I walked through the empty hallways, watching the sun rise. I stopped to rest against a pillar and watch the sun paint the sky with beautiful colors. Hearing the sound of footsteps, I turn to see Moses walking angrily towards me.
"Moses," I gently put my hand on his arm. He yanks his arm away from me and looks away. "Moses, what's wrong?"
"Did you know?" Moses takes a step towards me, I look at him confused.
"Know what?" He grabs my shoulder and squeezes it hard. I start backing away from him.
"Did you know that my mother found me in a basket, floating down the Nile." I stare at him in shock.
"Moses," I place my hand on his shoulder, this time he doesn't pull away.
"Well, did you?" He asks me again, firmer than last time. I look down before nodding my head, trying to not meet his gaze.
"I was there when your mother found you, you were just a little baby." He sucks in a breath and I look at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Moses asks me.
"Because it wasn't my secret to tell." I respond honestly. "That doesn't mean that you are any less a Prince of Egypt. Queen Tuya and Pharaoh love you very much." He doesn't say anything after that. "Moses," He breaks away from me and sprints down the hallway. "Moses!" He doesn't respond or turn around, he just keeps running. Something doesn't feel right. I sigh and shrug my shoulders. I was probably just tired or something, I walk down the hallway in the opposite direction. I had chores to do, I would talk to Moses later.
**Time Skip**
"Mommy, flower!" I lean over to delicately grab the lily flower out of the water. I give it to him and he looks at it in awe, his little fingers stroking the petals like they were made of clay.
"Is the flower pretty?" I ask him teasingly. He nods his head, still in a little trance. I wad a little deeper in the water, going to where it reached my hip. Ahmed let out a little shriek as the cool water hit his toe.
"Habibah!" I turn around to see Rameses standing on the steps where you entered the river. His white nemes on his head was a little disheveled and I could see the remnants of tears on his cheeks.
"Rameses? What's wrong?" I start wading towards him but he gets into the river and walks towards me. Ahmed looks at our guest with a big smile on his face and holds his arms out, waiting for Rameses to take him from me. Rameses picks him up and gently puts him on his hip before turning back to me. I cup his cheek and wipe away a tear that was just starting to fall. "Rameses," I say gently.
"He's gone Habi, he's gone." I stare at him confused.
"Moses, he's gone." He says hoarsely. I gasp, shaking my head.
"No," I whisper, I couldn't believe it. Moses was gone? Gone? "What happened?"
"There was a slave holder, he was whipping this old slave. I don't know what happened, but apparently Moses got really upset and pushed the slave holder over the edge. It was a deep drop, the man didn't survive." I put my hands over my mouth, tears started streaming down my cheeks. Moses? Sweet innocent Moses? "Moses ran, I tried to convince him to stay. He said something about his life was a lie and to ask the man he once called 'Father'. What did he mean by that?" Rameses asks me. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before answering.
"Moses isn't really your brother." I say slowly. "When you very young, just three year old, your Mother and I found Moses in a basket. We found him in this very spot we're standing." Rameses doesn't say anything, just bury his head into Ahmed's little neck. Ahmed cooed, reaching for another water lily. I pick another one and give it to him. Ahmed reaches out with the lily in his hand and points to my hair. I quickly fasten the lily, before I know what I'm doing, I put my face in my hands and sob. The water lily reminded me of when me and Queen Tuya first found Moses. Now, seventeen years later, he was gone. All because he made a stupid mistake. I felt Rameses wrap his arm around me and I sobbed onto his bare chest. He didn't say anything as I just let everything go. The death of my husband. The pressure of raising Ahmed alone. Now Moses running away, leaving forever, it was a lot.
We stand there, comfortable with the silence filling the air. Composing myself, I quickly wipe my eyes.
"Mommy?" Ahmed looks at me like I was insane, I held back a laugh.
"Yes darling?" Ahmed reaches out for me, Rameses gives him to me. I stand on my tip toes to give Rameses a kiss on the cheek. I start wading away towards the steps, but before I can, Rameses grabs my arm, making me turn around. He kisses me. Like on the lips, not the cute kiss on the forehead or on the cheek that we had been doing for the past month. He full on kissed me, and gods did I enjoy it. We only broke away when we both ran out of breath. Rameses rests his forehead on mine. "What a day," I whisper, finally breaking the silence. He chuckles and rubs my cheek with his hand.
"We should go." I murmur to him and he slightly nods his head. Ahmed buries his head in my neck, and before long, I hear a soft snore. Adjusting him in a more comfortable position, I get out of the water. I put down Ahmed temporarily while squeezing my dress to get as much moisture out of it. Placing Ahmed on my waist again and walking away, Rameses follows behind me. "How are we going to tell the news to Pharaoh and Queen Tuya?" I ask him. He just shrugs, his eyes rimmed a little with tears. "I'll let you tell them yourself, this is family business." I tell him. I mean, I felt like part of the family, but I wasn't. Letting Rameses tell them the news would be better because I probably could not bear telling Tuya. "Well then, see you later Rameses." I place a hand on the doorknob to my room, but before I could open it, Rameses grabs my arm.
"Could I talk to you later? Privately?" He says while blushing a little. I raise my eyebrow, now what could Rameses be blushing about? He almost never blushes.
"Sure, how about around midnight. I'll meet you in the gardens, now if you'll excuse me, I have chores to do." I respond.
"Of course," He lets go of my arm and walks away. I shake my head and open the door. Men, always so mysterious.
*Time Skip*
I gently close the door and tip toe through the hallway. Sneaking out or around the palace wasn't hard, but I guess I had a lot of experience from courting Ahmose. We used to sneak out almost every night and walk around till dawn. I slip behind a pillar when I see guards heading my way, muttering about who knows what. I made sure they were out of sight before I walked through the hallway again. When I made it to the gardens, the only thing that I could see was the moon shimmering, it's reflection bright against the fountain's water.
"Rameses!" I whisper loudly. Nothing. "Rameses!" I say it again. Still no answer. Then suddenly, I feel someone clamp their hands over my mouth. I shriek, but it was muffled againstthe hand over my mouth.
"Shh! It's just me!" I whirl around angrily. Rameses just smirks down at me without removing the hand off my mouth.
"Mhmmmm!" I grunt. He laughs and I glare at him. He slowly takes his hand off my mouth.
"Now what did you say?" Rameses asks me teasingly. I cross my arms and look away from him.
"I said you are worse than Huy and Hotep combined." I mumbled under my breath.
"Really?" I nod my head, still not looking at him. "Than I really hope Huy or Hotep never do this to you." He then proceeds to grab my chin and kiss me. If possible, it was even better than the first kiss. His lips tasted like honey and wine, basically in dreamland. The whole world seemed to just stop and pause. I put my hands around his neck and he puts his around my waist. We break apart, our noses grazing and our lips very close. I look up at him through my lashes, he's already looking down at me.
"Or what?" I whisper. His eyes suddenly become darker and he grips my waist tighter.
"There might be two very unhappy men with no jobs and might possibly be dead." He says huskily. I arch my eyebrow.
"Rameses." He groans and rests his forehead on mine. We stood there, me staring at him and he looking lost in thought. It felt like forever before he said something, but he did.
"Marry me." My eyes widen at what he says.
"What?" I whisper. He gets down on one knee and takes my hand.
"Habibah, every since I could remember, I've loved you. I love it every time your eyes shine when you laugh. I loved that after every time father yelled at me and Moses, you always snuck into our room at night to give us sweets or food from the kitchen just to make us happy again. I loved that you have always been there for me, to listen to me while I rant, or just to give me some advice. You always listen to me and make me feel like a normal human being, not someone who is going to run a country one day. Habibah, I love you with every fiber in my body. I want you to stand next to me when I get crowned Pharaoh, not as a friend, but as my wife. I want to have children with you, to have a daughter or son that looks exactly like you running around the palace. I want you to be by my side when I rule this country, as my wife, as a Queen. Habibah, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He says. Tears stream down my face while I stare down at him. He loved me. He loved me. He loved me! The very heir to to the Pharaoh loved me!
"Rameses," I whisper. He looks up at me hopefully. "Rameses, you know I can't." His face falls and he stands up.
"What do you mean you can't?" He says calmly through clenched teeth.
"Rameses, I'm a servant. No one would approve of our marriage." He takes my hands into his own and shakes his head.
"We can make it work." I look away, not able to stare into his hopeful eyes.
"Rameses, I can't do that to you." He forces me to look at him and I do, tears threatening to spill.
"Please Habibah, do it for me, do it for us. Please!" I look up at him and slowly take a breath.
"Fine," I say. His hopeful expression returns and before he says anything, I put my finger over his lips to quiet him. "Wait, I'm not done yet." He nods and I take my finger off of his mouth. "I will marry you on one condition, you get approval from both the Pharaoh and the Queen." His face falls a little.
"Both of them?" He whispers. I nod my head. "Mother would approve, but you know how father is!" I cross my arms and frown at him. He sighs and mumbles something under his breath. "Fine." I throw my arms around him and kiss him.
"Father better approve, or I might go insane." I giggled and we enjoyed the rest of our time together, not wanting to return to the real world.