Title is from Moulin Rouge....ah oh... Also, a surprise in this chapter concerning one of the characters.... And we're almost to the end!!! Thirty chapters in all, I'm pretty sure. Thanks to everyone for still being here. Your encouragement means so much to me, and it's why I do this! A couple of quick (I promise:) notes--Craklyn! I DO remember you! Glad you're back:) and Alli, I loved your comment about Rick showing through Rai's character. I love it when little things like that fit so perfectly and I don't even originally mean them to:) Anyway, love to y'all and enjoy number 26. ~Buffgirl
Chapter 26
It All Ends Today
It was a sharp pain in her head that woke Nefertiri. It faded to a dull ache as she sat up, eyes catching sight of the gown that hung in front of her wardrobe. Her wedding gown. The last rays of the setting sun hit the opulence of the golden fabric that was to represent the happiest day of her life, almost blinding her with the gown's brilliance. Tomorrow...she was supposed to be wed.
But no, tomorrow, she would abandon everything she'd ever known to save her child, a soul she'd never met but loved more than life itself. Tomorrow, her world was to end.
Or perhaps, she noted, it was to end earlier than that. This was not going away, no matter how much she wished it would. Yesterday the physician had told her the headache was simply stress, that she just needed some rest. Nefertiri knew better, but she had kept her mouth shut as an obedient princess should. Ramses was beside himself with superiority as he supervised the wedding plans, and Hadamer had been just as bad. Nefertiri had begged off most of the events with the excuse of her headache, shutting herself in her room to await her liberation from this disaster she called her life.
No. Even if she wanted to accept the fate Achsu-rai had concocted for them, the gods apparently had other plans. She could not stay here any longer. She did not want to be alone.
Tahir stifled a cry as he wound the bandage around the cut once more, as snugly as he could to staunch the newly opened blood flow. In the past two days it had clearly gotten worse, irreversibly, he knew. A scimitar wound would have been a highly suspect thing, anyhow, subject to explanations that he would not live to give. He wondered if Ramses even knew the old man was still alive. Tahir had lain low the past few days, not seeing anyone but the princess. She needed the companionship anyway, for she had been in a poor state since the announcement of her marriage. It broke Tahir's heart, to watch his princess deteriorate in such obvious suffering.
"Tahir?" came her voice, raspy with days of shed and unshed tears. He hastily wrapped his tunic around the bandages, covering them from her sight, before turning toward her.
"Nefertiri," he said, "is something wrong?"
"I have to see Achsu-rai. Please, take me to Achsu-rai."
"Princess, it is not yet time. I can't get you out of the palace alone."
"I know a way. Please, Tahir," she begged. "I need your help."
And so the two set off in the dim twilight. She was visibly fading, and as he supported her Tahir could feel his own strength weakening. He did not ask her again what was wrong. He knew she would not tell him, and guessed that the truth was something he did not want to hear.
Once out of the palace and into the open air, the princess seemed to relax. She breathed deep, taking in the simple beauty of the rolling sand and endless sky. "I love the desert," she said. "It's so much a part of me, I would feel incomplete without it."
"The desert is life, no matter how much the Nile professes to be our savior," said Tahir. "The sand has a special magic about it, and though it may betray you, it has a way of working it's way into your soul."
Nefertiri smiled, knowing the truth of his words as well as she knew her own name. "Tahir, I need you to do me a favor."
"Another? If you insist."
She did not smile this time, for she sensed the gravity of this one last favor, and knew it could only be undertaken by the one person she had faith in more than anyone. "Achsu-rai gave me something once," she said. "It was his mother's. Her most treasured possession, and now mine." She slowly slid the ring off her finger, feeling its comforting shape once more before pressing it into Tahir's hand. "I could not bear to lose it, and I know they would take it from me when they find...when I am dead."
"Oh, Nefertiri--"
"Tahir, please. If the ring fell into the hands of my brother or Hadamer I could not bear it. Most would probably throw it away; it has value only to me."
Tahir held the ring closer to his failed eyesight. Even in the darkness it inexplicably gleamed with an ethereal glow. "What would you have me do with it?"
"Keep it safe for me. Please. One last favor for your princess."
"Anything for you, dear Nefertiri." Tahir slipped the ring into his pocket and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. As they walked ever closer to what Tahir feared would be the site of Nefertiri's last breaths, he could not bear to break her heart. He knew what little time he himself had left, but he would do whatever it took to keep the ring safe while he was still in this world.
Achsu-rai had not slept. Only with exhaustion, he suspected, would dreams take him to a place where he did not see her face when he closed his eyes. It was better this way. He wouldn't let her die because of him. He was not worth that, but she was. Nefertiri was worth everything, and to give it all up for her, for their child, was a small sacrifice. Seven souls, struck down...one survivor, to tell the tale...
Their last conversation replayed over and over in his mind without his will. Everything she had told him about the oracle, the terrible truths that Nefertiri seemed so sure of, echoed back and forth no matter how much he tried to shut them out.
Khalil had checked in every so often, occasionally muttering something like, "It will get better. Once she's really gone. You just need time." Time! Achsu-rai had all the time in the world, an entire life, stretching out before him like a blank canvas. A lonely, wretched life, never touched by such a thing as happiness. Yes, time. His gift to Nefertiri, to their child, his own curse. He might never know his child, he might never again hold the woman he loved, but they'd be safe away from here. They would live.
When the very woman that plagued his mind appeared in the doorway, at first he wondered if he was hallucinating. Noting only briefly how pale she looked, it took all his self-control not to close the distance as she walked slowly toward him. "What are you doing here?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice from cracking. "I said I'd come get you after dark."
"I understand now," said the princess, ignoring Achsu-rai's question. "I understand what she told me."
"Who?"
"The oracle. I understand now why you've cursed me."
"I didn't--"
"Shh." She put a finger to his lips. She half-expected him to move away, but he didn't. "It's not your fault. You didn't know. No one could possibly have known."
"What are you talking about?"
"Is it safe there?"
"Is what safe?"
"The Bracelet. If I can no longer be its guardian, I want it to be safe."
"You and I are the only ones who know where it is. No one will ever find it."
"Good," she said, relief showing clearly in her voice. "It will be safe until we have use of it again."
"You are never going near that thing again. It will only cause us more pain, and I have sworn to protect you. I will not let it ruin you."
"You also swore to love me." Her voice was serene, unemotional, as if she knew something he didn't.
"For all eternity," he said, conceding to the painfully obvious fact. "But duty comes before everything."
"Duty to me, or to your people?"
"I will let neither of you perish because of my mistakes."
The throbbing of her head was making it hard to think. She closed her eyes, for the light of the single burning torch only intensified the pain. "I am already dead."
"This is not the time for metaphors, Nefertiri. This is life." Achsu-rai took her chin in one hand, willing her to open her eyes. She did, after a moment, surprised at his touch but nonetheless grateful for the gesture. He loved her, she knew that, always had. Even with the end that she knew was coming, somehow the thought, meaningless as it might have been, comforted her. Achsu-rai leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then took one last look into her beautiful eyes, for he knew he would never have the will to look into them again, and began the endless walk to the door.
"It is the truth," said the princess. Suddenly without his presence, without his touch, she felt drained of any strength she had ever possessed, even in her already weakened state. Her limbs felt strangely heavy, and she had lost the strength to follow him. "Please don't let me die alone," she whispered, so that he almost thought he'd mistaken her words. "I don't want to die alone."
Achsu-rai paused in his stride, but forced himself not to look back. "Our child will be with you when I cannot."
"It will be too late." Ever so gracefully, she sank to the floor. "She's killed me."
He looked, and his heart shattered.
~*~*~*~
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