“How comfortable is the throne of Hades?” Hypnos asked, some tension behind the dry amusement.
“I am losing my mind, if that’s what you are asking. One god argued with me for thirty minutes, insistent that the colors of two rivers had swapped.” He sighed. “This chaos is exactly why I prefer guiding souls. How is the human? Any problems?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. She’s sleeping at the moment. Did you know she swears a lot?”
Thanatos tried not to smile at the confusion in his brother’s voice. Hypnos had spent centuries isolated. Meeting a modern woman must’ve shocked him.
“Not surprising. The world has changed.” He moved on from the subject before Hypnos could retreat into complaints about the modern world. “Is Ani with you?”
“No, he dropped the girl off and left to attend to some matters in the Duat. He said he’d be back soon.”
Good.
Outside the doors, raised voices caught his attention. Thanatos slumped. He was keenly aware of his remaining minutes of solitude, each second slipping away. “I have to go. They are getting impatient.”
“Enjoy your chaos, brother.”
The request escaped before Thanatos could stop it. “Be nice to the girl.”
“I’ll do what I can, brother.”
Hypnos’ amused words rang through his mind as the throne room doors opened again, ushering in another wave of complaints and demands.Thanatos scowled, still lost in his thoughts.
When had he started caring for the human?
Chapter nine
ANUBIS
Anubis tried to keep his mind on the Duat and the duties that demanded his attention, but it kept sliding back to the human. Worry for her safety and whether she’d woken yet made it hard to focus.
He tried to refocus on the meeting he’d just finished with his spellcasters concerning the increasing tomb desecrations across Egypt when footsteps approached behind him.
Anubis turned to find Osiris standing in his home, dressed in traditional white robes that stood out against his deep green skin. The lack of a headdress and a collar necklace signaled he was there as a friend rather than as a ruler.
“How have you been, my friend?” Osiris asked. He clasped Anubis’ arm in greeting, his gold bracelets pressing into his skin.
“I am doing well. And you?”
Osiris sighed. “I have seen lighter days.”
Anubis narrowed his eyes. “Set again?”
“When isn’t Set plotting?” He smiled briefly, but still looked tired. “He will never be satisfied until he claims all that is mine.” The brief show of humor vanished in the next moment. “I hear you are leaving for a time. Will you be in the mortal world at any point?”
“That is correct. I am leaving shortly, and I may travel there, depending on what is required.”
“The Bennu will return to Egypt soon,” Osiris reminded him.
Anubis frowned as he tried to recall the bird’s last appearance. It had been almost five hundred years since the last celebration. The Bennu had existed for as long as he had, a constant whose return was as inevitable as the sunrise.
“It is about that time. What is the problem?”
“The oracles told me there will be only darkness in the world, a world without hope unless the Bennu comes home.”
Anubis had never placed much stock in oracle prophecies, but this one bothered him. A world without hope? That warning sounded far too ominous. “Did they give you any specifics?”
“Cryptic as ever,” Osiris said dismissively, waving his hand. “Ra asked me to keep in touch with them. He is worried about hisba.”
