Neti knew that his Queen Ereshkigal could not very well refuse Inanna entry, not when the woman was her half-sister, and certainly not when she was goddess over a thousand spheres of influence. And so, she had called in Bitu and Litu and himself, her chosen gatekeepers and guardians of the realm. Together, they would wring the truth from Inanna.
As soon as he saw his queen, he knew she had a plan.
Standing atop the first wall that now ringed Irkalla’s boundary, he tried to remember that confidence. The goddess Inanna had come like a flash of lightning, shining and terrible with a c***k of power. Her red hair whipped around her, as bright as fresh blood, her eyes like smelt gold in the forge. Lapis dripped down her throat, encircling her brow and wrists, and a golden breastplate was faste
