Gotham Imagines and One Shots

Love out of time - Part 1 - Ed x Reader

Now I know this is a bit different, but please give me a chance🙏. My first love was always ancient Egypt, and I have been racking my brains about how to really include this in an imagine for a Gotham character, but now I finally think that I have come up with something. This chapter is a little longer and is more of an introduction to a second part which will be all Ed/Edward and reader, so I hope you will stick with it, and I hope you will enjoy. 😊

The chanting began as the early morning rays of the sun passed through the temples open doorway. This had been her life for as long as she could remember, she was born to be the High priestess of the great goddess Isis, and it was all she ever wanted to be. Groomed from childhood to perform the ceremonies, speak the incantations, and sing the hymns that would please the deity and wake her from her nightly slumber, the young priestess undertook each labour as only a true believer would, with honour and reverence.

The sound of the hymns and the jingle from the sistrums echoed throughout the great hypostyle hall as she made her way to the heart of the temple; the inner chamber, the sanctuary of the great goddess beckoning the young priestess as it did every morning.

Pulling open the doors, the priestess bowed deeply to the figure before her, while the priests behind her fell to their knees prostrating themselves before the earthly home of the goddess.

The young woman moved towards the statue and signalled for the priests to come forward so that she could begin the daily ritual. The old clothes from the day before were removed from the figure of the goddess, and then the effigy anointed with sacred oils and perfumes. The utmost respect was always given to the statue that was the worldly body of the goddess, and not one person present would ever allow harm to befall the goddess, especially in her own sanctuary.

The priestess carefully placed clothing back on the goddess and added new pigment to her cheeks and eyes, as the priests brought forward the food offerings for the day. Bread, meat and fruit were presented to the deity and placed at her feet by the priestess, before she backed out of the sanctuary, with her head bowed, the woman slowly closing the doors ensuring the goddess her privacy.

As the doors closed the priests continued to scurry around; despite the most important ritual of the day having been completed there would be no rest, not today.

Today was the goddess's festival, and the king would be coming to the temple to take part in the festivities. The priestess smiled to herself as she made her way to the open doors, she knew that wherever the king went, he would be with him. Entef was the king's vizier, his chief astronomer, and the love of her life.

They had grown up together playing and laughing, running through the halls of her father's palace hand in hand hiding from the guards that were meant to protect her.

Her father would always chastise the pair but to no avail, the two were born mischief makers and were inseparable. At night one would leave their room to join the other in their bed, the young pair holding onto one another in the night as if their lives depended on it.

As the pair got older, they were educated together to guarantee that they could fulfill their roles in society, the king ensuring that all knowledge was given to them. As the daughter of the king, Amenset was expected to perform better than the rest, and neither she nor Entef had disappointed the king.

As the two grew, so did their affections for one another, a fact that had never pleased the king. Entef was of low birth but was adopted by the royal family at the insistence of the Great Royal Wife, who just happened to be Amenset's mother; but his lowly birth meant that the two could never marry, at least in the King's eyes.

From birth, Amenset had been promised to the son of the Assyrian king, and at the right age she would leave her father's palace, leave the only world she had ever known, and become the Queen of her new people, taking her duties as high priestess with her to her new home. This arranged marriage was no secret to the young pair and made them all the more determined to stay together, the knowledge of the marriage and inevitable separation from the man she loved had caused the young princess to argue many times with her father about Entef, nearly resulting in her punishment, only being spared due to the efforts of her mother.