The Bastard Princess

57.

-HER-

I glared at him in response and finished my dinner quickly before escaping to my safe sanctuary. Meanwhile, he continued with his efforts to get my attention but I upfront ignored him. If anything, he was amused by my response. I couldn't get any madder at him.

His shenanigans continued for the next couple of days. It was taking me all the patience to not stab him to death each time I saw his face. Meanwhile, giving me a hard time and passing comments on my ways became his source of entertainment and an evolving past time hobby. I didn't think he could go any further to fight for attention.

I couldn't start to wonder how a prince of a very prestigious and powerful kingdom could be so disrespectful and disgusting. He definitely would have made a bad king. I was starting to pity his people.

"So, what was your childhood like? I wonder what you did for fun in that hot desert," He spoke one day while I prepared dinner. Meanwhile, he helped me by maintaining fire for the hearth.

"Oh, it was wonderful!" I cried out loud, less with excitement but more with annoyance. Even though my childhood was far from wonderful, I liked to think less about it. I added next, "We used to hunt in our pastime,"

"Hunt what? Water?" He chuckled on his own joke. I was very much tempted to dump the pot with hot simmering soup on him but I resorted to throwing a glare at him, which he returned with a huge grin.

"I didn't expect anything less than an uneducated and disgusting mutt like you. The Nile provides enough water for the whole Alexandria for all twelve months," I told him.

"I was just joking," He told me as he helped me to set up the table. I didn't pay him much heed as I concentrated on finishing dinner.

"Did you ever meet your mother?" He questioned out of nowhere. This made me stare at him momentarily as I chewed my food. I gulped before answering, "Nah,"

"Then who brought you up? I know it wasn't Tryphaena. She burned that-" He stopped to touch the back of his neck, "mark on your neck," He completed. I was left staring at him with surprise and bewilderment. How did he know that?

Instantly, the mark on the back of my neck started to burn and as a habit, my hand shot up to scratch it while I looked away from him pensive silver eyes. A shiver ran down my spine as my body reminisced the ghastly pain that was inflicted upon me to put the mark on my back.

"How do you know?" I found myself asking him sharply. He maintained his pensive eyes on me before answering, "Inanna told us about you,"

"That pretentious goddess was lying," I commented even though I knew that that wasn't true but by this, I was finally aware that Ares knew about me but how much exactly?

"I don't think so," He shrugged. His eyes never left me as he continued to eat and talk, "So who brought you up exactly?"

"Why does it matter to you?" I shot, not even looking at him.

"I just want to know about you. That's it," He answered politely instead.

"Why? Didn't Inanna tell you everything about me?" I questioned him.

"Yeah, she did but since you are saying that she's wrong about you, why don't you tell me about yourself?" He offered. I chose this to be the perfect opportunity to ask him, "How much did she tell you?"

The tips of his lips slightly curled up as if he was expecting it. I wanted to stab him with the spoon because patience could be very costly sometimes.

"The basic things about you, like who gave birth to you and your relationship with the royals and how you overthrew your sister at a very young age, which was very impressive, to be honest, and how you were sent to exile and your time in Rome as a priestess and Cleopatra's constant attempts to assassinate you," As he spoke, his gaze grew more intense and possessive over me. I chose to look at my food instead and found that I have lost my appetite.

"Hmm," Was the only sound I made as I concentrated on finishing my food anyway. It tasted like sand and stones but I ate it anyway.

"So, who brought you up? And how did you learn to fight? You are well trained," He commented while my mind replayed some memories of my childhood. I hadn't really thought about it before. I always feared introspection because all the things that I had to look back were mostly ugly and traumatic.

"Tryphaena brought me up," I answered him while I sank deeper and deeper into the pool of memories, "A woman named Gila looked after me, but it was Tryphaena, she was the first one to teach me letters and taught me to spell my name," I answered, lost in the memories.

"Read this again," Tryphaena spoke sharply to me while she put her finger on a leaf. She had just scribbled on it. I read nonetheless, "Psaltisi(II) Ersamia Arsinoe(IV)," I read out loud as my eyes followed her finger which moved beneath the lines, "Eternal slave to Ptolemy,"

"I didn't expect that," His comment made me snap out of my daze.

"Me too," I mumbled as I ate but he continued asking, "And who taught you to fight?"

"It was Tryphaena herself. She made Cleopatra fight me," I answered while nodding to my plate. I felt his heated gaze on me meanwhile. Before he could ask me anything else, I ate the last bit and went to the kitchen to put my plate away.

I felt his eyes on me as I climbed upstairs to my sanctuary silently. I didn't want to talk anymore tonight. I wanted to go to sleep and try to forget about the past that had been brought up by him. I never liked to think about it because... well, nothing great had ever happened to me then.

"Good night, Arsinoe," I heard him speak downstairs but I didn't reply to him. Instead, I concentrated on drowning deeper into the darkness and maybe forget about everything before a new day started.

I woke up very early the next day because I was feeling hot. He was still sleeping when I sneaked out to have a bath before leaving for the temple early. I didn't care to set up breakfast because I didn't feel like seeing the kitchen before dinner.

Even though it was the early month of winter in Cumicos and it was considerably colder, I was constantly sweating throughout the day. By the evening, I felt strange neediness as the juncture between my thighs leaked and my core throbbed like a second heart.

"Are you alright?" Asked one of the older priestesses to me when she caught me washing my face for the ninth time today.

"Yeah," I sighed at the temporary coolness of the water but the heat was back again sooner than I was anticipating.

"You look flushed. Maybe you should go home now," She offered but I turned it down and continued to work a few more hours until the sunset.

"Arsinoe, you must go now," Edara came to me this time when I delayed leaving the temple. I left without speaking another word to her because I didn't want to create another scene at the temple with Ares again.

I almost ran to our small house and didn't care to check if he was back yet before I started stripping and got into the lake. I sighed deeply in relief as the cold, chilly water absorbed the heat of my body.

Although the relief didn't last long because soon, I felt pain creep into my lower abdomen and travel down my thighs while my core pulsed so strongly, I wanted to touch myself but I was aware that I was in the open.

What was happening to me? Was I going into heat again? How often did one go into heat? The last time I went into heat, it was a lot more painful. This time I was having very strong urges and my mind was constantly teasing me with pictures of Ares and me together in bed but my sensible part wasn't agreeing to it.

The last and the only time I had copulated with anyone, it was with Chefren and... it was very painful and traumatizing. I didn't want that to repeat. Chefren was just a mortal but Ares was very different and more primal. He was capable of inflicting more pain on me.

"Arsinoe," A familiar voice growled. I groaned in response and sunk deeper into the water as I spotted Ares' silver eyes staring at me heatedly from across the lake.

Here came my nightmare.

...

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