Sorry for the delay in uploading but I got a little busy. Here's the next chapter, enjoy and review please!


IX: General's Dinner

She would ignore that man. She would not simply let him have her.

So she had decided after the incident in the library, and so she constantly reminded herself for the rest of the day.

After he had left her in the library, Seshafi had stayed still for a few moments and thought over what had happened slowly. She decided that if she made it clear that she hated him, and continued to remind him that he had no need of her because of his others, he might leave her alone. She was after all, nothing near so pretty as Amisi or Emu.

Orsis, but why does he even keep me here? If he is with Amisi every night as she claims...and then why come to me at all? Then her mind went from confusion to anger. Why did he not come to me? Surely Amisi and Emu and the others have all told him of my thieving; why did he not come to try and stop me? Was he truly so repulsed by me before?

She shook her head angrily and stood up from her seat. She had been perched on top of the roof watching the sun as it set in the far distant sky. Ra was beautiful this night as he tinged the sky with reds and yellows.

Slowly while holding her arms across her chest in front of her, Seshafi made her way down off of the roof and into the palace. She was on her way to her room where someone should be bringing her something to eat soon.

"There you are woman, always getting off into strange places you are. How is a body supposed to find someone like you I'd like to know?"

Seshafi turned to see a rather irate Matala and she smiled. "You were looking for me?" she asked wondering what the head servant wanted.

"I was, but not for myself. Come, you're to dine in the east wing tonight." Matala said waving her hand and moving off down the halls.

Seshafi froze. The east wing consisted of His quarters. If she were to be going there....

Matala looked back and saw Seshafi's tight and nervous face, and she scowled.

"Come along child if you make him wait he'll only cause more trouble for you." Matala took Seshafi's cold hand, and despite her annoyed tone she pulled her along softly.

As they walked, Matala muttered under her breath about scaring people and not know when to behave; Seshafi ignored the other woman's mumblings and instead tried to calm down her jumping heart. She had to go see Him. She had to eat with Him. She was going to be in His rooms and if He tried to...if He tried.... No one would stop Him. No one could. This was a man's world, and she was supposed to do as she was told.

I won't. I won't. She told herself firmly.

Matala opened a door after knocking twice. Seshafi licked her dry lips nervously and didn't move. Tired of waiting, Matala pushed her inside and shut the door closing the former thief inside the room alone.

But not alone.

She saw Him. He was leaning against a high backed couch, and He watched her carefully over the rim of his wine glass. The food had already been served and was set out ready to be eaten.

If the food is already here...the servants won't be coming. They won't need to. We'll be alone. She licked her dry lips again quickly and looked down at the ground blushing. She clenched her hands tight against her stomach and let her fringe fall down into her eyes.

Ramses watched her for a moment.

She's so tense. How cute. He thought as he stood carefully. He moved forward slowly until he stood in front of her. She still didn't look up at him, and he began to feel annoyed. She was here for him, she should be more ready to give him what he wanted.

"Come Seshafi, you must be hungry." he took her elbow in his hand and pulled her toward the center of the room. He had her sit down on a couch, and he poured her a glass of wine. She didn't reach out to take it from him, so frowning, he set it on the table and went back to sitting on the couch opposite from her.

Neither of them said a word, and the only movement in the room was his slow steady drinking from his wine glass.

He watched her closely as she bit her lip and clenched her hands. He was so very curious about her, and for now that over-ruled his other intentions.

"You should eat. You would not want to become as you were before." he said taunting her slightly.

She flinched and scowled, but she would not look up at him.

"Calm yourself thief. I have no intention of harming you for now. Nor do I plan anything else for the moment. Eat." he ordered suppressing a sigh of impatience.

She glanced at Him carefully, and then blushing, reached out to take her own wine. She sipped on it slowly and waited for him to make the next move.

Becoming more and more annoyed at her withdrawn attitude, Ramses took some food for himself and watched as she got her own. He noticed that she didn't take much, and she ate it slowly although that might have been because she was so nervous.

"Tell me Seshafi, how old are you?" he asked after letting her eat for a moment.

"I believe myself to be twenty-two." she mumbled still not looking at him fully.

He nodded and continued to look over her carefully. "A fully matured woman." he remarked. She nodded and took some more wine.

He was so curious about her. She was too strange. A woman thief who dared to steal from pharaoh and his nobles? Never before had he heard of such a thing. He wanted to know why she had dared to defy pharaoh and the gods that way.

"And what of your family?"

"What family? My parents have long since moved on to their final rest. I have had no one for years." she answered bluntly. He had expected as much, but he had not expected her to be so blunt and unmoved by it. She hardly seemed to care at all that she was an orphan and had been for years.

"Their death was what turned you to thieving then?"

"That and the hunger. As I said back at the palace, if I had not stolen what I needed I would have starved." she snapped sharply at him. As far as she was concerned, this man was a noble. The sons of nobles were never hungry and desolate. They had whatever they wanted from their birth til their death.

"So you said, but since you were quite obviously starving anyway, you were not using the stolen money to feed yourself." Ramses pointed out raising an eyebrow at the woman.

She flushed angrily and turned away from him. Grinning because he knew that he had caught her, Ramses chuckled. "Your clothes were also quite ragged, so you were not buying anything to wear either."

"I don't need fancy dresses and feasts everyday! I am nothing like those women or yours!" Seshafi hissed loudly bolting to her feet and dropping her wine.

Ramses stood quickly too, and reached out to grab the woman before she could run from him. He pulled her around the table and sat her down next to him on the couch.

"Whether you need it or not, this fancy dress you are wearing suits you quite well." he informed her softly while holding her wrist in his hand. He put his own cup on the table, and took her other hand in his as well. "And I know very well that you are nothing like the others." he remarked looking her straight in the eye.

She glared at him, and he was becoming to become perversely fond of the hatred in her eyes when she looked at him.

Slowly, making sure that she wouldn't run, Ramses let go of her wrists. He stood and grabbed her wine cup from the floor. It had been empty, so there was no mess.

Hmph. She drank it all? And she doesn't seem drunk in the least. He smirked softly and refilled the glass. He gave it back to her and settled back onto the couch barely a foot from her. She accepted the cup and sipped the liquid silently.

"Why thieving? Would you have not rather had a different job?" he asked her pressing for more information about who she was.

She scoffed at him loudly. "What job is there to be had? Egypt dies, and its industry with it."

He didn't answer for a moment. He knew well that what she said was mostly truth. Too many pharaohs and too much trouble had weakened the empire for the last few generations. But things were getting better; he would make sure that they did.

"There is always work for someone who is so attractive." he said looking over her form again. She understood what he meant and flushed instantly, her face becoming almost completely red underneath her tanned complexion.

"I am not a whore to be played with and paid for!" she nearly screamed at him.

He laughed at her softly secretly pleased at making her so angry. "Of course not. You are a woman who scorns men and prefers to live all on her own with nothing save her wits to keep her warm and safe."

"It's better than letting any man try to protect or help me! I've never met one who would do anything without trying to get the most out of it for himself." she snarled turning away from him.

"Have many tried to get what they could from you?" he teased lightly. He drank some of his wine smirking knowing what she would reply. He remembered the dirt covered street-rat from before. More than likely she had never had to fight off a man's pursuit before.

"Yes, and they were all bastards." she snapped crossing her arms, and looking away from him as if she thought that he were a bastard too.

Ramses stopped sipping his wine and looked at her carefully. His smirk faded and his eyes narrowed as he considered what she had said.

She wasn't lying; he could see that. So she had been sought by others before? By many it would seem. He had not expected her to have any experience. The way she shunned him and so obviously fought to retain her own independence...he had not even considered the fact that someone else may have claimed her first.

He placed his cup on the table silently without her noticing. Then quickly he grabbed both her her wrists and pushed her back onto the couch and leaned over her.

Startled at being attacked so suddenly, Seshafi stared up at him. He was leaning over her, and he wasn't grinning anymore. She felt nervous by his sudden change from mocking to serious like this.

"How many then?" he asked abruptly in an icy voice.

"What?" she didn't understand what he was talking about. Nor what he was doing.

"How many have sought you then? You were vague with the amount or men who threw themselves at you." he said in a cold mocking tone.

She blushed furious and nervous and also embarrassed. "It doesn't matter how many! They were merely idiots trying to see what fun they could find for themselves! I didn't bother to keep track of the fools!" she hissed at him.

He didn't seem to react to her words as he stared at her for a moment. But then, shocking her again, he swiftly bent his head forward and nibbled softly at her ear.

She gasped loudly at the unexpected and unfamiliar contact. As he slowly traced his tongue along her lobe, she gritted her teeth in annoyance. She also felt surprised at how much feeling she had in her ear since she hadn't realized it before. But while he was nibbling at her now, as if she were a sort of sweet, she noticed fully how much sensation she had in that small area.

He could feel her body tremor as he licked the pulse point behind her ear lobe. He felt himself grin in satisfaction as her body felt the reaction for the first time.

Good. He found himself thinking possessively. It was such a basic move, and she had reacted so startled by it; in fact, she was frozen at this moment unable to think of what was happening. He was strangely happy to reaffirm his assumption that she inexperienced and untouched.

Not for long. He growled to himself as he moved his hands from her wrists to her back. He quickly ignored the fact that he had meant to ask more questions of her. Instead, he put his arms around her and pulled her body tightly against his own.