Free Naughty Bits 2 by Megan Hart, Saskia Walker, Charlotte Featherstone, Portia Da Costa, Cathryn Fox, Lilli Feisty, Elliot Mabeuse, Jenesi Ash

priestly posture once again, taking a moment to arrange the heavy jewelry around his neck. He glanced into the Temple of Amun with professional interest as they passed, gauging the size of the crowd and nodding to a priestly acquaintance on the steps, then fixed his eyes ahead. They were almost there.
    Work had already begun on the promised Temple to Astarte on a patch of ground overlooking the river, but it was proceeding slowly, funds being as tight as Kheneb had said. The pillars were erect and the stairs half-finished, but the wooden scaffolding of the stone masons was still in place and there was as yet no roof, making it hard to visualize the finished structure. While the temple was being built, the foreign goddess was being worshipped in a large yet simple mud-brick temple close by. An older woman and a girl of Tia’s age or less stood with two servants outside the gate waiting for them.
    â€œThat is she,” Kheneb whispered out of the side of his mouth. “The girl must be from the Temple of Isis.”
    â€œI bid you good evening, your sacred lordship,” the woman said as they approached, and she bowed gracefully. The two servants dropped to their knees in the Mitanni fashion.
    â€œThe blessings of all the gods upon you and your people,” Kheneb said, switching to the hieratic tongue used by the priests. “And upon your noble temple. How fine it is looking!”
    â€œAnd so this is Tianefhet,” the woman said, smiling. “What a lovely creature. A grace upon the earth.” She turned to the other girl, who was dressed in a simple robe trimmed with green, the color of Isis. “This is Hafertiri, our new novice. She comes to us from the Temple of Isis the Protectress.”
    Tia made her bows, and looked up at the priestess Illana. She was a handsome woman of middle age, but younger than Tia had expected, and with an air of self-possession and composure that Tia had not thought a Mitanni capable of, they being such an excitable and uncivilized people. She had long hair that fell to her shoulders in the eastern fashion, in tight, crimpy waves, like ripples on shallow water, and her eyes were especially beautiful—dark and deep with long lashes, calm and knowing. She wore the clothes of an Egyptian, and in the darkness her white linen robe seemed to glow as if lit from within.
    Hafertiri was smaller and, now that they could see her, obviously younger than Tia, not as womanly, and indeed seeming to violate the principle that a priestess of Astarte be a fully developed woman, for she was still given to inappropriate giggling. Her hair was plaited into braids and hung with precious stones in the Isis manner, and the diadem of the Wife of Osiris circled her brows. She had an elfin face and seemed to have some trouble holding still. Her eyes invited Tia to share her private joke, but Tia was not going to be bated. She was more mature than that.
    â€œPlease, my lord,” Illana said to Kheneb, “let us go within. I must ask your pardon for this simple dwelling, but it is only temporary while the new temple is being built.” Kheneb gave her some conciliatory words, and they proceeded into the temple, followed by Hafertiri and Tia, leaving the servants to wait outside.Inside, Illana dismissed Hafertiri, sending her up to her room in the gatehouse now that the introductions had been made.
    The temple had apparently once been a noble house, for the trees and vines that grew around the pond in the courtyard were well-tended and mature, and the garden itself redolent with the smells of hibiscus and water lotus in bloom, as well as the fragrance of ripe grape and orange blossom. Tia glanced into the still waters of the pond and saw the fish there stirring slowly among the stands of papyrus and water lily, and then her eyes were drawn to the back of the temple, where the actual sanctuary of the goddess stood. The building had been modified, the roofline lifted to well over