by N J Adel
I smiled and drew imaginary lines on his cheeks.
“Fingertips as lotus petals.” He held my hand and kissed inside my palm. Then he leaned over me. My lips parted for a kiss, but he didn’t close the distance between my mouth and his. “Breaths of heaven.”
“Leave the songs to my guard. Poetry is not what I demand in this instant.”
“I’m not singing. I’m praying to my Goddess. And like a good priest, I shall worship at her northern temple.” He filled his grip with my breasts and kissed me on the lips, squeezing with strong hands. Then he licked the line between my breasts and the sides onward to the nipples. “And the southern.”
His tongue glided down my ribs. It halted at my navel and circled inside, inducing a quiver of desire in my…southern temple. Without releasing my breasts, he pushed back and drew a horizontal line across my pelvis with his tongue. Then it slid along my pubic bone and into my entrance.
I held to the sides of Bessen Ra’s inanimate thighs, a shiver dominating me, my pelvis rising in the air, allowing infinite oral pleasure. My eyes met my lover’s eccentric gaze that shone brighter in the dark than in light.
“If she sees me, I’m young,” he murmured against my folds, and then his tongue fluttered around my nub.
I clenched harder than I ever had by a man’s mouth. “Oh, Drusus…”
He slurped on my fluids. “If she speaks, I’m strong.”
“I’m so close so quickly. No.” My fingers threaded his thick hair, and I pulled him to me, his lips and chin wet with my arousal. “I want to taste myself,” my hand found his hardness, and it pulsed in my fist, “while you’re inside of me.”
His chest touched my breasts instead of his hands, his big figure not weighing me down as I’d presumed. He might have been infected by my strength, yet I remained stronger.
His lips dropped my nectar on my tongue, and my arms flung around his back as his firm tail snaked between my thighs.
The moan out of his throat yelled over mine. Our tongues danced whilst he filled me, pushed and pulled in and out of my folds.
“Holy Mother of Gods, I am one with my maker. In her embrace, evil forsakes my heavy heart. Seratis, Daughter of the Sun, in and out of you lies my remedy and my health.”
Words I would refuse no more. Words of a man who literally worshipped the woman he loved. They came from his soul, a bridge to my own. I saw into his core, his beauty and the damage. A spirit caged yet strong. Boundless generosity at a cost to himself.
Each push a promise of eternity, each pull an assurance of sweet release.
A burning lit from his chest. No. I needed no interruptions.
Commanding his fire to sleep was simple and easy as making love to him. Mine, on the other hand, was tricky. Yet, every day, with every intimacy or rage, I could see it better, manipulate it faster. Not to the mastery level I sought, but the progress was evident.
By the time the corpse beneath me had risen, I would have become the capable conqueror for it. The Goddess I had rejected would rise with you, brother. For you. To end you.
Whatever it takes.
Squirming, I moaned, the moment of relief knocking my doors. “Listen to me moan for a man and turn your grave as sinful as you’ve been, my forbidden blood. Feel the heart you shattered heal. Taste the bitterness of your promised defeat. For soon you will be kneeling before your ruler, begging and weeping, eaten by regret.”
“Till the end of times, you filthy beast,” Drusus cried out, thrusting with all his power as deeply as he could, bidding my climax free.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ONE NIGHT AWAY FROM THE USURPER’S AWAKENING DAY
Gazing at the stars in the moonless sky—even the night was not happy with the darkness rising with the next dawn—I sighed, lying on a canopy bed Drusus recently set in the garden a few arms from the pond. Since I didn’t sleep, beds had different, more useful, more entertaining purposes. Stargazing was one of them.
Redamun juggled a fireball right and left between his hands, his bare feet in the pond. “Now that I can control and aim and such, what if I burn him? Repeatedly?”
“We’ve gone through this a thousand times. Adhere to the plan,” Nur said, out of my vision range.
I don’t wish to hear that number ever again.
My guard lit the water with his fire, the flare reflecting in the sky. “I cannot see how we are supposed to defeat him if we are not able to kill him.”
“Are you serious right now?” Nur’s voice emerged form a different direction, yet his frame remained unseen. “Wasn’t this your idea from the start? We can’t give him a chance to even know about the new abilities. Aren’t those your words?”
“Yes,” Redamun mumbled.
“That’s why Majesty will be keeping him compelled so we can have more time to find a way to end his miserable soul. Till then, he cannot know any of us has powers, only Majesty. Otherwise, he will suspect himself, too, to be…invincible. Neither Bessen Ra nor Sekhemre are stupid.”
No doubt invincible wasn’t Nur’s first word of choice. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to utter the initial word that came to his mind.
Immortal.
A concept neither of us could fully accept, unlike the rest who seemed to have embraced it without effort.
Redamun looked heavenwards. “But how would he know if I burned him to death?”
My apprentice finally appeared, standing against one of the bed posts, his arms folded on his chest. “Even if you burn him to ash, how can you foretell he will die? Energy doesn’t perish and cannot be destroyed. It will linger in the ashes. Who can confirm they won’t be restored and revived?”
The water burbled with Redamun’s kick, and I dragged my gaze to him. “Both of you, stop arguing.” My stare traveled to Nur. “And parading your powers. As glad as I am you’ve mastered commanding your fire without compulsion and can now jump with ease, it’s distracting me.”
His arms unfolded. “Apologies. We’re only practicing, Majesty, as we’ve been doing every day.”
“We should be fully fit in case of any unforeseen outcomes, my Queen,” Redamun added.
“You are not going to need any of these practices tomorrow morning. If you need to train for anything, it’s the ability to pretend you are your old selves,” I instructed. “No outcomes will deviate if you follow my orders and play your part. Tomorrow is a game of minds, not power.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Drusus sped into the garden, his strides the pace of a cheetah’s. “It’s completed, Goddess. Do you wish to see it?”
Elbow up, I rolled on my side and braced my head on my palm. “You must do something about your speed like the rest of us or I shall not allow you in the burial chamber tomorrow.”
His smile vanished. “Of course. I was too excited to compose myself, I believe. I assure you I’m doing my best, yet Goddess can always compel me to her will if I fail.”
“Or you can sit this one out.” Redamun bounced up and stalked forth. “Wouldn’t that be best, my Queen?”
I arched a brow. “How about all of you sit this one out?”
He halted in place.
I left the comfort of my rest. “No more juvenile exchanges among you. We are all in this together. Our strength comes in the unity not in the ploys and tricks coursing in our bloods. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Majesty,” the three said in unison.
“And yes, Drusus, I’d very much love to see it.” I held his hand and jumped to the atrium.
His landing was heavy on my arm, but my steadiness held us up perfectly. Despite Drusus’s outstanding acceptance of his new powers, he was the slowest to learn how to use them.
Before I lectured him, the white and golden colors of the chair in front of me me stole my attention.
“My Queen. My holy Goddess.” Tia quit polishing the chair and bent a knee in greeting.
I nodded once, my fingertip softly brushing her nose. “Maiden of the Sun.”
She blushed as sh
e rose and gestured at the chair. “Your Majesty’s throne. The Gold Throne.”
Made of ivory and plated with gold—my ancient gold—the throne bellowed in the dimmed light of the atrium. Crested with blue and red jewels, an elegant coat of arms. The sitting rectangle guarded by small lion-shaped sculpted endings. The connectors between the arms and the sitting place drawn stories. Of me and my short reign with my name Meha Seratis on all sides.
I touched it. Smelled the fresh colors and the material. Felt the carvings and the texture. The engravings and the embellishments.
The main scene of the throne had Seratis’s symbol engraved in the upper middle of the backrest, and then drawn elaborately on the rest of the gold-plated ivory. The eye of Horus as big as a solar disc. Rays emerging from it, ending with human hands of three bowed men and one woman.
I smiled at the delightful addition to the symbol I had once resented.
The drawings represented me in a blue composite crown with yellow sun disks set on a horizontal ram horn, flanked by two ostrich feathers and two snakes bearing more sun disks upon their heads. The crown of war designed to terrorize my enemies. With symbols of eternity, might and wisdom, and indeed, snakes for protection.
My dress a voluminous garment draped over my arms to elbows, a wide blue wskh collar that covered most of my shoulders and chest, and sandals.
The four legs of the throne adopted a leonine form, resuming the two lion heads protruding from the front to give the impression I was flanked by two real lions with all features of ferocity, power, and wildness.
Their paws, facial features, manes, ears, and inlaid eyes were made out of lapis lazuli, precious stones that had always been used in royal Egyptian art.
Authentic with the taste of home.
Beautiful with the essence of nobility.
“I did not know you were such a good artist, Drusus,” I said.
“My brother Hector taught me a few things. In all honesty, these are all his illustrations. I only gave them life.”
“He drew those?”
“Yes. He expedited their arrival all the way from Alexandria so that, as Majesty wishes, the throne is ready before he arrives and receives the honor of meeting you.”
“I trust he and the rest of your family are on their way here soon?”
“Indeed, as you commanded, Goddess.”
“Good.” I sat in the chair, sinking in its comfort, becoming one with every piece, every word, every symbol.
“It’s marvelous. You’re marvelous up there, Goddess,” Tia murmured.
Drusus wasn’t blinking as though under a spell or my compulsion. “Never in my life have I seen a ruler so mighty and fit to their throne like I do now.”
My guard and student manifested, and instantly, fell under the same awe.
“The beams of your light wave with the undulating pleats, yet in truth they are strong and true, giving life, giving form. As the moments pass, the intensity rises, bold yet gentle.” Redamun knelt and bowed.
Mesmerized, Nur followed. “Yes.”
Tia and Drusus did the same, and the room resembled the symbol engraved in the throne.
Seratis and her devotees.
And unlike in my former life, I was sinfully proud of every moment that passed on me in this scene.
Only one thing stood between me and savoring this pleasure to its last drop.
Although the seat of Queen was impressive, it was a mere stool compared to the throne I sought to retake.
Once I chained my enemy for all eternity.
CHAPTER THIRTY
As the sun cracked the darkness with the early rays of birth, I stood before the wall mirror in my bedchamber, getting dressed for the moment I’d been preparing for since Awakening Day.
My long, black hair braided and threaded with the colors of royal blue and gold. Turquoise beads fitted in the front braids. My royal wskh cleaned out of the chests along with two snake arm bracelets, and four wrist bracelets, one with Ankh, one with the Eye of Horus, one with a cartouche of my name, and the last with a sunflower, my favorite floral trinket.
Tia jeweled my hands and arms, fitted the wskh and tied the royal belt around my waist. Golden and blue triangles cascaded from the belly down on the front of my white dress.
She helped with the stripes of my sandals, and then I sat and closed my eyes for her to frame my eyes with kohl.
Since my Awakening Day, I’d forsaken all sorts of beauty and vanity tools. No wigs. No jewelry. No powders or colors. Barely using scented oils. Even stopped braiding my hair. And in my daily exchanges with my companions, I’d humbled myself, sometimes to the edge of equality with no fear of shame.
After the shocking truths that had tumbled on my shoulders since I woke, I needed the modesty to purify the poisons of the sins that had brought all these misfortunes upon us.
My vanity. My pride.
Yet today, I would hold on to every speck of conceit and self-absorbance that had ever run in my veins.
Today, I am Meha Seratis, Queen of Egypt, Daughter of the Sun, Goddess of Sleep.
“I’ve finished, Goddess,” Tia said.
I opened my eyes to the hand mirror she held before me. My smile painted the royal reflection. The face I’d missed for long. “Do you have the crown?”
“Guard Redamun wouldn’t let go of it.”
My smile widened. “Of course. The protector of the crown.”
“It’s not like I am going to steal it.” Tia scowled. “I’m neither a thief nor a threat.”
“Tia, you can’t be upset. It’s his job.”
Her hooked brows didn’t relax. “Apologies, Goddess.”
I rose and started out of the chambers. Marching down the hall, Tia behind me, I spotted the men, standing at attention at the bottom of the stairs, Redamun holding my crown padded case.
Gracefully, I climbed down, indulging in the stares of fascination upon their faces as they spun in my direction. Three loyal, strong, protective and beautiful men. All would fall and rise with one word from my lips. All in love with my heart, my mind and my appearance.
All mine. Forever.
I reached the last step, and the three knelt and kissed my hand each in their turn.
“When we defeat our enemy once and for all, only then we can live in peace and rule the new world like we did the old,” I said. “Rise, my beautiful soldiers. Today we secure a small triumph that shall be the first of a long chain of larger victories, and ultimately…” I placed Redamun’s hand on Tia’s and Nur’s on Drusus’s, and then I held both sets of hands in mine, “the great victory over the traitor and usurper Bessen Ra.”
Our hands squeezed together, and so did our energies. A song of love and faith. Of power and resolution.
I glanced at the pale white and blue sunlight about to spill through the glass. “It’s time.”
In unison, our chests rose with freshest of air, and we jumped to the half-brother’s burial chamber.
My throne sat before the sarcophagus as I ordered, awaiting my arrival. New oil lamps set on the walls—I wanted my brother to clearly see the look on my face when I’d bring him to his knees.
The secret door to Sekhemre’s adjacent burial chamber already opened. Let that backstabber watch what I’d do to the one he betrayed me for and taste some of the humiliation they both deserved.
I took my place in the seat of nobility, the sound of my bracelets moving on my wrists breaking the dead silence.
“Your crown, my Queen.” Redamun presented me with the case.
Without taking my eyes off of the sarcophagus, I said, “Only when it’s done.”
He bowed and stepped back to his place by my side, joining my companions.
A heartbeat I never wished to hear again pulsed in the coffin. Then, as restoration pains took place, the sounds of Bessen Ra’s squirms streamed like a sweet harp melody.
A familiar slow, agonized crack bellowed in the tomb and through my bones. Then the granite top lifted.
; I wished to wrench that top and smash it to pieces. To let him suffocate on the sudden flow of air. To rip off the linen and shove it down his throat.
Not just yet, I reminded myself
Patiently, as his heart gained its lively rhythm, I listened, anticipation tingling my skin.
Transform and rise, little brother, only to descend in my hell.
The heavy top screeched open, finally revealing the ugly mummya.
The world froze. Even time seemed not to pass.
“Who’s there?”
With the muffled voice, my heart leapt. I sat on the edge of my throne, holding my breaths, waiting.
Mummya hands felt their ways along the outline of the outer surface of the sarcophagus. “Sekhemre? High Priest, is that you?”
Was the traitor meant to wake before him? Or was that another trick of Ari’s, to convince him High Priest would be there to receive him when he certainly wouldn’t?
A rather more important question knocked on my brains. Who was meant to usher them both to the new world?
And where were they if not here?
Perhaps they died or failed to keep a dedicated generation till today. Perhaps they lived and the house deluded them to lose their way. Or was there no one at all from the start, and Bessen Ra had been more vain than I was to think he needed no help?
Whatever the case was, I’d be informed about it in a heartbeat.
“I can hear you breathing. All four of you. Unfold me and reveal yourselves.” Bessen Ra’s muffled voice came like distant donkey noise.
I nodded at Drusus and Nur to get him before he became aware of his sharp hearing.
One grabbed my brother’s shoulders, the other his ankles, and carried him out of the coffin.
“Let go of me.” The mummya writhed in their grip, and they dropped him on the floor.
“Unfold the linen,” I commanded.
Bessen Ra stilled. “Meha…is that…you?”
“Your filthy tongue may never utter my holy name again.” My teeth gritted as I nodded at the men one more time.