The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter XXXV

Carolina

My eyes flutter open and I’m met with the dim light coming from the lamp standing in the corner of my room. I sit up in my bed. I notice I’ve been tucked under the covers and my glasses have been placed on my night stand. Just as I place them on, I’m startled by a deep voice coming from behind me. 

“Rise and shine, Princess,” Charles drawls. He’s sitting at my desk, flipping through some book. 

“How long have I been out?” I ask. 

“Just a few hours,” he replies without peeling his eyes from the book. 

“Where’s Elijah?” 

“Something came up at work. He didn’t say what.” 

I glance around the dimly lit room. The overgrown flower bed is gone. In fact, my room looks so clean, it’s as if no magical accident happened. I’ve only lived here for no more than two days and I can already tell Elijah’s cleaning staff are unbelievably efficient. They’ve picked up after us after our meals, and they take our dirty clothes right away. I’ve even noticed that the second I leave bed, they’re already rearranging the sheets. It’s almost scary how on top of things they are. 

Charles’ voice brings me out of my thoughts. “I heard about what happened in here. I can’t say I’m surprised,” he says. I don’t miss the slight edge in his voice.

“You’re not surprised I failed miserably?” I ask while fiddling with my fingers in shame. 

“No,” he mutters, “I’m not surprised you have access to so much magical power. You really are like her…” 

Her? “Since you like to compare me to your sister so much, do you think you can tell me what she’s like already? Because I’m dying to know why it is that you say I’m like her,” I snap.

Charles abruptly shuts the book he’s reading and sends me a cold look. “My sister’s name is Anastasia. And in essence, she’s a b***h,” he starts.

I place my hand over my heart in fake hurt. “I didn’t know you saw me that way, Charles. What did I ever do to you?” I snap.

“That’s not how you’re like her,” he snaps back. “It’s like I’ve said last time, you two are born lucky in your own ways, even if you don’t want to acknowledge it.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “I know you think I’m lucky because fate chose me to be a pharaoh’s soulmate and now I’m developing magic and all that…”

“On top of that you’re picking up your magical abilities really quickly, it seems. There’s no doubt you’re a natural and you’re going to be powerful,” Charles adds almost bitterly.

I let out a huff. “Okay, fine. Let’s consider all those things and ignore all the hell I’ve been through so far,” I say sarcastically, “But what about your sister? What’s your problem with her?”

“Anastasia is also extremely talented at using heka. In fact, she’s a natural,” Charles mutters. “She’s about three years younger than me. Being the younger child, she was always spoiled and treated like a princess. When we were growing up, my parents had the expectation that I would be the ideal son. I was trained to become the head of the family company and I was expected to be a powerful heka user so I’d gain status in the Eye. 

“I tried to do everything I could to please them and meet their expectations. Anastasia had no such expectations. In my parents eyes, she was their precious daughter that didn’t have to do anything unless she wanted to. I hated how much my parents were easily pleased by her. To make matters worse, I couldn’t use magic. I had poor control. When my parents saw I had no talent for it, they said to not bother joining the Eye as to not embarrass our family. They said I was better off just training to run the family company. 

“My sister on the other hand was a natural at using heka. When my parents found that out, Anastasia became the sole center of their attention. Ever since then, she’s taken every opportunity to compete with me and prove she’s better than me. Just recently, my father appointed her to be one of his executive assistants.”

“What about you?” I ask. “You said your parents didn’t want you to join the Eye. And yet, you’re here.”

“When my parents focused all their attention on my sister, it was the first time I was able to make decisions for myself without having to worry about their expectations. It was freeing in a way. But at the same time, I’m still haunted by the fact that I never got their approval. I joined the Eye with the intention of becoming a warrior. I thought if I could move up and become a Black Scorpion, one of the most deadly warriors in the Eye, my parents would be proud of me,” he explains.

“Were they?”

Charles’ demeanor seems to dampen. He looks down at the closed book in his hand blankly. “I don’t know,” he whispers. “I don’t really speak to my parents that much. They only ever call me when they want me to clean up messes with the company. Otherwise, I don’t hold any special permanent position like Anastasia. I don’t mind, though. I’m good at managing the business but I don’t particularly like it.

“They don’t acknowledge the work I’ve done with the Eye, though. They love to brag about how Anastasia has become a powerful heka user that oversees the English branch of the Eye. The first time they even acknowledged that I was a Black Scorpion was when El Hasekrah stayed with us, and that was only because he wanted me to become your body guard.”

“Is that why you said your life got better when Elijah awoke?” I ask.

“In a way,” Charles admits reluctantly. “It was just satisfying to been seen as equal to my sister by someone who my parents basically worship. For a moment, it felt like I got back at my parents. The main reason why my life got better is because working for El Hasekrah directly has given me a sense of purpose. Before his awakening, I had separated myself from my family and made my own accomplishments. But I didn’t have any plans for the future or what to do next. When he offered me a job to be your body guard, I saw it as an opportunity to at least do something new for a while.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed you wanted to be a body guard based on the way you were acting towards me,” I mumble. I flinch when I see a book get tossed onto my bed. I send Charles a pointed look. He just raises his brows at me in amusement. It looks as if he’s trying to keep himself from smiling.

“Being a body guard isn’t exactly glamourous. And when I found out you were the person I had to guard, I was more than a little disappointed. But it’s better than being back at home,” he says.

I can’t help but be a little hurt by his comment, especially after hearing how much he hates his family. “Good to know that guarding me is a rung above being in your miserable household,” I mutter while pulling my knees to my chest.

Charles steps away from my desk and takes a seat at the foot of my bed. “Well, guarding you is more like two rungs above being with family, maybe three,” he teases. I grab my pillow and try to hit him over the head with it, but he blocks it with his arm.

“Actually, I take it back,” he adds, “You’re not like my sister. My sister never tried to get along with me. And you never tried to one up me. And I guess you could say I consider you to be…a friend.” Charles rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Awwwww. You called me your friend,” I gush.

Charles crosses his arms and looks away from me. “Calm down, it’s not a big deal,” he grumbles.

“Whatever you say, Ice Queen,” I tease. Charles just lets out a snort in response. 

“By the way,” I continue. “How did you hear about my little incident earlier today?”

“Lorenzo and I were invited here to discuss with his highness before he left with Lorenzo to Seka Corp. headquarters. His highness was bragging about you. He kept saying how you have so much potential and that your show of power was more than he originally expected. He seemed really proud and impressed,” he explains.

Was Elijah really praising me like that? I feel my face heat up at the thought of him bragging about me like a proud parent or something. “I think he was exaggerating. He has soulmate bias,” I say bashfully.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Charles shrugs. “I saw the seaweed and vines surrounding a portion of the storage unit you were being kept in. Most beginners aren’t able to pull something like that off.”

“Well, I don’t exactly have control so I still have a lot to learn,” I groan.

“Naturally,” Charles says with an eye roll.

“Did Elijah say anything about a teacher? I think I’ll have a better chance at learning if Elijah is the one to teach me.”

Charles stiffens. “His majesty did mention finding you a teacher. He said he’d love to teach you himself whenever he gets the chance. But if left to him alone, it’ll take a long time before you master magic properly. So, he told Lorenzo to call in…my sister,” he bites out in disgust.

I stay silent for a moment as I let that sink in. So she really is going to be the one to teach me how to use magic. “Do you think she’ll be able to teach me? If she’s a b***h like you say, don’t you think that will make things difficult for me?” I ask.

“His highness doesn’t know she’s a b***h. She sucks up to him and acts sweetly towards him because he’s the pharaoh. She even tried to flirt with him a bit before he relocated to New York. And I don’t think Lorenzo is aware of how bad she can be. He didn’t have to live with her like I did,” he says. “Anastasia is responsible for training the magicians that work under her, and she’s a talented magician in her own right. I’m confident she can teach you. I can’t guarantee she’ll like you though, so watch your back.”

My nose twitches in annoyance. I guess the feeling will be mutual. There’s no way I can like someone who thinks they can flirt with my boyfriend. “Why don’t you think she’ll like me?” I ask in curiosity.

“Anastasia loves to be the center of attention. She doesn’t like other people who take that attention off of her or people who actually have a chance at competing with her. She’s particularly threatened by other beautiful women,” he replies.

“You think I’m capable of competing with your sister? If she’s so amazing like you say that she’s able to overshadow you, in what world is she going to feel threatened by me?”

“For starters, you’re essentially promised to the most powerful man in the world. I shouldn’t really be saying this but you are pretty in your own natural beauty type of way,” he reluctantly admits, “Then there’s also the fact that you seem to be a natural at magic just like she was. On top of that, you’re a Seer, which is something Anastasia always wanted to be but never could be-“

“Wait, a Seer?” I ask. “I keep hearing that word get thrown around. What is that?”

“A Seer is someone who gets visions of the future. Those dreams you wrote down were visions. That’s why we were able to find you. Because you in part knew that you were going to get kidn*pped and you provided us with some of the details on where you would be. To be a Seer is a gift someone is born with, you can’t just become one. They’re extremely rare, which makes them sacred and highly sought out individuals in the magic world. Seers that don’t belong to any society of magicians are hunted and killed off because of how dangerous it is to know the future. Anastasia thought that since she was so talented at using heka that she could potentially be a Seer. But she never had a vision. That was one prestigious position she could never get,” he says.

“Didn’t a Seer in the society know that Elijah was going to awaken?”

“Yes. He’s the only other Seer we have. Seers have limitations. One of them is that they can only see relatively immediate futures in the regions that they reside in. Because he is our only Seer, we have in stationed in the Eye’s headquarters, which is in Dubai. He’s there because the main base of the Dark Sand is located somewhere within the Middle East as well. We don’t know where, but they are close enough for our Seer to monitor their movements.”

“So there’s no way he can come to teach me instead,” I sigh.

“It would be best for us to move you there,” Charles agrees, “But moving you is complicated right now because we don’t know what Cohen and his men are going to do.”

“So witch sister who is probably going to hate me it is, then?” I groan.

Charles lets out his own groan. “Anastasia puts on an act to maintain her reputation. She’ll be polite. But she’s very manipulated and is willing to do underhanded things if it means she gets her way or can make others look bad,” he warns, “But after everything you’ve been through, I know you’re stronger than you think, Princess. If you can handle my sister, then you really are meant to be the true Queen of Egypt.”

“Thanks,” I whisper.