Disclaimer: I own nothing except the idea for this story.

Note: This is an AU with Young!Urhi and Princess!Nakia, where Urhi isn't an eunuch.

1334, The Palace of King Suppililiuma I, Anatolia, The Hittie Empire.

"Princess Nakia? This...?" Urhi managed.

The young Babylonian woman met his gaze as she has many times before. They had rarely conversed and though Urhi had strong feelings for this one woman, he did not know what to make of her sudden declaration. That one sentence was enough to put both of them in unspeakable danger were it overheard.

Úlfr twitched slightly. Everything hurt. All he could remember was his sister Ullue screaming in terror as someone grabbed her from behind and slit her throat. The blood spilled over onto her pure white cloak. It was a horrifyingly beautiful thing to behold. Úlfr fought the urge to cry out for help. He knew it wouldn't come. There was no one left to come.

He lay there splayed out on the hard stone floor. The tendrils of his long blonde hair were covered in blood and he had enough presence of mind to know that he should keep still. There were voices above him arguing boorishly.

"Find them!"

"Those of royal blood are the blonde haired ones! Find them and kill them!"

"Burn the palace to the ground!"

Úlfr shifted instinctively. He had to get away. There was little chance these barbarians would let him go if his existence became known. The blonde boy opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying under a table, his body covered by a sheet of cloth. As he was able to focus, Úlfr remembered his sister ÁsdÍs had shoved him down when the men in armor had come. It explained why he hadn't been found yet.

The boy cringed as he heard the screams of his mother and sister and the distinct splatter of blood. It was all he could do to keep from revealing himself and trying to stop them. He really wanted to stop them. The urge to kill was almost unbearable. Only fear held it at bay. Úlfr knew he was a coward. The proud member of a royal line doomed to die and all he could do was shiver and snivel under the cover of a tablecloth.

Úlfr made up his mind. He would not beg for his life.

"All I need to be free is you." Nakia said as she threw the sack of jewels at his feet. "Take me away from here. I-I want to be free. I want to be with you. I want to have your child."

Urhi looked at her. He knew what she wanted now, but he...couldn't give it to her.

"Your Highness" he said "I-I can't give you what you want. My country was attacked when I was just a child. I was sold to this temple by marauders. I have nothing to give you in return. How could I...ever make a great lady like yourself happy."

When the smell of smoke started to burn a whole in his lungs Úlfr knew he needed to get out. The clatter of swords and sound of feet told him that the enemy had retreated for the moment. That could only mean one thing. His father's castle was burning.

Keeping the cloth firmly wrapped around him to hide his blond features. Úlfr ignored the urge to run toward his mother's body. He stepped over his sister's newly bloodied corpse. Then he ran toward the window.

The trees. He had to make it to the trees.

"I don't want anything except you. I was sent here to be the emperor's concubine. I have no title and the princesses of noble birth are ranked above me. I have no future in the seraglio."

Urhi closed his eyes as she continued and tried to pull away as she clasped his hands.

"I don't care if you have nothing. Can't we be enough. We can make something of ourselves outside these walls."

Urhi tried again.

"Princess, I have no honor. I ran when they killed my family. I am a coward. You shouldn't associate yourself with me any further."

Nakia pleaded with him. He opened his eyes and saw the tears in hers.

"I don't want jewels and fancy clothes. I just want you." She repeated.

"I just want you."

Úlfr managed to crawl away unscathed. Crouching lower as he reached the trees, he felt tears fall from his eyes. The path ahead of him was filled with wet brush, barely covered by snow. The young prince shivered as he walked the forest. The sound of horses galloping caught his attention and he dove for cover behind a nearby tree.

A hand grabbed him from behind and gripped his shoulder tightly through the cloth..

"And who might you be?" the stranger asked.

Úlfr stared silently facing front, eyes narrowed. His pride would not allow him to give in to this mongrel. He was a prince, even if the place of his birth no longer existed and his father lay slain within his own castle.

"I asked you a question girl" the stranger said through gritted teeth as he turned Úlfr around to face him. Then he struck him. Úlfr still remained silent.

He was beaten for his insolence and taken to the meeting place of a band of thieves who sold him to the Babylonians for weaponry. One of the men tried to lay a hand on him, but the leader wouldn't have it once they discovered the truth of his gender. He was unclean they said and no replacement for a good whore.

Úlfr was eventually taken to Anatolia within the Hittie Empire. He was bought to be a priest in the temple there. Slaves had no name. So he was given the name Urhi Shamla, a Hittie name.

Úlfr hated his new name and preferred his real one. He was a prince after all. He wasn't strong or proud. He was a coward without a country. But his name was his and his alone. He wanted to be called by his name.

"Urhi!"

"My name is Úlfr," the blond said as he held up a hand to touch her face. Princess Nakia's blue eyes widened. Urhi gave up. He had grown to like this place, but only because she was here with him. The Hittie Empire was no better than any other place he'd been.

"Go to your chambers tonight," Urhi told her "I'll wait for you outside the Seraglio. Slip out while the others are asleep. I will take you and we will leave this place together."

Nakia gave him a look of joy as though he'd promised to bring her the moon. She kissed him lightly on the cheek before picking up her jewels and placing them carefully in confines of her robes.

Urhi shook his head as he watched her go. What had he gotten himself into?

The king would surely have reason to execute him before the night was through.

He could hardly have resisted though. Urhi loved his majesty's seventh concubine with all his heart. Sometimes he would pass by this way simply to catch a glimpse of her as the guards escorted her about the palace grounds. She was beautiful. And maybe, just maybe, she was his.

That night two figures in black walked softly across the palace ground outside His Majesty's seraglio. They pilfered some food from the kitchens and two horses from the royal stables. It was pure luck that no one managed to sound the alarm until they were far outside the palace gates. Even longer still until the guards could amount a force to go after them. But by then the two runaways had already waded to the northern bank of the red river.

1332, Ecbatana, Media near the Caspian Sea.

"I'll name him Juda."

Úlfr nodded. That was a fine name.

He and his wife had just celebrated the birth of their first child. A son with his father's blond features and his mother's blue eyes.

Úlfr and his princess had managed to evade King Suppililiuma I's guards as they searched for his missing concubine. Once out of Anatolia Nakia had set about dying her hair black and cutting it away to avoid detection. They had managed to set themselves up as merchants in the capital of the country of Media many miles from Babylonia.

"Do you regret it?" Úlfr asked his wife as they sat by the fire drinking a cup of ale. "Your son could have been a prince."

Nakia smiled and grasped her husband's other hand, the one he wasn't holding a drink in.

"I'm happier now than I ever could have been in there" she told him "Anatolia was a horrible place filled with cut throat politics and the man who was to bed me was older than my father. I hated it there and I would never go back. I wanted this. You. And Juda. You set me free."

Úlfr smiled lightly closed his eyes, despite being a coward and failure as a prince. He had received gifts and good fortune that were worth more than his father's kingdom had been. The blond man opened his eyes, looked at his wife and sleeping child and decided he could live with that.