Why did you let him kiss us? I asked Tia in my mind. That would have been the appropriate time to pull the claws out! I’m not good enough at it yet to do it on my own.
I enjoyed his caress, she replied simply. He was very…ardent. I admire a male who goes after what he wants. Perhaps I love this man.
Seriously? Trust me when I say you don’t. You hardly know him. And let me remind you, we aren’t open to the attentions of other males. We have Amon.
You have Amon, she reminded me. I have no one.
Well, you can’t have him. He’s a god, and a very lusty god, at that. He’d conquer you and move on to the next pretty face within a week at best, a day more likely.
I no longer have a pretty face. I borrow yours, remember? Speaking of pretty faces…
We’ll talk about this later, I warned her.
Amun-Ra was easily over six feet tall, and he was handsome, but not in the same pretty-boy sort of way Horus was. Amun-Ra’s attractiveness lay more in the strength of his form and the confidence of his bearing. His eyes were the lightest shade of brown I’d ever seen—nearly golden, like amber—and his skin was slightly darker than Horus’s, but there was a light that emanated from him. I could feel his warmth fill the space, the air nearly humming with it as he approached. Sweat beaded at my temple and began trickling down my cheek, and Amun-Ra took notice as I wiped it away.
“I apologize for making you uncomfortable,” he said. He closed his eyes and the light visibly leeched from his skin. His eyes changed from the palest sand color to a rich caramel to a chocolate brown. I realized I’d been squinting, and blinked as if seeing him for the first time. The shape of his face was angular. His chin pointed. And there was a dimple in the center of it. From out of nowhere a servant girl brought him a goblet glistening with condensation. He drank deeply from the cup and then gazed at his nephew, eyebrows lifted. “Well?” he asked.
Horus sprang to attention. “Uncle. Allow me to introduce Lily, a newly made sphinx who seeks an audience.”
“Ah,” Amun-Ra said. “And who is the other one?”
“Other one?” Horus mumbled with an expression of confusion. “There is no one else here.”
“There most assuredly is,” Amun-Ra answered. “Perhaps your hands were too busy to notice that you held not one woman in your arms but two.”
Oh I like him even better than the first one. He notices me. Can we kiss him next? I’d like to feel the muscles of his arms. I will choose him.
What? No! I channeled back to her.
“Two? How is that possible?” Horus asked in bewilderment.
Ignoring him, Amun-Ra asked, “And who are you, my dear?”
I knew he wasn’t talking to me and reluctantly nudged Tia forward. “I am Lily’s lioness,” she purred in the gravelly, more luscious version of my voice. “My name is Tia.”
“Welcome, Tia,” Amun-Ra said as he inclined his head. “I have been told that the two of you have traveled far to see me.”
“We have,” I said, quickly gaining control over my body again before Tia tried to lick Amun-Ra’s earlobes. Figures I’d get stuck with a lioness in heat.
I heard that, she said. I am not in heat. It’s just that your unicorn was right. I find I enjoy the sensation of being petted by a human. Speaking of warmth, though, this one makes me feel as if I’m basking on my favorite sunning rock.
I shushed her as the newly arrived god addressed us.
“Please, won’t the two of you join me for a late meal?” he asked, and I knew he meant me and Tia, not me and Horus. “I find I am famished after a tour of Duat.”
It has been long since we’ve eaten, Tia reminded me.
“We’d love to,” I said, and took his arm when he extended it, gritting my teeth as I exerted strenuous mental control to stop Tia from squeezing his bicep. Horus followed behind us, sulking but unwilling to let me out of his sight. His busy hands kept stroking my arm, and when I pushed them away, Tia took the opportunity to move closer to the sun god. She also kept sending me impulses to turn my head and admire the cut of Amun-Ra’s frame. His curly head of hair reminded her of a lion’s mane, and she liked