Demons and Kings

Chapter 11

Isis knew she could fix this. She knew she could, she just didn't know how. The easy answer was right in front of her, it always had been. Kill them. But in the beginning, it had been so fun. Toying with them, watching them crumble and flounder, having complete control. Over their lives, their fate. They had ruined everything, Carol and Evelyn, their family. Ravaged her brothers' tomb, stolen his body – tearing his soul from the afterlife - and if that hadn't been enough, they had losthim. In a way, he was still lost.

She hadn't been able to resist the temptation to gloat. To draw it out when they reacted just the way she knew they would. Which had been a mistake, because now the easy option wasn't so easy.

So here she was, pacing because things had already gone too far. Memphis... he wasn't playinganymore, or if he was it was on a completely different board. Gone were his dark whispers and callous smiles, replaced instead by soft looks and an eager grin. She hated it.But it wasn't his fault. He was weak-willed, too easily distracted by shiny things. That had to be it. There was simply no other reason for this... this infatuation he seemed to have developed for Evelyn after she saved his life.

She was furious. So completely damningly angry over how he was mooning over that... that thing. Evelyn was so much less than what Memphis deserved. He just didn't see it. Instead, he lavished that stupid girl with attention. The clothes, the jewelry, the way he looked at her, the way he touchedher. It should have been her, herthat had saved him that fateful day. She should have had his love. Isis knew she deserved it, all of it. His devotion, his heart, his soul. Everything. And she would do anything to keep it when it was all finally hers.

It was why he needed her. Why they needed each other. She would keep him on the right path, level-headed and unaffected by anything but her. She wanted to be his only weakness. And he would love her for it. They would rule together as they were meant to, as was decreed by her, by their gods.

Isis sighed, thoroughly frustrated and turned to kneel at the edge of her alter. She would pray, and she would wait for the gods to answer her, to guide her as they always did. Briefly, she thought of ordering a calf to be brought in and strapped to her alter, or perhaps one of the older slaves... she shook her head, the polished stone was hardly visible now, dark patches of red flaking to fall at her feet as blood dried. She would settle for prayers and try again when the previous mess was cleaned away.

Ten minutes had barely gone by when a muffled scream cut her concentration, the practiced chant she had uttered fading away into eerie silence. Her name, the sound coming from the hallway leading out to the palace's inner courtyard. Still crouched, Isis could only half turn towards the noise and was more than surprised to see the Hittite princess. Dirty and starved, but free from her cage.

Isis stood, facing the other girl completely, and waited.

She was holding a knife; the only clean thing about her, and as Milanun lunged forward, something between a sob and a growl tore free from her throat. She'd been muttering under her breath, and as Isis dodged her first unsteady attack, she could finally hear what the disheveled girl had been saying.

"-ill you. I'll kill you."

Isis sighed and fought off a smile, or rather she tried too. What a fool.

It was too easy to disarm the wretched creature. It almost wasn't worth the effort. The knife now held firmly in her own hands the priestess took a moment to study the other girl from where she stood frozen. The way she struggled to stand, the way her hands shook. That desperate wild look in her eyes.

She was hardly more than an animal.A beast. Worthless for all things but one. A cruel smile gracing her painted lips Isis backhanded the princess hard enough to split her lip, sending her crashing back. A pot of oil tipped, shattering against her weight and the dark liquid pooled around her crumpled form, soaking into her dress and coating her skin. It was just too perfect an opportunity. Isis's grin widened.