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Chapter 10 Trouble In Paradise

'Damned Ramses.' Kiran thought. 'Making us leave all of a sudden and not even telling me the reason, and to think, I actually thought he wasn't that much of a jerk for a second. That was pretty stupid of me. I even blushed goddamnit!' Kiran seethed as she practiced her swordsmanship on the deck of the boat against Seti.

"Why exactly are we returning so suddenly?" Kiran questioned, teeth clenched, sweat rolling down her face, before swinging her sword.

"I told you," Seti started as he blocked Kiran's swing. "it's a private matter."

"Right Kiran said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, which turned out to be a bad idea because it gave Seti the opportunity to knock her sword out of her hands and point his to her throat.

'Still not telling, huh?'


Kiran walked in on Seti telling Ramses about something, but the second they saw her, they both shut up and Kiran saw Seti hide a clay tablet from view. Kiran narrowed her eyes at the suspicious behavior.

'What are they hiding?'

"Hi." Kiran said, keeping her face carefully blank. Ramses and Seti did the same, it was beginning to look a lot like a game of poker with how carefully concealed they were keeping their emotions.

"Did you need something?" Ramses asked in a cold tone. Kiran was actually tempted to tease him to see if she could get a reaction, but she knew that the only reaction she would get from that would be a scoul, and that was no special feat with Ramses. Kiran put on a goofy grin.

"Well, I was coming in here to ask Seti for a spar, but now-" Kiran's face turned serious. "I want to know what you were talking about." Kiran said it as a demand instead of a question. Ramses scowled at her.

'Look at that, I hit the nail on the head.'

"It's a private matter." Seti, very vaguely, answered Kiran's demand. Then Ramses walked right past her and said,

"We're leaving for Egypt today, get ready to go." Kiran's jaw dropped and she froze as Seti walked out after Ramses.


"I've got to go." Seti put down his sword from Kiran's throat and turned around.

"Something to do with the private matter?" Kiran inquired, eyebrow raised and lips pursed with irritation and questioning. She was glad that Seti couldn't see her because she probably looked ridiculous.

"I told you that I can't tell you." Kiran chuckled and Seti turned around to face her. When Kiran got her composure back she straightened up and shot a smirk at Seti.

"You didn't actually, this is the first time you said you 'couldn't tell me'." Seti stiffened. "You should really watch what you let slip, Seti. Private matter that you can't tell me about, let's see, that would probably translate to, 'issue in Egypt that requires Ramses' help', right?" Seti turned away from her and walked away with a weak excuse left for Kiran's questioning.

"I don't know what you're talking about."


"General Ramses?" Ramses looked up to see Seti standing in front of him, an uncharacteristic frown on his usually collected face.

"What is it, Seti?" Ramses asked, a bit cautiously.

"Well," Seti rubbed the back of his head a bit on a nervous manner, something Ramses was sure he'd picked up from spending so much time with Kiran, the two were practically best friends at this point. "Kiran is a lot more perceptive than we give her credit for. Maybe we should just tell her about the issue instead of letting her figure it out on her own?" Seti offered a bit cautiously.

"It doesn't concern her, besides, she'll have enough to deal with." Ramses said, trying to sound disconcerned, but Seti knew him well, though he decided not to press the issue of Ramses worry.

"Are you talking about those rumors spreading? The ones that say that Kiran is the incarnation of Bastet?" When Seti thought about it, her hair was about the color of a lioness' coat, and when she got serious her eyes did have a predator like quality to them. "She did know a whole lot about Bastet, maybe it's true?" Seti supplied and Ramses raised an eyebrow at him.

"That annoying woman? A goddess? I'd doubt it." Even though Ramses said that, he noticed many of the same features as Seti did. There was also the fact that she seemed to have a knack for solving issues, albeit not it the neatest way possible. Then there was the way that she ran away all the time like a wild animal not willing to be caged. Also, the way that she was determined to be at least as strong as the people around her, not willing to leave herself vulnerable. "...I can somewhat see why people would make the assumption, though." Ramses mumbled, too quietly for Seti to hear him.

"So, are we going to tell her?" Seti asked again. Ramses smirked.

"I don't see the problem with making her work for the information."


It had been three days since they had abruptly left from Hittite and they would be back in Egypt by morning...THREE DAYS! Three days and Kiran had found out next to nothing about the mysterious matter that drove Ramses to cut their visit short. What could possibly have made him leave so soon, anyway?

'Didn't Ramses use to love Yuri or something, that's what the maids said anyway, shouldn't he have wanted to stay longer?' Kiran paced back and forth in the room she was staying in. 'How am I supposed to find anything out? Maybe-'

'Listen to me for once and don't even finish that thought.'

'But it might-'

'Not worth it!'

'If I could just-'

'No, woman! Do you have a death wish?!'

'Sneak into Ramses room and see the clay tablets.' Kiran ignored her conscience and started thinking of how she would pull it off. His room was always guarded when he was away from it and the idea of fighting the guards and risking a huge commotion did not appeal to Kiran. Ramses didn't have guards there when he was asleep though...Kiran had made up her mind that she would sneak in when Ramses was asleep.

'That plan sounds kind of stalkerish.' Kiran thought amusedly. Then she waited till she knew Ramses would be asleep, this was going to be a bit risky.


Kiran walked, silently as humanly possible thanks to, um, circumstances, into Ramses room. She silently pleaded the door not to make any noise, letting out the breath she was anxiously holding when the door shut quietly. Now, where would those tablets be?

Kiran decided to check the visible places first, even though she doubted that Ramses would be so obvious. She checked the table, nope. Then the bedstand, being careful to make sure Ramses didn't wake up, wasn't there either. Then she checked the less obvious places; trunk, vases, under some throw pillows, and under the rug.

'Where are those damned clay tablets anyway?!' Kiran was a bit irritated at this point, where could Ramses have possibly hidden them? She looked around the room until she caught sight of something under Ramses' pillow.

'Please don't be what I think it is, please don't be what I-' Kiran got close enough to see the object clearly. 'Fuck.' Kiran mentally cursed, did she just have the worst luck ever, or was this divine punishment for something?

'Divine punishment for not heading your conscience.' Kiran ignored her conscience and took a step forward until she could reach under the pillow. Kiran's hands were shaking a bit, not in fear, but in nervousness. Her hand touched the cold stone of the clay tablet and just as she was about to wrap her hand around it to pull it out and hightail it outta there…

A hand caught her wrist, she would have been cursing, either mentally or out loud, but her mind was completely blank. She tilted her head up slightly and her eyes shifted from the tablet to Ramses' gold and brown eyes. She had no idea how to describe his expression right then, it wasn't irritated or cocky like it usually was. Kiran finally snapped out of her daze long enough to speak.

"Rams-" All of a sudden, Ramses gave her wrist a tug and before she really knew what happened she was pinned under him onto the bead. Ramses was straddling her, pinning her left wrist to the bed. When Kiran registered what happened she put her right arm up to try to push him off, squirming beneath him to try and get a chance to kick him or something. "Ramses, get off me!"

"You do realize that struggling like that only makes this kind of situation more enjoyable for a guy." Kiran glared up at Ramses, but his heterochromatic gaze stayed steady, still showing hints of that undefinable emotion, but also amusement, he was teasing her...and it pissed her off. Kiran glared at him.

Ramses bent his head down a bit to that Kiran could feel his breath on her neck. Ramses eyes shifted to her face to gauge her reaction as her cheeks turned a deep crimson and she sucked in a surprised breath and went rigid, her anger forgotten for a second. Kiran was suddenly very aware of her situation, it didn't exactly speak well of her sense of self preservation that she took so long to realize her situation, but Ramses couldn't possibly think of her that way, right? Kiran was now painfully aware of Ramses' bare chest and that her breath had sped up a fraction since Ramses pinned her down.

"R-Ramses." Kiran said, it came out as a weak and breathy plea and she mentally cursed herself for sounding so pathetic. She was angry damned it, he was teasing her and she was pissed at him for it.


Ramses wasn't sure what to think when he woke up and grabbed someone's wrist to see Kiran standing there, shocked. He knew that she was curious and stubborn, but he didn't know she'd go that far. How naive was she to just enter a man's room, she was a beautiful woman, annoying as she may be, any man would take advantage of the situation, Ramses was actually a bit tempted to do just that. He decided to tease her a bit for snooping around for information.

"Rams-" Just as Kiran began to spoke he tugged her wrist so that she fell down onto the bed and pinned her down underneath him. She seemed a bit too shocked to speak for a moment before she started squirming and trying to push him off. Kiran seemed to be inexperienced with these types of situations.

"Ramses, get off me!" Kiran yelled, probably alerting some people to her presence in his room, but no one would come in anyway.

"You do realize that struggling like that only makes this kind of situation more enjoyable for a guy." Ramses said, he wasn't sure if he was teasing her or warning her to make her more aware of these things, but it was probably a bit of both. Kiran glared at him.

Ramses leaned his head down a bit so she could feel his breath on her neck, he was curious about what kind of reaction he would get out of her. Kiran's cheeks flushed red and she inhaled, going completely still. It wasn't exactly the reaction he was used to, but she wasn't the kind of woman he was used to either. It seemed that was enough to alert Kiran of her situation, if her change in demeanor was any indicator.

"R-Ramses." Kiran's voice came out a bit breathy and pleading and Ramses was a bit pleased that she wasn't completely lost to the situation. That was when the door to the room opened.

"Ramses?" Seti said as he stepped through the doorway and then froze in complete shock, his reaction wasn't actually all that surprising, given the situation. Kiran used that chance to gather all her strength and push Ramses off of her and then scurry out the door like some kind of animal that had just broken out of it's cage. Ramses sat up on his bed and buried his hands in his blonde hair. That was when he realized that he may have taken his teasing a bit too far.

"I shouldn't have done that."


Kiran stopped once she got to the deck, letting the cool, night breeze clear her head so that she didn't hyperventilate or something. Just then a thought occurred to her,

"Oh my god, even if I did manage to get the tablet, I wouldn't have been able to read it." Kiran mumbled, cursing her stupidity. She buried her face in her palm as she let out a ragged breath.

'What the hell just happened anyway?'


So...that happened. And Kiran's conscience made another appearance, and Seti got witness that...scene.

Frashix: I totally agree, and thank you so much for reviewing, it gave me the inspiration to write another chapter!

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