me. “Are you looking to save your love? To bring him back from the netherworld to be with you?” When I glanced at Ma’at and hesitated, he added, “You may speak.”
“I didn’t think bringing him back to the mortal realm was even possible. As much as I want to be with him, we both know he has a duty to fulfill.”
“There.” Osiris smiled at me. “She has no intention of carrying him off.”
Ma’at gave him a slight roll of her eyes. “It’s a technicality.”
“So is your adherence to the law,” Osiris said.
The goddess’s face turned purple. “Don’t you understand? She will not survive the journey! Amon is lost. Everything is out of balance. To lose her, too, is…it’s unthinkable. She’s too important!”
We’re important? I said to Tia. What do you think she means?
I am not certain. Perhaps we should attempt to wrestle some more information from Anubis. He left us woefully unprepared for this tribunal.
He didn’t even mention it, I said.
Yes. It makes me wonder what else he forgot to mention.
Osiris calmly argued, “Her importance is indeterminate at best at this time. She followed all the rules to enter the afterlife and has presented herself for judgment appropriately.”
“That’s because she had help,” Ma’at declared with frustration.
Osiris glanced at the frozen forms of Asten and Ahmose. With a wave of his hand, the enchantment disappeared and they both looked around in confusion. “Did the two of you offer this young woman help as you guided her here?”
Ahmose shook his head. “She went through the same trials as the disembodied. We did not assist or protect her in any way.”
“It wasn’t necessary,” Asten said. “But if it had been, we would have,” he added honestly.
“You see?” Ma’at jumped on his answer. “They would break the law to help her. Just like Amon did when he escaped his judgment!”
Osiris interjected, “You cannot ignore the fact that we all agree she is vital. If she fails, everything falls apart. But if she succeeds…”
“If she succeeds, then there’s a chance to bring back balance,” Nephthys said quietly. “It might turn things around. Turn him around.”
Ma’at sighed. “There’s very little chance of that. I fear you are the only one left who holds out hope for him. You wish for an outcome that is so impossible as to be almost certain of failure.”
“Let’s talk about what’s really making you upset,” Anubis said.
Stiffening, Ma’at answered, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do. You don’t like that Amon didn’t offer up his heart when you demanded it.”
“No one denies me,” she said sulkily while glaring at Anubis. “It is my calling, my right to weigh hearts. I am the great judge, the one who finds balance. How do you all expect me to accomplish anything when you constantly circumvent me? Even Amun-Ra—”
“Maybe you could judge his heart now,” I offered.
The goddess looked up. “What do you mean?”
“I was thinking you might be able to weigh his heart based on the heart scarab he gave me. Assuming such a thing is possible, of course.”
All the gods sucked in a collective breath, and I wondered if I had just committed a major afterlife faux pas. No one said anything for a moment, and when I looked to Asten and Ahmose, their backs were ramrod straight, neither of them daring to look in my direction.
Ma’at finally spoke. “No one has ever offered such a thing. You need to understand that a heart scarab is considered a very private and personal token of affection. What you propose has never been done before. I do not know if I can even weigh it or if the weighing of it will cause damage to your connection. I must also warn you that even should I manage to successfully judge it, you will be liable for anything I find.”
“Do you know what that means, Lily?” Anubis warned, concern shadowing over his eyes. “You will pay the price for Amon’s actions, and not just during his mortal sojourn but for his entire existence, even the time he’s spent in the netherworld.”
“I understand. I’m not afraid of what you’ll find in Amon’s heart.”
“It’s not just you anymore, Lily,” Asten added with a frown. “Tia will pay the price as well.”
Tia? I whispered in my mind as I put my hand over my chest, where my heart beat in a steady rhythm.
If you believe this to be the right course, I will follow, Tia answered.