Amazed at discovering the newfound ability to speak to her without a voice, Osiris sent her a myriad of thoughts: his gentle censure over her keeping the danger of the spell hidden from him, the wonder of feeling her emotions, the longing to hold her close and whisk her away to a hidden garden he’d never shared with anyone before, and, at last, his gratitude that she’d been patient enough to wait for him to come to her.
He drew closer to her and looked up just as she looked down. The smile she gave him was full of promises and secrets that just the two of them would share. I wasn’t that patient, she said, and he could tell that his thoughts had pleased her. That was good. It would help to distract her from the unpleasantness waiting for them in Heliopolis.
Unfortunately, the unpleasantness took form quickly as Seth stormed into the council chamber not a minute after they’d arrived. Amun-Ra, whose lips had been pressed into a thin line when they’d entered, hadn’t even spoken yet. He’d just stared at them. Nephthys stood at his side, and Isis noticed the forgotten tea setting for two on the side table. She raised an eyebrow and wondered why her sister might be having tea with Amun-Ra.
The first words out of Amun-Ra’s mouth were directed to Seth. “You were not summoned,” he said simply.
“Are you going to try to diminish and excuse what they’ve done?” Seth immediately countered. “We’ve all seen the stars. They’ve shifted. A new pattern has emerged. It’s unthinkable. Unacceptable. It goes against every statute you’ve ever issued,” he cried. “You’ve got to punish them!”
“I will examine their deeds,” Amun-Ra said quietly. “Whether they are punished or not is none of your concern.”
“It is the concern of all of us!” he shouted in response.
A meek voice echoed in the chamber. “Perhaps Seth needs to witness this,” Nephthys said, and Isis turned, considering her sister. Nephthys knew something. Something she wasn’t sharing.
Amun-Ra, too, lifted his gaze to Nephthys and studied her silently. After a moment, he nodded. “Very well. You may stay,” he said to Seth. Then he shifted on his throne, giving his full attention to the two who stood in front of him, hands clasped. Amun-Ra frowned. “Who would like to go first?” he asked.
Isis was about to speak when Osiris took a step forward. “I love Isis,” he declared boldly, and Isis’s heart warmed at his words, feeling the truth of them echo in her frame. “We have enacted a spell so that we can be together.”
Amun-Ra leaned forward. “And it’s a powerful one at that.” He cocked his head. “Where did this spell come from?”
“I created it,” Isis volunteered.
“Can it be undone?”
A chill stole through Isis, and she opened her mouth but found she couldn’t speak. The very idea of dissolving the connection between her and Osiris was as abhorrent to her now as cutting off her own arm.
Nephthys answered the question. “It cannot. The pattern of the stars has been rewritten, the laws altered.”
Isis swallowed and shot her sister a grateful look, but then Nephthys added, “There is no . . . unmaking what has been done.”
Taking in a startled breath, Isis glanced surreptitiously at Seth, and her jaw tightened when she saw his small smirk and his bold perusal of her. Let him try, she thought.
“I see,” Amun-Ra said. He sat back on his throne and rubbed his jaw as he considered his options.
There was a long pause, and all eyes turned to the great god. Finally, he sighed. “Will you promise not to have children?” he queried.
“Do . . . do you mean for us to remain as gods?” Osiris asked incredulously.
“What did you think I was going to do?” Amun-Ra asked.
“Make us mortal,” Osiris responded.
Amun-Ra gave a half laugh. “I’m not sure I could even if I wanted to. Besides, we still have need of your various abilities,” he said with a wave of his hand, indicating them both. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you intend to have children?”
Osiris was about to answer when Isis stilled him with the press of her hand on his arm. “We promise that we will not bring new life into this world without your knowledge.”
Amun-Ra considered Isis’s words and then gave a final nod. “Then it would seem we have a wedding feast to plan.”
The elation that Isis and Osiris felt at the announcement was tempered by Seth’s outburst. “What?” he cried. “Is this the protocol now? The gods can marry each other at will as long as they promise not to procreate?”
Amun-Ra grunted. “The law has been rewritten. What they’ve done applies to us all,” he said with a stony gaze.
Nephthys stepped forward and asked softly, “Can you not try to find the good in this, Seth?”
Seth paused, his anger ebbing as he considered the pleading expression on her face. He seemed to reach some kind of decision, for he tucked his hands behind his back, gave Nephthys a brief nod, spat a sarcastic “Congratulations” to the couple, and took his leave.
“There,” Amun-Ra said. “Now that the unpleasantness is over, I’ll announce to the city that there is a wedding party tonight. Nephthys?”
“Yes?”
“You’ll see to the details?”
“Of course,” she answered with a demure nod.
“But wait,” Isis said as Amun-Ra rose to leave. “I must speak with you about Seth.”
Nephthys took hold of Isis’s arm with a firm grip. “This is not the time to bother Amun-Ra with trivial news. It’s your wedding!”
“But he needs to know . . .”
“Trust me when I say that whatever you want to tell him, Amun-Ra already knows. Besides, it can wait until tomorrow, can’t it?”
Isis bit her lip. “Can it, sister?”
Nephthys knew Isis was really asking her to use her second sight. Trying to look confident, Nephthys answered, “I’m certain. The stars have reignited. They burn in new ways now than they once did, but they still whisper to me, and their message is that all will be well.”
Nephthys knew that her sister might never forgive her for hiding what was coming, but she also knew that what was going to be was supposed to be. Everything depended on it. Nephthys wasn’t aware of all the details of what would come to pass, not exactly, but she was aware that great sorrow would rest upon her sister’s shoulders tonight.
Still, she would make everything as beautiful for her sister as she could. Nephthys didn’t want her to miss even a moment of the happiness she sought. For that reason, Nephthys sent Isis and Osiris away to rest while she prepared, not only for their wedding feast, but for what else awaited them.
Servants came, including Baniti, who was brought up to Heliopolis specifically to distract Isis. Osiris insisted that his lovely new wife needed to spend the day recuperating from her spell, and as tired as Isis was, she didn’t protest. She allowed Baniti to spirit her off and help her into a fragrant tub scented with Egyptian oil. Isis took comfort in the fact that she knew exactly what her new husband was doing and where he was at all times. Even when she slept, her thoughts intertwined with Osiris’s, and both were comforted despite their physical separation.