Seratis Daughter of the Sun

by N J Adel

  “All right. There is no easy to say this, and I need you not to panic.”

  “Now you have me worried. What is the matter, Majesty?”

  I wet my lips. “I can hear your thoughts.”

  A deep line appeared between his brows. Then his face turned red.

  “I should have told you earlier, but I didn’t wish to scare you as much as I don’t wish to scare the Aris and tell them the truth about our touches,” I said.

  “I’m not scared of my Queen. Not like this.” His head lowered. “I’m ashamed.”

  “You shouldn’t be. I enjoy imagining the things you want to do to me.”

  He pressed his lips, running a thumb over his brow. “Please forgive me, Majesty. I’m…”

  “Believe me, I do. Not that I listen to them all the time. It happens randomly.”

  “Is that…” He cleared his throat. “Is that a Seratis thing?”

  A few incidents crossed my memory and negated the assumption. The first incident took place on our journey from the tomb to this house with Redamun. The second with Tia after our first bath. And the ones with Nur at our last escapade.

  “I don’t believe so. I think it’s an Awakening thing. Another connection of sorts. With the right practice, I think we can all have a direct link to each of our heads where we can not only listen but converse covertly with each other,” I said.

  “Another violating yet outstanding ability,” he mused.

  A soft knock on the door interrupted us. Tia’s. She must have come here to rush me to be dressed for meeting the guests.

  “It appears the next trial will have to wait.” I sighed, my eyes set on sleeping Bessen Ra. “You’re spared for the day, little brother.”

  “What’s next on the list?” Nur scoured the scrolls. “Organ dismembering?”

  My index finger glided down the scroll to the very bottom and tapped on the last number. “Not just any organ.”

  He blinked once. “Majesty has lost her patience?”

  “I must know whether there’s truly an end. If this method fails, nothing else will succeed.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  In my bedchamber, Tia fitted silk gloves lined with fireproof wool over my hands and forearms. Then she added the jewelry.

  “How many have arrived?” I raised my braids so she could place the crown.

  “Drusus has the precise count, but I’d say around forty.” She covered my head, the weight of the war crown heavy on my scalp.

  “Have you seen any yourself?”

  She straightened the turquoise and golden pleats of my Egyptian gown around my hips. “A few glimpses. From what I’ve seen, there are youths and elders, whole families with children—”

  My head whipped over my shoulder, almost knocking the crown off. “Children?!”

  She gulped, her hands paused in the air. “Yes.”

  All my excitement to meet my devotees had turned into apprehension. How could children keep secrets such as ours? And how could I protect their little bodies from the menace we harbored with every breath?

  My heart thrashed. “It seems that Drusus is not the only one lacking brains in that bloodline. What an offspring you have, Ari.”

  “They worship you, Goddess. They are excited to finally be in your divine presence after a thousand years of blind faith.”

  “What in the…. Tia, go fetch Drusus unless you want me to torch this feast before it starts.”

  “Yes, Goddess,” she whispered.

  When she opened the door, I gestured for my guard to enter my chamber.

  He closed the door behind Tia and stood before me in a white Egyptian tunic reaching below his knees, a head cover with blue and red triangles, and a matching belt with a sword sheathed across his waist. Black lines accentuated his hazel eyes and long lashes. The smell of sandalwood and misk added to his appeal. “At your dis—”

  I mashed my lips with his until I met teeth. No more words. Only raw passion to take the edge and help me get through the day.

  Turning into a furnace, Redamun clutched my waist, his tongue hungrily searching for mine. One of his hands smoothed down my back and cupped my bottom. I arched in his touch as his lips and tongue worked an alchemy that incited my core. I could remain in the sphere that was us until the rest of the day.

  “Goddess.” Drusus knocked.

  Redamun’s swollen lips and mine put a temporary hold on their obsession, frustration coursing through both our veins.

  “You light my fire and leave me be? Not fair, Goddess,” he said with a smile.

  I licked his taste off of my lips. “You know I’m burning too, but I must. This fool has brought children in the house.”

  Drusus cleared his throat behind the doors.

  “Yes, you are a big fool. Enter,” I commanded.

  He hurried in, dressed in a yellow tunic and a shawl the color of ivory. An attire matching his leather gloves—at least he was wearing those. Kohl lined his eccentric eyes, and the smell of rosewater reeked out of him.

  “Before you scold me, Goddess, I confess I did not know how to tell them not to bring the children in my letters,” he said. “Goddess should see how thrilled and desperate they are to meet you. It would have broken their hearts not to be included in such a holy feast.”

  A grunt of disbelief escaped my throat. “Bringing them here could result in much more than the sentimental injury. What were you thinking? Why were you thinking?”

  He bowed in shame. “Forgive my recklessness, Goddess. I’ve instructed all never to touch any of the divines and keep their distance at all times. As for me, despite the gloves, I haven’t touched anyone myself, even my brothers.”

  “They’re here?”

  “Yes. Hector and Ammonios, the ones who built the house, and Lamnia and Matela, my sisters. Except for Hector, their spouses and children have arrived as well, and they are, with no exception, impatiently waiting for the moment you bestow them with your appearance.”

  “What happened to Hector’s family?”

  “Oh, he is not wedded, Goddess.”

  “I see. Have you seen each to their dwellings?”

  “Yes, Goddess. The guest chambers are swarming and so is the servants’ domus. They will help with the feast tonight.” Glee poured out him like sunshine through fine, white linen.

  “Is there enough food and wine?”

  “More than enough. The families have brought more with their gifts as well. Tonight Goddess will feast upon ostrich meat, drink the finest of Roman wines, and hear music worthy of the most beautiful of women.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Gifts?”

  “Of course. All living Ari’s descendants have come all the way to Kysis to do you homage. I have no clue where to store them, though. The new treasury isn’t large enough.”

  “Speaking of the treasury, have you instructed them the underground and the roof are not to be approached?”

  “And so are your chambers, Goddess,” he said with pride.

  I glanced at my guard. “Is there anything you’d like to add?”

  He shook his head with a soothing smile. “Like I always say to my Queen, leave the worry to me. I’m always standing next to Your Majesty. Your safety and the guests’ are my priority. The prisoners will be guarded by the other three. All you have to do is enjoy your day and be worshipped.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Colors.

  Silence.

  A sea of black, green and blue eyes watched me, wary, expressionless.

  Hundreds of different emotions that all said one thing.

  Not admiration or infatuation. Not surprise or shock. Not love or devotion.

  Awe.

  Man, woman, old, young, as I appeared with my companions behind the banister of my chambers hall, they all stared at me in awe.

  “Make way for the Divine Three and Her Majesty Queen Meha, Daughter of the Sun and Goddess of Sleep.” Drusus shouted out at the crowd as he climbed down the stairs.

  I descende
d on the Persian carpet cascading to the atrium floor, flanked by my men robed in similar attires, followed by my handmaid dressed in an unembroidered black gown and a braided wig. When I reached the last step, Drusus stepped to the side and told his people to clear the path one more time.

  Men moved and mothers ushered their children to stand before them and secured them with their arms. Drusus led us to where my throne stood. On the way I noted the stares of the adults and the smiles of the children.

  I marched through the echoes of wondering chests and whispering minds. Then I and took my seat on the Gold Throne. “Welcome, Aris.”

  As if they had rehearsed it a thousands of times, the people undulated in a calm wave of kneeling and bowing.

  I smiled at my companions as they took their places around me. “You may rise, Aris. You have waited a thousand years for this moment, and so have I. As a simple reward for your patience, I shall remain seated here until each of you is introduced. I’d like to meet and know each of you personally.”

  Though overwhelming the number of emotions I was receiving in one chamber, the joy my words incited in the people was enough to ease my stress.

  Drusus announced the names, cities of residence and family lines of each devotee in their turn. They had all come from Ari’s seed and remained Egyptians at heart, yet bloods had been mixed and lands had no longer the essence of home.

  Boxes, crates and trunks of gifts had piled around and in the corners of the atrium with each greet with the promise of more in storage. With every present came a motif easily disclosed by my abilities.

  Love. Fear. Bribery. Tribute. Supplication. Cant. Loyalty. Respect.

  Anything and everything.

  The outside world had assembled before me in this little mass with both its parts. The good and the evil.

  “The family of Etay. Great Uncle, Etay of Quena. Fourth of his name. Second bloodline to Ari,” Drusus introduced a man of at least six decades and leaned in for a whisper. “The skeptics.”

  Drusus’s uncle was a languid, elegant man with a bald head and fingers crusted with rubies, opals, and jades. Four younger men followed him, and behind them walked five ladies with two girls and a boy.

  “From my family.” Etay knelt and thrust a jewel box into my face. I took it by reflex. The box was carved wood, its pearl lid inlaid with jasper and chalcedony. I opened it. Within was a glittering green scarab carved from emerald. “You are too generous.”

  He stood. “For the Goddess of Sleep, no gift is too generous.”

  Interesting. I glanced at his offspring, the hesitant smiles on their faces and the blank ones on their children’s. Then I peered at the old man. “You’ve never once believed in my awakening or powers, and now you gift me this precious artifact, acknowledging I am Seratis herself.” I snapped the lid shut, and he flinched, all the blood leaving his wrinkled face.

  “Daughter of the Sun—”

  “Which should I believe?” I interrupted him.

  “Your Majesty, if I may speak?” one of his sons requested.

  I nodded.

  “You are a woman of knowledge and wisdom. We might have had our doubtful moments, and they will remain a shame on our family, but people aren’t created equals. Some of us need to see before we believe. Now that we have seen Your Majesty, it is now engraved not only in our hearts but also in minds, you, Queen Meha, Daughter of the Sun and Goddess of Sleep, are our one and true Queen. We are devoted to your service as much as the rest. Even more.”

  I listened to his heart and read his energy. He was telling the truth, and perhaps one day, he would be an ally I could use. But I knew his kind too well to trust it. I was a woman of knowledge, yet I had no doubt faith didn’t come from proof. I’d learned the hard way how people would turn on their beloved rulers in the span of one day when false evidence was spawned.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Mallawany, my Queen.”

  “For the sake of your children, Mallawany, whom I hope you’d teach better than your father did with you, your honesty as your family’s generosity won’t be underappreciated. I accept you and your gifts in my house. But that’s all I offer. As for any cynics left in here, tonight as we feast, there shall be no more space for doubts. Only facts you shall see with your own eyes.”

  The Etays took their leave, and the rest of the Aris and their gifts were presented. At last came the turn of Drusus’s family themselves. Hector and Ammonios, the ones who built the house, and the other two sisters.

  Lamnia and Matela were beautiful ladies with two beautiful daughters who had their black hair braided and tied with silk ribbons. Their grins were the brightest I’d ever seen. Ammonios had two little boys, one an infant cradled in his mother’s arms while the other was the height of a five-year-old.

  Hector looked a little younger than Ammonios—Drusus remained younger than both.

  The young architect had the same eccentric blue eyes. They didn’t contrast his skin like Drusus’s. His was three shades fairer. But they did contrast his soft, long, raven black hair and thick eyebrows and heavy beard.

  The eyes weren’t new to me anymore, and they were not why I was holding their deep gaze. It was the gaze itself that spilled secrets of forbidden dreams about to unravel.

  His nose was small and so were his lips. Yet his energy was not small by any means. There was something about this man that exuded confidence and…dangerous appeal.

  His frame wasn’t bulging with muscles yet didn’t lack them either. As if he was carefully weighed and measured to proportion. Nothing more, nothing less.

  He knelt, almost too close to my feet. “My Queen, the moment has finally come to bend the knee for you. Please accept this humble present from your worshipper.” He held out a red velvet box.

  I permitted him to rise and opened his gift box. “A cartouche in my divine name and a silver necklace with Seratis’s symbol. They are beautiful.”

  “It’s you who are beautiful, Your Majesty,” the little boy said.

  “Oh, how adorable,” I cooed, grinning. A chorus of chortles and giggles followed.

  “When I grow up I want to be a queen just like you, Your Majesty,” one of the sisters’ daughters said.

  “Why can’t we touch you?” the other girl asked innocently.

  Except for the rumbling hearts, the room shrank in silence.

  “Apologies, Goddess.” Her mother paled.

  I smiled at her and then at the girl. “You want to know why you can’t touch me?”

  The girl nodded, her mother squeezing her little shoulders too hard.

  “Because you, little princess, are far more powerful than I am. If you touch me, you will melt my heart with your sweetness and beauty.” I grinned.

  Finally, the mother grip relaxed around her daughter’s shoulders and the girl’s face brightened with a smile again.

  My gaze shifted to the two brothers. “Which of you fine men had come with the idea of building this house at this unique spot?”

  “I did,” Hector answered. “It seemed like a sensible idea at the time.”

  “Well, I thank you both for the comfort of this dwelling and the cleverness behind its construction.” I rose, and every person in the atrium, except for my companions, bowed . “It was my pleasure to have met you all. It’s time for you to rest from the labors of your travels until we shall feast together tonight.”

  I headed to the vestibulum, Drusus and the trusted three with me. Then I stopped at the door and spun. “Hector, walk with me.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  I dismissed Nur, Tia and Drusus to guard the prisoners and attend to our guests while I strolled under the Roman arches of the vestibulum with Hector—in Redamun’s protective company for sure.

  “One of my powers is to read emotions, and you’re swarming with them,” I started. “Their nature is not innocent.”

  Hector cleared his throat, rubbing his forehead, chuckling. “In my defense, Your Worship’s beauty has haunted
every man’s obsession even your brother’s, let alone an artist.”

  His perception about Bessen Ra shocked me. My brother did have fantasies about me. Even though it appalled me, it was a common practice for the half-brother to marry the sister to keep the royal bloodline pure. It was a practice of duty not passion. What was uncommon was that brother having impure thoughts about his sister before that. However, my surprise didn’t come from the assumption—my brother could be sick like that. It came from how Hector could have easily seen to the usurper’s mind and assumed something that was rather true.

  “My brother’s?” I exclaimed.

  “Of course. Why would he follow Your Worship through time if he wasn’t?”

  “From Ari’s notes I learnt he had been a failed king. He hadn’t been loved and the people turned on him in the end. The Long Sleep was his only form of a second chance.”

  He shrugged. “My theory is different. I truly believe he was obsessed with Your Worship. Still is.” His turquoise eyes shone at me. “Who wouldn’t be?”

  A chill ran through me as I found myself drifting to the green of his eyes. No. I had no time for this. “Enough with that and enough with him.” I listened to the chirping sparrows on the trees and the water streaming through the fountains. “I rarely come to this part of the house even though I’m quite fond of it.”

  “I’ve learnt Your Worship hasn’t left the domus since arrival. Is that the reason?” Hector ambled by my side.

  “Part of it. The main part is that it reminds too much of the home that will never be.”

  “It will,” he said. “You are a Queen, a knowledge mistress and a goddess. Anything you wish for can happen. That’s what we’re all here for. To serve you and make your wishes realities.”

  A goddess who is not divine. A Queen who has failed over and over to conquer her enemy. A knowledge mistress that doesn’t know. An immortal who cannot live.

  I stopped by a bird fountain under a yasmine tree. “Why? What do you hope to gain in return?”

  “Gain?” He shook his head. “Your Worship…we believe in you. Our gain is to see you and this kingdom receive the justice and the treatment you deserve. I can’t speak for others but what my family and I want is to have Egypt run by a just, true Egyptian that values the land our ancestors shed their blood to protect. And for that ruler to be you, Queen Meha.”