The day had come, not that he cared much for it really.
The day the Crown Prince Khaldun would return and they were here on the palace grounds on the usual straight line, standing in front of Thabit with frowns on all their faces.
There was nothing that ruined the moods of celebration than having to contribute immensely to it.
Thabit had most of them on kitchen duty and Milah could see them mentally contemplate whether or not to return to the temple and retract their prayers for the Head Slave's freedom.
If they weren't he sure was.
"Wipe that look off your faces you pack of freeloaders!" Thabit yelled at them, his loud voice booming in the space of air, Milah was not surprised by the Head Slave's attitude.
He was stickler for perfection on a normal day but the need for perfection seemed to have increased by the fact that his neck was on the line if this didn't work out the way the Queen would have liked.
Milah shivered at the thought of what would happen to Thabit.
"If you scoundrels don't work like you're supposed to, I will behead each of you!" the Head Slave shouted, Milah turned to look at his friend Nefertiti when he heard her snicker beside him, questioning her with his eyes.
Shaking her head at him she turned her face to Thabit feigning attention "Now off to work!" Thabit voice rang out before the other slaves scattered to their duty posts.
"I don't understand why we do this" Nefertiti spoke out loud as they picked out vegetables from the fields "Do you want to eat?" Milah asked with his eyes focused on pulling out the vegetables.
"Of course I do, why do you ask?" Titi replied, pausing her picking to look at Milah with a glare.
"Well in this life you have to work to eat" he answered with a little bite, he was getting sick and tired of her snipes and snobbish attitude, it was getting exhausting to be around her these days.
"The royals don't work" she snarled throwing the vegetables into the basket with a little thud "Do we look like royalty to you?" he snapped standing to his full height and lifting his basket before turning to leave.
Placing his basket on the ground of the large kitchen, so large that if he could afford to wager he would say it was the entire size of the slave quarters, the slave quarters was quite large.
"Oh thank you Milah!" Jumoke the kitchen head chef said as she collected the baskets and passed it onto her assistant who was giving Milah a stink eye, Chuma.
He could feel a shudder coming on, "It's no problem really" he replied turning his blue gaze to Jumoke who gave him a toothy smile in return "So helpful" she gushed as she pinched his cheeks.
The only people who could make him feel like less of a man was Jumoke and his grand mother who made it a point of duty to pinch his cheek any time they were happy to see him. He had a very painful childhood.
"Bye Jumoke!" he yelled as he made his way out the royal kitchen, ignoring the way the hairs at the back of his neck stood up at the feeling of being watched, he knew who it was.
"Milah!" he heard his name being called as he headed for the royal store to get the curry used for the festivities, turning to face Thabit who was bracing his hands on his knees as he panted loudly.
For a man with such strong body build he was not the best of runners, "Sir?" he answered after he was sure the Head slave would not double over and die in front of him.
"Have you talked to your sister recently?" he asked while wiping off a sheen of sweat off his forehead, the man was confusing to Milah, first it was Nefertiti now it was his sister.
"No, I have not" Milah replied blushing when he remembered that he had not given the lotus flower to his grand mother and the flowers was currently in his other work dress in he and Nefertiti's quarters.
"Well send her my regards, when you see her" Thabit said as he helped Milah open the door, bowing his head in thanks as they walked into the semi dark room, he figured the man assumed that if he got on Milah's good side he would have a better chance at the woman or women he wanted.
"How are you?" he heard the Head slave ask from behind him, the man was a little too close for comfort but he thought if he ignored it maybe it wouldn't bother him.
"I'm quite fine sir, yourself?" Milah asked completely out of politeness "Ah, I am doing fine thank you very much for asking" he wondered if maybe the man had come in contact with a jolly dart and if that was what was making him act so friendly with Milah.
Silence filled the large room as they walked further into the room looking for the powder like substance that was located deep inside the dimly lit room.
Milah would have chuckled at how romantic this felt but he didn't think the Head slave would appreciate his sense of humor.
"Tell me something" Thabit's voice breaking the silence of the room. "Yes sir?" Milah replied as his hands skimmed the isles of food stuffs comprising of bread, thyme, sugar, rice, salt and- "Are you spoken for yet?" the question freezing his fingers instantly.
Turning to look at the face of the Head slave even though he could only see the outline of the man, "Well, I am waiting for someone" he replied truthfully, Milah could not stomach the thought of lying about the fact that his Khal was coming back for him.
He understood that most people found it laughable that a grown man was still waiting for a childhood love, he turned away from Thabit pretending to scan the shelves of the room.
He knew what he would say he's heard it a thousand times and he was so used to the reactions so he was prepared to let it roll off his back like the waters of Nile.
"Are they waiting for you?" he heard the man say behind him and he was not expecting that question, most people would ask if he had problems in the bed room department and even though that was far from the truth it didn't make him feel any better.
"I'd like to think they are" he replied still avoiding the man's sharp eyes, he would honestly like to think that Khal was waiting just as much as he was.
Milah might not be able give his body up in purity but he was waiting ready to give up his heart if only Khal would have him.
"How long do you plan on waiting?" Thabit asked in the darkness of the room "For a very long time" Milah replied his voice croaking at the end.
"I will.... I will see you later" he heard Thabit say from behind him, humming distracted as his eyes moved along the shelves looking for the bag marked with a bright yellow sign, smiling a little as he picked it off the shelf it was laying on.
Whistling as he left the store room swinging the bag beside him, making his way to the kitchen to give Jumoke her rice ingredient.
"You are a darling!" she praised hugging him to her plumb body shaking him in all directions with her strong arms, he should start running now, it shouldn't be this easy to sway him.
Leaving the royal kitchen after sun set and making his way to his quarters with a rushed pace before someone would see him and decide he was jobless enough to be able to help pick out a dress for the celebrations.
Speaking of celebration he had not looked at the bag of clothes that Alia had given to him maybe he should give it a look.
Pushing the door of his quarters open he peeked inside as he remembered the spat he and his friend had that very morning, taking timid steps inside knowing fully well that it didn't look so well for a man his size.
Walking quickly to his side of bedroom, he ignored the hot stare he could feel on his back, even though his neck was twitching to look behind him every few seconds but he refused to fall victim to the Fire Queen he had got accustomed to. He was a man!
"So?" he jumped six feet in the air a very undignified yell pouring out of his mouth, he couldn't even find it in himself to feel ashamed by that fact, pulling on the top of his work outfit he turned to her, his eyes darting to look at everywhere but her.
"Are you going to apologize?" she asked with one of her arched eye brow raised in question, feeling a little out of place at the look in her eyes, he was not going to apologize he did nothing wrong.
"I have nothing to apologize for" he resorted turning to pretend that he was folding his bed covers, he was not going to stare at her eyes and cave he did nothing wrong.
"You were rude to me" she countered and he felt a shiver down his neck that made him turn back, he disliked her tone "Not as much as you are to me" he replied turning to see her with her right hand on her waist, that was never a good sign.
"Ayreh Feek" she snarled at him bitingly, rolling his eyes at the ceiling he glared at her "I'm not interested" he would like to pretend that he knew what was biting Nefertiti but he honestly didn't feel like knowing it either.
That didn't make him a bad friend it just made him someone that was exhausted with trying to fix things, he never had any body to lean on.
"I am leaving" he heard her say but he was staring at the stars through the window too intently to reply to her, the door closed behind him as he sighed.
Tomorrow was the first day of the three day celebration and he was not in the mood to come out, he would leave the room in the morrow.
"The Prince has arrived! The prince has arrived! Prince Khaldun is here!" was the distant shouts that he heard from the people; maybe he could get some rest now.
Ayreh Feek: Is the common Arabian equivalent of "fuck u or screw you". It literally means "my penis in you". Nefertiti doesn't have a penis though so generally it's a swear word. The things you learn...
I was looking for ancient Egyptian swear words but could not find any so I checked for Arabic ones seeing as Egyptians adopted some traditions from other tribes like dancing and such. However, if you find an ancient Egyptian swearword please I would like to know. Knowledge is power and all that jazz.
Her Royal Awesomeness: So this is the chapter, I tried so hard to make it a little obvious that Thabit like Milah but its not working out how I would have liked though.
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