– Arius –
When I woke up the next morning, I conducted my own private prayers and then decided to get a head start on the work I was going to be asked to do today. Lord Khafirin had already given me today's work that was meant to be copied, so I sat at my desk and got straight to it.
However, almost as soon as I started, there was a knock at my door.
"Come in," I said loudly.
The small double doors opened as Lord Asim, the High Priest of Amun, entered with a warm smile on his face. "Good morning, my Prince."
I smiled at him. "Good morning, did you sleep well, my lord?"
"As well as the gods would allow," he bowed before continuing. "I am pleased to inform you that the Pharaoh requests for your presence at the throne room this morning."
My eyebrows rose. "Really?"
Lord Asim nodded with his smile still on his face.
Lord Asim was an incredibly kind man, though his face and body spoke otherwise. He was large, as in built, and looked a lot like General Boman, who was his brother.
His skin was dark and his head was completely bald. He always kept himself clean shaved and wore nothing but a shendyt and a beaded necklace that was wrapped a couple times around his neck. Occasionally, during prayers or festivities he would also wear leopards skin over his shoulder and across his chest.
He was a very wise man who, almost always, knew what was the right thing to do. It was for this reason that Lord Asim would take the place of Vizier, the most trusted advisor of the Pharaoh, while my mother's father, the real vizier, was not here.
"Come, now," Lord Asim said. "We mustn't keep our Pharaoh waiting."
I nodded before standing up and following him to the throne room.
Once we arrived, my uncle had already started the royal meeting. I was a little bit lost at first, but Tabia updated me on all the information.
Apparently my uncle has decided to start another conflict with our neighbors, and the Hittites have decided to join us as our allies.
And apparently he had to go to Hatti within two weeks to make the arrangements.
Lovely.
"Which brings me to why I wanted you to be here today, Atumankhkare," my uncle started as he squeezed his temples with his finger and thumb. It was clear that he wasn't happy with whatever he wanted to talk to me about. He didn't seem too pleased with whatever he was going to say. "Myself and the court have decided– though I am quite confident that you are going to make a tremendous mess of things– that you will rule the country in my place while I am gone to Hatti."
My eyes widened.
"What?"
"The court believes that having you take his place would keep the stability in the country," Lady Akila said.
"There is no question that there is some instability in Lower Egypt right now, my Prince," Lord Khafirin said. As he was the man in charge of internal affairs, I had no doubts in what he was saying.
Of course, my uncle caused this instability. All of these conflicts he kept getting our country into... well, they hurt Lower Egypt more than Upper Egypt. Lower Egypt, in the North, was much closer to the foreigners that do not like us than here in the south.
"We believe that if the throne is left empty while the Pharaoh is gone, the instability could get worse." Lord Khafirin continued.
"And of course, this would be great practice for you. It is a chance for you to really understand what it is like to be the Pharaoh," Doctor Khamuza added.
I nodded.
This was great.
This was exactly what I needed. This would be a way for me to help my claim to the throne. No wonder my uncle was unhappy with this decision.
"And, Atumankhkare," my uncle started. "If you do anything foolish, I swear to you that you will regret ever getting this opportunity."
I was certain that he was trying to frighten me... but I refused to let him frighten me.
My uncle was never meant to be the Pharaoh. He stole that position from me. And on top of stealing it, he made a fool out of my father by destroying all of the peace my father worked so hard to build and maintain.
If this was going to help me get what was truly meant to be mine, then I will do the best that I could.
"Do not worry, my Pharaoh," I said. "I will not let you down."
He narrowed his eyes at me.
And I smiled, because I was most definitely going to let him down.
I was going to let him down by doing an excellent job.
~ ☥ ~
Things felt like they were beginning to work out for me. It almost felt like everything was going wrong for the last little while but now it was turning around.
I started studying even more than usual for the next couple days. I needed to catch up... to refresh my mind of all the important things I needed to know to be a good Pharaoh... even if it was temporary. Lady Akila was more than willing to help me on this, as were the other court members.
I studied like this for an entire week. It was the most I've ever really pushed myself in my life. And I think Lady Akila noticed that too. "My prince," she said as she walked over to me.
I was sitting at my desk, reading a big book about morals that Lord Asim had brought for me from the temple library. When I looked at her, she put her hand on my shoulder.
"Do you not think you are working too hard, my Prince?"
"I have to make sure I don't make any mistakes–"
"And you will not," she squeezed my shoulder before pulling her hand away and smiling at me. "You mustn't forget that you are not in this alone. All of your court members will be there to guide you and help you. But for now, you need to take a break, my Prince."
"A break?"
"A long break," she said. "Maybe you should relax until your uncle leaves. The last think you need is to get ill once your uncle leaves. Save up your energy for now, you have studied enough."
She was right.
Getting ill would not be good.
So I nodded and then stretched. "You're right," I started. "I'll go for a walk and then sleep."
"Good," she looked a little relived.
So with that, I stood up and left my room, Lady Akila leaving right behind me.
It was getting late. The sun was setting and everyone in the palace were either trying to finish off their daily tasks in order to get ready to go to sleep, or already finished and back at home.
So the halls were not exactly bustling with as much activity as usual.
I really liked this time of day. It was quiet and calm, but not as quiet and motionless as night. What made it all even better was the fact that Ra looked gorgeous near the horizon, filling the sky with orange and yellow rays.
I had walked to my mother's garden within a couple moments, and thankfully it was empty. There were almost always gardeners rushing around to tend to the lovely flowers, but at this time of the day, everyone was gone.
I sat at the edge of the small, artificial lake that my father had built so that it would be easier to water the plants. It was round and had a stone border around it except for where the maids would go to retrieve the water. The stone border was nice though, because it was a nice spot to sit at or lean against. This was often where I fell asleep in the middle of the day.
For the most part, I was alone. Guards who walked by left me alone, and so did any nobles, and I was grateful for that. I was exhausted, and the silence was nice.
But of course, it didn't last as long as I wanted... it never did.
"Namare!" I heard a familiar voice call rather loudly. "Where are you?"
I turned my head and the first person I saw was Saia. She had her hands encircled around her mouth as she called for this Namare person.
I straightened myself up when I saw her, seeing as this was the first time I had seen her since I left their village. But I stood up almost immediately after because Chione was following right behind her.
Saia took a deep breath to shout again, "Nama–" She cut herself off when she saw me. "Arius!"
Chione turned her head and smiled when she noticed me.
I waved, "how are you?"
Saia ran over to me, her big eyes filled with excitement. "It's so good to see you! I almost thought Chione was lying when she said she saw you because I never did!"
I chuckled.
"It is good to see you well," she said before she hesitated. "Well, relatively well. Your eyes look exhausted!"
"I've been busy... but I am glad you're well. How are you taking the life at the palace?"
She shrugged. "It's not as magical as I imagined it to be," she said. "I have yet to see any soldiers who could potentially be a future husband of mine."
I laughed, as did Chione. "What are you two doing here, anyways?"
"Our roommate has been gone all day," Chione said.
"And our other roommate, Ti, is worried sick," Saia added, "so we're all looking for her."
"Why are you so worried?" I asked. "Don't you all go off and do things on your own all the time?"
"Yes," Saia said before lowering her voice to a whisper. "But Namare is kind of strange. She doesn't talk much and always looks miserable. I think she's having an affair with a nobleman."
My eyebrows rose at the odd conclusion she came too by just seeing a quiet and grumpy girl, "really?"
Saia nodded, putting her hands behind her back and lifting her head up as if she had said something extremely brilliant.
The sight made me laugh as Chione raised an eyebrow.
Saia opened her eyes, looking like she was about to protest at my laughing, but then her eyes widened at someone behind me. "Namare!"
I turned around as Saia ran around me and towards a surprised but annoyed looking girl. She was pretty, with long black hair and wore bangs to cover her forehead. And for a maid, she had a lovely, full figure. Her eyes were very dark, and she had a strong, feline like stare.
Yes, she was definitely pretty.
She didn't seem too pleased as Saia ran towards her. "Ti was worried sick about you! Where were you?"
"I went for a walk," Namare responded. "I told her that." Her voice was rather monotone and lacked any humor. However, there was something about her voice that was appealing. It was rather deep and had a seductive ring to it.
"Well, you got home so late!" Saia said. "Let's go find Ti and let her know you're okay."
The girl looked like she was trying to hold back an eye roll. However, as she stepped forward to continue on her way, her eyes fell on me.
She let out a breath before bowing low, "my–"
"It's fine," I said, cutting her off quickly. "Go on with what you were doing."
She rose, not making eye contact with me again and walked off quickly.
Saia turned to Chione, and the two of them exchanged a look of concern before Saia sighed. "Well, I'll go find Ti," she turned to me. "It was nice to see you again, Arius!"
I nodded. "And it was nice to see you too, I'm sure we'll run into each other again."
She grinned at me before running off, leaving Chione behind. So I turned to her, "that was strange."
"I think she is ill," Chione said to me. "I don't know about the whole affair thing, but something is definitely wrong with that girl."
"Have you tried taking a look at her?" I asked as I sat back down on the stone I was sitting on earlier. "You're sort of a doctor."
She let out a laugh, "well, I've asked her. But it's clear that she doesn't want any of us to be near her."
"Hmm," I tried to think of why... but nothing came up in my mind.
"But anyways," Chione started as she crossed her arms. "How come the other maids don't know who you are?"
I hesitated, "what do you mean?"
"We saw a man called General Boman the other day... and they said they've never heard of a General Arius before."
I straightened my back, suddenly nervous.
"Are you lying to me about being a general?"
I shook my head, "no. I'm not."
She sat down next to me, "then how come no one knows you?"
"I'm relatively new at the palace," I lied. Deep down, I knew it was a bad idea to keep this lie going much longer... but for some reason I couldn't stop myself. Instead, I lied some more. "General Boman is the main palace general–"
"Are you sure you're not a lieutenant commander?"
I called myself a fool in my head. That would have been a better lie. Why hadn't I thought of that? However, it was too late now. "No," I said. "I am not."
She looked at me suspiciously.
"Well, you can't blame the other maids. A lot of them don't even know the Prince's real name. You can't expect them to know a generals." That wasn't a lie. "I'm sure you don't even know what the Prince's name is."
"I do," she said. "Atumkare."
I chuckled. "Atum-ankh-kare."
She looked a little embarrassed but then laughed. "I was close."
"You were," I responded. "But that just proves my point."
She rolled her eyes, "okay, okay. Fine."
I smiled. "So how are things with Doctor Tumini?"
"Great!" She responded, "he's very kind! And Lady Aziza wasn't very happy with it, but she couldn't do anything because the Doctor himself talked to her!"
"That's good," I said. "Have you met his wife?"
"Lady Subira?" She suddenly looked excited. "Yes, she's wonderful! And absolutely beautiful! I don't think I've ever met a more beautiful woman."
"She is beautiful," I agreed. "And you look a lot happier now than when I first saw you."
"That's because I am happier," she smiled a big smile. "I didn't really want to be here... but now I'm doing something that makes me feel more at home. So I'm happy now."
"That's good."
We were silent for a moment, and then she looked at me with her green eyes. "How are your injuries anyways?" She asked as she looked at my body.
A long time had passed since I had gotten those injuries and they had completely healed aside from the scar that was left behind. "Completely fine," I said. "I feel like they were never there to begin with. Though the scar is rather unattractive."
She leaned forward and looked at it, and for some reason, I moved my arms so she could get a better look. "The scar is pretty bad... but I don't think you should worry. It's a battle wound. Something to be proud of and to show off," she smiled as she spoke. "Some women who have given birth have marks all over their bellies. They don't like them at all but usually after I tell them they're the marks of motherhood, the wear them with pride"
I chuckled. "Very true."
"And the scars on your back?" She asked, "I'm assuming they're battle wounds too?"
I suddenly felt embarrassed.
I only wished.
"No, they're discipline wounds. I disobeyed my uncle once when I was younger and was punished with a good whipping."
Her mouth widened into an 'O' shape, "can I see?"
I strangely felt more embarrassed. "Well... I guess." It's not like I ever hid it anyways, I never wore anything over my torso... so everyone could se the scars with complete ease if they wanted too. Besides, they weren't that bad, to be honest, most of the skin had healed except for three long lines across my back, which were now darkened as scars.
So I turned around and displayed those three large whip scars.
Chione remained silent, and after a moment, I felt her cold fingers touch my skin. I held back a shudder, not expecting her to touch me.
I worried a little that someone would walk by and see, but thankfully, there was no one. And since it was this late, I was sure that the chances of someone walking by to see a maid touching a princes back would be slim.
But then I felt my cheeks warm up. Why was I making it seem like I wanted her to touch me? That was ridiculous. However, when she pulled her hand away, I couldn't deny the slight disappointment.
"It looks like an old scar, but nonetheless, its still one you can be proud of," she said. "You must have grown a lot since the time you were disciplined."
I had.
A lot.
"It must have been very painful though... I've never been whipped before."
"It was. But I bit my tongue and took it like a warrior."
She chuckled.
"I did not even shed a tear."
She laughed some more.
"Though my younger brother was horrified. He made me swear never to disobey my uncle like that ever again."
"You have a little brother?"
I hesitated, wondering if I was disrupting my lie at all. When I deemed it safe to continue, I nodded. "I do. He's a little boy, much younger than I."
"I'd love to meet him!" Chione said.
"Maybe one day," I smiled. "I'm sure he'd like to meet the girl who saved my life as well."
She gave me a silly grin before we continued to talk the evening away.
We talked about many different things, but for the most part we talked about her new job with Doctor Tumini. I was glad to see how thrilled she was to be able to help him out, but I was also a little disappointed that she decided to continue to keep her father's illness from me.
Though maybe it was because it was not that big of a problem. Maybe he just wasn't that ill.
So I pushed the thought aside and continued to talk to her about other things. Eventually, however, she stood up.
"I should get going now," she said. "Aziza doesn't like it when maids come back to the Servant's Quarters after dark."
I got up too and nodded, "I understand. It was nice to talk to you, Chione."
She smiled at me, and right as she opened her mouth to probably say goodbye too, I felt a light evening breeze against my face.
I suddenly smelled a beautiful scent. It was a familiar scent that I didn't notice earlier, but I knew immediately that it was the scent of one of the perfumes I had sent her as a gift. The only part of the gift that she kept.
I guess Ramose wasn't lying about that. I had thought that he might have given it to some girl who he had a short relationship with on his trip there or back.
"The perfume," I said, cutting her off. "I'm glad you're wearing it."
I noticed her cheeks turn a little red as she held one of her arms with her other. "Oh, you can smell it?"
"Yes," I nodded. "It smells lovely."
She let out a chuckle. "I never really thanked you for that... thank you. I really liked it."
"You have no need to thank me, though I was slightly offended that you didn't take all of it."
Now she rolled her eyes, the blush in her cheek vanishing. "You couldn't have honestly expected–"
"Yes, yes," I said. "Ramose explained it to me."
She looked at me for another moment and then smiled. "Goodnight, Arius. I will surely see you soon."
I nodded.
With that, she turned around and walked off.
I watched her for a moment, watching as her long hair danced a little as she walked. And then I turned around and started to make my way back to my room.
I walked rather slowly, trying to enjoy the quiet and the peace, but also trying to ignore the strange feeling in my heart. However, before I could think more deeply about it, I saw my aunt walking towards me with her entourage.
I bowed when I saw her, making her chuckle. "Arius, my sweet."
Aunty Aya, though the wife of Uncle Khamen, was very kind. She adored me for some strange reason and liked to call me her "sweet."
"How are you?" I asked.
"Well, but feeling a little chubby."
I laughed as she said that. She was more than a little chubby. Aunty Aya looked exceptionally pregnant. It almost looked as if she may have had two babies in there.
Though maybe she did.
We would have to wait till she gave birth.
"You look tired, my dear," she said. "But at the same time, quite happy."
"I am both," I chuckled. "But why are you walking around? Shouldn't you be resting?"
"Many have told me that walking around will make giving birth a lot easier," she said as she put her hands over her huge belly. "So I walk around when I can."
"Don't exert yourself too much, Aunty Aya."
My aunt smiled before grabbing my face and pulling it down to kiss my forehead. "Look at you, little prince. Worrying about your aunt," she smiled when I looked at her. "But have no fear, I am heading back to my room now."
"Good," I said. "I will see you in the morning."
She nodded before letting me go off to my own bedroom.
I sometimes found it strange when she called me things like "little Prince," or her "sweet." Part of my reason why was because she wasn't that much older than me, only about five years, actually. My uncle had married a woman who was much younger than him. A grand total of twenty years... which wasn't uncommon among the royals, but it was still odd to me.
He had little to no romantic relationship with her, partially because they just couldn't relate to each other. Also because he was not exactly the loving type.
Yet she was still a happy and loving person, which was why I liked her a lot. I always imagined women to be the kind of people who yearned for love and romance and that sort... but Aunty Aya was not like that. She just wanted to be happy.
And something about that made me feel a little sorry for her.
– Chione –
I didn't know why but my heart was racing after my encounter with Arius. The second I touched his back, something started to feel off. But that was strange... I touched his skin so many times when I was treating him back at home... what was different about it now?
When I reached the Servant's Quarters, I noticed Saia sitting there on the stairs on her own.
"Saia!" I called.
When she looked at me, she grinned. "What took you so long?"
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't realize you were going to wait for me.
She chuckled. "I heard the stars were going to look exceptionally bright tonight, so I thought you'd want to sit and look at them with me."
I nodded. That sounded nice... it was something we would do back at home when we couldn't sleep. The stars always made the darkness seem less frightening.
When I reached her, I sat next to her and she nudged me. "You spent a lot of time with Arius, hmm?"
"I was telling him about Doctor Tumini," I said. "Apparently, he's good friends with him."
"Sure," she wagged her eyebrows, making me roll my eyes. "I came here in search of a soldier, but look at you, aiming all the way to the top!"
I rolled my eyes again. "A general isn't all the way at the top–"
"You aren't denying it!" She started to giggle.
"What?"
"You didn't deny it! You didn't say you weren't going after him!"
"Saia."
She giggled some more. "Well, I'll tell you my opinion," she started, "I think he's a wonderful you man. Very polite and decent. Plus, he's unbelievably handsome."
"Ram is more handsome," I countered, though I realized that now it was as if I was trying to convince myself that Saia was wrong.
"Ram is more handsome. And Ram is also married to our good friend. He's off limits."
I chuckled, "I'm not interested in Ram. I'm just saying."
"Yeah, yeah. The point is, I think Arius is a good match for you."
"Don't be silly, Saia. Arius is still of a higher class. A maid can't be with such a high classed–"
"That's not true!" Saia argued. "Maids get with soldiers all the time."
"But Arius is a general."
"Well at least he's not a Pharaoh... or even a prince!" Saia said, "if you get Arius to fall madly in love with you, which I think you can totally do, he'd definitely be able to pull some strings to make you his wife."
"I don't–" I cut myself off and scoffed. "Why are we still talking about this?"
Saia began to laugh as I looked away, cheeks burning.
There was no possible way that I would be infatuated with Arius. I mean, I barely knew him.
But despite the fact that I repeated that to myself over and over again while gazing at stars with my best friend, something inside me said otherwise.
– Arius –
I woke up to a commotion just outside my door. It was quite angering and I swear I could have hit someone in annoyance. But of course, I didn't. Not that there was anybody nearby to hit. Instead, I groaned, turned around in my bed and got up.
When I got out of bed, I walked to the large double doors of my room and pulled them open rather aggressively, hoping to scare whoever thought it was alright to make so much noise around the Prince's room this early in the morning.
Ra hadn't even risen yet.
But when I looked at the maids and the midwives scurrying around, looking panicked, I knew something was wrong.
I tightened my shendyt and ran my fingers through my short hair, trying to straighten it out a little as I stepped out of my room. "What's going on?"
The old looking midwife looked too panicked to even bother bowing before she spoke... not that I cared or anything, it was just odd and made it clear that something was definitely wrong.
"The Queen had woken up early in the hopes of conducting prayers for the Pharaoh's safe trip later this week... but she had slipped and fallen while bathing!"
My eyebrows rose, "fallen?" I asked.
And then I snapped out of my half asleep state and remembered that she was pregnant.
"Is she alright?" I felt my eyes widened as I joined the maids in their panic.
The midwife gave me a sad look.
Almost immediately, I slipped into my sandals and rushed to the Royal Birthing room. "You know you cannot go in there, my Prince!" The midwife who had spoken to me and was following me said.
"I know... but I need to know what's going on."
When I reached the birthing room, I saw a crowd of women and a couple priests standing near the door.
"Is she okay?" I asked Lord Asim, who was standing outside the door praying silently.
He looked at me sadly and shook his head. "There were two children... the first has passed."
I felt my heart squeeze, "that's horrible... where is uncle?"
"Not here yet," Lord Asim said. "He should be on his way."
I bit my lip and crossed my arms as I started to pace. There were a lot of worried voices and it wasn't helping to make me feel better.
But after a short while, Lady Aziza walked out of the room, she was mumbling to herself and shaking her head. "Where are they?" She asked loudly. "The queen is in pain and waiting!"
"They are on their way, my Lady." A guard said.
"Who?" I asked Lord Asim.
"A midwife, I believe," Lord Asim said. "The queen is requesting for her."
I hesitated but began pacing again. I could hear Aunty Aya's moans from inside the room... she seemed perfectly fine just last night.
How could this happen? The poor woman.
And just then, to my surprise, I saw Chione.
She was running, holding her skirt in her hands and looking exhausted.
They had called Chione?
When she noticed me, her eyes widened. "Arius?"
Before I could even respond, Aziza had exploded. "How dare you, maid!" She hissed.
I didn't know why she got so mad, but then when I realized, I tried to cut her off, but she didn't let me.
"How dare you call the Prince by his name? Bow before him!"
Chione looked confused for a moment before she understood. Then her eyes widened and she bowed almost immediately.
"If the queen wasn't suffering I would have had you whipped," Aziza mumbled, though everyone could hear.
I opened my mouth to speak to her, but Aziza grabbed her arm.
"This way," she said, pulling her into the room.
Chione looked at me for a moment with what looked like an upset glance.
And then she vanished behind the doors of the birthing room.
I started to pace again.
I tried to remind myself that right now I need to focus on praying for Aunty Aya. Now was not the time to worry about Chione finding out the truth about me.
But I couldn't help it.
I couldn't help but worry that she was mad at me.