The throne room fell silent when the priests entered.
I stood beside Ram, still wearing my coronation crown, when six men in white linen processed toward us. Their heads were shaved, their eyes kohled in the style of those who served death. Gold amulets bearing Osiris's djed pillar gleamed against their chests.
Their leader stopped seven steps from the throne. Older than the others, his pale eyes held the stillness of deep water.
"Great Pharaoh, I am Henku, High Servant of Osiris. The divine order has been disrupted. The escaped abomination threatens the balance of Ma'at itself."
The escaped abomination. Seth.
My birthmark throbbed beneath the gold necklaces hiding my throat. Beneath the cosmetics concealing what Seth had done to me last night. I kept my expression neutral, but my heart was racing.
Ram's voice came out level. "The entity that once inhabited my person has been separated. It poses no threat to Egypt."
"Seth was bound for reasons that transcend mortal understanding." Henku's gaze slid to me, and I felt it like a physical touch. "That the binding failed speaks to... unprecedented interference."
I forced myself not to flinch.
"Choose your next words carefully, priest." Ram rose from his throne. "You stand before the Queen of Egypt."
"No one is beyond divine authority." Henku's voice carried steel. "Seth must be re-bound. A ritual—the original binding ceremony with enhancements. Permanent this time."
"And if I refuse?"
"Plagues. Famines. The dead rising from their tombs." Henku paused. "These are not threats, Great Pharaoh. They are promises."
I watched Ram descend the steps, stopping close enough that Henku had to tilt his head back. "Seth is no longer my concern. I fought him for eight years. My obligation ended when he was separated from me."
"Then perhaps we should take the matter to the vessel who freed him." Henku's smile was the coldest thing I'd ever seen. "The Queen who carries Nephthys's mark. Lord Osiris will have his audience with her—by your leave or without it."
"You will not approach her."
"She freed a bound god. She bears responsibility."
The delegation withdrew, leaving silence in their wake. Ram turned to me, and I saw it in his eyes—suspicion. Hurt. He'd noticed something.
"Not here," he said quietly. "Now."
He led me to his private study. The moment the door closed, he released my arm and turned to face me.
"What happened last night?"
The question hit like a blow. I could have lied. Should have, perhaps. Claimed a servant's accident, a fall against furniture, anything but the truth.
But I'd promised myself no more deception. Not with this man who'd written terrible poetry for me and shared his worst secret.
"Seth."
The word hung between us like a blade.
"He possessed a servant. Borrowed the body for an hour." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "He wanted to remind me... before I became your Queen."
Ram's face went blank—the careful emptiness of a man absorbing a blow he'd half-expected but hoped wouldn't land. "And you let him."
"I let him." No excuses. No justifications. He deserved better than that. "I'm sorry."
Silence stretched between us, heavy with everything breaking. I watched emotions war across his features—anger, hurt, betrayal, and beneath it all, something that might have been understanding. He knew what Seth was. Knew the pull, the intensity, the way a god's attention could feel like drowning and salvation both.
"Did you know he would come?"
"No. But I didn't send him away either." I forced myself to hold his gaze. "I should have. I know I should have. But he was real, Ram. Solid. For the first time since his reformation, I could actually touch him, and I..." I trailed off. There was no excuse that would make this better.
Ram turned toward the window, his back to me. His shoulders rose and fell with controlled breaths. When he finally spoke, his voice was careful. Measured.
"The priests want to use you to re-bind Seth. That's why they came today—to pressure you while the crown was still fresh."
"I know."
"They'll offer mercy. Rewards for cooperation. Threats if you refuse." He turned back. "What will you tell them?"
"I don't know yet."
"He's a chaos god, Enet. He's done terrible things—"
"So have I. So have you." I met his gaze. "Does that mean we deserve to be caged for eternity?"
A knock interrupted us. "The Osiris delegation requests a private audience with the Queen."
Ram's jaw tightened. "I'll refuse them."
"No." I straightened, feeling the crown's weight. "I need to know what they're offering. What they're threatening." I touched his arm. "I'm Queen now. Let me act like one."
He held my gaze for a long moment, then nodded once. I left him standing by the window and went to face the priests alone.
Henku smiled when I entered the small audience chamber. It didn't reach his pale eyes.
"Great Queen. How gracious."
"Speak plainly. What does Osiris want from me?"
"Direct. I appreciate that." He settled into an uninvited chair. "You carry Nephthys's mark. You freed Seth. The gods consider you responsible for what follows."
"And what follows?"
"Chaos. Destruction. The unraveling of Ma'at itself." He steepled his fingers. "But there is another path. Perform the re-binding ritual—voluntarily channel your mark's power to cage him once more—and all will be forgiven. The gods will reward you. Blessings upon Egypt, upon your reign, upon any children you bear."
"What exactly does this ritual require?"
"Your presence. Your mark. Your willing participation." His smile widened, and I saw the hunger behind his piety—the eagerness of a man who sensed victory. "It won't hurt you, Great Queen. The power flows through you, not from you. You'd be a channel, nothing more. A conduit for divine justice."
"And Seth? What happens to him?"
"Contained. Properly. Permanently." His pale eyes glittered with something that looked almost like pleasure. "Bound in chains that cannot be broken, imprisoned in darkness that has no end. He'll spend eternity aware of his cage, conscious of his punishment, unable to do anything but contemplate his crimes."
The description made my stomach turn. "That sounds like torture."
"That sounds like justice." Henku leaned forward. "Is that not what you want? To rule beside your Pharaoh without a chaos god lurking in the shadows, claiming ownership of his Queen?"
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you are complicit in his crimes." His voice hardened. "Three centuries of atrocities, Great Queen. Murders. Corruptions. Madness sown wherever he walked. The suffering of thousands—and now at your feet, for setting him free."
"I didn't know what I was doing."
"Ignorance is not innocence." He leaned forward. "The binding will happen. The only question is whether you participate willingly and reap rewards, or resist and face consequences alongside the monster you freed."
I held his gaze. "I'll consider your offer."
"Consider quickly. The divine patience is not infinite." He rose. "And know this—Osiris is not the only god watching. Horus. Ra. The entire divine council has taken interest in your choice."
I sat alone for a long time after he left, turning the Queen's crown over in my hands. Heavy gold, set with lapis and carnelian. It represented everything I'd gained—power, protection, a future I'd never imagined.
And now Osiris wanted me to use that power to cage the god I loved.
Did I love Seth? The question twisted through me. I'd let him claim me last night, cried out his name, said I was his. But I'd also held Ram's hand through the coronation, feeling something warm when he looked at me.
And the gods demand I choose.
That night, I dreamed of Seth standing in darkness, crimson eyes fixed on me, waiting for my verdict. He didn't speak. Didn't plead. Just watched, as if my choice had already been made.