The Prince's Punishment

Chapter Thirty- Five

Chapter Thirty- Five: Tepemkau

I made my way towards Eshe and my spot where we met. I remember her telling me it was her favorite place to visit because she loved the story of Osiris. I couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm to the story. I hoped she could pick up my mood after my father had ruined it. He had a very good knack for doing so. Eshe was always able to pick me up no matter how bad of a day I'd had. As long as I was with her, the sun was shining and I was happy. I smiled again thinking of her face and how excited she would be to see me again. As I approached the corner the scent of something odd reached my nose and it was then that I saw her on the ground curled up into herself, blood soaking the ground beneath her.

"Eshe!" I ran to her and lifted her up into my lap without hurting her more. My poor Eshe, who could have done such an awful thing to such a beautiful soul? "Who did this to you?!" Her voice barely made a whisper. "Your... Father..." Hearing those small tiny breathless words sent my anger into depths of unspeakable terms. I could not wait to get my hands on the man I called father. He was no longer my father; he was no one to me. He was dead for all intents and purposes. How could one man betray me so? "I am so sorry... I should have never let this happen. I was not strong enough to save you. Please, please forgive me." I pressed my lips to hers repeatedly and held her against my broad chest as if I had held her for the first time since I had met her, and as we sat on the ground of our secret spot in the temple, I let myself cry for the love I would never have again.

I had lost my reason to live. I wasn't strong enough to save her and for that very reason; the gods saw me as an unfit man and I suffered their wrath by having the one thing that mattered more than being Pharaoh taken away from me. I could see the life slowly slipping away from her with each passing second. My life was now completely shattered. Nothing mattered any more, she was gone and she was never coming back. She reached up a weak and shaky hand, placing it against my cheek, her eyes now distant and empty. "I love you..." I hadn't had time to tell her back before she took her final breath. "Eshe... No, please come back to me! ESHE!" She was no longer my joyous and happy Eshe. She was simply a bloodied corpse in my arms that used to be my Eshe... My Eshe... How I longed to feel her breathing again, kiss her warm tender lips which were now growing cold with each passing second that we sat here huddled together. My strength no longer fit me; my name no longer suited my being.

Tepemkau... Ha... What strength do I have left? What strength I had left was merely nothing compared to my being before such a tragic time. I was not the man I thought I was. I thought I could prevent all this from happening but I wasn't even able to predict when it would happen. I should have never saved her that day. Had I kept on walking, she would still be alive and I would still be the man I was, a cold hearted; self righteous Prince of Egypt. She was my rise and my fall. Before her, I saw life as nothing but a waste on the lower beings, why should they get to live if they're nothing? I never saw them as people until I met her. She changed my way of living and thinking. She made everything make sense and now? Nothing made sense, absolutely no sense at all.

She said she was not worth the revenge? How could she say such a preposterous thing? She was worth more than just revenge... She was worth more than anything riches and luxury could ever give a man. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her and here I was, sitting on the ground with her lifeless corpse and covered in her blood. I had truly lost her and now I had no clue as to what I would do with myself; inside I was already dead too, a piece of me too had gone with her when she took that final breath.