Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

T he cool evening breeze takes away some of the stress of family dinner, though I think that particular meal is going to live in my head for a while.

Kema caws and stretches her wings, drawing a smile from me. I like having her around, more than I thought I would.

The clang of someone climbing the ladder to the roof fills the air and I feel myself relax.

"It didn't take you long to get here," I say to Mesu.

"I'm about to disappoint you, I think," my sister's voice responds.

A cry comes as her kestrel takes to the air and flies out over the buildings in front of us. I look at Kema to see if she's about to do the same, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Can I sit?" Rash asks.

"Sure."

"But you're waiting for Mesu?" she guesses.

I nod.

"I'm sorry that it came out like that."

I sigh and pull my legs up to wrap my arms around them. "It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were revealing."

"Neither did Kashto."

I groan. "And yet he just carried on."

Rash chuckles. "He does that."

"He does." I look out across the city, enjoying the peace after the chaos at the dinner table. "Mum's not happy with me."

"No. I think she had strong ideas about what it would mean to have four Blessed children, and three of us are a disappointment."

I snort. "Pretty much."

"I accepted that promotion three months ago," she admits. "I just haven't had the courage to tell Mum and Dad about it yet."

"Rash!"

"Can you blame me?" There's a sad note in my sister's voice as she watches her kestrel soaring through the sky.

"No. I would have kept quiet about my career choices if I hadn't been trying to take the heat off my dating life."

"I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever ready to introduce Rai to Mum and Dad."

I smother a laugh.

"What?"

"Just...Rash and Rai?"

She sighs. "And this is why I never told you her name before."

"It's cute," I assure her. "And if you ever want to introduce her to family without Mum and Dad being there, you can trust me and Ben."

"Just don't invite Kashto to the sibling dinner, right?"

"Something like that. I know he doesn't do it on purpose, but he does like to drop the rest of us in it."

"He does," Rash agrees. "I don't know how much my opinion is worth, but I'm proud of you little sister. Not just for doing what you want with your Blessing, but for telling Mum what you did."

"You're Isis Blessed, your opinion means a lot."

"Eurgh. Sometimes I'd rather just be Rash."

"I know what you mean." I glance at Kema. "But Isis and Nephthys thought there was something in us worth Blessing. It's got nothing to do with Mum and Dad, it's all to do with us."

"Do you believe that?"

I shrug. "It doesn't seem likely that the gods are keeping track of all our family trees."

"If that's the case, then why are there so many Legacy Blessed? We're not the only ones with Blessings who have Blessed parents."

"Does it count if we're not Blessed by the same temple?" I muse.

"No idea. But I assume so."

"Hmm." I look out at the city and shift so my legs are hanging over the edge of the roof. "I think it makes sense. It's not about who our parents are, but who we were raised as. Even before Mum and Dad got it into their heads that they could have a Blessed set of kids, they were raising us to respect the gods and their roles in the world. Maybe that's part of why we were chosen to be Blessed."

"You might be onto something there," she responds. "I wish the gods would think about the pressure they're putting on us just because they chose us."

"The gods must think we can take it. They don't want us to sacrifice our lives completely, just serve them with our work."

Rash gives me a strange look. "Since when did you become so pious?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm to be a Blessed Priestess," I joke, nudging my shoulder against hers. "But I've just been thinking about it a lot. And I've talked to the Blessed Priestess of Anubis a couple of times while working at the temple. One of the assistants at our temple is friends with her. She shared some good insights that gave me something to think about her."

"Ah, I heard about her. She was the youngest Blessed in attendance at the Pharaoh's coronation. Apparently she even got a title out of it."

"Wow, I had no idea." Ani did say she'd gotten jewellery from the Pharaoh, but nothing about titles. Then again, hadn't Tressie said something about that? Ani didn't seem like the kind who had titles from a Pharaoh, though I don't suppose I know what that actually looks like.

"There's all kinds of articles about her if you look them up. It might be worth it if you're going to keep working funerals, you'll likely end up working closely with her."

"I've read some of them already." I chew on my bottom lip. "I'm still worried about whether I can do this. Be Blessed I mean."

"Of course you can," Rash assures me. "I doubted it at first too, but I actually enjoy my job. And I like knowing that there's a goddess who believes that I'm capable and trustworthy enough to work as her agent. Being Blessed is just that, a blessing not a curse. Embrace it, Shan."

"I'm trying to."

The clang of the ladder sounds again, and both of us look around in time to see Mesu appear.

"I guess that's my cue to go." Rash gets to her feet and lets out a loud whistle. Her kestrel swoops back instantly, landing on her shoulder with practised ease.

"You're going to have to teach me how to do that," I say, looking at Kema who hasn't even responded to the call.

Rash chuckles. "Next time."

I nod.

"You're going to be a great Blessed Priestess, Shan, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She smiles and heads back to the ladder, only pausing as she gets to Mesu. "Don't hurt her. Or whatever Ben's threatened to do to you, I'll do worse."

"Got it," Mesu responds with a solemn nod.

"Ignore her."

He chuckles. "I definitely won't, I'm much more scared of her than of your brother."

I snort. "Yeah, I can see that."

"So, you told her?" He sits down beside me and opens his arm.

I shuffle closer and rest my head against his chest. "More like everyone found out."

"Ben," he mutters darkly.

"No, it wasn't Ben's fault. Rash had heard a rumour and by the time I'd gotten her to stop talking, Kashto had picked up on it, the rest came out after that."

"And how did your parents respond?"

"As expected. I'm pretty sure they'll still push us towards marriage and children." I grimace. It's not even that I don't want that, it's just that I want to decide things like that on my own.

"I don't think there'd be any way around that. They'd probably want your child to be Anubis Blessed no matter who the father was."

"Probably," I agree. "But none of that matters. I'm not living my life for them, I'm living it for me."

He raises an eyebrow. "Feeling confident?"

"Right now, yes. They know about us, and they know about my decision to become a Kite. I'm sure it'll wear off, but right now, I don't feel like I'm in my parents' control. I'm my own person."

"You are," he agrees. "And I'll remind you of that if you falter."

"Good." I twist around and reach out to cup his cheek in my hand. "Because I don't want you to go anywhere, even if I've been told that you have to come to family dinners now."

Mesu chuckles. "I think I can just about manage that. Two of my favourite people are at your family dinners."

"You mean my parents, right?" I joke.

He chuckles. "I actually meant Kashto and Ben."

I snort. "Kashto is no one's favourite person."

"Fair. Though right now, I only actually have one favourite person."

"Is that so?"

"Mmhmm. She's beautiful, and brave, and has a very scary family." He turns and kisses my hand.

"I do like it when you say nice things about me."

"I can think of hundreds of other things," he says. The way he looks at me makes me think there's only one thing he wants to say to me, but I can tell he isn't going to, probably for fear that neither of us are actually ready for the words to be said out loud.

Instead, I lean forward and brush my lips against his, slipping my fingers from his cheek to tangle in his hair and pull him closer.

All of the words neither of us are saying are in the kiss, but that's okay. I don't need to hear them out loud to know they're true. And I don't need to say them yet either. We can go at our own pace, just like we can when it comes to learning our roles as Blessed.

And there's nothing more that I want than that. To live my own life, at my own pace, with no one else telling me the best way to do it.