Nesert

1.13

Episode 3.20 "Maternal Instinct"  (bold from Episode 4.14 "The Serpent's Venom")

Over the next few months, Apophis worked tirelessly to establish his authority over Sokar's warriors and, as rumor had spread of her attachment to their previous leader prior to his death, Sekhmet's presence helped him in that task. Tessa felt the loss of Sokar as Sekhmet would have, but was grateful that her human fear of him balanced out that grief.

Her new master chose her jaffa guardians carefully which meant she had little chance of escaping the planet, not that she had planned on that approach. Even Tessa could see the benefit of keeping Apophis and his plans close. It was likely that few knew of his survival and subsequent theft of Sokar's vast army and the knowledge she gained as his queen could be intensely valuable to all who would defy him.

Tessa soon learned that Apophis' primary goal was first to satisfy his own vanity, though. He had created a harcesis child with Sha're, Daniel's wife and the host of Apophis' last queen, Amaunet. He had planned to take the child as his next host, and now, with his face severely damaged by Sokar's torture, he became obsessed with finding the missing boy. Apophis was one of the few goa'uld who had kept just a single host and he wished to maintain at least a resemblance to the face he'd grown to love.

Tessa could barely contain her derision at his priorities. "How can that child possibly be more important than our other goals? We will lose the element of surprise with this delay!"

Apophis did not tolerate even a private scolding, though, and soon Tessa's face burned red from his temper.

"You serve me. ME! You will not question what I choose to do."

So went the majority of their conversations. She was clearly not trusted, but that didn't stop his hands from exploring more of her body every time she was in his presence. He seemed to enjoy the torment he inflicted on her and Tessa wondered more frequently if it would be better to simply kill him while he slept. Sokar's forces potentially could be swayed to her loyalty, especially if they felt protective of their former god's love, or whatever it was that Sekhmet had been to Sokar. Apophis claimed to have risen from the dead, from the fires of Netu, but she knew there were whispers that it had really been Sokar's powers that brought him back from the underworld. Perhaps she could exploit that to expand her own power.

Her opportunity first came when Apophis announced that he would take a large portion of the fleet to seek out his child and a sarcophagus, but he was leaving her behind to tend to the domestic forces of Delmak under the watchful eyes of some of his most trusted jaffa.

"If you betray me in the slightest, I will make you suffer my full wrath over and again. I will kill you and revive you until you beg to fulfill my every wish." Apophis always preferred to keep a firm grasp of her face as he threatened her, forcing her to look into his eyes and know that his words were no bluff, but this time he let his hand slide down her throat and search out any places he'd yet to discover. "And when I return with a sarcophagus, I will make you my queen in every aspect." He kissed her with enough force that she understood the threats behind it without further explanation. "I will let you prove your loyalty to me, my Lady She'ket."

Tessa had often breathed a thankful sigh to Sokar for taking his sarcophagus aboard his ship before it was destroyed, knowing that the only thing protecting her from Apophis' bed were injuries left from his prior torture. More than one slave girl had turned up dead after a night spent with her god and it was unclear to Tessa if their lives were ended to satisfy a need that couldn't be filled or to hide secrets of goa'uld mortality. Either way, it was apparent that the damage was not simply limited to Apophis' face and once a sarcophagus could restore most of his body to its original form, he would never be satisfied with only his hands and lips abusing his new queen.