Thebes 1300 BC

"What are you doing?" Her stern tone bounced off the marbled walls and echoed loudly in the room. She stood as straight as she could and squared her shoulders to look as intimidating as possible to her supposed threat.

"I heard you were staying late in her temple." The male voice boomed back at her. He turned on his heel and brown eyes met hazel.

"I have much work to complete before the moon wanes." She explained, still looking the tall man over, not once wavering.

"I have come to…discuss…a few things." The man side stepped the main topic.

"Whatever it is Rameses it can wait until morning. I have a few purity rituals to perform in the wake of tomorrows blessings and your presence is tainting the area."

"Nefertiri…please." His voice seemed to break here, and her eyes immediately zoned in on her brother.

"What? Out with it…and hurry."

"You know you are the only one allowed to birth me an heir to the throne, I cannot allow any child from my concubines be known until after our son is born. Nor can I properly take a bride until I am given your hand."

"Please Rameses, father is still a long way from bowing the throne over to you. Any concubine of yours will just have to be patient. I am not yet ready to give my offerings to Bastet in exchange for your healthy heir." She spat back.

"You have been in this temple day after day and night after night, Nefertiri. Surely all your hard work is enough to ask for blessings from the Goddess."

"What I do to honor the Goddess is my business." She ushered him towards the hall leading to the altar room they both stood in.

"The kingdom is starting to talk. A priestess to Bastet and not a single child born from your womb. They will begin to lose faith."

"THEY WILL NOT LOOSE FAITH!" She screamed back, pushing the man twice her size further down the hall. "She gives them healthy homes, beautiful babies and strong men to provide. She protects us! Don't you dare speak ill of my queen in her home!"

Rameses looked his sister over in terror. She had never snapped at him like this, never struck, nor shoved him in anyway other than when they were children. He looked down at her feet as a hiss broke through their silence. At his sister's feet rested an all-black cat, crying out at him and growling while lashing its paw into the air in his direction.

"My apologies, please forgive me." He spoke as he bowed to the cat and rushed off from the temple.

"How dare he." She said angrily and returned to her altar. The cat hot on her heels as she fell to her knees before the lit flame, she watched as her guardian took residence on one of the statues of Bast in the room and looked down on her protectively. Nefertiri smiled up at the feline before rifling through a bag of hers and producing plants and herbs to toss into the fire. She immediately took to praying, her prayers would last throughout the night and into the morning, her body was receptive to all Bastet had to give.

It was Goddess Nut beginning to give birth to Ra that pulled Nefertiri from the temple hours later. The dark sky was slowly turning with oranges and reds. Her vision fought to clear as she stumbled down the steps onto the city road. Her body was beyond weak from the days of fasting that had been necessary for her purification and as she stumbled on towards the Nile, she could feel her legs failing her, causing the princess to fall to her knees. The exhaustion overtook her, and her vision went dark. It was the warm, strong grip that woke her, in addition to the fresh cool waters of the Nile touching her lips. As her eyes fought to open, she immediately realized she had not been out long, as the sky still contained dark shades of the night in it.

"Good Morning, my princess." His voice was soft and vibrated through her body and into her core. Despite her previous purification, she immediately felt dirty.

She imagined the look in her eyes reflected in his own as he cupped the water and brought it to her lips. She drank hungrily. The cold liquid coated her dry and parched throat the same way she wished he would do to the rest of her. She struggled to find strength in her body and attempted sit on her knees before quickly looking around to see they were the only ones who dared to be awake at this hour near this part of the Nile. She smiled as her hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pulled him into her, her tongue darting into his mouth and claiming him as her own. She hummed as he gave in and met her ferocity with that of his own.

She felt her hand land on his thigh and slowly travel upwards, enticing him with all of the wonders she could grant him. His breathing hitched into their kiss and she smiled coyly as she found the evidence she longed for; she did affect him the same way he did her.

"My Princess, please." He begged, pulling his lips from hers, but refusing to leave her skin. His kisses and nips along her neck pulled a small gasp from deep within her. "I am sorry." He choked out pulling away from her and releasing her begrudgingly.

"No! No, Rai. I am at fault. I am coaxing you from your vows." She said quickly, pulling his head up so their eyes met. Her hands on each side of his face, cupping his cheeks.

"Loving you is the biggest sin, yet I would gladly face an eternity alongside Osiris in the bowels of the Underworld for you."

"One day, we will be together my love. Free to be as we are, hopelessly in love."

"I wish to claim you as mine." He spoke, his voice direct and so sure of itself. A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, he wiped it away and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He began to move her back, ready to take her there amongst the bank of the Nile.

"Rai, wait!" She couldn't believe it, not today. Of all days for him to want her, after years of trying to persuade him to break his oath and that she was only his, he would have to pick today. "I have been purified for today's blessings to the people. I cannot tarnish my rites and make offerings to Bastet with dishonor. Not when the lives of my father's people depend on it."

It killed her to tell him no, broke her heart to push him off her. She knew she may never get another chance, that his lapse in judgment was a spur of the moment thing. That he would take this as a sign from the God's to never try again. She hated the timing and wished to curse the God's for this joke. He would no doubt think this over and she may never get another chance again. She would have let him have her, allowed him to defile her right there, her own oath's and purification be damned, but not with the blessings later that day. She would not risk her relationship with the Goddess and ask the people to suffer, it wasn't right to them.

"I want you Rai, truly I do. But I cannot today. I am so sorry."

"Someday soon, I will take you as mine." He promised, and her heart sung. Clearly, he had thought this over since that last time they had spoken, and she had coaxed him into her room unsupervised. They had only kissed that night, but she had asked for more, as she always did. Now, she was finally getting what she wanted.

"I am yours, only yours." She cried tears of joy as she kissed him.

Soon she would stand before Bastet as the virgin priestess and ask for blessings for the people of her land. She would ask to bless the new mothers, the mothers to be and those who begged to be mothers, and for the final time lead a prayer and submit an offering for a healthy land. Tonight, she would make Bastet her final offering, her purity, and in so doing allowing the Goddess to do with her new vessel as she pleased.

Egypt 1937 AD, Unknown number of miles from Memphis

Alex looked the limestone door over. Most of the carvings had been damaged by his mother it was hard to tell what any of them said. Her blood covered the top half in a mess of fingerprints and a smeared palm. If he hadn't seen this warning being made himself, he would have seriously feared trying to enter whatever secret the door kept locked away.

Behind him he could hear the diggers muttering amongst themselves in Arabic. The ones who were new to digging questioned why someone would destroy such history, while the diggers who knew of the O'Connell's explained his mother was never like that. This had led into chatter about a curse and needing to leave the sacred ground alone.

"NO! We move forward!" Alex called in Arabic, silencing the men behind him. "We need to open this door." He said, his hand hovering over where his mother's blood has been spilt.

He backed up slightly and watched as several men moved forward to start their work. Alex turned and picked up a few tools to aid them. In the distance his mother sat in the tent, his father sitting next to her closely and talking. His Uncle could be seen walking towards the now working crowd with a few tools of his own. Alex smiled, he was starting to feel like himself again, and despite everything that had taken place, Jonathan looked better than he had in a long while.

"Evy, honey. You want to tell me what's going on?" Rick asked taking a seat next to his wife while watching his son in the distance look over the object of his wife's 'rage'. He heard Alex yell something to the diggers and motioned for Jonathan to join the boy and give them some space. The English man was all too happy to leave his sister alone with her husband, he didn't even know where to begin on handling her situation.

"It's nothing, darling." She muttered, taking a swig from the canteen he offered her.

"Baby, you just demolished 3,000 years of history and smeared your blood all over it." He explained, lightly nudging her left leg with his right.

"I…I don't know, Rick."

"Sweetheart, I just need to know you're alright. I'm worried."

Her head lifted and their gazes met, her heart broke for him as her throat tightened up and tears formed behind her eye threatening to spill. She was hurting him, and this wasn't fair. He needed to know, she promised herself the moment it started to affect 'them', as a family, she would tell him everything. She inhaled deeply before placing her hand on his face and gently cupped his cheek. She had his undivided attention, now was the time to tell him her secret.

"I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't stop it. I didn't want to." Her hand fell from his cheek and into her lap.

"Why not? Honey, what are you talking about?" His hand reached up to push a stray lock of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear.

"Nefertiri convinced me it was all for the best." She paused as he sucked in a sharp breath of air. "That, what lies behind that door needs to remain there. There is more to her story than she's telling me."

"How do you know you can trust her? I mean, assuming Nefertiri is trying to come forth for whatever reason, and if she even can…why?"

"She can." Evy whispered, almost ashamed. "She came back with me."

"What? When? How?" Rick asked lifting her head to look her in the eyes. "Evy, what are you talking about?" A tear rolled down her eye, he wiped it away, confused over everything his wife was telling him. Surely, she wasn't insinuating what he thought, no it's impossible. He just wasn't hearing her correctly.

"When I…in Ahm Shere…" Rick could feel his blood turn to ice as she mentioned the name of that hellish place. Felt his heart stop and he understood what she was referring too. "And Alex…." He nodded, begging her to continue, that she didn't need to say it, he understood. "She came back with me. I could always feel here there, right under my skin, and in the back of my head. For a while I thought it was just…everything that had happened. But after being home in London for a few month's I could still feel her. She showed me things, she showed me her world. It's why I was so convinced we were lover's in a past life. She showed me we were."

She jumbled everything out at once, afraid she'd lose her nerve and fail to tell him. It was silent between them both. Rick was processing, she understood, it was a whole lot to take in. She noticed the time seemed to stop, he looked frozen in his seat, his eyes were boring a hole into the sand. She expected him to be mad at her, for lying. For hiding this big of a secret from him. She had never hidden anything from him before, she had a feeling it's why their marriage was so strong, why they still loved each other madly. They shared everything and talked often. But this…she had betrayed him, and not even out of malice, but out of fear for her own understanding, for fear of how it might affect their home. Would he think her mad and have her sent to Bethlem?

She expected him to be mad, to yell at her, tell her she was a fool for believing what she did. Instead, he did the opposite. He locked eyes with her and embraced her into a hug, his large hand covering her back as their chests met from the odd angle they sat in.

"Evy…something big and traumatic happened to you out there, this could just be your way of dealing with it. It can't be possible for her to follow you home." He mumbled into her ear; she could feel tears pouring down her face. Of course, this would be his reaction, he was still the love of her life after all. She chided herself for thinking anything less of him.

"After everything we've seen, that's where you draw the line?" She asked, her face looking hurt as he pulled away. She needed his strength more than she thought.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know…it's hard to hear. It was hard to me to accept, but Rick…I can hear her at times. Not like I hear you, or Alex, but like a calling to my soul. When we first arrived in this place, I could feel my blood running on excitement and my body vibrating."

"Evy." He muttered, it was hard to hear this, it was even harder to accept. To think she had been struggling with this secret for years without him. Why didn't she tell him? He knew why, she didn't want to scare him. If there was nothing to be done to fix it, what good was worrying him? Still, he wanted to know, deserved to know. They could have feared this together, he would always be there for her.

"It's not often. She's been mostly just showing me things, like my visions and dreams before." He nodded in understanding. There were times when she would lock herself in their home library and he wouldn't see her for even a few days at a time. It worried him, but she was in the safety of their home, what could really go wrong? Besides, she always managed to crawl into bed alongside him during the nights, it was evident they relied on each other more than they thought. "We were very much in love despite the rules back then." She blushed, she actually blushed. Rick felt his heart pang. "It wasn't until we arrived here that I began to feel her again after a long while. Whatever purpose she serves within me, it has to do with this place here."

"What is the purpose of all this then?" Rick asked, trying not to let his fear leak through.

"I don't know, she won't show me just yet." "

Well she better hurry Evy, your blood has been spilt, which means hers has too."

Evy's eyes widened in fear over his words. The realization hitting her full force. Nefertiri hadn't meant to spill her blood, when Rick had pulled the pickaxe from her hand, it had sliced open her skin. Nefertiri had thrown her hands over the door in hopes to cover the writing, she was completely unaware of the blood or the open wound. Shouting from the distance pulled the couple away from one another and caused them to look towards the source of the noise. Alex stood proudly as the diggers all cheered, the door had been opened. Evy could feel a chill course through her body, her stomach twisted, and bile rose to the back of her throat. This was not good.

Thebes 1300 BC

Rai watched in the distance with the other Medjai as his princess performed her rituals and, with the aid of Bastet, cast blessings amongst their people. She wore all white, as was customed, and was surrounded by different colored cats who rubbed against her feet and purred as she prayed on. He watched from his distance, as men were not allowed to attend this blessing up close. He locked eyes with the Pharaoh's son, Rameses. Soon the man would take over this land and rule it as he sought fit, he would lead his soldiers into war to fight on his behalf, much like Seti did now.

Rai felt his heart drop, it was no secret that as Bastet's right hand, Rameses was promised Nefertiri as his bride. Where she would serve her purpose as the bearer of the new heir before being allowed to embrace the sexuality side of Bastet and bare healthy offspring to any other man who was allowed to lay with her. He could feel his heart swell, she would be his and he would be hers, and no one else's.

"May Bastet bless this union and Ra forgive me." He muttered into the slowly approaching night. Soon they would give into their carnal desires and consummate their love. Rules be damned!

Ok so, short chapter I know. It's just a little back story before we kind sink into the small plot I have forming in the back of my mind. I finished my schoolwork early for this, but if you could please review, it would make it all worth wild. Thank you!