The Love Game (Gods of the Universe: Book 1)

Eight

I sit down in front of Uncle Osiris' Hall of Truth, leaning against a column and resting my head in my hands. She told me soccer was dangerous, and yet she did it anyway. She was more worried about my safety than hers! I mean, that's nowhere near reasonable, considering I'm an immortal god of death! Honestly–

"Hello, cousin," a voice sighs. My head snaps up to see dear old cousin Horus plop down beside me. "What's wrong with you now?" He asks irritably.

"Why should I tell you?" I ask, genuinely confused.

Horus groans and slams his head into the column. "Because if I screwed up, you must have done something worse. You have to had done something worse!"

I sit up straight and whirl around to stare at him. "What did you do?" I growl. I know it has something to do with Lana.

Horus sighs, oblivious to my anger and panic. "I accidently almost drowned Lana."

I slam Horus by his shoulders into the column behind him. "You what?" I hiss, jaw clenched. Don't bite him, don't bite him.

To my surprise, Horus laughs weakly. "Don't worry, Anubis," he says, spitting my name out like a bad taste in his mouth. "She can swim, surprisingly. Besides, my screw up can't be half as bad as yours."

I release my cousin and roll away. "What makes you think I 'screwed up'?" I ask bitingly.

Horus snorts as he eases himself away from the column. "I can see it in your eyes," he teases. "You put Lana in danger, and now you're feeling guilty."

"She was in nowhere near as much danger with me as she was with you!" I shout, anger re-igniting in my chest. "You almost drowned her!"

"Careful, cousin," Horus sneers, getting to his feet. "Your mangy mutt features are showing."

I take a deep breath, realizing my face had thinned out and enlogated, resembling my jackal form. "Fine. You want to know what happened?" I get to my feet and come closer. "Lana was hit in the face with a soccer ball, but it wasn't my fault," I say harshly. "You could have killed her."

"She said she has a tattoo," Horus says suddenly, throwing me off guard. "It made me throw the boat off balance, and we fell onto the lake. That's what happened, okay?" Horus suddenly looks ashamed, and for once he won't meet my eyes.

"Lana... Has a tattoo?" I repeat. She never told me that. "What is it?"

He shakes his head. "She never told me what it was, just that she has one." He narrows his eyes at nothing. "I wonder of she actually has one or if she was just joking. A pretty thing like her shouldn't mar her skin with such a thing."

"We have tattoos," I point out flatly. "What's the difference?"

Horus considers this. "Good point." Then he looks over my shoulder and grins wickedly. "There's another one," he says, then disappears to Ra-knows-where.

Actually, Ra probably doesn't even know, I think as I let myself take my formal appearance; a black kilt around my waist, a ruby collar around my neck, and my head a jackal's. Then I turn around to greet the newly dead and show them the way into the Hall of Truth.

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