Intent on His claim (Beauty and the Beast #3)

Chapter 60

Once upon a time long, long ago, there lived a prince of Egypt who had been raised to to become the next Pharaoh. He spent his entire life preparing to be the next ruler of the great kingdom and developed a strong sense of duty.

He was beloved by all his subjects and feared in all lands round about him because of his great military prowess.

On one of his visits to a nearby kingdom he heard tales of vampires, terrible and deadly creatures of inhuman speed and strength that had plagued far off lands and were advancing closer. 

When evidence of the creatures was presented to him, he immediately knew his kingdom would be vulnerable to their attacks.

He returned troubled to his lands but decided against warning the Pharaoh's court of this threat until he had a solution for it. He decided to seek the power of the gods for himself to protect his people and together with a priest of the house of Bast, they came across a forbidden ritual to give the powers of the gods to men.

The prince and the priest broke the taboo in secret and the prince was empowered with speed and strength to rival the undead, complete with the nature of a beast under the protective guidance of Bast.

A plea for rescue from one of the kingdom's smaller neighbors gave the prince the perfect opportunity to test his new powers. A small group of vampires had attacked one of their villages and when the prince crushed them singlehandedly, the small nation came under Egypt's protection. 

On Prince Seth's return, the Pharaoh threw a grand celebration for his victory and the ensuing treaty with the now vassal state.

It was at this celebration that he met and fell in love with a slave girl from a group of traveling dancers that had been hired for the occasion. He immediately released Nefertiri from her bond to her master and installed her in the palace as his first ever concubine. As expected, this caused waves within the court and jealousy among the ladies of court.

It especially angered Princess Hatusu, Prince Seth's cousin who had been born and raised to be his queen and rule at his side. The time of their wedding was drawing near and she had prided herself on being the first woman he would touch on their wedding night, and yet he was suddenly lavishing on this servant girl the kind of attention he had never paid to her.

However, the Pharaoh refused to intervene on her behalf because he feared the power Prince Seth had over the people, an influence that had only gained momentum with his recent victory. The princess' jealousy grew as she saw how taken the prince was with his new love, but she was unnoticed by either of them.

Prince Seth quickly realized that his new nature was a danger to Nefertiri as he couldn't completely control when he shifted into the beast. He struggled with the thought of releasing her from her position as his concubine and sending her away from the palace to keep her safe but in the end confessed his secret. When she accepted him in spite of it, they consulted with the sorcerer for a solution that would let them be together.

They settled on giving Nefertiri similar abilities, putting her through the same ritual so that she would become the perfect mate for him as another shapeshifter. However, falling in love only increased the prince's unease at having to face the vampires in all out war.

He ordered the priest to adjust the ritual to empower a large number of soldiers at once so that he could build an army to wipe out the vampire threat. While the priest embarked on this task, the prince strategized ways to face the vampires away from his kingdom in order to destroy them or at least drastically reduce their numbers before they ever reached his lands.

He searched desperately for ways to defeat them and learned of fairies, allies that could be made in another world. He set up an inspection for the far off borders of his lands and used it as a smoke screen while he stepped into the lands of the fairies.