Notes

HAPTER NINE: Forget me not

The days, hours, weeks—they all ran together, creating a calendar of how much time she was lonely. All she knew was that he had forgotten about her.

“Hello Waiola,” Tutankhaten pleasantly called out from the archive.

“Greetings, my prince.” She bowed.

“Where is your friend these days?”

_________________. “I-I believe she is tending to the weeds right now.”

“Oh.”

Tutankhaten continued slowly towards the common area and found that there were not many slaves around the garden. In the distance he saw Asherah weeding the rows towards him, this concerned him so he increased his pace. In a split second, he was beside her.

“Come with me.”

“What!” She said.

He had obviously startled her. He could see that she was exhausted by all the work especially since the incident with Nefertiti. Lady Valencia had not been so easy on her since.

Asherah obviously had not expected to see Tutankhaten—being Pharaoh and all—you would think he’d forget a girl like her. “I thought you were struck with Amnesia, but I guess I’ve been proven wrong.”

“Amnesia?”

“Aye,” She agreed, “it seems that we slaves are easily forgotten by our superiors,” she said with a defiant toss of her hair.

“Do you really think so?” He said pointing at the slaves naming them one by one.

“I get it!” She growled.

Asherah knew that he was busy—she should not have been so self-centered.

“Come with me, there’s a place I want to show you,” Tutankhaten said as he offered her his hand. This would not have been a problem for her if she were a princess, but for a slave to touch, a prince was outraged.

“I have much to do,” Asherah said. She could not imagine the faces the slaves around them would make if she were to take it.

“Come on!” He insisted. With a sigh, she slipped her hand into his and they both slipped away silently.

This is so embarrassing! Asherah swallowed her pride and followed him to wherever he wanted to take her. As they trudged further down she noticed the grass getting longer and longer and the trees standing even taller. The rubble beneath her feet slowly began to soak with each step, and that’s when she knew where he was taking her.

The stream.

Shimmers moved across the deep green surface as if light itself could be blown by the wind. Asherah dipped her fingers in the deep stream only to withdraw them just as fast. The opaque waters were icy even in the heat.

“Let’s get in.” He said, surprising her by taking off his jewelry and then his sandals.

“What do you mean, get in?”

He rolled his eyes. “Get in the water! Come on Asherah, after being under this blazing sun all day, don’t you just want to cool off?”

She didn’t think it was possible for someone who was so slim, could be so lean and strong looking at the same time.

“Well?” He mused, with his toe now dipped into the water, and then his ankles.

“I can’t.” She stepped back. “This is the last clean tunic I have, and if I were to get this one wet then I don’t know what I would do.” This had to work. This wouldn’t have been a problem when she was three or four, but she was thirteen—pretty much a grown woman—and her body, it was not the same.

Tutankhaten noticed her distressed and came out of the waters. He pulled out his dagger and sliced through the midsection of his long kilt. Tearing off the bottom of his kilt he threw to her. “Wrap that around your waist and that should do well.”

In defeat, she gave up making excuses. “Turn around!” She barked. He quickly turned away, looking embarrassed.

Slipping the tunic over her head, her breast bounced slightly, she then grabbed his torn piece of his kilt and tied it around her waist thankful that it was long enough to cover her womanhood, and walked into the water.

She could not imagine behind half naked in front of Tutankhaten.

“Now is not the time to be shy Asherah,” Tutankhaten said as he grabbed one of her hands and led her further into the water. He did secretly desire to see her naked as any boy his age would and acted as honorable, doing her a favor that it was no big deal.

Asherah kept one arm wrapped around her breasts, but quickly realized the stupidity of her actions when she found herself fixated on the muscles on his back. The shallow waters cooled her mind off and did, in fact, feel good on her hot skin. This was the only time she was going to admit that he was right, but never again will she do this.