will explain everything.” Ignoring my grunt of frustration, Anubis rubbed his jaw and said as he considered me, “It is unfortunate for you that Amon offered his heart. I’m not certain he understood all the ramifications of gifting you with his heart scarab. If I’d known of his plan, I would have prevented it.”
“Isn’t it right that he should have someone to love?” I questioned with an underlying edge to my voice.
“Love is fleeting. It’s a brief spark that flares in the heavens, bursting forth in a cascade of glory only to be snuffed out in the darkness of space. It is not something worth risking the cosmos over.”
I folded my arms across my chest and frowned. He was wrong. There were some kinds of love that continued, even after death. Like a ripple on the water, love moved. Long after the plunge, its effect could be felt. All that was required was someone to remember it, to see what it left behind. Then it existed, it lived. If anyone offered to sever the ties between me and Amon, I’d outright reject it.
“Wars have been fought over love, you know,” I murmured.
“That observation just served to prove my point even further.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t speak of something you haven’t experienced for yourself.”
Anubis stared me down. “You are quite bold for a mortal.”
“And you are quite narrow-minded for a god.”
“I find it interesting that you feel brave enough to speak your mind to me and yet you cower before your so very mortal parents. Perhaps Amon’s rebellious nature has rubbed off on you. Both of you court danger like a pair of monkeys wandering too close to a crocodile-infested river.”
“My relationship with my parents, like my relationship with Amon, is none of your business.”
“On the contrary. Your relationships such as they may be are indeed my business. If there was a way to save Amon myself, giving me leave to destroy the connection between you, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. And despite what you are so obviously thinking, I do not say this to be cruel or to unfairly punish you. The benefits of such a thing as falling in love with an immortal are not worth more than what you are losing.”
I drew myself up, jutting my chin in the air as haughtily as I could muster. “That’s my choice to make, though, isn’t it?”
Anubis raised an eyebrow. “For now, young one. For now.”
My hands fisted at my sides, anger boiling through my veins. What I felt for the boy imbued with the celestial power of the sun was precious to me. I’d never voluntarily give it up, danger or no. He didn’t understand that before Amon, nothing mattered. I’d been drifting through my life letting other people decide the path I would take. But Amon lit a spark that I’d nurtured these last few months.
Maybe Anubis was right about my parents. Maybe I’d taken the coward’s way. The easy way out. Perhaps I did hide the flame from them, but it was there. I could feel it. My soul had awakened, and I wouldn’t turn away from the one responsible for filling my world with purpose and light. If I had wandered aimlessly since returning home, it was only because I’d lost sight of the one thing that mattered to me. The only way I’d let Anubis destroy our bond was over my dead body.
“When it becomes necessary for you to fight—notice I said when, not if—the amulet will become your shield, your armor, and even your weapon.”
I touched the green gem. “So it’s magic?”
“In a way. Despite what I think of its so-called benefits, love is a sort of magic. A trick of the light that not even the gods can replicate. The heart scarab is fueled by Amon’s feelings for you. As long as his love for you remains, the protection his heart offers is assured.” Anubis called his dog to his side. “Are you ready?”
I sucked in a breath and glanced around my room, convinced that there was something I was forgetting or some question I hadn’t thought of. “I suppose I am,” I answered after gathering my courage.
Anubis nodded. “Abutiu,” he addressed his canine companion, “return home and await my arrival.” With a small snort, the dog disappeared and we were alone. The god of mummification frowned, took a step closer, then reached out and drew me into his arms. He was warm, and the sensation of being held by him wasn’t at all unpleasant.