THE GREAT LADY OF ALKION

CHAPTER 42

He felt someone lying on his chest. Astrid's long hair felt short in his fingers. His head was pounding madly. He had had too much to drink.
He opened his eyes slowly as he tried to adjust to the shining sun rays in his room. He looked at her head and saw the very short hair on her head. Had she cut her hair ? Oh no! He blinked rapidly and looked at his hand. He was holding a wig. No way !
"What did you do to me ?" he asked as he jumped from the bed suddenly leaving her to fall on it.
" Smenkhhare, why are you talking about ?" she said in a low tone blinking her eyes to get rid of the sleep.
" I'll ask again. What did you do to me Meritaten ?" he asked as he looked at her then at himself and tossed the wig away. She looked at it on the floor and back to him.
" Nothing."
He had thought that he had landed the grand prize and had spent the night with Astrid but he was dead wrong.
"Nothing ? Then can you tell me how on earth I ended up like this with you ?" he asked gesturing at his naked self.
"Don't you remember last night ? You came in and made love to me."
"No way. I didn't do that," he defended." I possibly couldn't have..."
He paused for a moment and all that had happened the previous night came to his mind. How Thutmose helped him to his room. How Seti talked to him. How he staggered alone into his room and he saw Astrid kneeling before him and so he pulled her onto himself. Damn it! It wasn't Astrid. It was Meritaten. The wine was playing a trick on him.
"Oh," he said as his eyes darted around the room as he pressed his lips together.
"You must feel disappointed to see me. You thought it was her, didn't you ?"
"Just stop talking Meritaten," he said as he paced back and forth." I don't have time for this."
"Why should I stop talking Smenkhhare ? Why ?"she screamed.
"Because I hate it. I hate you," he shouted as he threw his hands up in the air.
"Mmmh of course you do," she said as she sat back on the bed supporting her back against the headboard." That's why you kept calling her name all night long. You were thinking of her instead of me and thought that she was the one you were making love to. When will you love me ? I have loved you from the beginning but you haven't. You treat me poorly when all I want is for you to love and respect me at least," she cried.
" Here we go again Meritaten with the same story. Yesterday was an accident."
" An accident ? Just like the other times have been."
" Just stop it."
" I can count on one hand the times you and I got intimate. All of them were by mistake according to you. Last night as well."
" Well consider it as the last," he said." I need a bath," he huffed and left.
She took a pillow and threw it at the wall out of anger. Nothing seemed to go well for her in that marriage. Would her married life be as bad as everything between them had begun ? When someone faces much hardships in something they got themselves into, it's not hard to remember how everything started.
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"All daughters of the priests of Egypt have been summoned to go to the palace for the Pharaoh to select wives for his two sons," her father said.The herald has announced that. Daughter, did you hear that ?What are you doing ? You should get up and prepare yourself. It's time you made me proud like your older sisters have. They have married important men in the kingdom. It's time for you to do me proud."
" Yes father," she murmured.
" Your mother has taught you all the necessary skills. I'm sure that you can manage this."
" Yes father."
" Get up and prepare everything you'll need."
She stood up and went into her room to pick out some of the things she would need. Her maidservant, Bennu, got inside the room to help her.
" I have heard of the news my lady. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to enter the palace and find yourself a better life."
" Its funny how father talks to me now because he sees a possibility of me being selected as a wife to one of the princes. He talks to me whenever it's convenient and so do the rest. I don't want to go there."
" I understand your feelings but you need to remember that you need to do your best so that you can get out of this," she said as she pointed the room out.
" This tiny room with cracked up walls ? Poor treatment too."
" Yes my lady. You need to do your best and catch the eye of either the Pharaoh or one of the princes. You could be a princess of Egypt and your sisters and father won't look down on you ever again."
" They look down on me because I am the daughter of a maidservant. Father took care of me after impregnating a servant only so he could save face as a priest. Who doesn't know that he and his wife have always wanted to get rid of me. Now, he's pushing me to enter the palace because of his own desires. Maybe you're right Bennu. If I am blessed by the gods and become lucky, I will never return here."
Three days later, she entered the palace with her father and maidservant for the wife selection. There were many beautiful women there. Did she stand a chance ?
" You must do me and our family proud," Lord Abasi, her father, said to her before disappearing into the crowd full of beauties all dressed to impress.