Ancient Love

Chapter 3: A Proper Introduction

The next morning, Anuktata woke me up as she always does and opened the curtains. "Good morning your highness" She said as she helped me get undressed and ready for the bath. "Good morning Anuktata" I replied feeling more awake than usual. "You sure are feeling cheerful this morning" She noted as she undressed me and then helped the other servants to clean me up and dress me for the day. "Your highness, your family will be waiting for you down the hall after morning prayers" she told me as she put my headpiece on. After I was dressed and ready for the day, Anuktata put my sandals on my feet and secured them in place. Just then as Anuktata had finished securing my sandal, Rahkorta and Hartatef opened the doors. "Ready your highness?" Anuktata asked me as she adjusted my necklace. "Ready as I will ever be I suppose" I said while crossing my hand over my wrist to hide the bracelet that I had received last night. When I had finished with morning prayers, I arrived back at the palace where I changed into an extravagant outfit. When the finishing touches were made, Rahkorta and Hartatef opened the doors and I was then escorted down the hall and into a room where I saw my mother, her servant Tahmina, and her guards Tosorthros and Manevis waiting for me. My father walked in through another door with his servant Rustam and his guards, Botoun and Pasamentius. My mother and father were certainly dressed and ready to make an impression on the Pharoah, his wife and the prince I was supposedly set to marry. "Come Neithhotep let us go" My father said as he held out his arm for my mother. She took his arm. "Come daughter" My mother said to me in a quiet yet sweet voice. They started to walk down the hall while being escorted by their guards and servants. I followed shortly behind while being escorted by my guards and servant. After walking through many beautifully decorated halls, my father halted at a balcony overlooking the ballroom. I peered over my father's shoulder and over the balcony to see the pharaoh, his queen and two men which looked like his sons. One of which, looked very familiar. Then, I saw my parent's guards and servants walk down the hall and lined up on each side of the large carpet. "Greetings" I heard my father say. " I am King Narmer. Ruler of the North. And this is my wife, Queen Neithhotep" My father said as I saw them shake hands with the other pharoah as my mother bowed her head to the other queen. "Welcome to my kingdom." The other pharaoh said. "I am Merenkahre. The Third King of the Third King" He said as he shook my father's hand. "And I am Shepseheret, the glittering jewel of the Nile" she said as she bowed her head to my mother. "These are our sons. Our eldest, Kahmunrah and this is our youngest, Ahkmenrah" King Merenkahre said as he motioned to each of his sons as my father shook their hands. "King Merenkahre and Queen Shepseheret. We would like to present you to our youngest child and only daughter, Irissia, Princess of the North" Just as my father announced my name, my guards starting moving forwards and Anuktata motioned for me to start walking behind them. I slowly walked down the stairs as I tried to seem as elegant as possible and to hopefully make a good first impression in front of everyone, while I tried not to slip and fall. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I bowed my head as I curtsied to the King, Queen and their sons. "It is such a high honor to be able to meet you" I said in a clear yet elegant tone of voice. I stood up and each prince took my hand and kissed it. "The pleasure is all mine" the youngest prince said to me as he looked into my eyes before kissing my hand. After both princes kissed my hands, we were escorted to this extravagant dining hall for lunch. Naturally, each king sat at each end of the table and his queen sat besides him. The eldest son sat besides their father while the youngest sat next to me. Throughout the meal, I felt Ahkmenrah's hand reaching for mine and him twirling my finger around his fingers under the table.

After being served a glorious lunch, we went our separate ways to get washed up. When we were finished getting cleaned up my mother and father went to go meet King Merenkahre and Queen Shepseheret in another room while I got to go spend time with the princes alone. I walked into the room that I was supposed to be in and there was the youngest prince sitting alone in the room. "Hello" I said as I entered the room and sat down on the couch across from him. "Hello" He replied to me as he took off his headpiece, revealing his somewhat messy black hair. He looked up at me and smiled. "It's you!" I exclaimed as he smiled more. "I was hoping I would get to see you again" He said as he took ahold of my hand and kissed it again. I stood there in complete shock. "I can't believe it!" I said in shock as he smiled more and kissed my cheek. We sat down on the couch together and he reached for my hand. "So, you are the princess from the North?" He asked me as he ran his other fingers through my hair. "Indeed I am" I replied while feeling and playing with his soft black hair. We both smiled realizing the fact that we both concealed our true identities from each other for the same reason. "I would like to formally introduce myself. I am Prince Ahkmenrah" He said as he put his hand out for mine. "I am Princess Irissia" I said as I playfully mocked his tone. "But please, call me Iris" I said as I reached my hand out for his to shake his hand. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a kiss. Just as our lips were about to touch, the door flew open. "Princess Irissia, I have arrived!" A blood stained Kahmunrah said in a very proud voice as he stormed in through the doors. Ahkmenrah and I pulled away quickly so he wouldn't notice. "What happened to you?" I asked him. "What this?" He said as he motioned to his blood stained arm. "You should have seen me before mother made me get cleaned up." He said flexing his what he would call muscles. Ahkmenrah stood up and sat down on the other couch hoping to get away from his brother as he started to walk to where I was sitting. "Do you want to see?" He asked me with a wink as he sat down on the other side of me thinking that it would impress me. He then put his arm around my shoulder and I quickly removed it and placed it onto his lap. "No thank you" I replied as I tried to stand up to go sit on the other couch next to Ahkmenrah to get away from him. "What? Not impressed princess?" Kahmunrah asked as he stood up and leaned over me with his arm on the couch cushion near the side of my head. "Here's an idea, let us get out of here and go do something else" I said as I got away from Kahmunrah. "What a lovely idea" Ahkmenrah said as he stood up. "We could..." he started to say. "Kiss up" Kahmunrah said to rudely interrupt his brother. "How about we go for a walk around the palace?" I suggested. "That sounds like a lovely idea" Ahkmenrah said as he put his headpiece back on. "Shall we?" He turned to me as he held out his arm for me. "We shall" I said back to him with a smile as I put my hand on his arm. He and I started to walk out of the room with Kahmunrah following behind us. Once he caught up to us, he took my other arm and put it on his. I tried to pull my hand away but he wouldn't let me. Before we could walk down the stairs, I saw Markata and Shoshan walking up the stairs towards us. I was then able to break free from Kahmunrah. I gently pulled my hand away from Ahkmenrah's and walked ahead of them down some of the stairs. "Ahh. Just the princes and princess that we were looking for" Shoshan said as Markata followed behind him. "What are you three up to?" Markata asked us. "Just out for a walk around the palace" Ahkmenrah explained to them. "You will have plenty of time for that later my prince" Shoshan said. "Please come with us. Your parent's have come to a decision and they requested your presence immediately " Markata told us. We then followed them down the rest of the stairs as our guards followed behind us. When we reached the throne room, there were both pharaohs and their queens standing side by side. "Daughter" My father said as he looked at me. "My sons" King Merenkahre said as he looked at his sons. "We have come to a decision on who will marry the princess." King Merenkahre said as he stepped forward to address his sons. "The prince that gets to marry the princess is..."