A Falcon's Light

Chapter 13

The Captain escorted me to dinner with Neferiteru and Meneba. The dinner was delicious with figs, fish, bread, and a thick cloudy beer. I almost asked if I could go into the kitchens, but I was a stand-in for Heru, that wouldn't be proper. I instead nibbled on everything trying to think about how to recreate this, that, or the other.

"How did it go with Re?" Meni chimed in. The small talk so far was mostly between the queen and prince. I tried to stay out of important topics but chimed in every so often to seem interested. Meni's question however made me freeze.

"How'd you know about that?" I already knew the answer. Sasekhmet served the crown and royal family, not Heru in particular. The god in disguise hunched his shoulders ashamed.

"I asked our captain here, and he told us that you left with Re. It's not a big deal, Heru and Re are close, though the two of them have never been gone this long. So did you sleep with him?" His question, although somewhat rude, gave off an heir of pure curiosity. He wasn't trying to be mean, even a bite of concern colored his voice.

"No, why would I sleep with Re if I already have a lover? I'm quite happy with whom I've chosen and Re isn't it." I took a grape and popped it in my mouth, reveling in the juicy goodness.

"So you have a lover? What's he like?" Meni asked, brotherly concern taking center stage.

"Yes, I have a lover. He is really sweet and loving. He has saved my life a few times already. His eyes kill me though, they make me swoon each and every time I see them. Not only is he a good person, but he's also drop-dead gorgeous. I am a very lucky woman." I struggled from trying not to laugh at Set's reactions. His eyes flared in lust, but he somehow managed to keep his face stern.

"You must really love him. What's his name if I may ask?" Meni smiled. He had seemed fond of my descriptions of the future. He gaped when I told him that man has been on the moon. Ita looked between Meni and me with a knowing look.

"His name is Seth Rahal. At least that's the name he's going by at the current moment. He is one of the gods but I'm not telling you which one." I sat back in my chair snickering at his face. With that, he started listing off different male gods. I only laughed, shaking my head. Soon he got frustrated, throwing himself back into his chair and taking a long sip of his beer. He actually failed to say Set's name from the list.

Ita sat there looking at her lover's face of failure and laughed full-heartedly. Meneba stared at her with his mouth hanging open like a fish. An accusatory glare made the queen laugh even harder, grasping her stomach.

"You know who he is, Ita? How dare you not tell me? I want to know." The prince pouted. He was acting like a little kid. Let him. He deserves whatever happiness he can get. Unlike Ausir, Meni is a good little brother.

With a finger, I motioned Meni over. He walked over and squatted down so I could whisper in his ear. "My lover is the god of chaos and storms, father of Inep, brother of Ausir. My lover is the god Set." The prince's eyes widened and he looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Him! But he's a cruel god, a god who killed his brother." He was astounded. The story of Set killing his brother must really run deep.

"You really think a god can die? They're immortal, impossible to kill. Set just stuck him in a box so he could fix one of Ausir's mistakes. Ausir was always a death god of the underworld. All those good things that Ausir supposedly did, Set did instead, Ausir just took credit for them. Ausir's the one who's trying to kill me, the one who successfully killed Heru.

"The whole reason Heru was reincarnated as me, instead of going to the afterlife is so Ausir couldn't get ahold of Heru's soul. He's a douche. Set is actually a great guy. You'd like him if you gave him a chance." I simply plopped another grape into my mouth.