The Queen Of Gods

Epilogue

Epilogue

There were far too many people here for my liking, but it would be cruel to have sent my priestesses to serve at the banquet and then not turn up myself, especially when I was part of the reason Ma'at had managed to achieve her goal in the first place and was able to talk some of the other gods into taking sides. Though I suspected a few of those gathered here tonight might end up defecting to Seth's side. I doubted everyone would agree with us.

Everyone was drinking more than they should and chattering among themselves, while none of them paid much attention to me. I suspected it was because most of them had no idea what role I'd played in making all of this possible, and that was fine by me. I didn't need the attention it would bring me.

I scanned the room, looking for familiar faces and spying relatively few. Of course, I knew most of the gods and goddesses in passing, it was almost impossible not to when we lived in such a small space. But the number of them that I'd refer to as friends was small. I should do something to change that now we were going to be working together.

Khonsu and Horus were sitting next to one another at the opposite side of the hall, eating off the same plate and generally being sickeningly sweet. Apparently, their relationship was out in the open now, then.

Ma'at was busy talking with Isis and her husband, though I wouldn't have called her a friend anyway. Trusted ally was about as far as I was willing to go when it came to the goddess of truth.

Ptah sat talking with his ex-consort and their son, Maahes. It was surprising he wasn't shadowing Ma'at, but perhaps they were still being quiet about their relationship. I pushed thoughts of the two of them aside. They hardly mattered until it came to actually planning the attack on Seth. But I needed to talk to Ptah later. I'd only sent him word about my temple a couple of days ago, so it was too early for me to expect a reply, but a little small talk wouldn't hurt if I ran into him later in the evening.

My gaze reached the end of the long banquet table, and my heart sank. It was only then that I realised who I'd been looking for. Despite not having seen him since our kiss, I'd been hoping Amun would come. I wanted to spend more time with him, especially because it would give us a chance to get to know one another better and eventually move on to the physical part of our relationship.

I sighed and sank back in my chair, catching sight of the person sitting next to me.

My eyes widened as I recognised the goddess. Nephthys. The last person I expected to see at a banquet for the express purpose of bringing down the reign of her consort. Or probably ex-consort, given she was here.

"I hear you're to thank for the gods agreeing to be part of this," she said to me.

"Only four," I muttered. "Though one didn't take much convincing."

"That doesn't surprise me. Ma'at probably realised she could catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Ma'at only does things that suit her," Nephthys said.

"Ah, right. Yes, I've always assumed so." And it didn't bother me for the most part. She was trying to do the right thing, and while I might question some of her execution, I wasn't going to fault her motives.

"All I meant was that her personality can be a bit, prickly sometimes. So she decided to use you in order to persuade people who needed a gentler touch."

"Ah. Yes. Well I don't think Horus would agree to you on that one." Prickly didn't even begin to describe the complicated relationship between us. "But I'm sure Amun would."

She frowned. "Amun?"

"Yes."

"Hathor, Amun is with Seth," Nephthys said.

"No, he isn't. He said..."

"I promise. He's on Seth's side. I was there the day he arrived at Seth's compound and he swore his loyalty to him." The earnestness in her voice made it impossible to ignore what she was saying.

"But, that can't be right." The whole room began to spin as the truth sunk in.

We'd kissed. And I'd told Ma'at he was on our side. But all that time, he'd been aligned with Seth. He might have even been the god who helped destroy my temple.

Love, hate, and anger warred for dominance inside me, and I wasn't sure which of them would win out.

The End

Thank you for reading Quest Of The Goddess, I hope you enjoyed the first part of Hathor's story. It continues in Trust Of The Goddess which will follow what happens next as she sorts out her feelings for Amun, and prepares to take on Seth: h***:://books2read.com/trustofthegoddess

You can also read First Meeting for free, a bonus scene where Amun and Hathor meet for the first time: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/fsd2vpwn84