Chapter 1

"He was tired of bowing down to her and of the power that she had as the oldest female sibling that would never be his. He felt that it was greatly unfair and wondered why she would forever reap the glory while he could only be the minion of his sisters and especially AuSet. How he hated her and wanted to control her for once. He wanted to be the one with the power.

He reached out for AuSet and grabbed her close to his body that was drenched in sweat with the mere notion that he thought of her in his control and power for once. AuSet was startled and wondered at his game, she could not believe the venom that sprung from his thoughts and now actions. In his grasp, she felt so small and was trying to break free. Yet, his grasp became tighter in response to her struggles and confusion. It became still tighter, almost smothering the life out of her.

Still, she was frozen in panic wondering if this were some sort of nightmare for the reality of the situation continued to delude her."

*AuSet's POV*

Then, I remembered that this was what happened to my mother at the hands of the patriarchal invaders. The fear I was once frozen with became replaced with rage, allowing me to look past the fact that Suti is my own half-brother so I could reach down and punch his pathetic balls with no shame! As he let go of me I screamed "You're lucky that we are not in Eshnunna*, for you would have been executed because of this! It's the fault of people like YOU that we had to leave our mother and our home forever!" and ran away, wishing to never have to speak to him again. I eventually found AuSar, my husband and other half-brother, and then fell into his arms crying. When he asked what was wrong, I only replied: "I miss my mother". I didn't know whether or not to continue seeing Suti as a brother, but I didn't want to tell anyone about what happened because I could never hate him enough to see him locked in jail for life or executed.

*Six weeks later*

AuSar was still sleeping when I came to our bedroom. I was sick this morning, because I have been pregnant for just over a month already, and now I finally wanted to tell him. Suti hasn't spoken to me since what happened between us, and honestly I don't care. How does NebHet, my sister, deal with him? Out of our window, you could see the city, beyond this was the river and farms, and further away were the swamps and the ocean. I climbed onto the bed and sat on his legs. There was no response from him, so I yelled "AuSar!" and poked his face.

"AuSet….what are you doing?" he asked while still half asleep.

I smiled and answered with "You're a father now!"

"I'm a what?"

"I'm pregnant and you're going to be a father" I said, then kissed him. "I have two midwives coming tomorrow, they work together, so I wanted to properly tell you instead of leaving you to figure it out."

"That's great! I hope it's a boy!" he smiled.

"I hope it's a girl!" I replied. We both laughed, then kissed some more.

*Their birthplace (for those who haven't read the original book)