Atemu - [Just a Prince]
1505 Words
I turned my head and smiled when Whati walked into the dining room. Seeing his face suddenly boosted my spirits.
“You have not left yet to meet the Nubian ministers?” I asked him. I then noticed his worried expression.
“No, not yet.” He simply said before he pulled a chair and sat down.
“Is everything alright, Whati?” I asked as I turned my head to look at the servant standing at the door. She immediately ran into the kitchen.
“Yes, why?”
I looked at him carefully. “You’re lying to me.”
He smiled. “Trust me, Atemu, I’m fine.”
I leaned back in my chair without taking my eyes off of him.
“So you’ve decided?” He asked.
“Decided?”
“To tell Lord Asim.”
“Oh.” I paused. “Yes. I have.”
Whati nodded his head slowly.
“Forgive me... I know you told me not to but—”
“No.” He said. “He should know, I understand.”
“What... you look as if you’re in a bad mood. What’s troubling you?”
Whati looked at me and smiled. “Nothing. Really.”
The servant returned with a glass of wine and placed it in front of Whati.
He thanked her.
“Please leave the room.” I told her, before she rushed off.
She bowed. “Yes my Pharaoh.”
The last thing I needed was gossip filling the palace.
I looked back at Whati. “So, what’s been going on with you and the ladies? Anything new?”
He laughed at that, lightening the mood. “No, unfortunately.” He looked at me. “Women just don’t see me as so great anymore.”
“No.” I said, shocked. “That’s impossible.”
He laughed again but then shrugged. “Atemu... let’s be serious for a moment. What exactly do you want to do?”
“To do? About what?” I asked, even though I knew what he was talking about.
“About Nathifa.”
I sighed, placed my elbows on the table and my face in my hands. After thinking for a moment, I looked at him. “I’m willing to make this work if she’s willing too.”
“Okay.” He said, seemingly relieved.
“So telling her father would be a good thing.” I said. “Since he will help her understand... one way or another, right?”
He nodded. “I agree.”
“Besides—”
“My Pharaoh!” I heard Lord Asim’s deep voice call.
I turned around and smiled at him as he walked in through the entrance that was on the northern side of the dining room. “Good day to you, my Lord.” I said. I then gestured to a chair across from Whati. “Take a seat, please.”
“Atemu, darling! There you are.” I turned around and was surprised by my mother.
“Mother... you’re here?”
She looked at Whati. “Have you not left yet, dear?”
“No, Lady Iset. I will be leaving soon though.” He smiled at her.
She came and sat down in the seat next to him, smiling happily at Lord Asim. “Lord Asim, welcome back! How are you doing?”
“Fine, fine.” He laughed. He then looked at me. “Well? How are you?”
“I’m... okay...”
He laughed. “And how is my daughter treating you? Divine I hope?”
I opened my mouth, trying to say something, but just sat there stupidly.
Whati kicked me and when I looked at him, he raised his eyebrows.
I sighed and slowly looked back at Lord Asim. “My Lord... we need to talk seriously about this wedding.”
“We do?”
“Yes.” I said, leaning forward.
“Is there something you are needing? You know I will do anything for you, my Pharaoh.”
I nodded. “Yes... I just need answers, actually...”
“Ah!” He smiled. “Ask away.”
I took a deep breath and then looked him straight in the eye. “Nathifa didn’t approve, did she?”
Lord Asim looked shock. “Pardon me, my Pharaoh?”
“She didn’t want to marry me.”
He laughed. “That’s ridiculous—”
“No, my Lord, it’s true. She admitted it.”
He looked shocked, purely. Did he not know? “What are you talking about?”
I looked at Whati and then back at Lord Asim. “Nathifa was in love with someone else. You forced her to marry me.”
“No...” I heard my mother gasped. She looked at Lord Asim. “My Lord, did you—”
“No! Of course not!” He looked at me. “You are greatly mistaken, son. My daughter was not—”
“Do you know someone named Ausar?” Whati asked, fiddling with the wine glass in front of him.
Lord Asim looked at Whati and after a short pause, he nodded. “Yes. I do. What about him?” His tone had suddenly changed... it became a tone of disgust, as if he was disgusted just by the name, Ausar.
Whati looked at me for a moment and then back at Lord Asim.
Lord Asim suddenly looked angrier than he already was. “Are you suggesting that my daughter was in love with Ausar?”
Whati hesitated, but nodded. “Not suggesting, we know it’s true.”
He scoffed. “That’s impossible!”
“Lord Asim—” He started.
“If there was anything going on between those two it would have been nothing more than a small infatuation. It shouldn’t be so important that you should be questioning me about it!”
“Lord Asim is right, Atemu.” My mother said. “How do you know for sure?”
“How we know for sure is not important.” I said. I then turned to Lord Asim. “My Lord, I am not questioning you. Please remember that I still respect you very much, especially since you seem to not have known about this.”
Lord Asim shook his head. “There was nothing to know about!”
“Talk to her.” I said.
“What?”
“All I’m asking is for you to talk to her, calmly. And if she wishes, with all her heart, to leave this palace then tell me and I will make arrangements—”
“My Pharaoh!” Lord Asim shouted as he got up. “There will be no need for any arrangements. You seem to not know my daughter. She is not—”
“Then just do as I say.” I said, interrupting him.
Lord Asim stood there for a moment but then nodded. He bowed and then looked at me. “I will speak to my daughter.” He said, he then turned and left the room.
I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair. “How come I have a really bad feeling forming within me?” I asked Whati.
He shrugged. “I feel the same way though.”
“Atemu.” My mother called.
I looked at her.
She looked angry. “You have hurt Lord Asim, do you see that?”
“Mother, what did you want me to do?”
“You could have consulted me about this first.” She said. “I could have helped.”
I sighed. “I thought it would be better to talk to the man who gave his daughter to me. He would know more about her then anyone in this palace would... other than her maid, of course.”
My mother got up from her seat and started to walk off. “I am very disappointed in you, Atemu.”
I got up. “What?” I asked. “What did I do wrong?”
She turned around. “Telling a girl’s father something as... as... serious as this was a horrible idea.” She said. “Do you honestly believe that he is going to speak to her ‘calmly’?”
I hesitated, suddenly feeling even more worried then I already was.
“He is her father.” She then turned back around and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Whati drank all the wine in one gulp and slammed the glass onto the table. “Oh Ra, please help us.” He said.
I placed a hand on my head and after a long moment of thinking, I sighed. “I wish I was just a Prince again.”
- Writer
