Royal Beasts: A Monster Romance (Monsters of Saint Mark's Book 3) by JA Huss

Author:JA Huss [Huss, JA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Science Future Press
Published: 2022-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

4

The throne room is just as grand as the rest of the palace, but it is surrounded by fog. And even though Callistina was giving off the impression that our father would be in here waiting for us, there is not one man acting like a god and sitting on a throne.

There are four of them.

I let out a long exhale of frustration. Because of course there are four of them. One is just too easy.

They are each sitting upon a grand throne and pretty much all look alike. Older, bearded—though not long beards, kinda short—and wearing various forms of godlike garb. Variations of togas and…I squint my eyes at the man sitting in the first throne on my far left. Because he’s different. His clothes are Egyptian. And immediately, my mind goes to the statue of Pell inside his tomb.

“Oh, fuck.” This comes out in my little-girl voice before I can stop it. But thankfully, the four gods on the four thrones are roaring different things at Callistina, and they don’t hear me.

Four. And they each have a banner over their throne declaring who they are.

The one from Egypt is called Ptah. He is wearing mummy wrappings. But they’re not old and gross, the way I normally picture mummy wrappings, but bright, bright white. And they cover every bit of his body, with the exception of his face, which is covered in green skin, and his head, which is covered in a bright blue cap.

Fucking Egyptian gods were so weird. They’re the ones who looked chimera too. I’m not all up on the whole pantheon or anything, but I do remember alligator men, and bird men, and dog men being among the strange depictions of these gods.

And this makes me pause. Because… yeah. Chimera. I feel like a revelation is coming about this whole thing.

The next one is called Cronus. Who, if I remember correctly from studying ancient gods in fourth grade, was a titan. A primordial Greek god who came before all the ones we know so well.

Then Zeus in chair three. Everyone knows him. He’s the god of gods.

And then, of course, the one we love to hate—Saturn on the far right from ancient Rome.

There are three more little girls in the room too. All dressed just like me. They are kneeling on fancy red-velvet pillows in front of the thrones with their foreheads pressed to the marble floor.

Of course, the pillow in front of Saturn is empty because that’s where I’m supposed to be. And just as I work this out, Callistina drags me over there and whispers, “Kneel down and place your head on the floor until they tell you to stop.”

I do this. Reluctantly. I’m getting sick of this memory. How do I get out of it? Just… find another door and walk on? Will that work?

Doesn’t seem likely. I feel like this memory is playing out for a reason.

Once I’m kneeling on my pillow, I side-eye Callistina as she bows low, lifting her skirts the way she did with Mistress Spinster.

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