Merci to Mythica, Mija, Seletha, Marrokinhas (I'll work on that;), Sare, Zeldabelle, Toni (wow! thanks! I prefer their caramel macchiatto myself:), Kat, TGG14 (I'm not gonna tell for about seventeen chapters...so buckle up and enjoy the ride!:), Anchovy, Mahaja (no particular reason, the tiger was just supposed to be ferocious), Craklyn, Tigerwolf (my personal fave is "Wait here! I'll go get help!":), Dylan (I heard the X-Files finale was really good?), Allibabab (did you know "Thoughts of a Woman" is on my favorites list? I love it:), Redlady, Katie, Jennie, MBooker, Luigi, Angel, mithwith, and Linser (thank you so much, and I will read that this summer:)...You guys have no idea how much I appreciate your support:):):)

I've posted a one-parter called "Chaos Theory," I'd appreciate if y'all checked it out:)

About a month has passed between chapters 11 and 12. It just worked out that way with the time frame.

I'm a bit ellipse-happy in this chapter, which my writing prof would kill me for, but I like 'em. So there!

Title from the Bard's "Romeo and Juliet"...ooh, creepy:) (see! more ellipses!!!) I also love to write with italics. It's fun:)

Chapter 12

An Ill-Divining Soul

The flicker of the torch set his hair dancing with golden light. His skin had grown pale, too, though he still looked like he'd spent a great deal of time in the sun. But his eyes were the same, sparkling blue against the hopelessness of their situation. They stood together with some other people that she felt as though she should know, though their faces were hazy in her memory and she could not see their eyes. All she could feel was the fear, overpowering her senses, closing in on their little group.

Out of the mass of slaves the priest walked. There was a glint in his eye that she was not prepared to expect, a sliver of malevolence that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. She absentmindedly realized that her hair was different, too, her clothes, come to think of it, seemed awfully dark and excessive.

"Come with me, my princess. It is time to make you mine for all eternity." The words were cold, indifferent, as if he could kill them all with a flick of his wrist and it was mere politeness that he was asking for her permission. "Take my hand," he continued, "and I will spare your friends."

"Why?" she wanted to shout. "Why are you doing this to us? What have we done?" Instead, words tumbled out of her mouth that she could not understand. Her body was not quite hers, just as he, somehow, did not seem quite right. His hands clutched restlessly at the torch. He was nervous...frightened. She'd never seen him frightened before, and it scared her even more.

Her feet began to walk, moving ever forward no matter how much she willed them to stop. He didn't want her to go, he tried to hold her back with the sheer will of his eyes, but all she could do was stare back at him. She knew that look, as if he wanted desperately to say something but could not. His eyes told her everything she needed to know. I will protect you....I will love you.

The priest turned and dragged her with him. She kept him in her sight as long as she could, watched the other man hold him back as he tried, in vain, to get to her.

"Kill them all!" the priest shouted. She tried to scream his name as the crowd filled the remainder of the gap between them, but her throat closed and a strange fog overtook her senses. Soon, the blackness followed.

Nefertiri awoke gasping, clutching in vain for some sign that he was alive, sleeping, safe, beside her. But her desperate eyes were met with an empty bed, the slight impression his form left upon the mattress the only evidence that he had been there at all. He was always gone. Achsu-rai had once asked her if she'd rather that he left during the night and lived to see her again, or stayed 'til morning and be killed. She'd been tempted, at the time, to say she'd prefer the latter, just to see what he'd say.

She fell back on the bed with a sigh, willing the nightmare to fade into shadows along with the rest of her fears. It was only a nightmare, wasn't it? He had spoken of similar dreams...she, the same and yet not the same, dying, leaving him...he didn't like to talk about it, and when she'd asked again, he'd gotten angry. Now she knew why he'd been so distraught. If her own fiendish imagination was any indication, Achsu-rai's dream, doubly intensified by his protectiveness over her, was likely to have been even more hellish. Nefertiri realized in a rush that she felt the need to protect him, too. They had to depend on each other, or both would be lost. A strange sense of foreboding overtook her senses, but she tried to shake it off. It was nothing...

Perhaps she should go seek out Achsu-rai, just to make sure he was all right.

Nefertiri quickly dressed, impatiently waving away the servants that crowded around her, and escaped the confines of her chambers into the cool morning air. Tahir gave her a fatherly smile and a wink as she passed him. If she didn't know better, she'd say he knew something...but even if he did, Nefertiri was confident that her mother's faithful servant could be trusted. He knew everything there was to know about her anyway, acting as a sort of quasi-family member when her own father was too busy to spare a word.

As she rounded the corner a noise caught her attention. It sounded like...it sounded like someone crying. Nefertiri sped up, trying to follow the soft sniffling that seemed just beyond reach. Just as she was about to give up, a movement in the courtyard below caught her eye.

It was Anck-su-namun. She lay crumpled at the base of the fountain, sobbing quietly. Nefertiri tip-toed down the staircase, watching. As she placed her foot on the last step Anck whirled around and, seeing the princess there, stood quickly, almost losing her balance. Nefertiri tried to help her up before she could stop herself, but with a glare, Anck-su-namun rejected her assistance and stood of her own accord. She desperately attempted to wipe the evidence of crying from her face, but it was too late. Her eyes were red and puffy, and the trails of tears were still visible upon her pretty face. Despite herself, Nefertiri felt sorry for her. "What is wrong?" she asked.

"Everything is perfect, highness," spat Anck-su-namun. "Why shouldn't I be honored? I should be jumping for joy, right? That's what everyone wants. They only want my happiness."

"What are you talking about?"

"My life. They've signed away my life."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Nobody does. They have no idea." She seemed to truly see the princess for the first time, and fixed that unnerving gaze upon her. "You have no idea. You won't, not any of you, not until it's too late."

Then she left Nefertiri alone, with nothing to keep her company but a terrible sense of foreboding.

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There's a little purple button right down there. Click it!!! Then you type things like, "Bow down to Buffelyn. I am in awe." Or something to that effect;) Use your own words:)