“Everything,” he said, annoyingly mysterious.
“Where can he be?” Mrs. P sighed, gripping the railing and staring out onto the shore. “He knew I would be here. He knew I had the shiny for him.”
“Your boyfriend?” I asked her, and without thinking, said, “Where exactly is the ring? You’re not wearing it that I can see.”
Her brow was lined with worry. “I hope Isis has not tried to stop him… hmm? Oh, it is here.” She gestured toward her stomach.
“You swallowed it?” I asked, startled.
“No, I had my belly button pierced using it. That way I knew it would always be safe.”
“Clever,” I admitted, giving her arm a little pat. “Don’t worry about Osiris. The captain said that Maat was here early, so maybe Osiris didn’t get the word that you’d be ready to release him just yet.”
She sighed again, and I left her to her melancholy thoughts, moving over to stand next to Rowan.
“I am a bad person,” I announced softly to him.
He was watching the other dragons, now in conference, his gaze moving from them to the captain to Ken and Barbie. “No you’re not. Is this the point where I should ask you why you think you are?”
“Of course you should.” I waved my hands around. “You don’t let your mate make statements like ‘I am a bad person’ without both disputing that fact and then asking her to explain, thereby allowing her to bare her soul to you.”
“Fine. Why do you think you’re a bad person?”
“Because I am judging Mrs. P. She’s running away with a married man, Rowan. I know that isn’t a big deal these days, but when I think of some hussy running off with you, I see red. And knives. Gelding knives, and lots of them.”
“Ah, but you are not considering two points,” he said, turning to face me. “First and most important, I would never run away with a hussy. You are my mate, and you are going to stay my mate. I have informed you that I love you, a statement I don’t make lightly. And second, you forget that Osiris and Isis were wed thousands of years ago. They were actually brother and sister, and there were a limited number of gods to go around, so they had to wed.”
“That’s just seriously ew,” I said, trying not to grimace.
“You might ask Osiris what sort of a marriage he had before you make a final judgment on Mrs. P for wishing to be with him.”
“Oh yes, that’s going to be an easy conversation to have. ‘Pardon me, god of the Underworld, did you enjoy your incestuous relationship with your sister, or are you just tired of her and want fresh meat?’ Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that little chat.”
“Why are they excluding us from their conversation?” Rowan asked, looking back at the dragons. “They are planning something. They wish us to be out of their precious weyr.”
“I think you’re being a little paranoid. Why don’t we go ask them what’s going… hey!”
Rowan’s eyebrows rose when I grabbed his arm. “Hey?”
I nodded toward Bee and Constantine. “It just struck me—they were here before, along with the others, and they got to leave. They didn’t have to wait around for Maat.”
“They were visitors, not travelers on the ship,” he said just as if that explained everything. I looked at him until he unbent. “It is the act of traveling through the Duat that signifies the deceased going to his or her destination. People can and do visit the Underworld without being stuck here. But if you are a passenger on the ship through it, you are considered a pilgrim, if you will.”
“Oh. I wish someone had told me that before—I would have rented one of those fancy cars and just driven through it.”
“Then we would not have been able to face the challenges, and that is what was required of us. Come. I grow tired of them deliberately slighting us. We shall go demand to be included in whatever plans they are making.”
I didn’t let him see me giggle at his offended tone, just allowed him to steer me over to where the four dragons were deep in confab.
“Here you are. We wondered if you were coming to join us,” Bee said, smiling warmly at us. “May says you had all sorts of trouble right as we arrived, but I see you took care of it.”
Rowan inclined his head at Constantine, who returned the gesture.
“Rowan was seriously awesome, although I won’t be so modest that I won’t mention the fact that I kicked some booty with a few well-placed arrows. Would you take offense if I asked you why you’re here?” I asked Bee.
She looked mildly annoyed.
Constantine’s jaw tightened, but he managed to get out, “We were summoned here. Again. Despite the fact that we have important things to do, the First Dragon insisted that we return here. I informed him that we are not at his beck and call, but he just said something about me needing to be here, and thus we had to dash off to Egypt.”