Mahad took a deep breath in, it was time to talk to Mana about her relationship with Atem. Too many times he had found her jumping into his arms, hugging and touching him. Worse even when they thought they were alone, what would people start to say?
Mana and Atem were not little kids anymore, playing in the courtyard now could lead to playing games of a not so innocent nature. She had not realized, but Mana had grown into quite the beautiful young girl. Even Mahad had to take notice of the stares she would get from some of the less scrupulous guards. Just last week he had to chastise one for making a derogatory comment about her where she could put her magician's wand. Mana didn't quite understand the connotation. She was so innocent, a product of being the baby in the palace.
He had even taken notice of Atem's change towards Mana. In his early adolescence, he seemed to live to tease her incessantly, pushing her into ponds and provoking her to try to cast spells on him. Tormenting her was one of his favorite past times and Mana had no issues dishing it back to him. Over time though, Mahad noticed Atem take extra time watching Mana getting out of the pond in the courtyard after pushing her in. He was examining her, the way her clothes clung to her wet form, his eyes carefully tracing up and down. The wrestling they innocently would do as children to decide who would eat the last sweet now seemed less about dessert and more about just finding an excuse to touch each other.
He blamed neither party, after all they were the only two teenagers in the palace. It was natural for them to gravitate to each other as hormones raged. He just needed to preemptively address it to avoid a scandal.
"Mana, before we begin our lesson today I need to talk to you about something." He felt profoundly uncomfortable. Mana was like a sister to him, he hated to bring things related to this nature to her.
"What's that?" She said, fiddling with her wand.
"Mana, it's about the prince." He said slowly, placing his hand on her wand to stop her from messing with it.
A big grin grew on Mana's face as her eyes lit up. "The prince? I was just with him in his bedchambers, playing a game of dice!"
Mahad sighed. This would be difficult. "Mana, that's exactly what I'm here to talk to you about."
She frowned. "About me… playing dice?"
"No!" He nearly shouted, fully aware that his unease was not being hid well. "About your relationship with the prince."
Mana blinked and gave a confused face. "I don't understand."
"Mana, you two are not children anymore and so, you cannot act like children anymore." He blurted.
"Well hey I've been really good at making sure he's wearing his hat in the desert so I'd say I'm pretty responsible!" She said with a cheesy grin.
"Agh Mana, that not what I mean!" He was becoming frustrated at his own shyness. "I mean, you are both teenagers now and people may see you two together and get the wrong idea of what the nature of the relationship is!" He sounded flustered, he knew it.
Mana was quiet, she blinked a few times again before smiling big. "Oh Mahad, do you think the prince and I are kissing when no one is looking!" She made a kissing face obnoxiously, laughing wildly.
Mahad blushes deeply. "It's not me you should be worried about Mana, it's everyone else!"
"Oh so everyone else thinks we're totally making out when no one else is around." Mana said in a mocking tone.
"Mana please can you be serious! The prince will be pharaoh one day and you'll have to change in the way you act towards him eventually. I think it should start now." He was getting annoyed with her.
"Well, too late cause we totally are kissing when no one is around." She sat back in her chair and giggled.
"Mana, what?!" Mahad gasped.
Mana laughed hysterically. "Mahad I'm joking! That's gross. The prince is just my best friend. I don't even know anything about that sort of stuff."
Mahad let out a sigh of relief, bringing his hand to his forehead. Mana sometimes was so childish.
"Good lesson today Mahad!" She sang getting up and prancing out of the room. Usually he would have asked her to stay but he was too embarrassed to press the subject.
Mana laughed to herself as she left Mahad's temple. He truly still thought of her as a little girl. She was 18, fully aware of what went on between boys and girls. Most of it she had learned from harem girls but a few lessons she had learned hands on.
"Prince!" She said as she walked up to him in his courtyard.
"Mana, did you freeze the guards again?" He smiled.
"Who? Me? Never!" She laughed as she embraced Atem, who was sitting on a bench by the pond.
"Your class is over early." He stated, playing flicking her shoulder.
"Yeah, you'll never believe what today's lesson was." She snickered, resting her legs over his lap as she laid down on the bench. "It was all about how we need to stop being around each other so you know, we don't tempt each other." She said in a mocking voice.
Atem laughed. "Oh is that so." He grabbed her hips and moved her towards him. She straddled him, his arms wrapping around her waist and bringing his face into her breasts.
"Yeah, he thinks I'm so innocent. You should have heard him!" She leaned in and kissed Atem as he pulled her closer. She broke away. "He thinks I don't even know anything about this kind of stuff."
Atem smiled mischievously. "Mmm if only he knew exactly how experienced you are at this, his eyes would probably roll into the back of his head."
"I want you to make my eyes roll into the back of my head." She whispered in his ear devilishly.
Atem growled, lifting her off the bench and heading in the direction of his bed chambers.
"Poor Mahad, he is so innocent!" Mana laughed to herself.