Seth by Laura Greenwood

CHAPTER1

Menhit

I smiledat the satyr opposite me just as the bell rang to signal the end of the speed dating event. Despite knowing I shouldn’t, I almost let out a relieved sigh that I’d been saved from more pointless conversations that wouldn’t go anywhere.

Normally, I had a lot more fun at DeLux Café. I said goodbye and scrunched up the card in my hand, already knowing that I didn’t want to put a tick by anyone’s name.

I searched the crowd until my gaze landed on Bastet and Ptah, sharing a cosy table with one another at the back like they often did. She saw me looking and waved me over.

I headed over to them, briefly considering ordering another drink before I did, but thinking better of it.

“I’m going to go have a word with Baal,” Ptah said as I got there. “I’ll be back.” He leaned over and kissed Bastet’s cheek, causing her to blush and let out a small laugh as if she was a young shifter experiencing first love, and not a several thousand-year-old goddess in a serious relationship with someone she’d known almost as long.

“We’ll be here,” she responded.

Ptah disappeared into the crowd, presumably to find the storm god he’d mentioned.

“Did I scare him away?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip of my rum and coke.

Bastet let out a small laugh. “Not even slightly. I think he just saw how badly that went and figured you’d need a place to vent.”

I sighed. “It didn’t go great.”

“I could tell. What’s wrong? I thought you liked coming to these things because they’re fun?”

“It’s complicated,” I admitted, trying not to think about how much worse it was because I knew how she felt about speed dating. She’d only done it once, and I knew that was because Sekhmet had convinced her that she should and no other reason.

“Try me.” She picked up her wine glass and took a sip.

“Okay, so it is fun,” I said. “But I suppose I’ve been feeling a little lonely lately.” Especially since I was spending a lot of my downtime around a couple who were as loved up as she and Ptah were.

“Oh, Menhit.”

“Don’t oh, Menhit me. I’m fine. It’ll pass.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Then that’s why I’ll keep coming to speed dating,” I responded with a little too much false cheer.

She narrowed her eyes at me, clearly unimpressed by the way I’m acting. I didn’t really blame her, I could be doing a better job at being convincing.

“So you’re lonely?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” A pang of pain travelled through me, making me realise that was exactly the way I was feeling, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Have you tried going upstairs and taking part in human speed dating?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Hmm. What about online dating?”

“I haven’t done that yet.”

“Then pass me your phone and we’re doing it.” She held out her hand and made a motion that had me giving it to her without thinking twice about it. “Hmm, I’ve heard good things about this one.” She clicked on the screen to start an app downloading and handed my phone back.

“What do you know about dating apps?” I tried to keep the surprise out of my voice, but I didn’t manage. She’d kept herself away from anything remotely social for years, I doubted she’d been dabbling in human dating in that time.

“People told me their life stories every time they came to adopt a cat, I’ve heard a lot about them.”

“Huh, who would have thought it?”

“Many, many, humans,” she responded. “But to hear them tell it, dating apps are where you’ll find someone. You have to make your profile, then you get to decide on the people you like based on first impressions.”

“So basically like speed dating,” I muttered as I clicked through the instructions on the screen. “I should use my human name, right?”

She nodded. “I would. What is it? I’ve never asked.”

“Merry. What’s yours?”

“Betty.”

I cocked my head to the side. “I don’t think it suits you.”

“That’s what Sekhmet said. But that’s what I picked, so that’s what all my paperwork says. I don’t use it very much anyway. No one ever cared about me when they were coming to look at cats.”

“Just the way you like it,” I pointed out.

“Exactly.”

“Okay, will you check my profile?” I asked, handing my phone back to her.

“Sure. But I don’t think you’ll have put anything that I wouldn’t. What did you put for your age?”

“Thirty-three but I checked the box that hid it from people so I’m not technically lying.”

“I suspect more people would accuse you of lying if you put five thousand and thirty-three,” she agreed. “If that even is how old you are.”

“No idea, to be honest. I stopped counting a long time ago.”

“Well, it all looks good. You can start swiping.”

I took my phone back from her and stared down at the screen where a smiling guy looked back at me. At first glance, he looked nice, but there was something in his eyes that made me think twice about him. I pressed the X on the bottom left of the screen, sending him into the rejection pile.

“This is kind of fun,” I said as I swiped on a few more people.

Bastet chuckled. “You’re supposed to say yes to some of them though.”

“I know. Here’s one. He’s got a nice smile. I’ll say yes to him.” I pressed the heart on the right-hand side of the screen.

Bastet leaned back in her chair, seeming bemused at my response to the swiping. And a little smug, but she could only claim that if I found someone interesting enough to actually date.

I paused when I came across the photo of a man in his thirties with a charming smile and what looked like secrets in his eyes. Something intrigued me about him, and he almost looked familiar, though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about him that made me think as much. Perhaps I’d seen someone who looked like him in passing at some point. I’d know a lot of people in my life, there was always a chance of that.

Without thinking about it too much, I pressed the heart for Saul. He seemed like a nice guy from his profile, and that meant I should give us a chance to get to know one another.

Hopefully, he’d turn out to be just as nice in person. I could hope for as much.