The Queen Of Gods

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Where did you disappear off to last night?" Khonsu said as he slipped into the room.

I groaned and rolled over in the bed, pushing Ura out of the way so I could get up. She slithered to the side, letting out a soft hiss to communicate that she was all right and was moving out the way.

The moon god pulled the curtains around my bed and stared down at me.

"Hmm. Last night's clothes. That either means you've crept home from someone else's rooms, or you cried yourself to sleep."

I snorted. "Neither." Though I'd come dangerously close to the second option, I wasn't about to tell him that. If I did, I'd have to explain the complexities of whatever is going on with Amun. I wasn't even sure I could put that into words. Especially now.

"Well, you're boring." He dropped down onto my bed, then reached out to scratch Ura's head.

She hissed, leaning against his touch. I wasn't surprised. While I wasn't sure if she had any magic other than seeming immortality, she did seem like she could tell who was a good person, and reacted to them like this.

"As opposed to you?" I asked, propping myself up on my elbow. "All you do these days is spend time with one man," I pointed out.

"What can I say? I've always been a one-person-at-a-time kind of guy."

"Me too. Well, woman. I tried the whole more thing, but it wasn't for me."

"Haven't we all?" Khonsu said offhandedly. "I can think of a few gods who are still experimenting with it."

I shrugged. "Whatever works for them. So long as they all talk to one another about it." And no one was betraying anyone else and breaking their hearts.

But then, who was I to talk? I'd started losing my heart to someone who didn't feel the same. At least, I didn't see how he could, given what he'd done to me.

Except, he hadn't done anything directly to me. All he'd done was keep something from me that I'd never asked him directly about. Perhaps that was where I'd gone wrong.

No. I couldn't let myself think that way. I couldn't let him off the hook just because I kind of understood. This was to do with Seth. It wasn't a grey situation. It was as clear cut as it got. Seth wanted to cause chaos and death throughout the world. Anyone with at least a small shred of decency knew not to side with him. And even gods and goddesses who had been coerced to side with him did their best to escape. Which was how Nephthys had been able to tell me about Amun in the first place.

"You look as if you're thinking too hard," Khonsu said, pulling me from my thoughts again.

"That's just what people do," I pointed out.

"Not this early in the morning."

"If it's so early, why are you up and about already? Did Horus kick you out of bed?" I teased.

Khonsu cracked a smile. "No, but he had to go back to one of his temples."

"Ah, and he woke you up in the process, so now you've come to annoy me instead of going back to sleep."

"It only seemed fair." He shrugged. "And considering I've come in to find you wallowing in your bed, I made the right decision."

"I'm not wallowing." The protest felt weak, even to me.

Khonsu's expression revealed how little he believed me.

"Why don't you take a bath? That normally mellows you out." He shrugged.

Should I be worried about how well he knows me after so little time? I don't think so. My ba recognised Khonsu on a level that I hadn't found with many people, even in my long life. I didn't even feel the same connection to Amun.

My heart ached at the thought of him. How was I ever going to convince him he was making a mistake? Was that even what I wanted?

I pushed thoughts of Amun to the side and refocused on Khonsu's idea. He did have a point. A bath was always a good way to relax. And I still felt a little disgusting after the feast last night. I really should have taken my dress off before falling asleep.

"That's a good idea," I admitted.

He smiled reassuringly at me, then reached out and touched my shoulder. "I need to go to a meeting with one of my priests now, to get things properly set up here again."

"You're here to stay?" I perked up at that.

"I am. Horus is near here, and you are too. My life was very lonely until you walked down my alley."

"Mine too," I admitted. Even though I'd still been around all of the other gods and goddesses here at Karnak, I wasn't really living any more. I'd stopped that long before.

"Good. Then go bathe so you can take on the day. I'll see you for a senet game later, if you want?"

I nodded. It would be nice to have a normal moment to play a board game. It might take my mind off everything that was happening.

He smiled and finally left the room. I stretched out on the bed, loosening my sore muscles from sleeping in an odd position. A bath would sort those out too. I had to wonder when Khonsu had become such an expert on all things hygiene. It wasn't his area of expertise. Then again, no one really knew what being the god of the moon actually entailed. I imagined it wasn't far off the same situation that Ra found himself in. Everyone thought he was a sun god, but actually, that didn't mean anything. All he did was stand around with a disk on his head sometimes.

Actually, that was unfair of me. He did far more than that. But one thing he'd never done was ride a chariot across the sky with the sun attached to the back. Sadly. I'd have paid good money to see him try. I wasn't sure why the humans had decided that was his job. At least I could enjoy the mental image it brought.

"I'll be back," I promised Ura.

She hissed again, letting me know she'd heard me.

Affection flooded through me. She'd been with me so long that her presence had almost become one with mine. There were many times when having her around had staved off the loneliness that being a goddess sometimes brought. Especially when I was in my phase of trying to avoid all the other deities. In hindsight, I wasn't sure why I'd done that. But it didn't matter. It was part of my past now.

Or it would be, if I could fix my mistake with Amun. If not, then I suspected the others would shun me to varying degrees.

I reached out and petted the snake, determined to communicate with her how much she meant to me. She leaned into my touch. I assumed it meant something similar to how I felt. Perhaps I should talk to Wadjet about teaching me to speak to Ura. Or perhaps simply get the snake goddess to translate for me. But I hadn't seen her for several centuries. I wondered where she'd gotten off to.

I sighed and rose to my feet, pulling myself away from my pet. I had a meeting to attend, and while I was the most senior person who would be there, it was still rude for me to keep Anku and Ptah's builder waiting, especially when it was about something as important as rebuilding a place of worship.

But first, I was going to take Khonsu's advice and bathe. I had time. It was best to take advantage of that.