The Pharaoh's Dancer

The Familiar but Unfamiliar Face

Guilt proceeded to consume Amunet's next few days. She'd lost Pharaoh's child. Pharaoh's son. Tears slowly cascaded down Amunet's cheeks and sobs shook her small frame uncontrollably. She was still unable to move very much but slowly strength was beginning to sink back into her bones. However, Amunet laid in constant panic that Teremun would hear she was back in the palace and come to see her. She couldn't seem to find the strength to see him. To look him in the eye and tell him she'd lost their baby. She also couldn't stand to tell him that she'd fail her very first mission. Something she'd been training for over a year. 

Amunet buried her face into her pillow and allowed her grief to slowly consume her. She'd thought she'd finally managed to break free from the chains of her past. To start a new life. To no longer be a slave. But she was still as pathetic as before. She couldn't do anything even for the Pharaoh. She was simply a pretty face who was only good at dancing for men. 

Amunet heard the door creak open and she turned away from it. It was most likely Eugene coming to check in on her. She was an excellent caretaker and very kind. He told her stories of his travels and how he'd come from France to learn the Egyptian customs and had found himself hired by the royal palace. He didn't say why or by who and Amunet never asked. 

"Wallowing in your pity, I see," a familiar voice suddenly said. Amunet's eyes went wide and she felt her muscles in her body freeze up. Her heart rate sped up and something ached inside her heart. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes at the voice. She rolled over to meet the speaker, prepared to list a number of apologies to her lover, but the words froze in her throat. 

They were almost identical in Amunet's eyes. Their voices were the same and they were nearly the same height, too. Their hair the same dark black and skin tanned brown. Jawline almost symmetrical. Muscles and frame equally built and toned. They could have been twins. But instead of the jade eyes that Amunet loved, there were hazel ones. Amunet opened her mouth to say something the words wouldn't come out. 

The figure strolled over to Amunet almost exactly as he did and sat down beside her. He looked down at her coldly and reached a hand out. Amunet flinched away from the hand that resembled his and looked away from him. 

"You shouldn't be so cold. Even after I came her personally to see who Eugene was spending so much time caring for." Amunet felt a shiver run up her spine and she desperately wanted to close her eyes and shut off all sound. She couldn't handle listening to his voice any longer. She glanced over at him and watched him cock his head and raise an eyebrow. "Do you know who I am?" Amunet nodded her head and he smirked at her. "Okay, then say it."

Amunet took in a deep breath and clenched her hands. 

"You're Chisisi, the Pharaoh's younger half-brother. Son to the Kamilah, the late Pharaoh Horemheb's royal consort." Chisisi smiled even more but it didn't reach his eyes. Amunet shivered again looking at him. She was supposed to kill Teremun for his mother. She'd been originally hired to help him get the throne and she'd failed. Amunet felt cold inside. There was no doubt in her mind that he knew who she was and was goign to make her pay for her betrayal.