Disclaimer: Anything that is familiar, ie Harry Potterness does not belong to me. So there I said it.

A/N: Thank you for liking the fic! I know that names get confusing but I thought I would be weird if I stuck to their original English names. . .

***

Norfret rose up and tried to snatch it out of Ahmenhotep's grasp but he was too tall and too quick for her.

"Give it back." She said evenly.

He eyed her with an almost incredulous expression. "What?"

"Your highness, please, give it back." She repeated again, her large eyes narrowing into slits as she glared at him.

He smiled a taunting smile. "Make me."

"Please just. . .give it back."

"Not until I read it." Ahmenhotep took a step away from Norfret and lowered the papyrus to read it.

Norfret felt heat rising to her face as she lunged and clawed at him managing to make a long red steak down his arm with her manicured nails.

"Give it back!" she screeched as she struggled with him to get it back. He had an initial look of total surprise but it slowly turned to anger mixed with amusement.

"Take it back then!" he told her, raising it high above his head, far too high for Norfret to reach. She stopped jumping up and down trying to get it from his grasp but instead crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"Fine then read it. Read it!"

Ahmenhotep hesitated for a moment and looked around, Prenhoe was giving him a censorious look while slowly shaking his head. His other brothers all looked on with amusement and Ahmeni was just slowly shaking his head with a look of disbelief. His two sisters Merykara and Benia both looked scandalised . Merykara came over and gently tugged at his robes.

"Come one Ahmenhotep, give it back to her, it must be something private."

Ahmenhotep softened a little; she was after all his favourite half sibling. But when he glanced up at Norfret's knitted brow and her lips pressed into a grim line, his mischievous side took over. He opened his leather satchel and carefully placed the papyrus in it.

"I'll give it to you the next time I see you." He told Norfret, smiling.

***

"I could kill him!" This time Norfret didn't care whether she was going to be fed to the lions or crucified and displayed on the walls of Thebes. She hated him. She hate him so much that she wanted to - kill him. Yes, kill him. But yet she couldn't help thinking about him. When he had told her that he would give it to her the next time they saw each other, she couldn't help but wonder why she was looking forward to that day so much, Was it because she wanted her piece of papyrus back or was it the thrill that shot through her body each time she saw his arrogant posture, each time she heard his haughty voice? No. No, it couldn't be.

"Don't worry Norfret, Ahmenhotep is very nice once you get to know him." Merykara reassured her while the servant girls passed around wine and dates.

"I hope he doesn't read it."

Merykara and Benia both shook their head and laughed. They looked uncannily like each other, although they had different birth mothers, Benia was the daughter of the Mitanni princess, Tanus' younger sister.

"Ahmenhotep doesn't care about girls. He won't be interested on what you wrote on the papyrus."

***

Oh but he did. Ahmenhotep cared very much about what she wrote on it. He nearly ran in to his chambers, startling the door guards and ignoring Ahmeni's cries for him to -

"Wait!"

"I'll see you later! Close the doors! Bar them!" he ordered.

He flopped on to his gold inlaid bed and carefully opened his leather satchel and spread the piece of papyrus out. His eyebrows shot up in surprise,

1. Prince Prenhoe:

Age: 18

Appearance: Dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion. Is a well bred man but not a striking one.

Prince Prenhoe is of a very bookish and serious disposition'

As he quickly scanned down, he realised she had written a little bit on all of the princes in the house of Pharaoh except -

"Me. Where am I? What did you write about me Norfret?" he asked himself.

He flipped the Papyrus over. Nothing. She had written nothing about him.

"Did you run out of time?" He hastily scanned the papyrus again, Nothing about him. Except -

'I think Prince Memnon should be teased less by HIM, who gives him grief about his demure nature and love for solitude. Who is HE to think he can judge people like that? Doesn't he know that HE is the one who needs the self - evaluation and change in his personality? Honestly, I get frustrated just thinking about HIM. Candidly speaking he is just a huge royal pri - '

He. He was HIM. He was HIM! As he read her neat hieroglyphics in more detail he found more evidence to support what she meant by HIM. He was HIM. The royal -

"Prick?" he asked himself disbelievingly.

He wasn't that much of a prick now was he? He didn't need self evaluation? Surely he, Royal Prince Ahmenhotep, son of Pahraoh, son of light and the divine Queen Ahmose, the royal consort he wasn't -

"By the protective wings of Isis. . .I am a prick."

He slowly rose from bed and parted the linen curtains to step out in to his own private garden and pool. Well perhaps he was a little arrogant. Just a little. But that didn't give Norfret the excuse to go about saying negative things about him! Did it? He sighed and picked up the papyrus again. . .she had written some very nice things about everyone. . .and in their little commentary she had written a horrible little about him, referring to him as well. . .HIM. He felt like going over to her right then and there. He felt like grabbing her and shaking some sense into her. He felt like grabbing her and - he felt the colour rise to his face and suddenly the cool breezes from the Nile wasn't enough to cool him. Hastily stripping, he threw himself into the pool and let the cool waters engulf his body.

***

"Pharaoh is going north on a hunting trip to celebrate the festival of Osiris. I am going with him and I expect all of you to join me. We are going to Memphis and Pharaoh will visit the Pyramids at Sakkara to pay tribute to his ancestors. We will be leaving in three days." Norfret's father announced during dinner that very night. Her mother gave an exited clap as her two older brothers smiled in anticipation of a hunt.

"Pharaoh has been gracious enough to give us lodgings on the royal barge; I expect you all to be in exemplary behaviour." He raised an eyebrow at Norfret.

She blushed.

Father couldn't possibly know. . .but her father knew everything. He had given her a silent reprimand, the worst of all his punishments; when he just stared at her and shook his head sadly. She had disappointed him. She felt like telling him that Prince Ahmenhotep was mean to her. She wanted to sit on his lap and make excuses for herself but she wasn't his little girl anymore - nothing could excuse her lunging at a royal prince and scratching him with her henna dyed nails. She sighed and drank the sweet wine, 'Imported from Canaan' as her mother said.

***

Pharaoh arrived on the Royal Barge on a Golden Palanquin as his subjects and people bowed down before him and showered praises on him,

Pharaoh is Great

He is the son of light

The king of kings the son of Amun Ra

And so it when on for a while with the sacred sound of sistrums as the priests from the temples chanted praises for great pharaoh. Norfret found this boring and found herself impatient from all the ceremonious ritual to end. All of Pharaoh's personal friends and subjects were already on the Royal barge ready to go. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, Pharaoh walked imperiously on the barge as the gathered multitude bowed low. He sat down on this throne, Queen Ahmose next to him. Prince Ahmeni stood on his right and Ahmenhotep on his left. The rest of the children gathered around them while the two princesses and the other wives of Pharaoh gathered at his feet. They were ready to go. The royal barge and the other barges moved with the currents of the Nile to the North towards the Mediterranean Sea. Norfret tried so hard not to fidget but the protocols called for total stillness while the pharaoh was still in sight of the people. She tried hard not to whistle as she swept her eyes over her robes and the blueness of the Nile, the huge number of people, the princes. She found herself looking at Ahmenhotep and immediately lowered her eyes.

'Focus on something else.'

But she couldn't help but look and found herself strangely annoyed that he wasn't looking at her. While she was giving him attention he was just being happy being a royal prat nodding at the crowd and smiling and, how she got annoyed at that self confident smile that he had made his. She glared at him like Seth that could burn holes through his ostentatious posture, her eyes, the colour of coffee beans focused on him completely like the eyes of the falcon. When quite suddenly, with a graceful movement of his head, he look at her. It was too late. He had seen her. Norfret desperately wanted to blush and turn her head away but with carefully practised self control; she glared at him evenly. Ahmenhotep glared back for a while then suddenly broke into a large smile. At this unexpected gesture, Norfret's eyes widened in surprise. At this, he smiled even wider and was gently shaking. In laughter. At this, Norfret did turn her head away instead to focus on his brothers. They are much better than him. She thought as she stared holes in to Ahmeni's robes, glanced over Prenhoe and Tanus. He was exotic and he looked the best. No he doesn't. Yes he does. No! Yes! You know that he is not. I know that I know that he is too. You know that what you know is not what you really know. Norfret frowned. This was getting complicated for her. She felt his eyes on her. She knew that if she gave him a glance, it was over. And that he would win this staring match. And she couldn't afford that. So nonchalantly she smiled and looked at her father who in turn smiled back. That was much better.

***

The Royal barge was of medium size, as it proved that a large barge will not be able to manoeuvre swiftly in the Nile in case of a crocodile attack. As it was so, the quarters for her were quite small - her servant girl Ita was still busy arranging her robes in the chests that had been hastily packed in the space of three days - leather sandals and kilts for the hunting trip, court robes in case of banquets. . . Already the sky was beginning to darken and the stars appeared over the Nile making the golden barge glow faintly in the starlight. As she looked out she could make out the moon just covered by the clouds.

"Ita, could you give me my shawl? I am going for a walk on the deck."

Ita handed her, her favourite shawl. Loosely draping it over her shoulders, she lowered her self slightly and stepped out in the cool night air. Her father was at a meeting with pharaoh, her mother with Queen Ahmose. Her sister Vechlis couldn't join them so she was all by herself. And she was bored. Perhaps she should go to Princess Merykara's quarters? Except she had no idea to get there. As she walked about the deck looking this way and that to find a guard or servant or. . .

"Where is Lady Norfret's Quarters?" she heard. There was no mistaking that tone.

"It is the second quarter after the grand vizier's your highness. I will accompany you if you wish."

Carefully, Norfret looked out from her perch behind the mast. She saw Ahmenhotep carefully contemplating while his guard patiently awaited his answer.

"No. I'll find her myself."

"Will you be staying the night your highness?"

Norfret was sure she was glowing in the dark. She knew it was common for them to act this way but. . .

"No I will not. I'll be back in a few minutes."

With a swift bow, the guard resumed his duty while Ahmenhotep walked towards. . . Her! She pressed herself against the mast. What was she to do? Why was she so nervous? She looked about - he was getting closer. Perhaps if she just blended in with the mast and the darkness, he wouldn't notice her. No such luck.

"Who are you?"

She banged her head against the mast once. Twice. Then she peeled herself away from it with a smile plastered on her face.

"Your highness!"

Ahmenhotep looked at her strangely like she was possessed by some fury. Well perhaps she was.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing. Just taking a walk." The barge rocked slightly and she was pushed forward but she stubbornly refused to use him to steady her.

"Well," Ahmenhotep extracted her piece of papyrus, "I said I'll give it to you the next time I see you, so here it is." He stretched his hand out and offered it to her.

She blinked several times. He was just going to hand it over with out a taunting comment?

"Thank you." Norfret took it. She couldn't help it. "Did you read it?" she blurted out.

Ahmenhotep looked at her in a pained sort of way but nodded his head, "As a matter of fact I did. And now that you've reminded me of it, I'd like to ask you something."

Oh no.

"Who is this HE that you speak so abhorrently about?"

***

A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, glad that you're enjoying the fic! And I know this is bribery but if you want to see another chapter you might as well review, just a few words from your wise heads to make the author's day a brighter day.