Princess, Crown Not Included

"Neither you nor your people are safe from us. Know this threat to be true, and doubt it not. We will be your lap dogs no more. Reply within two moons, or face the asperity of an ally scorned. Your days are few."

"Ariam, your behavior today was completely unacceptable!" I fumed, watching as the girl sullenly shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her eyes were trained steadily on the ground, but I could tell from the expression on her face that she was the vision of pure hostility. "Well? Have you anything to say for yourself? You had no right--"

"I had every right, Master Seto!" she exploded. I frowned at her temerity.

"Ariam, a funeral procession is hardly the time or the place for one of your outbursts of your vicious temper. I appreciate that you were angry-"

"Angry?! That was the man who killed her, he just waltzed in, unannounced and uninvited and... and... He had no right! I HATE HIM!"

"If you interrupt me once more, Ariam, I shall remove you from this temple without haste, and I shall enjoy doing it," I threatened easily, smirking. She paled and closed her mouth quickly, eyes widening as she bit down on her lips. I sighed and massaged my temples with my fingertips, my eyelids flickering shut with stress. "I'm sorry, Ariam... I didn't mean to distress you. This whole ordeal has put the whole city on edge. Your forgiveness?" Mutely, she nodded. I gave a short half-laugh and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Tell the other girls they may have leave for the rest of the day in honour of the occasion." My tone held a note of sarcasm at the phrase as the black-haired girl bowed respectfully.

"Of course, master Seto," she smiled bravely. "And I apologize for my rudeness, but you do understand why I was upset?" I nodded- even if Karim were to die, I would be annoyed if someone crashed his funeral procession, and he and I fought like starved vultures over a carcass. She smiled and bowed again. "If you require anything, call me," she offered, fittingly deferential. I nodded and removed my hand from her shoulder, allowing her to leave. Glancing after her retreating back, a thought crossed my mind.

"Ariam?" I called after her, a note of hope in my voice. She turned. "You haven't seen Femii anywhere, have you?"

"Not since the cortege returned, my Priest, I think she returned to her room after Astarte left to do an errand for the Lady Isis," she replied, her expression puzzled. I fought back the grin that threatened to creep over my face; "run an errand for Isis" indeed. "Why, did you need her for something? I can run and fetch her if you--"

"No, no, Ariam, don't go through the bother," I said flippantly, waving my hand in dismissal as I brushed off the offer. "Just go and sew or bathe or whatever it is you females do to pass the time." Smiling weakly, she bowed again and walked away. I sighed again and, turning on my heel, strode off towards Atem's chambers.

I didn't bother to knock before I entered, and the scribe outside the door wouldn't have stopped me even if he had been awake. As I strode into the room, my eyes landed on a familiar couple seated on a divan, their backs to me. At least they didn't look like they were... doing anything. From what I could gather, they were reading something and discussing it in low, urgent voices.

I cleared my throat loudly to announce my presence, and almost smiled at the two identical expressions that greeted me as they flew apart; half shock and half embarrassment. "Sorry if I interrupted anything," I told them, dropping onto the couch adjacent to theirs, not sitting on ceremony, but not completely at ease- for Astarte to see my usual pose, flat on my back with my arms behind my head, no matter how cosy she and Atem were, would not be proper. "Have I missed anything important?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Atem informed me, frowning. I sat up slightly as he handed me a sheet of papyrus, presumably a letter of some kind. "It's from the Libyan high court, a threat of war if we do not meet terms," he added, a note of worry in his voice I hadn't heard often before.

"How do you know this? I thought your grasp of Libyan was basic, at best," I asked, unable to resist a dig at his ego. He ignored it.

"Astarte speaks Libyan, she was able to translate it," he said, thinking I would not see the way he slipped his hand into hers. Astarte turned a pale shade of red and dropped her gaze.

"You speak Libyan?" I asked incredulously. She nodded. "Well you might have told us before, this could have--"

"Seto!" Atem interrupted, warning in his voice and eyes. "Astarte's day has been stressful enough already, she hardly needs you berating her for something she has not done."

"My apologies, Pharaoh, Astarte." I gave my apology grudgingly, nodding at each of them in turn. Astarte nodded back, her face pale and drawn. "So... what does this letter say?"
Astarte and Atem shared a glance, before she began to recite what she had read, not needing to glance at the paper. I could feel my face paling with every word, till at last I was sure I must resemble a skeleton. "You see why I am worried?" Atem asked, his voice as tight as his expression. I nodded dumbly once again.

"What are we going to do?" I mused, sighing heavily. "Two moons? Impossible."
A small noise made me glance at Astarte; he mouth was half-open, as if she was about to speak but had decided against it. Atem, noticing it too, looked at her. "You were going to say something?" She shook her head in that startled pigeon fashion she had. "Come, I can see you do. Speak, I will it so."

"What place is it of mine, my Lord, to instruct the Pharaoh and his highest priest, to whom I am nothing but apprenticed?" she murmured in one breath. Atem sighed and shook his head.

"Astarte, only myself and Seto are here. You have nothing to fear or be embarrassed about," he assured her, sliding an arm around her waist. I almost envied them their closeness.

"I was only going to say, my Lord... Libya is a long distance across the desert by foot, but a bird could clear it in a day or two. Forgive me for sounding arrogant, but I think that Lady Isis and her shadow creature, Spyria, could aid you." There was a moment of utter silence as Atem and I stared at her in total incredulity. Her face coloured and she dropped her gaze, muttering yet another apology. Atem cast a glance at me.

"Do you know, Seto, I think she may have something..." he muttered. I nodded in voracious agreement.

"I may?" Astarte gaped, almost grinning in happiness. Atem smiled and kissed her forehead unashamedly.

"You just may," he returned. "Of course it's up to Lady Isis, and naturally we have to decide what our answer will actually be, but you may have effectively just stopped all-out war in Egypt." Her emeraldine eyes grew wide in astonishment and disbelief. I chuckled softly to myself at her expression. "Seto, if all you're going to do is laugh like a jackal, then make yourself useful and collect the court together, I want to discuss this with them," Atem admonished me, almost coldly. Huffing at the icy dismissal, I rose and bowed to him and Astarte before sweeping out of the room imperiously.

I don't care if he's the Pharaoh of the whole damn planet, I thought as I walked along, sending various servants to find the other priests, I've seen him first thing in the morning and I'm seven moons older than him, so I don't know what he's doing ordering me around. Stupid, all-knowing, loved-up, woman-of-his-dreams-having cousin...

Okay, so I was a little bitter about him being in love. But there were more important things to worry about at the minute, and I was not about to let my feelings get in the way.