Stars After Midnight

I. Qualms of a Crown

The thought of traitors brought a feeling of dread to the pit of his stomach. "Jabari, do you have any intel on the older advisers that my father kept?" he asked, lowering his voice. "I want to make sure every one of them is present tonight."

Jabari nodded. "They will be arriving with their choice of brides for you. I have already stationed the guards to block any exit."

"That will not be necessary."

"Pardon?"

Sethe smiled, wickedly. "Have faith in me, Jabari. They will get exactly what they deserve for sharing private information to our enemies."

At this, Jabari's lips quirked into a small smile. "May I ask about your plans for these men, Pharaoh?"

Sethe stared into the distance as the last wave of sun slipped past them. "They were the cause of my father's death, so they deserve to feel the wrath of the gods at my hands alone," he claimed, voice clipped and hard. He sought blood-thirsty vengeance. Breaking from his trance, Sethe turned to Jabari with a stern look. "Make sure you have ears everywhere tonight."

He nodded. 

Without another word, Sethe walked towards his chambers, head held high and eyes set on the unravelling of one of the biggest conspiracies Egypt had ever seen. Unlike the previous Pharaoh, Sethe did not use bloodshed early in his schemes, no, Sethe was patient and calculating in his affairs.

In order to truly bring justice, he would have to play the role of a promiscuous Pharaoh, a man that could strike fear in his enemies with a single glare, and had the charismatic allure that many craved after. For now, thought Sethe as he entered his room, I will need to set the pieces to my game.

* * * * 

Guests flooded the throne room as wine was tipped in a slur of drunken hazes, hooded eyes hungrily glancing at the foreign dancers with hips that circled the crowd in waves of awe, delight, and passion. The rapid strums of vessels pumping through the loud, chaotic banquet as whispers were disguised under the gowns of linen and silk, behind the curtains and under the moonlight. 

The dancers continued to shake their bodies to the beat, ample breasts barely covered by a sheer two strap and gold circling their ankles and wrists, clinking to the sound of ruby and emerald chalices, engraved by the finest jewelers in the region. Tan, sun-kissed skin glistening in a thin coating of sweat as the women continued to lure the feeble with a sway of their hips and the curve of their partially exposed backs.

With sultry eyes smudged with kohl and lips red with false desire, Sethe watched unsatisfied.

Sethe's visage masked the boredom he felt, but nonetheless he knew this was the type of banquet that allowed for whispers and schemes to slither into his hall. With Jabari's tactical planning, the guards would overhear snippets of the traitors' plan. They wanted to eradicate Sethe's dynasty. 

On the other hand, the potential brides stood near their sponsors, faces stoic with a traditional beauty, quiet, submissive, and more than willing to comply to any of Sethe's favor. Though they were silent, their eyes spoke the passion they longed to feel by living in the palace, by becoming the Egyptian Queen to fall back on a silk canopy of wealth, gold littering their bedsides and a palace worth more than anything the Europeans could ever pay for.

He knew he should have given the women more thought, but tonight his mind was elsewhere. Before the crown was forced upon his head, Sethe would have jumped at the opportunity to wed any of the world's finest women, but now all he saw were puppets in their eyes. Most of those women were part of the scheme, and he needed a woman that could play as a pawn and player on his side of the game.