The Queen Of Gods

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I stripped off my scarf and handed it to one of the many priestesses waiting on my return to the temple. They were a needy sort, always wanting to do some kind of service for me. At times, I enjoyed it. But most of the time, I hated feeling like I needed to be watched every moment of every day.

"Your Eminence?" my head priestess asked, curtsying before me.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not." She swallowed loudly enough for me to hear.

Uh-oh. What was she going to tell me? I knew it wasn't going to be good. She normally blurted out whatever was on her mind and didn't care about the rest of it. I continued walking back toward my rooms, knowing she'd follow.

"One of your temples has been attacked."

I stopped in my tracks and spun around to face her. "Attacked?" I kept my voice level. It wasn't her fault, and I didn't want her to feel as if it was. Maybe some gods wouldn't agree with the way I ran my staff, but this was my choice.

"Yes, Your Eminence..."

"No need for any of that formality," I cut in. I didn't have time for her bowing and scraping. "Tell me what happened."

"Reports have only just come in," she said quickly. "So we're not sure exactly what. But there's a message for you, it's in your rooms."

"Thank you." I continued on my way, not stopping to greet any of the other gods I passed. None of them tried to strike up a conversation either. No doubt the thunderous look on my face was enough to put them all off. Normally, I was the heart and soul of the party, and I was careful to always appear approachable. It was part of what I'd become known for as a goddess, and normally, I wouldn't want to throw that away.

Right now, I didn't care. Deep down, I already knew who had sent me the note and was responsible for whatever had happened to my temple. Actually reading the letter was just a formality. Then I could decide how it was best to respond. At least, that was my theory.

My rooms were deserted when I arrived at them, and the priestesses following me quickly dispersed to their own space. Or maybe they went off to their lovers' quarters. I didn't care so long as they didn't bring any disrepute to my name.

The letter was sitting on the pillow of my bed, rather innocent looking for the disrespectful words it was sure to contain.

I unfolded it quickly, not wanting to make this last any longer than it had to. There was no way to make this easy.

My cobra slithered out from among the sheets, and I held out my arm to her, letting her twirl herself around my arm.

"What have we got ourselves into, Ura?" I asked.

She hissed, but that was to be expected, I couldn't speak to any kind of animal, not even the cows that were sacred to me.

The hieroglyphics blazed across the page told me all I needed to know. I stormed over to my bed-chamber door and looked around for the nearest priestess.

I motioned to her, and she rushed forward. Later, I'd have to remember to reward her with something. She was only young, no more than seventeen, the common age to start serving under the god or goddess of their choice. Demi-gods often ended up here.

"Please tell Ma'at I want to see her," I said, ensuring that I softened my tone enough to not seem like I was angry with her.

"M-ma'at, Your Eminence?"

I nodded. "Tell her it is of the utmost importance and about the matter we discussed the other day." That should get her here on my schedule and not on hers. I could see the goddess of truth making me wait just to prove some kind of point. She was like that sometimes.

The girl dipped her head, then rushed out of the room.

I sighed loudly. Great, now I'd scared the poor thing. Oh well, it hardly mattered. A few nice words and a gift later and she'd hopefully forgive me. I had bigger things to worry about for the time being.

The time flew by as I paced back and forth, trying to work out what to do about Seth and him destroying my temple. The last thing I wanted to do was confront him, but there was a chance I'd have to now.

I reached out and stroked Ura's head gently. She leaned into the touch, enjoying the connection between the two of us.

"I don't appreciate being summoned," Ma'at said from the doorway. Her voice was a confusing mix of calm and reasonable, not a hint that she might be annoyed about me asking her here.

"There was no choice." I held out the letter.

She strode forward and took it from me. "We need to talk somewhere private."

"My bed-chamber will offer the best privacy." I gestured for her to follow me into the room, knowing she would.

I held out my arm the moment we were level with Ura's basket, and she unwound herself, slithering back into it and curling up. Satisfied that my pet was settled, I turned to sit at the small table that I kept in my chambers for this precise reason.

Well, not precisely because Ma'at was visiting, but in case of visitors I wanted to spend some private time with.

"Are his threats serious?" I asked, even though I was certain of the answer already. He wouldn't have bothered with writing if he didn't mean every word he said.

"As serious as he wants them to be. What are you going to do?"

"You already know the answer to that, don't you?" I countered, noting the small smile on her face that revealed I was right.

"I can't control you, Hathor."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I muttered under my breath.

"You have a will of your own, and just as much power and affluence as I do. If you really wanted to say no, then I wouldn't be able to stop you."

"Then why aren't you more worried that I will?"

"I know people." She shrugged, a slightly more relaxed Ma'at coming through than the one I'd seen up until now. "You might like to put on a front so that people think you're all about the relaxing and dancing, but I can see the truth. You'll always stand between your people and the things that want to harm them. Anyone that can't see that is a fool."

Which was why Seth had chosen to threaten them, and not bothered with me.

"Most people don't bother to look past the surface with me."

"I'm not most people," Ma'at replied.

"What do you suggest?"

"What do you want to do?" She adeptly turned it back around on me. Not for the first time, I felt sorry for Maahes. If the rumours were true, he had a lifetime of this to put up with. I didn't envy him.

"Seth needs to be stopped." The words were unnecessary, we both knew they were true. No doubt we both knew I was going to say them too.

"Then we need your consorts on board."

"They're not my consorts," I got out through gritted teeth. And they never would be. I didn't want to be linked to people I didn't know in the first place.

"Everyone else thinks they are."

"I think I'd have noticed if there were four men in my bed." I didn't even want that. One person there was enough for me. Sure, I'd tried out more in my early years, but it wasn't for me.

"Five," she corrected. "Ra is linked to you too. But we already have him on side."

I scowled. Why did everyone get it into their heads that they could tell me what my life was like?

"Fine, fine, we'll stop referring to them like that," she said with a sigh. My feelings on the matter must have been clear on my face.

"Thank you."

"But we still need them on side."

"I don't think I'm the right person to get them for you. Horus..."

"Is the least of our problems," she cut me off. "I know he can be a handful, but we're all certain he'll come around eventually. If we need to, we can get Isis to go talk to him."

I snorted. If they had Isis to call upon, then what did they need me for? I was nothing compared to setting his mother on him.

"Isis might be just who you need. That god is a brat."

Ma'at chuckled. "But still the least of our problems. We've heard that Khonsu has taken up residence in Cairo, and Atum is at his temple refusing to leave. But we have no idea about Amun. He's been missing for longer than we thought."

I tapped my chin. "Why do you think I can find him when no one else can?" My mouth felt unusually dry. I should have sent one of my priestesses away to get some refreshments for us.

"None of the traditional ways of finding someone have worked. We think it's time for the unexpected."

I raised an eyebrow. I still wasn't sure how that had caused them to come to the conclusion that I was their best bet to get these gods on side.

Not that it mattered. I could complain all I wanted, but I already knew that I was going to help. Seth had made this personal, and there was no holding me back.