Atem's priests took the announcement of their impending nuptials about as well as Irisi's had to her departure. He'd brought her immediately into the council chamber where they still lingered and proudly introduced her.
Priest Seto was the first one to say anything. "You're the loud-mouthed woman from a year ago. The demon who can change forms."
"If I had a gold coin for every time I heard that word…" Irisi sighed.
Glowering, Atem reprimanded, "She isn't a demon. Irisishemei is going to be the next Queen of Egypt."
"She's not of royal blood," Mahad pointed out quietly. Atem glanced to him, pained that his best friend would dissent. "Kings marry queens, not wild animals."
"Wild animal?!" Irisi spat, indignant. She flexed her fingers out of instinct, her long nails itching for a fight, but Atem grasped her hand in his.
He leaned in and murmured in her ear, "I'll take care of this.
"But—" Why wouldn't he let her stand up for herself? He put a hand on the side of her head to draw her near and gave her a kiss. Waving a hand, he beckoned forward a young woman about Irisi's age, with choppy brown hair and green eyes.
"This is Mana, a dear friend." Mana smiled and gave a quick wave. "She'll show you around the palace while I take care of this."
Frowning, Irisi added, "Wouldn't we be more effective if I were here with you?"
"Don't worry about it," Mana said quietly, taking Irisi by the arm, "The Priests don't take anything seriously except themselves. Atem can knock some sense into them."
With one last look that screamed "Are you sure?" at her beloved, Irisi allowed Mana to drag her out of the room.
Turning back to his advisors, Atem sternly said, "We are getting married, whether you like it or not." The arguments resumed.
Mana took Irisi to a completely different wing of the palace, throwing her a wink and saying, "I think you're already familiar with the Pharaoh's end."
"And the throne room, the dungeon—"
"I'd heard about that." Mana was giving Irisi a tight-lipped grimace, her tone more serious than she'd have expected it to be. "But you don't have to worry. That won't happen again. You're here to be with Atem."
"Are they always like that, though?" The two women rounded the corner and walked up a flight of stairs. Irisi had a sinking feeling in her gut. What if the priests voiced their displeasure with the match even after the ceremony? Worse, would it be enough for Atem to change his mind about her? She went cold all over, thinking for the first time that maybe she'd made a mistake.
Mana shrugged. "Eh, they'll eventually come around. Akhnadin can be a real bear, and Seto's always a contrarian, but the rest mostly go with whatever the Pharaoh wants to do." Casting Irisi a sideways glance, she continued, "So… you can turn into a jackal?" She turned into a wide archway into a massive set of gorgeous chambers.
"Yeah…" Inari was too breathless to say much else about her powers. First, she was hit with the smell of warm, sweet incense, the smoke spiraling up into the air from a silver incense burner with a black jackal lying down on one end. Two people were standing on either side of the burner with large fans made of fluffy, white ostrich feathers to waft the scent around. The center of the wide entry chamber was occupied by a lovely pool of water dotted with lilies. Under the still, glassy water, the feature was lined with blue and white tiles. Around the room lay massive pots filled with cut papyrus and impeccably arranged flowers. Two or three other archways led into rooms unseen, but a pair of simply-dressed people stood outside each of them, waiting for something. The second she entered, they bowed.
"Welcome, my Lady," they chorused.
Irisi jumped, but nervously put up her hand. "Uh… hi, there."
Mana laughed. "Irisi, please meet your servants. Any hour, whatever you need, you just need to call them and they'll assist you."
"Gods above…" Irisi let Mana take her into a bedchamber, much like Atem's but more feminine—the bed was carved in the image of Bast, rather than Atem's lion, and there were more flowers. Hanging baskets dripped with white jasmine, framing the way to a large, outside balcony. Large puffballs of chrysanthemums flanked the head of her bed, and various roses and anemones were scattered about in luxurious vases.
"Er…" Mana scratched the back of her head, fiddling with her wand. "We didn't have a whole lot of notice that you'd be coming, so we don't really have anything for you to wear. The King's mother died so long ago, hers have all been eaten by moths by now."
"That's alright." Irisi sat down on her bed, running her fingers along the silky coverlet. "Trust me, half the time the Children of Anubis go naked. It's not a big deal."
Mana blushed and giggled. "Yeah, that doesn't fly well around here. I brought up a few of my spare tunics for you until we can get you proper attire, Irisi."
With a small grin, Irisi demurred. "Thank you, Mana, I appreciate it greatly. I'm also surprised that you call me by name."
She gave her a knowing smile and said, "The King gave me the heads-up that you don't like titles."
"Ah, so he can be an effective spokesman."
The two women laughed as Irisi continued to survey her new chambers, a soft smile on her face.
~Meanwhile, Back with Atem~
Atem held his face in his hand, propped up by his elbow on the arm of his gilt chair. He'd finally managed to settle the matter, and even getting Siamun to start getting the wedding ceremony planned. But honestly, if Seto said one more time that Irisi was an untrained, wild dog, he' have to punch him. If Irisi didn't do it, first, of course. He sighed, and didn't even notice Priestess Isis standing over him until she cleared her throat. Looking up, he murmured, "Yes? What is it?"
"My Pharaoh, may I speak freely?"
"Today's certainly the day for it." He grimaced, then waved his hand like he was trying to shoo away the comment. "That came out wrong. Go ahead, Isis."
She sat down next to him, pausing to think before she asked, "Are you really sure that you want this woman to be your queen."
He put his hand down, frowning a little. "Why? Priestess, did you have a vision?"
"Queens have the power to change the entire course of your dynasty," she replied, purposefully dodging his question. "I know that you are emotionally attached to her, but I want you to be positive that she is the right one to rule with you."
"She has leadership experience," he pointed out, "She's educated in foreign policy, speaks Gods know how many languages, and she's clearly an able diplomat. And, yes, I love her."
She studied him and gave a small, wry smile. His eyes were hard and bright, and he'd never looked so sure of anything before. Not that Isis had seen. Giving him a slight bow, she stepped aside so that he could rise out of his chair and leave the room. "Of course, my King," she told him softly. Watching him go, she put a hand to her chest, willing her heartbeat to slow. Her thumb brushed against the Millennium Necklace, idly stroking the gold eye.
Atem raced down the hallway at a half-jog, taking the stairs up two at a time until he reached the Queens' Chamber. Prematurely, without even thinking about if she would refuse him, he'd ordered the rooms to be overhauled. They hadn't been used in over a decade, since his mother passed away, and needed to be cleaned, redecorated, made perfect… he'd hoped that he'd gotten everything right. That she would love them.
Irisi was inspecting an ornamental vase stuffed with cut anemones, a fat, red piece with a tight neck that was meticulously painted with a scene of Anubis touching the foreheads of two people offering a sheep. On the other side was the image of a woman turning into a jackal, both human and creature decorated with a white dot on their brows. He leaned against the archway, watching her with a smile on his face.
"I had that commissioned the day after you told me your story," he explained. She jumped, startled, and beamed at him.
"It's wonderful," she said graciously. "I love it. And all of this." Her hands gestured around the room. "Thank you."
He gently put his hands on her waist and drew her close. "I'm glad you're here." Atem leaned in to kiss her, but then Mana cleared her throat.
"Uh… still here," she chuckled nervously. Irisi blushed and took a step back, but Mana waved her off with an embarrassed laugh. "No, don't mind me, I'll leave… Atem can finish your tour of the palace." With a wink, she waved and ducked out of the room, only to bump into a messenger.
"Do the priests need to see me?" Atem asked, but the servant shook his head.
"No, Your Highness. There's a visitor here who wants to see the Lady Irisishemei."
The messenger led the way into the throne room, where servants bowed expectantly to the royal couple towards the throne—including a second, matching one that Atem had dug up from storage that looked more like his chair in the council chamber. But Irisi brushed past all of them, frowning and confused, to see who it was. She stopped, breath catching, when she saw Akhir and Yara standing there. He had a fresh, blood-spotted bandage wrapped around his forehead, and she knew what had happened. Turning to Atem, she nodded to him that she could handle this, and he took his seat, observing silently.
"They chose you…" she breathed, sighing sadly. Akhir said nothing, and his face was hard. Irisi felt a lump rise in her throat, and it felt like someone had stabbed her gut when Yara refused to look at her. "Why are you here?"
"I'm not supposed to be," he replied, and he huffed when he saw her muscles tighten and twitch. She was ready to run. "Relax; I'm not going to hurt you."
Yara murmured, "Akhir, I want to leave." He curled his lip, growling.
"You volunteered to come along, remember?"
"Hey!" Irisi snapped her fingers in front of their faces angrily. "Focus!"
"I came here to tell you we're leaving."
"I see..." Nervously, Inari shifted her weight from foot to foot, realizing how awkward this silence was for Atem and the others. "I take it you're heading-"
"That's none of your business."
His voice was sharp, abrupt, and angry. A wave of cold ran over her, but she didn't know why she had expected anything different. She stared at a spot just above his shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Yara jumped, looking down at the foot that Akhir had just nudged her with, and she shoved the burlap sack she was holding into Irisi's hands. Afterwards, she turned her back and moved farther away. Akhir rolled his eyes. "You left some things. I… I thought you might like to have them…" He rubbed his temples with one of his hands, and huffed again. It broke her heart that he couldn't bring himself to look at her, either. His eyes were going glassy and red, and he sniffed loudly. "… Yara, let's go."
"Wait, I—"
Before Irisi could get the next word out, her friends… ex-friends, she supposed— turned into a pair of jackals and sprinted out of the palace. Atem rose from his throne and practically flew down the steps to put an arm around her, while she just stood there, shaking. She pulled back the flap of the bag, surprisingly heavy, and sharply inhaled when she saw what was inside.
Atem leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Let's go back to your chamber. Somewhere you can sit down."
Together, they dumped the contents of the bag onto her bed. Irisi held and ran her fingers over a necklace made of large, coin-sized pieces of amber with the center piece containing a preserved scorpion, and a tear plopped down on her hand. Atem examined a gold wrap-around bracelet formed like a snake while Inari pawed through the rest of it. She was surprised at the number of pearls that Akhir had included, and the tears came thick and fast when she found her favorite circlet set with black pearls. Atem pulled her close, rubbing her shoulder while she cried onto his.
"It's okay…" he murmured into her ear, kissing her hair.
"I didn't think it would be this hard," she admitted, white-knuckling the circlet. "Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy I'm here…"
"You don't have to explain. I know."
"The… the two who were… who brought this to me…" She sniffed and put the crown down with the rest of her jewels. Irisi looked up at him and smiled sadly. "They're… were my best friends. And they wouldn't even look at me."
'I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth, Irisi.'
The memory, his voice, mocked her repeatedly.
Her first night in Atem's palace was spent lying in his arms, in his bed, sobbing intermittently until she fell asleep.