Page 43 of Claiming Demons
“Who—?” was all I got out before the man reached us.
“Ramsey,” the man said in a voice very similar to Ramsey’s himself. His midnight-black eyes were hard, especially when they passed over me, and it was clear he didn’t like me. “Aren’t you supposed to be handling Horus?”
“Hello, Father.” Ah… that explained a lot. “Horus hasn’t come down yet, I’ll be heading up shortly to make sure he gets down here safely, so he can make his grand entrance.”
“See that you do.” Those hard eyes turned to me. “You must be the new goddess, Anais.”
“Yes, your most reverent excellency,” I said, bowing my head slightly to him. I’d brushed up on my godly titles in preparation for tonight.
He scoffed. “I can see how you bewitched my son. You do have yourcharms.” That word held just a little too much creepy interest for my liking and I suppressed a shiver of disgust. “But as I told him, love and strife don’t mix. My son can’t love anyone. He’s using you. And when fucking is no longer fun, he’ll leave you. If he doesn’t. I’ll make sure he does.”
What a total douchebag. I now understood Ramsey’s warning about “unpleasantness.”
I met the god’s dark-eyed gaze and, before I spoke, I measured his godly power, searching out his aspects. He had one which seemed like my aspect of war, another like Ramsey’s chaos, and one more.
He only had three?
From what I’d learned of gods, power was relative and based on several factors.
Age was often the most significant. The longer a daemon or god had been around, the longer they’d had to develop their abilities.
The number of aspects was another. The greater the number of aspects, the more inherently powerful a god was.
This god was probably far older than me, but I was no slouch. And I had seven aspects to his three, even if my aspects of beauty and law weren’t well developed yet.
I’d guess we’d see which of us was stronger, since I wasn’t about to let him say such things about Ramsey and me.
So… “Fuck you, your royal shitiness,” I said evenly. “You wouldn’t know love if it sat on your face. Not that anyone would want to sit on your ugly mug, buster. And if youevertry to tell Ramsey or me what to do again, even once, I’ll cut you into little pieces. I swear it on my aspect of law and justice.” Those last words seemed to thrum through me and I felt a surge of power.
Ramsey’s father’s eyes went wide.
Ramsey choked on a laugh.
“You little—”
I brought out my sword. “Consider your next words carefully.” My tone was lethal.
Everyone around us hushed instantly, all except for one whispered voice who said, “Holy me, she’s fucking hot and powerful!”
I had to grin at that.
The tall man glared daggers at me, but I knew he’d felt it too. I’d made an oath on an aspect of law and that had bound both of us. If he did as I’d described, I would have to act against him.
“Do your duty,” the man spat at Ramsey, then turned and stalked away.
I put my sword away and looked at Ramsey. He was beaming at me with wide-eyed wonder.
“I don’t think anyone has ever talked to Set that way before. And… he didn’t even try to beat you down, which would have been his usual reaction. I think he was actually scared of you! Gods, you’re incredible, Ana.” He crushed me in a tight embrace as those around us slowly went back to what they were doing.
“How powerful is he?” I asked, curious.
Ramsey gave another choking laugh. “He’s one of the greater gods of Egypt!”
“Oh…”
“And you told him off like he was a petulant schoolboy who’d thrown a tantrum.”
“Well… he had. And what’s this about you needing to go look after Horus?”