, however, remained thoughtful, contemplating the dagger of Set in her hand, watching the reflections of the moving flames on the surface of the black serrated blade. Despite the unwavering support of her setepai, Ahmanet could not prevent this little doubt in herself from remaining.

_"But what kind of queen will I become?" she sighed. "This power that I hold in my hand... I could impose it on this decadent and ignorant world... Once this was my dearest wish, and I still feel it within me, tenuous but very real... but now... I don't know anymore..."

Mathias looked at her and listened to her, seeing that despite her progress she was still torn, the harmful influence of Set not having yet completely disappeared from her essence. Refusing to let her slide back into darkness and become the puppet of this cursed god, Mathias stayed with her in bed, even joining his hand with hers and now both holding the dagger, together as one.

_"You will be the queen you want to be and I know you will make the right choice." said the young man with conviction and love. "I trust you, Ahmanet. You are stronger than this dagger, this power or even this god Set. He only blindly obeys his evil nature, he is no more than the puppet of his destiny... But you, Ahmanet, have something that he will never have: you can choose who you want to become. Just like I chose to stay by your side."

With these words of encouragement and tenderness, Mathias placed a kiss on the princess's cheek. Choose? This apparently simple word yet resonated in Ahmanet's mind. She who had never really had a choice during her life at the royal court of Egypt, shaped according to her father's wishes to be the ruthless monarch she should have been. Thinking about it, it exploded as a truth in the princess's mind: despite her status and the power she had within the kingdom, she had never been free, simply a prisoner in a huge golden cage in which she didn't see the bars. Moreover, her endless thirst for power had made her a true slave to her ambitions.

She who once believed herself untouchable, all-powerful, chosen by the gods to rule the world. This truth that she had refused to see until now was a hard blow to her heart, but necessary, she finally realized it. Mathias looked at her for a long time without saying anything, wanting to let her make her own decisions. Tightening her grip on the handle of the dagger, Ahmanet finally decided to move it away from her face, placing it on the ground and looking away from it.

_"I will become a queen, but according to my own convictions and not those of anyone else." she said forcefully.

Mathias smiles to see her like this, to see her renounce the use of this weapon which made her Set's puppet. The Egyptian princess then looked towards Mathias, then without giving him time to react, firmly placed her hands on his bare chest, forcing him to lie down and leaned over him. Stuck on the mattress, Mathias blushed while watching the beautiful princess sitting on top of him and sensually touching his chest with her cold but gentle hands.

_"It is your heart that I choose, setepai." she breathed with a look of lust. "And I choose to make love with you until the sun rises."

She didn't give Mathias time to respond, leaning over and kissing him on the mouth with passion for long seconds.

_"As you wish... your majesty." Mathias then replied, teasingly, after the kiss between two breaths. "I could have chosen to want to get some sleep, but how could I, knowing that the most beautiful woman in the world is next to me?"

_"Do you think flattery will keep you safe?" she responded by smiling in a falsely threatening way, playing and smiling with Mathias. "Enough words, come here..."

Carried away by their love and their mutual desires, Mathias and Ahmanet kissed again with love and groped each other sensually, wanting to enjoy every second of this first night which testified to the union of their hearts and minds. Ahmanet lay back on her back while Mathias leaned over her and delicately penetrated her to begin a new act of passionate carnal love. Ahmanet moaned with unparalleled pleasure while clinging to him, feeling his lips kiss her neck with delight.

_"Oh goddess..." panted Ahmanet in her own pleasure, mentioning Hathor the Egyptian goddess of love.

Although excited, Mathias didn't go too fast, wanting to take advantage of this moment, to feel this skin so cold but soft against his, to feel Ahmanet's silky lips on his and to remember each of their kisses as if it were was their first. Ahmanet also let herself be taken by this sincere sexual pleasure that they were experiencing together, coming to lightly bite Mathias' neck but without making it bleed. But however, the excitement was too intense and Ahmanet could not restrain his sharp nails from lightly lacerating the skin of the young man's back who immediately felt a sharp pain and grimaced, ceasing the carnal act and even feeling a very thin thread of blood flow.

_"I... forgive me, my love... I didn't want to..." she whispered, blaming herself.

_"There is nothing to forgive." he replied gently, touching her cheek. "It hurts yes, but well... To love sometimes means to suffer."

_"I would never make you suffer." Ahmanet then said lovingly. "May Osiris condemn me to the eternal hell if I should harm you."

Touched by these words coming from her, the young man brings his face closer to hers, their lips meeting for a very short kiss.

_"If suffering means staying by your side, then I will face all the hell that exists without the slightest hesitation." Mathias replied. "But for now, I am here, with you, and even a free ticket to heaven won't change my mind."

Ahmanet felt her monstrous and black heart beating with this very human warmth that she had regained little by little, thanks to him. Renouncing heaven and being willing to endure the eternal torment of hell just for love. Yes, he really wasn't like other humans in this world. Besides... she had never really been either. And yet separated by millennia, they were able to find each other...

Deciding to continue enjoying the present moment, Mathias leaned back against Ahmanet and continued slowly and tenderly to make love to her. While passing her hands delicately on Mathias's back and enjoying this love that he offered her, Ahmanet could not reprimand this little feeling of guilt for inviting itself into her head. She loved him with all her heart, but did that mean he would suffer forever at her side? Did she have the right to do this to him? He seemed to be ready for such a sacrifice for her ... but was she?