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~1486 B.C. Ancient Egypt. 18thDynasty, Regency of Hatshepsut.
“Oh good, it’s a message from Sitre In,” Heba said with delight as she unrolled the papyrus and began to read with Shai standing beside her as she leaned back against the ship rail.
Shai had learned to read while he stood unobtrusively in Heba’s classes when she’d been tutored in her childhood days. Just as he learned to speak and write the Egyptian language, as well as arithmetic and the study of their divinities.
Ironically, he never learned to read and write in his own language, for it was almost unheard of for a stone mason and his wife to be literate. As he was their son, raised in their small village far away from any city center where monasteries and literate priests and scribes could be found, he never learned growing up. It hadn’t been necessary or expected.
Because of Heba and the “privileges” of being the personal slave of the royal princess, Shai had been exposed to many luxuries he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams.
But none of those riches affected him. He could not be bribed with them for he had no use for things he did not need.
Learned knowledge, however, was a good asset to have. But as much as he enjoyed Heba’s lessons alongside her, what stayed with him was the time she spent with him in private, helping him keep up with the tutorials and adapt to her culture.
It was in these moments that he began to admire her, though she’d only been a child. She never assumed he was less than her, teaching him with great patience and enthusiasm. She was ever conscious of his status and hers, but she treated him as a friend and even a confidante in private.
That was when she’d still been an innocent girl, no matter how mature she was in courtly politics. That was before she saw him as a woman saw a man.
She was wise beyond her years, always thinking about her people and the kingdom, always planning for the future. She was not a physically demonstrative person, but in the small things, whether gifts or unexpected consideration, he saw how deeply she cared.
For example, she always remembered her loved ones’ special days.
She spent countless hours planning for their gifts. They were never very expensive, even though she could afford it with the access she had to the king’s coffers. They were thoughtful instead.
Sometimes she made them herself. Sometimes, she searched the markets for days, dressed as a commoner, going from stall to stall with her Shadow trailing behind her, looking for the perfect thing.
She gave him gifts as well, though she didn’t see them as such.
To help him learn the Egyptian alphabet, she made and found little sculptures that represented the hieroglyphs and tied them in a string. She had him wear them to help him remember in the beginning, adding more to the woven thread when he learned a new letter. She spent hours teaching him, animated with excitement as she did so, for she loved to learn and share knowledge.
After he became fluent, he no longer wore the necklace, mostly because he feared it would break during training and fights, or he might lose it. But he kept it in a secure hiding place with all of the gifts she’d given him over the years.
In the recent pastafter, these treasures kept him sane as Heba pushed him away and kept him at a distance. These three years as a free man, she showered him with far more riches than a Captain of the Guard should earn. Everything he could ever ask for and more.
And yet, in the lifetime he’d served her as her protector and slave, then as a freed leader of men, he’d only ever wanted one thing:
To be her equal.
To be her man.
These desires would never change. However impossible the wishes might be.
“Everything is well at the Palace,” she shared as she scanned the scroll.
“The rumors Sitre In and Mutnofret spread about my whereabouts, backed by Ahmed, seem to be working. No one suspects that I am accompanying the expedition to Punt.”
She read further, and a small crease formed between her brows.
“Hmm… there is some debate amongst the royals about whether and whom I might marry… it seems that some of the noble houses are planning to make a bid for my hand…”
Shai forcibly controlled his reaction as he always did when she carelessly said such things, save for the hard flex of his jaw.
They were five days and nights away from Punt by now.
They’d spent each and every one of those nights entwined and united as one. She always held him inside her all night long, no matter if they made love once, twice, or countless times. He always surrounded her with his body, inside and out, filled her full of his seed.
She said she’d taken precautions. Sitre In had taught her how. They could not afford for her to become with child, unless they were to blame it on immaculate godly conception.
