The Curse in Her Blood

Chapter 13

Robin

I haven't eaten in a while but he won't let us stop for breakfast.

I made the mistake of saying: "You're still not wearing your face," when I saw him this morning and he got mad. Instead of breakfast he had decided that we needed to go back to the Upper Kingdom, which was altogether too bright for me, right that minute.

Before he left I asked for sunglasses. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Great. So now I had two goals.

Find an actual feather pillow. Find myself a pair of sunglasses.

He takes us back to the same castle, to the same room except the room is now different.

Instead of a line of evenly placed thrones, there is one giant throne at the back of the room and in the middle of the room was a giant golden boat. Inside that boat was a statue of Osiris, I figured because the skin was green and he had that square pointed Egyptian beard and he was holding that crook and flail thing. I would really have to ask Set what those were and why he had them.

What was really getting me was the single file line. The line of people who were filing through to leave things on the boat. And I mean, they were leaving everything. Food, gold, jewels, clothes, bags of seed or grain every single person in that line was just dropping off as much as they could carry.

Set is leading me past all that when I turn to him and ask: "What are they doing?"

"They're leaving offerings," he answers. He hasn't looked at me in a while, since I told him that his face wasn't right still, and he doesn't look at me while he answers me either.

"Offerings for what?"

"Osiris obviously."

"Well no duh. What I mean is... what are they for?"

Now Set is looking at me. Almost like he doesn't understand my question. "For prosperity. For his blessing... to be in his good favour."

I look back at the people in the line. Almost all of them look poor. Like straight out of Ethiopia kind of poor. The kind of people that live in huts. The kind of people that really couldn't afford to be giving up what they were giving up.

"The better the offering, the better the blessing, usually."

But... but that wasn't fair. Some of these people looked like they couldn't eat as it was and now, they were giving up all they had for Osiris' blessing? What was this nonsense?

"What does Osiris need these offerings for?"

"I unno," Set growls. "I've never asked."

Probably for selfish reasons, I find myself thinking though I don't know why. For some reason, and I don't understand why, but for some reason I don't hold a very high opinion of Osiris. Like, I don't trust him. He seems selfish and childish and like a bad leader. Or maybe I just don't like him because he's mean to Set and potentially protecting a rapist.

Set leads us all the way through the throne room to the back where there are steps leading down to a sort of high patio. There is a small table of only three gods. One I recognize as Osiris, who is still green skinned but no longer glowing. There is a beautiful woman with hair as black as onyx in this stunning red dress and this flowing feathered cap around her shoulders.

Then there is the man. The man that is seriously a stunning gorgeous man. Like he looks like a model off of a GQ magazine cover. He has glistening muscles, he is not wearing a shirt, but he is wearing a skirt similar to what Set has on except his is a light blue fabric with a golden belt. But when he turns that perfectly symmetrical face onto me, I can see eyes the same color as the morning sky.