Chapter 4
Ardeth stared at Rosalyn with a look of confusion on his face. "What are these", he said as he grabbed her wrists, "are they... Are you...? I cannot believe you did not tell me before".
"I'm sorry", Rosalyn told him.
"You're sorry? You didn't tell me, you knew I was looking for the princess, you knew she had the markings of the med-jai, you knew she was you!" he exclaimed.
" That's not true Ardeth, I have only known about this since yesterday, when you told us about this necklace and the story behind it. I swear I didn't know about it", she said sharply.
"How am I supposed to believe you, you must have known something about this, didn't you think it was strange that you had these marks" he almost shouted as gestured to her wrists, " I am finding this really hard to understand this, you were stupid not to tell me".
" How dare you speak to me like that", she exclaimed " you don't understand anything, you don't know me, I don't lie to anyone and I didn't lie to you. I didn't have show you but I did, so you don't need to shout at me". Ardeth looked at her with rage flashing in his eyes. He stood for a moment and then turned quickly and walked away. Rosalyn stared after him and then turned and ran quickly to her room.
Ardeth paced the deck of the steamer. He felt angry, confused and relieved at the same time. All he could think about was the fact that she Rosalyn had lied to him. 'I can't understand why she didn't tell me. She knew I needed her, but she still didn't tell me. Maybe she was scared. If she was I can't understand why. Maybe I shouldn't have shouted at her, that could have been the wrong way of reacting to her, but she lied. Well technically she didn't but she should still have told me.' He sat down and closed his eyes looking for a solution. 'Well at least I know where the princess is now, but I need to get some information from her and I need to tell her some things about the Med-Jai.'
In her room Rosalyn was sobbing quietly to herself. She was angry and sad at the same time and could not work out her feelings. She was so angry with Ardeth she thought she would explode in rage; he had insinuated that she was lying to him on purpose, that she had kept the truth from him just to be spiteful. She had thought he would understand, that he would have been pleased that she had told him, instead he had shouted at her. He had scared her and brought back memories that she would have preferred to forget. To make matters worse she now feared that he hated her and that would mean that working with him would be nearly impossible. That thought made her cry even harder.
Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door. Rosalyn ignored it but it was persistent. "Rosalyn", Ardeth called through the door. "Rosalyn, can I come in? We need to talk," He whispered his voice creeping under the door and in to her room.
"Why? We have nothing to talk about", she replied with a sigh.
" Yes we do, just let me in, please," Ardeth pleaded.
Without turning to the door she replied, "you can come in if you must, the door is open."
She heard the door open and close again and felt him looking at her. She turned around to look at him and saw that he was standing next to the door. "You can sit down if you like", she said pointing to a chair in front of her. He walked over and sat down. He was silent for a moment before he began "I apologise if I upset you", he said as looked carefully at her tear stained face, "I really didn't mean to, I was just shocked I didn't see it coming at all. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me," he said gently.
" I should have told you sooner but I was scared, when I fist realised, just after you spoke to Evelyn and I about the necklace I couldn't believe it was true. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but the more I thought about it the more sure I became", she paused and looked at him, "Then just before I told you about the tattoos, you know when I fainted I didn't just faint, I think I had a vision", she saw the surprise cross his face and continued to speak " I saw the queen with the amulet you spoke of in the fight with the Med-Jai princess, my ancestor, it was strange, she looked just like me except for her hair it was dark brown instead of this red colour, I didn't see anything that you haven't already told me but it convinced me that I am who you were looking for." She concluded.
Ardeth looked at her then exhaled the breath he did not realise he was holding, "wow, so the vision you had, it didn't tell you anything new?"
"No nothing" Rosalyn said.
Ardeth looked at her and saw that she was waiting for him to say something, "I was wondering if I could ask you some questions", he said finally.
"What you mean interrogate me?" she asked.
"No just some questions about your past, I only know what I have been told about your birth and your father, but only you know what happened after that", he said with a smile.
She looked at him and smiled "okay then ask away but I want to ask you some questions afterwards".
"Good, well firstly where did you and your mother go when you left Egypt.?"
She sighed "Don't start with easy questions then, well as far as I know we left Egypt when I was two months old so I obviously don't remember it. I don't really know what happened between then and when I was three. All I know is that when I was three my mother got married to an English man. He is extremely rich but is equally as nasty and he can't really be trusted. I have lived with him my whole life." She told him unemotionally.
Ardeth looked at her for a second as he thought about what she had said, " So, your mother got married, and you say this man isn't to be trusted, if that is so why would your mother still be with him?" he asked.
"I didn't say that, I didn't say that they were still together." She snapped at him.
"You said you lived with him your whole life, I don't understand." he said confused.
"She is dead Ardeth, she was murdered when I was 15, I don't know what happened, people came into the house looking for something, they kept shouting at her, "where is the Med-Jai" she wouldn't tell them and I was hiding and confused, I didn't know what they were looking for", she paused as realisation dawned on her, "Oh no, they were looking for me weren't they? My mother was murdered because of me" she whispered aloud, she started to cry, crying for her mother and crying because it was her fault.
Ardeth had been silent up until that moment, when she told him about her mother and saw her realise what happened, he could feel the sorrow that she felt and he could also feel her grief and anger. He was surprised at these feelings and found that it hurt him to see her cry.
He moved from the chair he was sitting on and knelt in front of where she was sitting. He looked at her and lifted her chin with his knuckles "look at me Rosalyn, It is not your fault that your mother was murdered. She loved you and was protecting you. She knew how important you are and wanted to protect you, it is not your fault," he whispered.
Rosalyn looked at him "it is my fault, if I had not been born she would not have died." She choked.
"That is true, but think of it like this, you got to spend 15 years getting to know a wonderful woman and she got to have 15 great years with you, she loved you a lot don't ever forget that." He told her.
She looked at him and a small smile moved across her lips "Thank you" she said as a few more tears slid down her cheeks. He leaned towards her and pulled her into his arms. She sat shocked at his closeness for his second and then sank into him. They stayed like that for a few minutes just sitting there and then Rosalyn moved away her shyness overcoming her. Ardeth looked at her and moved back onto his chair, feeling the awkwardness of the situation.
"What did you do after she died?" Ardeth asked her.
"I was too young to leave home so I had to stay with my step-father. It's funny, I can't remember much about him before she died, he was always at work but afterwards, and after she died he was around more often. That is when I found out how horrible he really is. He used to hit me if I did anything wrong, I mean anything; if the meal that I cooked didn't taste right to him he would hurt me, I was only 15 it scared me. He shouted all the time I can't stand it when people are angry with me it brings back memories." She stopped talking and looked at him waiting for a reaction.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know", he said as he thought back to their previous argument, "I wouldn't have shouted earlier if I had known" he said apologetically.
"It's okay, don't worry about it, at least I understand why you shouted at me, with him I never did." She told him.
"So, now I know everything about you, what do you want to know about the med-jai?" he asked her after a moment of paused silence.
"Well, I know quite a bit about the Med-jai, I learnt about you after my mother was murdered", she said thoughtfully "what I want to know is what happens now?" she asked him quizzically.
"That is a long story, are you sure you want to know?" Ardeth asked finally before she nodded in answer to his question.
"Yes I would like to know, I need to know."
okay everyone, i hope you liked it... i really need some more reviews though so please please be nice and review it.
