Chapter 1: Traditions
A teenage girl with long brunette hair was sweeping the floor one afternoon, concentrated on her work. "You!" she flinched as her father stormed in the room. "Put on your nicest dress, it is our monthly tithe to the Pharaoh. You better give it to him and not bring trouble on your brothers. If they get put in the army I -" he glared at her, too furious to finish his sentence and walked out.
The girl sighed, putting away the broom. She headed to her room to prepare for the trip to the palace.
Sitting proudly on his throne, Atem nodded gracefully to the family who had just paid to him their annual tithe. "How many more families are there to come, Shimon?" Atem asked his royal advisor.
"I think just a few more, my King. We have reached the poorer parts of the city."
"I really hate doing this but I suppose it has to be done." Atem sighed.
The girl stepped into line, a basket of vegetables in her arms. As her turn arrived, she knelt before Atem's throne, presenting the basket. "My King, vegetables from my family's garden."
"Oh? Thank you that's very kind, I'm sure I will enjoy them." Atem answered her, giving a small smile.
The girl avoided looking at him as she rose fluidly to her feet. "I hope you enjoy the bounty of our garden." she mumbled, turning away.
"I-I was just wondering..." Atem stuttered, slowly rising out of his throne so as not to scare her or alarm anyone else "What is your name? I would like to know after you have given me such a wonderful donation."
The girl paused, obligation keeping her from running away. "Hali." she responded, looking away.
"Hmm...Well thank you very much again Hali." Atem nodded to her with a smile "But it would be even better if I could put a face to that beautiful name."
Hali turned back to him and looked up, revealing startling green eyes and a smudged face. She quickly looked away, unable to meet his gaze for long.
Gasping in shock at the color of her eyes, Atem didn't know what to say as a wider smile spread across his face. Clearing his throat, Atem looked to Shimon. "Could you please send everyone else away, I have had enough of this for today, but I would like to speak to this young lady alone."
Hali trembled at his words, not seeing the look on his face. "I am sorry, my King." she whispered fearfully.
"I am not going to hurt you, Hali. You have nothing to be sorry for." He told her with a chuckle, gently placing his hand on her shoulder as he came down from his throne.
Hali nodded, still not looking at him.
"Please turn and face me." Atem asked softly.
Hali turned and looked up at him hesitantly. "Yes, my King?"
"Why are you so dirty, it is not fitting of a young lady to have such a dirty face, especially one so beautiful." Atem smiled as he reach out, gently wiping a small smudge with his thumb.
"I am just a meager servant girl. I work all day in my father's house." Hali admitted, tears pooling in her eyes.
"Whereabouts do you live, I would like to speak to your father." Atem narrowed his eyes in disappointment but then softened them again, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"On the outskirts of the city. Do not face my father alone, my King. He has a temper."
"I am sure I will be fine, I have seven royal court members to help me."
Hali shivered in fear. "I just fear for your safety, my King." she whispered, tears pooling again.
"No need to worry about me or yourself, I will protect you, as Pharaoh it is my duty." Atem smiled cupping her cheek within his palm.
Hali nodded. "I can take you to my home."
"Seto, I want you to accompany us and bring two guards with you please, we do not know what this man is capable of doing" Atem ordered his cousin with a nod.
"Follow me down to the stables Hali, you can ride with me."
Hali followed Atem to the stables as Seto hurried away to get two guards. "I have never ridden a horse, my King."
"I will teach you one day but today you will only be sitting behind me, while I ride." he told her with a smile, as they finally reached the box where his Mare was kept.
Hali let him help her onto the horse and guided them to her home. "That one there," she replied, shivering.
"It's ok, I am here. No harm will come to you when I am around." Atem assured her.
"Thank you, my King." Hali let him help her to the ground and hung back as Atem went to the house and knocked.
A moment later, they could hear a man grumble. "Finally that ungrateful slut came back. Who-?" the man opened the door, stopping short at the sight of Atem.
"You are Hali's Father, I presume?" Atem asked, keeping his features stoic but raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you care?"
"Unless you want to be arrested in front of your daughter, I would be a lot more polite if I was you in the presence of the Pharaoh." Seto Snarled stepping forward.
"Thank you Seto, but I handle this man myself." Atem nodded to Seto before turning back to Hali's father. "I care because she, like you, are a citizen of my country and as such she deserves to live a life of girl her age, not as a slave!" Atem growled.
The man shoved Atem. "I do not care of you are Ra himself, get out of here and leave my daughter!"
Luckily for Atem, Seto caught the King before he could stumble backwards & fall on his royal behind "Are you ok Sire?" Seto asked with concern as Atem looked up at Seto and nodded.
"Guards! Arrest this man for assaulting the Pharaoh!" Seto barked.
The man fought as the guards seized him. "You will never amount to anything, Hali!" he snarled.
"As you should know, I am unmarried and have been looking for a wife for some time but haven't found one suitable, I believe Hali would make a perfect Queen." Atem smirked, turning back to look at Hali with a wink.
"You on the other hand will not be doing anything except rotting in one of the Pharaoh's dungeons." Seto snapped, pushing the rod in the man's back to make him move.
Hali looked shocked at his first statement, watching her father being dragged away.
Walking up to Hali and cupping her cheek, Atem smiled lovingly at her. "I meant every word I said, you will make an excellent Queen Hali, you deserve to be treated with respect."
Hali smiled, finally meeting his eyes. "Thank you, my King." she replied dutifully.
"Hali, can I ask two things of you?" Atem asked as a light pink blush coated his cheeks.
"Of course, my King." Hali bowed her head slightly.
"For one, I would like for you to start calling me by my name, which is Atem. And would you do me the honor of coming back to the Palace with me and staying with me? I will allow for you to say goodbye to your mother and collect up some of your things before we leave." He smiled at her.
"The woman that I live with is not my mother. But I would like to get a few things." Hali looked away.
"Oh, I am sorry, I did not know." Atem frowned, looking embarrassed at his previous statement, "Take your time in getting your belongs there is no rush."
"Can I have you with me in case my father's wife tries to stop me?"
"Of course, it is my duty to protect you."
Hali went inside and gathered her few belongings, embarrassed by showing how little she had to the king.
"That is all I have if we can go. There are no happy memories here."
"I am sorry that you have had such a bad life but I promise you, you will be treated a lot better at my Palace and will be shown far more respect, the respect you deserve" Atem smiled opening the door for her
"Thank you, Atem." Hali smiled at him. "I have a lot to learn to adjust to my new life."
"You will do just fine and I will be with you every step of the way." he smiled back as he wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.
Someone cleared their throat. "My King, we need to get back to the palace." Seto had returned.
"We were just on our way, I was just letting Hali collect her belongs." Atem replied sheepishly.
Hali climbed onto the horse behind Atem and they headed back to the palace. "Get Hali a chance to clean up and into proper clothes," Seto ordered a female servant. When Hali and the servant had disappeared, he turned to Atem. "May I be frank with you, my King?"
"Seto? What seems to be the problem?" Atem asked his cousin raising an elegant eyebrow.
"Have you thought of the scandal it would cause to marry a commoner whose father is being punished for attacking you? Centuries of marrying royalty notwithstanding, the daughter of a criminal would cause a scandal in and of itself."
"I have everything under control Seto. You have no need to concern yourself with what I am doing, even though I appreciate your concern cousin. If any issues arise, I will deal with them. Do not forget also that I am Pharaoh and any rules that are made come from me and me alone, unless you wish to contend my authority."
"No, of course not, my King."
"Good, you have to understand Seto, Hali's Father isn't a criminal as such, although what he did was wrong in shoving me the way he did. Everyone deserves a second chance."
"Shall I instruct the servant to bring her to you when she's dressed?"
"Yes please. I will be in my throne if anyone else needs me." Atem informed him, before turning to walk away.
Hali headed to the throne room dressed in a deep burgundy dress with a necklace draped around her neck, her hair hanging shiny and clean. Her face was clean as well. She opened the door to the throne room and stepped cautiously. "Atem?" she asked meekly.
"Hali? Is that really you? Y-you look beautiful." Atem stuttered, rising out of his throne and slowly walking towards her like this was all a dream to him.
Hali blushed, ducking her head. "Your servants are amazing."
"You are amazing" Atem blurted out then cover his mouth, a deep red blush covering his cheeks.
Hali blushed more. "I am not used to being appreciated by any one." she admitted.
"Forgive me Hali, I-I do not know what has come over me. I guess I have spent so long by myself that now that I'm in the presence of someone as beautiful as you my teenage hormones are sort of all over the place." Atem admitted shamefully, still blushing deep red but hiding his eyes within his golden bangs.
Hali stepped forward, cupping his face with her hand. "It is okay, Atem. You saved me from my old life. I owe you a lot."
"I am supposed to be a Pharaoh, I have a reputation to uphold. What would my cousin and the rest of my royal court say if the caught me acting like a love sick jackal?" Atem sighed, keeping his eyes down.
Hali feigned innocence. "You were acting love sick? I hardly noticed." she teased.
"I have actually had slight feelings for you ever since we met, I felt really sorry for you when you told me the sad story of how your Father made you work so hard for him, something in my heart told me that I should help you, so I followed that feeling. If you don't mind me saying, I think you looked kind of cute with that bit of soot on your face" Atem chuckled a little, bringing his eyes up to look at her.
"And you look cute with that blush on your face."
"You really think so, even though I am so embarrassed by my immature outburst?"
"I do not dare anger the Pharaoh." Hali winked at him
"Well, well well, look who's come out of their shell since we have been together for the past few hours, I was hoping you were going to stay meek forever." Atem smirked, cheekily.
Hali gave him a small smile. "The caged bird does not sing very prettily." she replied.
"Touche my dear, touche." Atem chuckled, picking up her hand and kissing it.
Hali's stomach rumbled and she blushed. "I have not eaten all day." she admitted.
"Follow me, I'll treat you to a meal you'll never forget." Atem smiled.
Hali smiled. "Sounds really nice, lead the way."
Gently taking her hand then kissing it. "This way, my lady."
Hali smiled at him and let him lead her out of the throne room. "My father did not let me eat very often." she murmured, her smile fading.
"You do not have to worry about him anymore Hali. I will let you eat as much as you want, whenever you want and once we are married and you are Queen you will even have to get out of bed for your meals if you do not want to." Atem chuckled, opening the dining room door for her.
Hali's eyes welled with tears. "Thank you." she whispered, ducking her head.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Atem gestured to the table covered in food "Now what would you like to eat?"
"Now, can I have something besides grapes? As you may have forgotten, you got the grapes." Hali smirked.
"Sorry, I didnt mean to take all of them, I must have been hungrier than I thought, is there anything on this table that you like?"
Hali went pink in the face and mumbled something before reaching for the nearest dish.
"Um Hali, I did not quiet catch that, what did you say." Atem asked, raising an eyebrow as he grabbed himself a few dates.
"Nothing." Hali kept her eyes averted.
"Oh ok, would you like to go on a tour around my palace now? You may take some food with you, if you like."
"Of course." Hali loaded up with food and got to her feet. "Lead the way."
"I would like to take you to my outer courtyard first, if that is ok."
Hali smiled. "Of course, I want to know all about this new world I am entering."
Nodding at her request Atem lead her towards the outer courtyard. Once outside as they strolled along Atem carefully picked a pink lotus flower. "Hali, I have something for you." he blushed, bringing it out from behind his back.
"It is beautiful." Hali smiled, tucking it in her hair. "How does it look?"
"You look beautiful, it especially suits the dress you are wearing."
Hali blushed. "Thank you."
"Here, come and sit down on the edge of the fountain with me." Atem suggested, moving his cape so it didn't dip into the water.
Hali sat down on the edge of the fountain, feeling nervous. "What now?" she asked, looking over at him.
"Would you mind if I fed you a couple of those grapes?" Atem asked nevously, spotting that she had half a dozen left.
Hali smiled widely. "I would like that."
Plucking a grape off the bunch, Atem carefully put a grape into Hali's mouth. Seeing that she was enjoying them, Atem continued until there was only one left, putting it between his teeth he smirked "Do you want it?"
Hali smiled and leaned in, stealing the grape from his teeth with hers, drawing it into her mouth and chewing. "Mmm...tastes better."
"You arere not getting away that easily." Atem growled quickly pulling Hali into his chest giving her a very passionate kiss.
Hali melted against him, kissing him back.
Tilting his head over slightly more, Atem deepened the kiss then slowly pulled back. "I love you, Hali." he whispered with a loving gleam on his deep violet eyes.
"I love you too." Hali blushed.