The past.
"And who is this?" Amneris asked impatiently.
The sun was bright outside and she was anxious to go out and play.
She recognized the pale man in the black robes, but she had never seen
the little boy before. His eyes were as blue as her own. She
guessed his hair was blond, but it was hard to tell in the light.
"Amneris!" her father scolded from his throne.
"That's no way to speak to our Prime Minister and his family. Radames,
could introduce you yourself to my daughter?"
Unaffected by her temperament, the boy walked
over to Amneris' seat. He stopped and bowed to her. On his
way towards her she caught a slight look of mocking spite in his eyes.
"I am Radames, son of Zoser, Princess," he said.
"Well, that's nice," Amneris mumbled.
"Can I leave now?"
"Radames, why don't you and Amneris go outside
and play a little?" Zoser suggested. "I have some important things
I must talk about with the Pharaoh."
She nodded, nearly flying from her seat in
happiness. Amneris usually thought that Zoser was boring, but now
she began to like him a little more. Anything to get out of the dry,
hot courtroom. Aagh, but the boy-er, Radames, had that stupid arrogant
walk again. Hmm, well, if he was going to act like a noble, then
she was going to act like a princess. No one showed up Amneris of
Egypt.
"So, this is Cairo?" Radames asked once they
were outside and in the courtyard.
"Uh huh," Amneris said. "Have you ever
been here before?"
"Not yet," Radames said. "Father always
said I was too young until this time-this trip I mean. Me and him
and my mom are moving out here, since the Pharaoh needs Father. He
says I'm going to be a soldier one day."
She smirked. Yeah, and I'm going to
be the Pharaoh. Don't try to brag.
Amneris pointed to the pyramid before them.
"My mama's under there," she said.
"She lives under there?" Radames asked.
Amneris sighed. "No, silly, she's passed
on and is in the realm of the gods. Once the tombs are sealed they
can't be open again. Hey…you wanna go down there?"
"I bet I can get there faster than you," Radames
said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" Amneris asked, annoyed.
Radames rolled his eyes. "You're a girl.
Of course I can."
Amneris sniffed. "I'm the princess of
Egypt."
Radames stopped and looked at the ground.
Without warning, he looked up. "Ready set go!" he yelled.
"Hey, wait!" Amneris yelled, but Radames was
already off at full force. I'll show him, she thought to herself.
She took a deep breath and took off after him.
For a seven-year old, Amneris was remarkably
fast. Her father would always laugh and say that she had gotten from
him
She was now only a couple of feet behind Radames
as they approached the hill by the pyramids. It took all her control
to stop herself from laughing at the surprised look on his face.
But now Radames was running even faster. The determined look on his
face was ridiculous, and she guessed the one on her own was the same.
She couldn't stop herself from laughing now,
to the point that she was having difficulty standing up. Radames
was obviously having the same problem. Finally, Radames fell to the
ground at the bottom of the hill. He looked almost as exhausted as
she was.
Amneris fell a second later. "Win!"
she yelled, touching the ground in front of him.
"Not fair," Radames protested. "I got
here first."
"But I touched it first," Amneris countered.
Radames was silent for a moment, as
if he was pondering the situation. "Okay, rematch."
"To where?" Amneris asked.
"The Nile bank," Radames said. "You
ready?" He got to his feet, and Amneris followed suit.
"You bet. Ready set go!"
"Hey-that's not fair!" Amneris let out
a wide grin at the dismayed tone of his voice.
This kid didn't know his manners. But he treated her like a person,
not Amneris the Princess. And as much as she liked respect and liked
to tell people about it, she sometimes got sick of none of the adults telling
her stories because it was improper. And at least Radames liked to
run.
It might be good to have a friend.
Present.
Amneris was grateful to wake to find her bed
empty. She lay still for a moment, adjusting to the sounds of the
new day. Silence. Thank the gods for her silence.
Radames wasn't a particularly noisy person,
but the lack of dialogue between them left holes in the places her ears
shouldn't have picked up sound. The sound as Radames' foot accidentally
knocked against the one corner of the room where he could stand and change
clothes without them seeing each other. The sound of her jewelry
clinking against her body. The creak of the door as Radames left
in the morning. She had never even noticed the sounds before, but
now they drove her closer to insanity each time they blared.
But these few moments were her favorite of
the day, the ones she had now. She always made it a point to drink
a glass of wine before going to bed so that she would sleep late.
True, the sounds of Radames waking up usually woke her up for a few minutes
of misery, but then there was this peace afterwards.
Amneris liked to pretend that there wasn't
anything else in the world except for her room. When no one was around,
she could even move Radames' things under the bed so that the room left
no evidence of him. Then she could forget everything. Sometimes
she even liked to pretend that she was still a little girl who didn't care
how she looked and just wanted to try to climb the pyramids. She
would plan her day like that.
Eventually it always ended. A maid would
come in to give her breakfast or a guard would mumble something to his
comrade as he walked past the door. And then she would be the Queen
again, and her world would shatter. She would fall back down into
that hole of confusion and despair, and no matter how hard she clung to
the edges of the top she would keep falling. Never stop falling.
And yet Amneris wondered if she would fall
forever. Lately she felt less pain. Not happiness, and not
consolation, but less pain. Just a dull murmur in its place.
And maybe there'd come the day when she wouldn't
feel anything. Amneris didn't know if that was her goal or greatest
fear.
The next morning.
Amneris' head was throbbing. Ever since
yesterday, she felt on the verge of being ill. Not enough to summon
a doctor or even to lie down, but enough that she didn't feel healthy.
The weather, perhaps. But no matter what is was, it was spoiling
her mood.
"Good morning, your majesty!" bowed a maid
as Amneris entered her own chambers of the palace. "I love your dress
today."
Amneris smiled confidently. She was
wearing a light blue, slender gown. "Thank you. But what else
would one expect?"
For some reason the gown reminded her of Aida.
She had said that she'd make a gown in the color of her eyes, and this
one was close. She wore it in spite, because she didn't need some
silly slave to do her fashions for her.
The Nubians knew she was alive. But
to everyone else, she was dead, a victim of a secret assassination Amneris
hadn't heard of until at least several days after her wedding. From
what Amneris could figure out without asking too many questions, one of
the Nubians had been killed instead. With the real Aida gone, no
one had noticed the absence of a girl who was supposed to be dead.
Except for Amneris.
She felt nothing but anger towards Radames.
Aida was more complicated, if just because she hadn't seen the girl since
before her wedding. No, the last time she had seen her she was kissing
her fiancée.
She could have stopped everything from happening.
After all, while she had trouble hearing Aida and Radames from her hiding
place behind the wall, she had heard enough to know that Aida would be
leaving Egypt soon. She could have stopped it, gained her revenge.
And she would have been a hero in the eyes of the court.
But… Aida was in an incredible amount of pain.
Amneris had never seen anyone cry like that before, not Radames when his
mother died, not even herself. It was a trade off, then, even if
Aida would never know about it. 'You at least tried to help me; you
at least tried to treat me like a person. Even if you were tricking
me. I don't care if it's a lie, because at least that was the lie
you were giving me instead of treating me like the others do. In
return, I'll let you get away. Just don't ever come back. I
don't want to think about you again. It's too hard.'
It was never quite hate. Instead it
was much more confusing. Amneris wanted to hate Aida, and somewhere
under the muddle she was fairly sure that she did. Or…at least was
supposed to. Dammit, why did her mind always betray her into thinking
the girl was a friend? Everything was too confusing.
"Nothing else but your finery, my queen!"
exclaimed Tetema, who was lying down on a couch. Ah, so her ladies
were here already.
"You are, as always, the highest in fashion,"
said another.
Another morning. Another routine.
The same artificially produced emotions. When would it end?
Amneris liked the feeling of being caught
up in the whirlwind. She would go shopping, or to the sauna, and
drown herself in that giddy feeling. If anything, at least it was
familiar.
"Would you like to the market?" Namiva asked.
Shopping, yes, that could work. Amneris
clapped her hands. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."
"Do you require any assistance, your Majesty?"
Shetari asked.
Amneris shook her head. "No, no, I feel
inspiration this morning." She clapped her hands again in glee.
"I'll just be a few minutes."
Amneris made her way behind the curtain of
her corners, back through several hallways into her closet/dressing room.
She sat down in front of her desk, facing the mirror. She hadn't
intended on going to the market when she originally dressed, so she hadn't
planned accordingly.
The dress did show off her face well, though.
Her blond hair contrasted well with the lighter fabric of the dress.
It looked like the color of her eyes-
Dammit, not Aida again! If the girl
was going to leave the country, couldn't she leave her thoughts as well?
No, she didn't care about Aida any more, because Aida wasn't anything any
more. Keep telling yourself that, Neris, she thought to herself.
Damn the stupid dress. It had been one
of her favorites before Aida arrived, and there was no reason to change
that now. And who the hell cared what she looked like in the market,
anyway?
I shouldn't be this grumpy, not this early
in the morning…she thought to herself. Headache.
She put on a new pair of earrings, enough
to constitute a trip back to her dressing room. Giving the mirror
a final glance, Amneris made her way back to her chambers, where her women
would be waiting.
She could hear their voices as she put a hand
on the curtain to let herself through.
Instead of showing herself, Amneris simply
leaned against the wall of the back room.
"I heard that her husband…well, needless to
say his wife wasn't his first."
"Really!" cried Namiva. "I knew that
something was wrong, but oh my!"
Her blood was freezing and boiling all at
once…
"With who, though?" Now there was a third
voice. Were they all against her? This entire time? "He
was away for so long, I suppose it only makes sense."
"If I tell you, you can tell no one."
"Of course not!"
"I hear it was with one of the slaves."
It was Shetari's voice, she realized.
Shetari, the girl whom she'd known for at least seven years, the one who
was supposed to be the one who knew her best out of the girls.
A burst of giggles followed. "I've been
talking to some of the guards who watch the royal bedchamber. They
say "her royal majesty's" poor performance had something to-"
"Get out," Amneris hissed, stepping out of
her hiding place.
The looks on her ladies faces ranged from
surprise to dismay to horror. "Your majesty!" breathed Shetari.
"We were just-"
"Get out," Amneris repeated again. She
didn't look, but she could hear the girls scamper away in fright.
Idiots.
She could do anything she wanted with them,
of course. Bring in new ladies, banish them, and if she truly felt
nasty, accuse them of some false crime and throw them into the prison.
But it wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't take back the words
they had said or the truth behind them. Stupid girls. Stupid,
silly, insipid…and damn, that didn't stop it from hurting like hell.
No, she would keep them here. For the
next couple of days she wouldn't say anything at all, and that would be
a relief from the usual chatter.
If we ever meet again, Aida, you owe me.
Amneris picked up a purple hat, placed it
on her head, and looked at herself in the mirror. Tacky. She
could feel the adrenaline drain from her body. "Some strong suit,"
she mumbled. Would there ever be another?
Her head was throbbing in full force, and
now there was a dry feeling in her mouth to go along with it. How
could it only be the morning?
"Your majesty?" asked a voice, knocking at
her door.
What now? she wondered. "Yes?" she asked
impatiently.
"I'm afraid it's important. It's about
your father."
Author's Notes: Well, I finally did it. I updated. Yay! Please give me feedback, both positive and negative, it really helps a lot.
I have some updates coming up. 1: The next part of this story.
It's finished, but I need to have my beta-reader give me her thoughts.
When that gets published depends on what she has to say and how much I
have to revise. Hopefully it will just be a day or two, depending
on when she's online. 2: A revised version of what is here of Elaborate
Lives so far. There have been some things that have been bugging
me for a while that I want to change. The overall story won't be
that different, but I do want to add on something else to the prologue
(I might make a list of changes next time I update). 3: My first
Rent fan-fic. I didn't mean to start another project, but I became
very inspired one night. I had some people on the Rent list look
at it, and while it got some nice feedback, I need to expand it.
Anyway, look for these coming up, in probably
about that order. Whispers will also be finished somewhere in there
(it really just has one part that I need to sit down and write).
There should never be nearly as long of a wait between parts as what had
happened before, at least for this story. See ya then!