The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter XXII

Carolina 

At first everything is dark. A series of torches that are lining the walls suddenly burst into flames, bringing light into what appears to be a huge, stone throne room. The flooring is made of what looks like sand stone. The walls are littered with visual depictions of Egyptian gods and various landscapes in Egypt. There are several large windows, which reveal that it is night outside, making it difficult to see what it looks like outside of the ancient palace I assume I’m in. The high ceilings are held up by tall, thick pillars. The doorway at one end of the room is huge, nearly twice as large as what a human might need. At the other end of the room sat a huge empty throne, which is once again, much larger than anything a human might need. On the wall behind the throne, there is an image of a pair of bird wings hanging just above where the pharaoh would sit. 

Am I in ancient Egypt? How did I get here? I look down at myself and notice I’m wearing my pajamas—my body appears to be somewhat transparent, too. 

The sound of voices snaps me out of my thinking and I quickly hide behind a pillar. From where I stand, I can see two shadows bouncing off the wall: one of a woman and another of a huge humanoid figure that I can’t really make out. It has the body of a man but its head is different. From what I can hear and see based on their shadows, the woman is standing not far from me in the middle of the throne room, and the strange large figure is sitting in the throne. 

“I have not summoned you,” a deep, velvety voice says, “So tell me, servant, why are you here?” I can feel the power that resonates with every word he says as if he is commanding everything from the servant to the smallest speck of dust in this room. Just the feeling of that power makes me shiver. I can’t say for certain that I’m shivering in fear, though. His tone almost reminds me of…

The woman slowly drops down to her knees and bows. “Forgive me, my heavenly king,” she responds, “It is beneath me to be in your presence in this way. But I have been praying for days and nights to you in hopes of getting the opportunity to make a request.”

There’s a pause for a moment. I take the opportunity to peak from behind the pillar. I can see now that the large humanoid figure sitting on the throne appears to be a large man with the head of a falcon. He has deep tan skin that appears to almost give off a soft golden glow. He slowly stands up from his throne, easily dwarfing the two guards he has posted not far behind him; he has to be at least 7 feet tall. That must be Horus, Elijah’s father.

He takes slow steps towards the woman who is still bowing before him. She’s in a simple white gown and sandals, which I assume is the common wear for servants. By the way her voice sounded, I can only guess she’s young, maybe even around my age. 

“Rise, servant,” Horus commands. He reaches down and uses his finger to turn up the head of the woman. “You are in good fortune, for I am in a good mood. What is your request?”

The woman hesitantly rises and Horus takes a few steps away from her and starts to slowly circle her as if he was a calculating hunter and she was his innocent pray. “If it pleases you, your highness, I would like to have a child,” she says.

Horus seems to stop in his tracks, right behind her. He leans in close to her. “Why do you come to me for such a request? Surely, a beauty like yourself can have any man she chooses and can therefore bear him a child. Or do you run dry like the deserts at the edge of my kingdom?” He questions lowly. I can hear the woman gasp sharply, no doubt from how close he is from her.

“It’s not that I am unable to have children,” she says firmly. “I simply want to have something I can call my own. I want to have something—someone—I can unconditionally love and will unconditionally love me. You say I’m a beauty that can have any man I want. You may be right, but…men have constantly thrown themselves at me. So I don’t want the father of my child to be just any man. And I surely don’t want to involve myself with someone that could take away my child from me…”

Horus stays silent. He slowly moves around the woman, towards his throne, stopping right in front of it. His back is turned towards her. “So, you want to have a child but absolutely no attachment to whoever fathers your child,” he says.

The woman c***s her head up slightly. Her shoulders are set back, almost as if trying to stand her ground. “That is correct,” she says, her voice not faltering. I don’t know what she looks like, so I can only take Horus’ word on her level of attractiveness. Though, from what I can tell, she also has deep caramel skin, pitch black curly hair that comes down to her waist, and a thin frame with sloping curves around her hips.

“Very well,” Horus says. Streaks of glowing, golden sand suddenly surround Horus’ body, engulfing it in a cloud of golden smoke. “You have peaked my interest, servant. I will grant your request.”

The light surrounding him dims and the dust finally settles. But instead of a deity with the body of a man and the head of falcon, standing in his place is arguably one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen…well, there’s only one man I can think of who’s more gorgeous. He still has the same deep tan skin and muscular definition from his god form. But instead of a falcon’s head, he has the face of a man: short cropped chocolate brown hair that has a few blonde streaks here and there, a strong square jawline, high cheek bones, delicate lips, a long nose with a slight bump in it, and piercing ice blue eyes that are surrounded by thick lashes. He’s shorter than he is as a god but he’s still tall for a human man. He’s easily 6 feet tall, if not a bit taller. 

Horus’ resemblance to Elijah is striking and almost a little scary. The only differences between them is that Elijah’s nose isn’t as long as his fathers, he has fuller lips, and his hair is a different color. Otherwise, it seems like the demigod apple doesn’t fall far from the divine tree. 

“As you may know, Hathor has taken a small trip away from the kingdom. She will not return for a week,” Horus purrs as he slowly buries his face in the crook of the servant’s neck. She seems to automatically melt into his form. “Until then, you will be mine and mine alone.”

Horus then pulls away and suddenly crashes his lips onto the woman’s. He pulls her body flush to his and they are at it for a while until the servant pushes away from him slightly. Horus seems surprised for a moment, but doesn’t seem upset. In fact, he lets out a deep chuckle. “You’re a feisty one,” he says with a crooked smirk.

“Not to be disrespectful, my lord, but why are you so willingly volunteering yourself to father my child? Don’t you love Hathor?” She asks, just barely catching her breath from the kiss.

Horus retracts his arms from around her a steps back slightly. The amused look on his face fades a bit. “I do love Hathor. I know she is the one for me. Which is why I want to make something clear. What we will be doing for the next seven nights is not for love. You said you didn’t want to attach yourself to any man. I have no problem taking care of your physical desires so long as you can return the favor,” Horus says sternly. The woman gives the god a slight nod.

He then adds, “Because I will be satisfying your request in this way, you must promise to leave the palace the moment Hathor returns. It will be nearly impossible for you to hide the fact that you will be swelling with my second child. I fear for what might happen to you if Hathor finds out.”

Horus turns away from her and starts to move towards the exit of the throne room. I feel my heart skip a beat as I see him move past the pillar I’m hiding behind. He doesn’t seem to notice me, though. “And it’s like I said, you intrigue me. You have peaked my interest. And above all, you don’t appear to be weak, despite being a servant. If any human woman is going to have my child, it might as well be a woman like you,” he mutters.

“Guards,” he then says, “Get this servant bathed and dressed properly before sending her to my chambers.”

The guards come up to the woman and start to escort her towards the exit, behind Horus. Now she is in my line of sight and I can now confirm that she is quite beautiful. She has fiery light brown eyes, a dainty nose, high cheek bones, and cute plump lips. Her resemblance to Elijah isn’t as obvious but it’s there. Before they can leave, Horus stops and turns to the woman. 

“What shall I call you during these up coming days and nights, servant?” He asks quietly. He tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear. He’s acting almost gentle with her and the look he’s giving her looks suspiciously tender. 

“Kamilah…”

My eyes snap open as I fall off the bed. I’m completely drenched in sweat and I feel like I can’t catch my breath. I take a few deep breaths to calm down. Once I do, I sit up on my floor. I notice it’s still dark outside. I let out a small groan as I crawl back into bed. I toss and turn in attempt to find a comfortable position. I still feel sweaty so I don’t know whether or not to leave the covers on or off. I let out a frustrated sigh. I can’t fall back to sleep. My dream keeps playing over and over again in my head. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a vivid dream before. This felt more real than the dreams I’ve had about Elijah.

I stay sitting up on my bed, wide awake. My heart rate is racing a mile a minute. I glance over at my desk and find myself almost mindlessly moving towards it. I flip through the folders and books. I look through all my desk drawers until I find an extra empty notebook. I start to frantically scribble down every detail from my dream. It’s not until I finally rehash the end of my dream that I start to slow down and feel drowsy. I soon find myself leaning forward, my eyes closing in exhaustion. 

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

I’m woken up again by the sound of an alarm clock. It’s not mine. Just as I hear the alarm get shut off, I shoot up from my desk. I look down at my desk and find my notebook open to the last page I wrote on. I flip through a few pages. I took a good chunk of the first couple of pages of the notebook to write my dream down. It’s like I was compelled to write down my dream or else there was no way I was falling back to sleep. 

I can hear movement in the room next time. There’s no doubt in my mind that Tori is awake right now and getting ready for her morning jog. She likes to exercise before getting ready for class. I have class closer to noon. While it’s still only 6:30 in the morning, I don’t feel like going back to sleep. I lay in my bed for a bit before glancing out the window. The sun is just barely peaking over the buildings across the street; the sky is a mixture of oranges and pinks. I look over at the black car across the street that has been permanently parked there for the past couple of days. I’m almost positive Charles is sleeping because his head seems to be somewhat hanging off the side of his head rest. I’m quickly proven wrong when he turns his head around. He’s now looking out his window up at me. He holds my stare before glancing away and staring forward. How is he awake this early in the morning? Does he even get any sleep at night?

For the past week, I have been bringing Charles meals whenever I can, much to his frustration. Charles no longer growls at me to leave him alone. Lately, he’s opted to silently taking the food I bring him before completely ignoring me without sparing a glance. He still follows me around school somewhat creepily. And yet, no one seems to notice him except me. 

Not bothering to change out of my pajamas, I slip into a pair of shoes and a hoodie.  I head out to the car Charles has been staying in. I knock on the window like I usually do. He gives me a glance followed by a look of confusion when he sees I don’t have any food. 

“What is it?” He asks after sliding down his window a c***k. 

“Good morning to you, too,” I grumble. I see him roll his eyes. “I was wondering if you’d like to come to the apartment...”

“What for?” He snaps. 

“Well, you’ve been in this car all week. I never see you leave my side and you are wearing the same clothes you where wearing six days ago,” I retort. “Why don’t you come up for a shower? No one else is up right now. You can eat something and get some laundry done later tonight.”

Charles gives me a long hard look before shaking his head. “It’s not necessary. I’ve only been guarding you this attentively because of the incident a week ago. By this weekend, I’ll be fully moved into the apartment across the street from you so I’ll be able to watch over you more comfortably,” he says while waving me off. An apartment across the street? Wouldn’t he be better off getting an apartment in my building if he wants to guard me properly?

He starts to close his window again and I try to jam my fingers in between the c***k to make him stop. Thank goodness he does because I do not want to lose my finger tips. “Okay, well until then, why not freshen up a bit? I’m not leaving for school for a few more hours and I can tell you’re tired. If you really care about doing your job as my body guard, don’t you think you should take care of yourself? Besides, if you’re in my apartment, you’ll be close to me if someone were to attack me,” I scold. So maybe, I’m bluffing a little. I can’t exactly tell if Charles is tired. He doesn’t look much different than the way he was when he saved me that night. When he doesn’t look annoyed, he otherwise stoic so it’s hard for me to get a read on him. 

Charles blinks at me for a second in slight shock. He then pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a sigh. “Alright, you win,” he finally says. 

I can’t stop the smile that crawls onto my face. “Great! Don’t forget to bring your stuff,” I say as I take a bouncy step back. 

“Don’t get too excited,” he grumbles as he pulls a duffle bag out from the back seat. 

“I’m not,” I try to say seriously. The fact that I can’t stop myself from smiling at my small victory against him doesn’t help make my tone convincing, though.

When we make it to my apartment, I give Charles a towel before ushering him into the bathroom. I bring his duffle bag into my bedroom before I start cooking breakfast. Just as I had finished up cooking the scrambled eggs and pancakes, Tori walks into the apartment. 

“Hey, what are you doing up?” She asks as she peers over my shoulders at the food. 

“Oh, I heard you wake up for your jog and thought I might as well get up,” I respond nervously. I thought she was going to be out for longer. 

“Sorry for waking you,” she says as she walks towards the hallway, which is where the bathroom is. 

“Don’t worry about it, you didn’t really wake me,” I say warily. I see her stand in front of the bathroom door. 

“Speaking of waking people up, is Alexa in the bathroom? She’s never up this early.”

Before I can respond, the bathroom door opens and out walks Charles in nothing but a towel, water droplets dripping down his chest and abs as well as from his blonde locks. He and Tori are just staring at each other before he breaks the awkward silence. 

“I stayed over with the blonde last night,” he says casually, pointing over to Alexa’s room. That lie is actually...believable. Tori seems to believe it too because she just scoffs before walking into her own room. 

“How did you-“ I start. 

“I’ve been observing your apartment for a week, Princess. I have a good idea as to who your roommates are and their patterns already,” he says, his blue eyes giving me an unamused look. 

“Alright, geez,” I say defensively. “Your bag is in my bedroom. You can change there. Leave your dirty clothes on the side somewhere so I can take it with me to the laundromat tonight. And if you can wait for Tori to leave before coming out, that would be great.”

“Whatever, mom,” he scoffs sarcastically before sauntering off to my room. 

I anxiously wait for Tori to shower and get dressed for her classes today. “You know it’s a shame,” she says as she pours herself some coffee in a to-go cup after finishing breakfast. 

“What’s a shame?” I ask while clean our dishes up. 

“That guy that stayed the night is totally hot. And that British accent makes him even sexier. I’d tap him if he wasn’t already one of Alexa’s left overs. She’s the last thing I want to think about when I’m with a guy,” she cringes. Her comment makes me want to shudder in disgust, too. I’m not sure if I’m bothered by the fact that she’s completely attracted to my stuck up body guard or the fact that she put the image of Charles and Alexa together in my head. 

Once Tori left, Charles quietly moves out of my room, just as I’m about to go get him. He takes a seat at the table while I heat up the food for him. 

“Will we be encountering your other roommate?” He grumbles in question as he digs into his food. 

“Nah. Alexa won’t wake up until noon and by then we’ll be long gone,” I say. He gives me a curt nod in response. 

I notice that Charles is dressed a bit more comfortably than he was before. He was in a fitted white t shirt and dark sweats. His wet hair is roughly combed back and his beard looks a bit scruffy and unkempt. Seeing him now somewhat relaxed after his shower, I can see that he looks pretty fatigued. 

“How do you like your coffee?” I ask as I start brewing another pot. 

“Black,” he states. 

“So like your soul?” I say innocently. Charles sends me a glare but it’s not as hard as ones he’s given me before. 

“Oh come on,” I whine, “I know you hate me and everything but you could at least be a little more subtle about it.” 

Charles’ eyes snap up at me and he gives me this strange look. It’s as if he’s surprised I said that. “I don’t hate you,” he says quickly. 

I can’t stop myself from letting out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, right. You don’t hate me but you ignore me, glare at me, and actively try to avoid me-“

“I’m doing my job from a distance. I’m supposed to stay covert.”

“You and I both know that’s bullshit!” I snap. 

Charles stiffens at my outburst and looks away from me. He seems just as surprised as I am. I don’t usually get this worked up...unless if it’s for Elijah. But how can I not? He’s supposed to be my body guard and he doesn’t even want to come near me. How is that supposed to work?

“I’m...sorry,” I hear him mumble. “I just can’t believe it...”

“Can’t believe what?” I ask as I take a seat at the table with him. 

He hesitates for a moment before responding. “I never would’ve imagined that you’d be the one to awaken El-Hasekrah. You just seems so...normal.”

“Oh gee, thanks,” I deadpan. 

“You should take that as a compliment, Princess. Sometimes I wish I could’ve had a normal life,” he mutters. “And when I say you're normal I mean that you didn’t give off any powerful or threatening aura. You just seemed to be this innocent, cute, girl-next-door type chick.”

Did he just basically say he thinks I’m weak? Wait, did he say he thinks I’m cute? “Sorry, I cant help but feel kind of offended,” I retort. “First of all, what did you expect El-Haskerah’s queen or soulmate to be like?”

“Someone who is strong and has a commanding presence like he does,” he starts, “Someone who’s willful but caring—I definitely expected you to be taller...”

“Alright, alright, my self esteem has taken enough,” I protest. The corners of Charles’ lips twitch upward for a moment before he clears his throat. “Okay, so I’m not exactly what you expected but why does that matter?”

“I just...you lived an ordinary life and knew nothing about the Eye. Then one day, you just so happen to end up in Egypt at the right time and essentially hit the jackpot. You get to be equal to the most powerful man in the world. Not to mention, you’re already developing magic just because you’re supposed to be with him. You’re just like my sister...basically born lucky...” he trails off. 

I rub my face with my hands in frustration. “You think I’m lucky? Ever since I went to Egypt, my life has been nothing but a nightmare! First, I’m perused by a guy who I saw literally rise from the dead. Then, I found out that I have to marry him and we’re soulmates, or whatever. Just last week, I got attacked for being involved in this world that I never asked to be a part of!”

Charles stays silent as he picks at the little bit of food that’s left on his plate. “Look, I don’t know anything about this sister of yours but I really hope you can stop seeing me the same way you see her,” I sigh. “I’m sorry if I bother you but...I don’t have anyone else. I just found out about Dr. Jones, which is great. But you’re the only one who’s been around me all the time lately, and I still don’t know what I’m doing-“

“Yeah, you are obviously clueless,” he cuts in. 

“I’m trying to have a heart to heart with you right now and you are being nothing but rude,” I huff out in frustration as I swat at his arm. I don’t miss the small smile that graces his lips at my response. So this ice queen does smile. 

Once Charles finishes up, I clean up the dirty dishes and start getting ready for school. I’m about to head into the subway like I usually do, expecting Charles to follow me, when he stops me and pulls me to his car. The ride is quiet. But for once, the silence between us is comfortable instead of awkward or tense. 

“So, were you born into the Eye like Dr. Jones?” I ask suddenly. 

“Yes, my family has been involved with them for generations,” he states. 

“I don’t think Dr. Jones was too happy about Elijah awakening. But she said a lot of people were looking forward to it. Is there any reason for that?” I ask. 

“I don’t know about Dr. Jones or about other people in the Eye in terms of their personal reasons. They teach us in the Eye that the awakening of El-Hasekrah marks the beginning of a prophecy being fulfilled, one that makes him the most powerful being in the world who brings prosperity to his followers,” he explains. “I personally didn’t have any strong opinion on El-Hasekrah’s awakening; I just did my job. Though, when he did awaken, things changed for the better for me.”

I am about to ask Charles more about him but I decide to leave it at that for now. We are soon a few blocks away from school and Charles manages to miraculously find parking. “You can start walking ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” he says. 

“Why do you have to keep your distance from me? And don’t say it’s because ‘you have to be covert’”, I say making air quotes. “Stalking me in school makes you look even more suspicious, if nothing else.”

“I’m just following the pharaoh’s orders,” he says warily. 

“Which are what?” I ask. 

“I’m not allowed to be within 6 feet of you—well no man is. He made the decree not long after awakening and being transported to London. He was a bit...on edge back then. But when I was called in to be your body guard, I was told to keep a distance from you.”

What a possessive caveman! No man is allowed to be within 6 feet of me? Is he insane?! I cross my arms and let a scoff. “Charles, you said that I, as queen, am equal to El-Hasekrah, right?”

“...Yes...”

“So if the pharaoh orders you to do something, I have the power to order you to not listen to him, right?”

“...um...I don’t think that’s how-“

“Good, so it’s settled. You’re going to ignore that stupid rule and you’re going to walk with me to class as if you were a normal student so people won’t look at you or me strangely.” I don’t give Charles the opportunity to say anything as I drag him out of the car. Elijah is getting an earful the next time I see him.