Falling for the Pharaoh

Atemu - [The Private Dinner]

When my mother had dragged me out of the throne room to tell me about something important that was going to happen that evening, I hadn’t at all expected this.

“It has all been arranged.” She smiled.

“What has been arranged?”

“Oh...” She paused. “Whati hasn’t told you?”

“No mother... he hasn’t.”

“Oh, well... him and I have arranged a private dinner for you and the Queen.”

I took a deep breath. “You did...”

She smiled, looking a little too excited. “You two always seem to be walking in two different directions because of how busy you are and when you two are together, you’re fast asleep.”

“Really?”

“So Whati and I decided that we should let you two have a private dinner together every seven days, starting today when the moon is bright and full.” She grinned. “It can be like a tradition for you both! Something for you two to look forward too.”

I nodded my head. “Thank you, mother.” I said, trying to be as enthusiastic as possible. But unfortunately for me, these awkward dinners were the last thing that I’d be looking forward to now.

My mother giggled. “My son, you don’t need to be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous, mother.”

“Yes you are.” She smiled. “She’s not going to bite you, my dear. Just talk to her. You have the ability to make these conversations easy. But only if you want to.”

I sighed and nodded my head. She was right, as always.

But the fact that she was right didn’t stop me from deciding that I should attack Whati later today.

Which, of course, I did end up doing.

But something was wrong. Whati was looking paler than usual and he was quieter than usual too.

It worried me, so much that I dragged him to the doctor, Lord Saini.

Lord Saini was an old man, friendly but brutally honest. He would always tell us that his honesty came with his job, which was understandable.

He was a fit man, tall and strong, but always kept his head shaved and shining. So the only way you could really tell that he was old was through his wrinkles.

Lord Saini crossed his arms and looked at Whati. “Looking pale, boy.” He said.

Whati frowned. “Yes, I know.”

Lord Saini ignored Whati and put the back of his hand on Whati’s forehead. “No fever.” He said. He carefully looked at Whati for another moment. “You haven’t been sleeping properly, now have you?”

Whati shrugged. “I guess not.”

Lord Saini then gave Whati a good whack across his head

“Ow!” Whati shouted.

I laughed.

“What do you mean ‘I guess not’?” Lord Saini asked, raising his voice.

Whati didn’t respond, he just frowned.

“It seems like you’re being a grumpy little bastard too, now aren’t you?”

Whati continued to not respond.

Lord Saini turned to me. “He just hasn’t been sleeping enough, as you can probably now see.”

I nodded my head. “Why, Whati?” I asked.

He shrugged and then yawned.

When we left the Doctors room, I turned to Whati. "Go to sleep Whati." I said.

Whati sighed. "Atemu, I have a lot of work—"

"That's an order, Whati. I'm not simply saying this as your friend. I'm saying this as the Pharaoh."

Whati raised an eyebrow.

I held back my smile, greatly enjoying, for the first time really, the power I had.

"Atemu—"

"Silence, and get to your chamber." I said. "I will send a maid to service you." I gave him a wink.

Two guards walked by just then. "Guards." I called.

They bowed.

"Please escort the Supreme Commander to his room, and make sure he doesn't leave."

"Yes, my Pharaoh." They said together.

"I will be sending a maid so let her in. And no matter what do not let the Supreme Commander out of his room until I say so. Do you understand?"

"Atemu!" Whati shouted.

I ignored him. "Do you understand?" I asked again.

"Yes, my Pharaoh."

I turned to Whati. "Get going. And I will tell you now that this is part of your punishment for arranging this private dinner."

Whati rolled his eyes. "You are so unreasonable!"

I laughed and walked off as the two guards escorted him to his room.

It wasn’t that much later that I had found Nathifa with my mother. I approached them slowly, trying to think of a counter argument for every awkward statement my mother may end up saying.

But I was surprised when she said nothing and just smiled.

So I looked at Nathifa. "Could I ask for a favour?"

She looked slightly confused. "Yes, my Pharaoh?"

"Your maid, is she free right now?"

"I believe she is, my Pharaoh."

"Would you please find her for me? There is something I would like her to do."

Nathifa nodded and bowed. "Yes, my Pharaoh." She then turned around and went to look for her.

My mother walked over to me. "Why do you need her maid?" She asked.

"Whati is not well because he is lacking sleep."

"Oh?"

"I trust that her maid will make sure he sleeps."

My mother rolled her eyes. "Ah, I see. I do also believe that Anat is a very self respecting young lady who would not throw herself at Whati."

I nodded with a smile as I remembered the incident that Whati had told me about after he had finally gotten annoyed of arguing with me the other night, trying to prove to me that he was not always asking about her.

She had slapped him. Self respecting and brave indeed.

Nathifa returned with her maid very quickly, which made me smile.

The maid bowed. "My Pharaoh."

"There is someone I need you to take care of for the evening." I said as I began to walk off.

She followed closely behind me. "May I ask who, my Pharaoh?"

"Of course," I said, "My friend, Whati."

She stopped walking, eyebrows raised up high.

I turned around and looked at her, holding back a laugh. "Don't worry. I do not at all want you to do anything you don't want to do."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, my Pharaoh but—"

"Whati had told me about when you hit him."

The colour immediately drained out of her face, she was clearly frightened, afraid of what the consequences were going to be.

"Don't worry. I'm actually quite impressed that you were able to do that, no woman has ever done that to him." I grinned.

A small smile broke through her scared expression.

"Whati is not well and he needs to be looked after. I know that other maids would readily throw themselves at him, strip down naked in a second because of his flirting, which is not going to do him any good."

Her eyes narrowed again.

"So I wanted to ask you to look after him, because clearly you are not like the other maids and won't do such things when he is ill."

"When he is not ill, as well, my Pharaoh."

I laughed, which made her smile. "And that is your choice."

She looked suddenly calm, which was what I had hoped for. I didn't want her to feel like she was in any sort of danger. "You do know where his chamber is, do you?"

"I do not, actually, my Pharaoh."

"Oh..." I turned my head and called another guard, telling him to take her there.

And then soon after, while I was sitting on my throne, a guard came to me. Bowing, he said: "My Pharaoh, your dinner has been arranged and the great Mother Queen orders that you go to the dining hall at once."

I took a deep breath. "Alright, I am on my way."

Nathifa was already sitting with her hands in her lap when I had arrived. I waited at the entrance for a moment and looked around. The extremely long dining table had been replaced with a much smaller one. Across from Nathifa was my empty chair which was decorated with jewels. There was no one else.

I sighed. This was going to be a long evening.

I walked towards the table, and when Nathifa noticed me, she stood and bowed. I nodded my head at her. "Good evening."

She smiled. "Good evening, my Pharaoh."

I sat down across from her and moments later, our dinner was served.

We ate quietly and it was as awkward as I had expected it to be.

Until of course, she finally chose to speak up.

"My father sent me a message earlier today." She said, without looking up.

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded. "He's pleased."

I nodded. "I see. Well, I assume that solves part of your problem."

She nodded slowly. "I guess."

I waited for a moment and then took a sip of water. "You don't seem satisfied."

She shrugged, still not looking at me. "I guess not."

"Why?"

She thought for a moment. "I don't know, really." She said. "I just don't feel the satisfaction that I was hoping to feel."

"I wish I could help. But to be honest, I don't really know what to say."

She finally looked up at me, smiling. "Forget it. There is something else I wanted to say, something more important..." She placed her finger on her chin and looked up, thinking.

For some reason, I suddenly felt at ease.

"Ah yes." She smiled. "Your mother has been telling me things to ask you, so that we won't remain quiet tonight."

I raised an eyebrow. "Has she, now?"

She nodded. "She told me to ask you about the story of when you rode your first horse."

And suddenly, that ease I was feeling had disappeared. "Oh no."

Nathifa began to grin. "She told me you would say that!"

I scratched my head. "My mother will do anything to make a fool out of me."

Nathifa laughed. "Will you please tell me?"

"I think it's better that you don't know."

"Well, your mother told me she would tell me if you don't."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine." I said. "I will tell you." I'd rather her hear my non exaggerated version then my mother's extremely exaggerated version.

Nathifa smiled enthusiastically.

"I was five years old..." I started. "And my father had decided to teach me how to ride a horse."

Nathifa nodded.

"My mother thought it would be wise for me to start off on a very young horse, because it is smaller. Though my father knew that was a bad idea, at the time he never spoke back to my mother and was often convinced that she was always right."

Nathifa was already holding back her laughter.

"And it turned out to be a horrible idea. Younger horses are not trained to carry people."

Nathifa burst out laughing. "You were five years old?" She asked as she laughed.

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Yes."

"You poor child!" She laughed.

"I don't see why this is so funny." I frowned. "I was injured very badly."

Nathifa continued to laugh. "I think it is because it's hard to believe that you were manhandled by a baby horse." She said. "You, the Pharaoh of Egypt! The most powerful man in this nation!"

I continued to frown.

Of course, the night continued with me having to explain all these terrible childhood memories that were so funny to everyone but me.

But it was an entertaining night, I have to say. There were even moments where I laughed too.

But still, my mother was going to get it.