(Alea's POV)
I woke up the next morning and went out onto the balcony. I looked out at the people rebuilding the burned half of the city. The damage was extensive. To think, Bakura, of all people, would do this.
I looked down at two boys playing with a ball just outside the palace walls. One boy threw the ball too high and it landed on the inside of the balcony. I picked it up and tossed it back to them. "Thank you," they called up. I just smiled.
I then decided to go out to the garden. I walked through all the flowers and finally sat down under a cherry blossom tree. I was about to relax until I heard a hissing sound right next to me. A little white snake was making its way towards me. I was starting to back away, but I noticed that it was not a poisonous snake.
It came up to my hand and slithered across it. "Hey there," I said. It looked up at me with little button eyes and tilted its head in curiosity. It crawled onto my lap and curled itself up into a little coil. I stroked its skin. It was very smooth. "What should I call you?" I wondered. "I know, I'll call you Ini-herit. It means 'brings back the distant one'." He flicked his tongue onto my hand. "I guess you like that name," I said.
"Alea?" someone said. It was Atem. "Oh, who's this?" he asked, indicating Ini-herit. "Isn't he cute? I just found him wondering around," I said. Atem reached down to pet him, but Ini-herit backed away and hissed at him. Atem withdrew his hand. "Yet it seems like he only likes you," he said. "Anyway, Prince Niu of the Western Nile Kingdom has arrived just now and it would be rude of you not to greet him."
"Him?" I whined. "Why is he here?"
"He just is," Atem said. "You must show him respect. Him and his sister, Odjit."
"Agh! Not her!" I exclaimed. "She is evil! I can't even believe you're betrothed to her."
"Neither can I," Atem said quietly. "But that's just how things are. Now hurry, we mustn't keep them waiting." I got up and Ini-herit wrapped himself around my neck like a loose necklace. Marni walked up to me. "Can you believe it?" she said. "Those people are here."
"I know," I said. "It's un—Alea, why is your necklace moving?" she asked. Ini-herit moved his head out from under my head. Marni got a scared look on her face. She had a fear of snakes. "Um…I don't want to know," she said. I couldn't keep myself from giggling.
We entered the throne room, where, standing in the middle, the 35 year old Prince Niu and his 20 year old sister Princess Odjit waited. "Princess Alea," Niu said. "After hearing so much about you, I finally get to meet you face to face." He walked up to me and kissed my hand. Oh, god. I need to wash my hand after this. "Like they told me, you are the most beautiful person in Egypt," he said, squeezing my cheeks with his hand.
Ini-herit sprung from my neck and bit Niu's wrist. "Ouch!" he said, recoiling in pain. "What the hell is that?"
"Ini-herit," I replied. "He's very protective of me."
"Well, I'd advise you to keep him away from me," Niu said. "You're lucky he isn't poisonous," I said. "Can someone get fan? I'm dying of heat," Odjit complained to a servant. "And get me some fruit while you're at it, I'm starving. And make it quick. I didn't come all the way here to not be waited on."
"Y-Yes, Princess Odjit," the young servant girl said. She came up to me as she was leaving. "Shall I get you anything, Princess Alea?" she asked quietly. "No, thank you," I replied kindly. "You have enough to do already."
"Yes, princess," she said, leaving. "Well, this place isn't as fancy as I expected," Odjit said. "And you practically let the servants run around everywhere."
"Well, unlike your snotty little kingdom, we treat our servants with dignity," I said. "Excuse me? Snotty little kingdom?" Odjit said. "You disrespectful little bi—"
"Odjit! You're being rude to our hosts," Niu said. "And Princess Alea is going to be your sister-in-law soon, so you might as well show her proper respect."
"Whatever," Odjit said. "Well, I'll let Shimon show you to your rooms," Atem said. Just then, the servant girl came in with a fan and a bowl of fruit for Odjit. "You need to be quicker," Odjit said. She took a bite of a mango and spat it out. "Are you trying to kill me!" she shouted at the servant girl. "This fruit is overripe! I could get a disease!"
"But…but…it's the freshest fruit we have," the servant girl said. "I swear it's not overripe."
"You little liar!" Odjit yelled, slapping her. I was shocked. That poor girl. She started shedding several tears. Suki quickly rushed over to her and put her hand to the bruise on her cheek. "It's not too bad," she said in a comforting tone. "What's with your clothing?" Odjit said. "Are you a reject or something?"
"For your information, I'm a high priestess and this happens to be my uniform," Suki said. "If you had any sense, you'd know that I'm from Japan."
"How dare you! I'll have you know that I have more sense in one finger than you do in your little freak body," Odjit said. Niu walked over and separated the two. "Odjit, that's quite enough," he said. "I won't have you making a scene." I decided that I had had enough and left.
As I walked down the outside corridor, I heard voices from around the corner. I quietly approached and hid behind the wall. "Mahad, please," a female voice said. It was Ema. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You did nothing wrong."
"Nothing wrong? Because of me, the Pharaoh was almost assassinated. Of course, it's my fault."
"Listen to me Mahad. The only one who thinks it's your fault is Seto. I don't, Alea doesn't, Mirna doesn't, and my brother especially doesn't. I know it's your duty to protect him, but everyone makes mistakes. You need to not let these things get to you."
"…Okay, I won't. For your sake."
"Mahad…" her voice became muffled. I could tell they were kissing.
I sighed. I started to imagine that Bakura was like Mahad and that we could have moments like that. Ini-herit seemed to sense my thoughts and moved his head up my face in a comforting way. "Don't do anything rash," Ema pleaded. "I don't want to lose you before we get married."
"I won't," Mahad said. Ema turned the corner and was surprised to see me. "Alea? Were you listening to us?" she asked. "Yes," I admitted. "I think it was nice of you to comfort him like that."
"Oh…well, thank you," she said. "Well, hello there," a voice said. Ema and I peeped around the corner and saw Odjit coming up to Mahad. "Hello…Princess Odjit," Mahad said, not excited to see her. "Please, just Odjit," she said, her tone flirty. "So, what's a tall, handsome man like you doing all by himself?"
"I was just about to rejoin the other priests," Mahad answered. Odjit backed him up against the wall. "You know, I've been very lonely for a while and I could sure use your company," she said. "What the hell is that bitch doing with my man," Ema whispered. "That whore," I chimed.
Odjit leaned forward to kiss him, but Mahad pushed her away. "You're betrothed to the Pharaoh," he said. "I wonder what he would think if he knew what you were doing. He might call the whole wedding off." Odjit had a terrified look on her face. "Don't tell anyone what just happened," she said, leaving.
"That's my Mahad," Ema said proudly. "You are one lucky girl," I said. "Well, let's get back to the throne room, we're having a party for the arrival of Niu and Odjit and I bet we can get some good gossip on Odjit."
"Yeah, I'd like to hear and talk about all the bad stuff she does," Ema said. We made our way to the throne room.
The party went into the night and you would not believe all the things we heard that Niu and Odjit did. They had sex with whoever they wanted and Niu was even suspected of raping several young girls about my age. I would make sure to put a protection spell over my door tonight. During the party, Odjit yelled at several servants over minor things, like the fruit being unripe or overripe and the water or wine being too hot or too cold. Bitch.
I decided to go to bed. I cast a protection spell on my door and got into bed, putting Ini-herit on my bedside table with my rose.
