Life From Your Lips (Ruby Rose fanfic)

SIX (Iselen POV)

"Aren't you hungry?" Ruby asks worried. "I can tell Tiaa to bring you something else for breakfast..."

"I'm fine, Meri," I cut her off abruptly. "I was thinking about... how lucky I am to be here with you."

The princess smiles, blushing, and looks down to keep eating her porridge with honey and drinking pomegranate juice. The ceramic beads embellishing her wig tinkle while I look at her bewildered. It's Monday morning...or it should be. Why didn't anybody rescue me from the tomb? Am I still in a coma, or am I in a hospital but didn't notice the change of location? Why did I wake up in bed with this beautiful woman, hugging her and feeling her warm and bare skin stuck to mine? Why am I not dead? Something weird is going on, or time runs differently inside my brain, or I really traveled back to Ancient Egypt and this is why everything feels so real. A goddess brought me here to... to do what? Bur this is impossible, I think I'm going crazy.

"Ruby, has Goddess Isis ever...? Did she show you evidences of her existence?" I ask cautiously and she stares at me surprised and puzzled. "I mean, how did you know that you had to bring me to this kingdom?"

"She ordered me to call you in my dreams," she answers firmly while Atet gestures at the servants and they pour more juice.

"And how do you distinguish between normal dreams and dreams where she orders you to do stuff?"

"The Goddess only visits me in my dreams when she wants something from me. She asked me to look for a certain papyrus that described a specific ritual, she told me where to find it exactly and it was there, I followed the instructions and you're here... What other evidence do I need to prove that she exists?"

"Of course," I whisper taking my bowl and drinking, lost in my thought, till I notice that the princess is looking at me confused and I decide I should change the subject. "I had a great time last night, the grilled gazelle was delicious."

"I'm sorry Tiyi was so rude, she didn't want to be introduced to you..."

"That's not your fault, Ruby," I smile when Atet snorts behind me. "On the contrary, the Great Wife is a lovely lady and her son is really kind. And Pentawer was right, dancers and acrobats were great... And you're more beautiful than them." Ruby straightens her back and nods with dignity, pretending that she doesn't care about my opinion although I've seen rage sparkling in her eyes for a second and her cheeks turned red later.

The truth is that the party was interesting to me because I'm an archaeologist and I felt fascinated by everything around me, the palace is gorgeous, the clothes and jewels the guests were wearing looked like works of art, bowls and cups should be in a museum, food was delicious and a pretty princess was sitting next to me but, after the pharaoh ordered servants to bring the trays, the etiquette became rigid. People were unable to move freely around the room, everybody was eating quietly if they were alone or talked in whispers to their tablemates like I was doing with Ruby. I was about falling asleep when the musicians walked into the room followed by dancers and acrobats.

I woke up suddenly and watched the show entranced. We know the instruments that were played in Ancient Egypt: tambourines, drums, harps...some of them are kept in museums. I've seen dancers and acrobats in tomb paintings but no one knows the way those instruments sounded, actually, because they didn't write music or the way dancers moved... Sensually, that's the answer, and the fact that they dance naked helps to highlight their flexibility and resistance even more. The gold ornaments hanging from their wigs, necklaces and bracelets, sparkled under the torches light every time they spun and jumped and I couldn't help following their movements with my eyes, entranced, till Ruby's elbow hitting my ribs drew my attention.

"You're more beautiful," I whispered automatically when I realized she was frowning and she straightened her back, nodded with dignity and blushed. The same way she did some minutes ago. I slid my hand under the table to take hers, rubbing her knuckles with my thumb and that seemed to soothe her. The King went back to his rooms early followed by his wives and courtiers believed that was the signal to start the real party, drinking wine and beer till sunrise and flirting with dancers and servants. Luckily, Ruby decided to leave when she realized I wasn't drinking too much and said goodbye to prince Pentawer who was holding a cup of wine in each hand and laughed with his friends.