The Queen Of Gods

Chapter 1

Chapter One

I never imagined that avoiding Ma'at would be so difficult. I'd spent thousands of years in the temple without running into her more than a dozen times, but now I wanted to do that, she was everywhere.

And at some point, I was going to have to tell her about Amun. She thought he was on our side. Which was reasonable. That was what I'd told her in the first place. It just turned out that I was wrong. A small part of me wished Nephthys hadn't told me about Amun's true alignment, that way I could ignore it. But that didn't change the fact that I did need to know. And I had to do something about it.

Which meant talking to him. And he was the one person I wanted to see less than Ma'at right now.

I snagged a goblet of wine from a passing tray and took a large gulp before almost spitting it out. Who was serving that swill? I set the goblet back down as quickly as I grabbed it. I wasn't about to drink any more of it, and was tempted to send for one of my own priestesses to get me something better from my own stores.

That would be a quick way to insult the host, though. Especially when it was Atum himself. I still couldn't believe he'd come down from his mountain temple. But then again, he was going back as soon as the feast was over. Apparently, he'd wanted to cement his position when it came to Seth's plotting. I was glad of that. At least I hadn't made a mistake with him.

I scanned the room, my gaze lingering on Horus and Khonsu where they were chatting away to one another, sat so close they could kiss. Which was probably why they were sitting like that. The two men had become inseparable a lot faster than I'd ever have imagined possible. Potentially because Horus was an ass.

"Hathor."

I groaned. So much for avoiding Ma'at. I should have known better and stayed in my own temple. She'd have known I was there, though. And more than that, it would have looked weird if I hadn't been at the feast welcoming Atum when I was the one being credited with bringing him to the temple and to ally with the rest of us when it came to combating Seth's plans.

"Ma'at." I dipped my head at her in greeting as I turned around, plastering a fake smile on my face. Hopefully, she didn't know me well enough to be able to tell what I was really thinking.

"I've been looking for you," she said.

Ah.

"I wanted to thank you for making all of this possible." She waved a hand around the room, a little bit of wine spilling from her cup as she did.

My eyes widened. Was Ma'at drunk? It wasn't impossible for us to drink a little too much, but it was highly unlikely for it to ever happen. It took a lot of alcohol to do it. And it had to be a special kind that was only ever brewed here at Karnak.

"It's nothing," I muttered under my breath. Wouldn't it be enough that I got three of the gods she'd sent me after on side?

Somehow, I doubted it. She was an all or nothing kind of woman.

She threw an arm around me and pulled me closer.

How do I get out of this? We weren't friends before this, and I doubted we ever would be. I didn't have much in common with the goddess of justice.

"With what you've done, we finally stand a chance against Seth. We needed all of the gods on side..."

Great. Just what I wanted to hear. That means I have no choice but to confront Amun about what I'd found out.

I repressed a snort. I wasn't sure when I'd started believing that I'd be able to avoid that eventuality. No matter how this affected Ma'at's cause, there was something more important at stake.

What he'd done to me.

"Excuse me, I need to go check on something," I murmured, ducking out from under Ma'at's arm.

Lucky for me, the other goddess didn't seem to even notice that I was moving away from her. Thank the stars for small mercies. If she asked the right questions, I was certain I'd end up telling her the truth.

She went off into the crowd, no doubt to annoy someone else she'd set doing an impossible task for her. I doubted I was the only one she'd managed to coerce into helping her.

For someone so obsessed with justice, she sure wasn't averse to manipulating to get her own way.

I made a beeline for the exit, not wanting to talk to anyone else until I'd had words with Amun. I needed to fix the mess I'd accidentally created, even if it wasn't really my fault. He'd told me he was with me in everything. It wasn't precisely my fault that he'd omitted some information from that.

A dark haired woman caught my eye and I had to do a double-take. Ma'at had even managed to get Ammit on our side? I hadn't even realised the demoness was still around. She hadn't been seen in several thousand years.

I nodded to her as I passed, not wanting to get distracted. The upcoming conversation was going to be hard enough as it was, the last thing I needed was to let myself put this off any longer.

The corridors were more or less deserted, which made sense. Most of the gods and goddesses were at the feast I'd just left, with most of the priests and priestesses at similar, smaller feasts dotted around the temple. We used to all mix together for events like that, but since the world stopped believing in us, the gods decided they wanted a place and a time where they could let their hair down and act like themselves. Which I simply saw as a way for them to act like idiots. There was a reason I'd stayed away from most of the feasts.

The moment I was back in my own part of the temple, I breathed a sigh of relief. No one was around, I'd dismissed all of my attendants before leaving for the event. It was only fair they had the night off, and I knew I wouldn't be in the best mood once I returned. Especially not with what we were celebrating.

But that meant there was no one who could give me a reason not to summon Amun. I had to remember that it was better that way. No one knew what was going on between us. They didn't even realise he'd been sneaking into my rooms to see me. If they weren't here now, then they couldn't overhear the argument I was sure we were about to have and report back to the wrong person. I was going to be the one who told the other goddess about Amun's defection, even if it was the last thing I wanted.