Disclaimer: I don't own it….

A/N: Welp, I still love this story, despite how little it seems anyone else does. So, I'm still posting it! Sorry it took so long for those of you interested!

Lost

Betrothed

I had been called down to dinner with my brother, Ramses that night. He had only once before wanted to have dinner with me, and I wanted to decline his offer, as I didn't want to ever see his face again. But if I did not eat with him, then I would not eat at all and oddly I was unusually famished.

I noticed a man at dinner who I did not know, sitting in my chair next to Ramses as I sat next to him. He looked at me and then spoke quietly with my brother, watching me out of the corner of his eye. Something was going on, and I intended to find out just what.

Ramses smiled at the end of their conversation and then finally spoke to me. "Nefertiri, this is my general, Adeben."

I nodded, but said nothing. Why would I want to know this man, I thought to my brother. He didn't hear me of course.

Adeben nodded back and spoke only one word, "Princess." Stupid man, I had already named him. He would have to do a lot more than that to impress me. I looked away from both Ramses and Adeben, disgusted with the likes of them. In my eyesight now, I saw Rischura gazing at me again, like he'd always done. I smiled slightly, wanting to let him know that I wasn't upset with him. He smiled back for a split second and then he turned away quickly. I had forgotten about the eyes in the room, watching us and our every move.

"Say something, Nefertiri!" Ramses ordered. I looked away from Rischura immediately.

"It is nice to meet you, General," I said. It was a lie. I could barely stand to be in his company already. I knew I didn't like him, so there was no use in Ramses trying to get me to.

"Nefertiri, there is a reason for this meeting…" Ramses told me calmly.

I eyed him suspiciously with no idea of what he was talking about.

"I have asked Adeben, Nefertiri, to take your hand in marriage and he has graciously and kindly accepted."

My eyes widened. My chest suddenly felt tight and it became hard to breathe. I looked to Rischura, whose face, although much more subtly than my own, showed the same shock. I could see that his heart was broken, just like mine had just been. I couldn't believe it! How could this be happening? Adeben, the stupid man who I had been betrothed to, turned my face to his with the fingertips of his right hand. "We should get to know each other better very soon. It would do neither of us any good to marry someone we don't know."

I was going to be sick. I was literally going to be both physically and emotionally ill. I felt my stomach start to ache as my mouth began to water. I couldn't sit here any longer.

I stood up immediately and ran from the room, every eye at the long table on me as I made a mad dash for a place to retch.

I found myself in my quarters, moments later, vomiting in a bucket that Nija had brought me.

"Highness, what has happened?" Nija asked me as I began to feel better. "You're not well."

"Nija, the most horrible thing has happened," I told her.

"What?"

"I've been betrothed! Nija, I have been betrothed to the General, Adeben, who I have no like for at all."

"That's not so bad, Highness. There was a time right after Pharaoh returned that you wanted him to marry you off. You said you wanted to be married and that you felt you were old enough and—"

"But now it's different," I told her. "Now I'm in love with another! Don't you see? I'm in love with Rischura, not with—" Oh no! I had told her his name. Her face was suddenly bright, her mouth open, eyes wide in shock. I had put him in danger.

"You must tell no one, Nija! No one!" I yelled at her. A thousand things were racing in my mind.

"The Medjai!" She said, paying no attention to me.

"Promise me! Say it!" I was more frightened now then I'd been in a long time. Weak as I felt from retching, I brought up my hands and squeezed her shoulders tightly.

"I promise!" She exclaimed, but that wasn't good enough.

"Swear it! Swear that you will never speak his name again! Not even in closed quarters such as this one!" My eyes were beginning to tear. "I can't lose him, Nija, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Highness. I swear it! I will never say his name! I will never tell a soul!" I still didn't believe her, although something deeper inside of me did. Some part of me was naïve enough to believe her. No! Don't! I pleaded with myself, but my face didn't show the battle that was going on inside me. Instead, my tight grasp loosened and my face showed relief. Then, I let her go. I told her to leave. She stood up quickly with my bucket and walked out of the room. I couldn't believe that with a simple, "Thank you," I had let Nija out of my site with the most precious secret I'd ever owned. As much as I liked her, I should have banished her away to keep Rischura out of danger, but I did not.

What is wrong with you, Nefertiri! Why can't you do what you want? I was utterly confused at my actions. It was as if I couldn't control my own body. I undressed quickly and crawled into my bed. I felt dizzy. I still hadn't eaten. On top of that, I felt angry with myself for all of the things that had happened that day. I couldn't bear to be awake any longer to think about these events and forced myself to sleep.


I awoke the next morning, my eyes swollen from tears that had fallen in the night. My head and stomach still ached with hunger and yet I felt nauseous again. I sat up and scanned the room quickly finding my bucket cleaned out and on the floor next to my bed. I grabbed it quickly and relieved my stomach.

I lay back down again. I didn't want to stand for fear that I would fall over. Instead, I simply rolled onto my side in wait for my maids, but I noticed something on the floor. It was a small folded piece of papyrus right next to my door. I had to get to it quickly before my maids did because I knew instantly that it was from Rischura. How I knew it I didn't know, but it didn't matter.

I sat up slowly and the room began to look blurry, spinning slowly around me. I blinked for a long moment and then opened my eyes again, looking only at the piece of parchment. I removed my covers and put both my feet down, making sure that I didn't step near my bucket. I then sprinted as quickly as I could to the papyrus, picked it up and ran back. I had to do it quickly so as not to fall over. As for now, I couldn't read the letter because my eyes couldn't focus. So, I opened a chest on a table next to my bed and placed the letter inside it. I then quickly lay my head back down and hoped no one would find it before I did.

As soon as my chest was closed, as if time had intentionally been on my side, my maids walked in to get me ready.

After I was dressed and had eaten, I set out to find my brother. I felt physically better now and needed to restore my emotional stability.

"Ramses, I need to speak with you!" I yelled as I walked into his throne room, making a scene on purpose. All of the guards looked at me strangely as I stomped toward my brother's chair. He looked up at me from something he'd been reading and glared.

"Nefertiri, I am far too busy to deal with a screaming child at the moment," he said sternly, "especially one who doesn't even address me properly." I stopped dead in my tracks and then spoke to him calmly. "I am sorry, Pharaoh. Forgive me. But I must talk to you about my betrothal."

"What about it?"

"I don't want to marry him, Pharaoh."

"And why not? What's wrong with him? I found you the best that Thebes can offer."

"No, you," I stopped and began speaking more softly. "Have you ever been in love, Rams—Pharaoh?"

He stood up at this and walked until he was only a foot away from me. "Nefertiri, love is a waste of time. Did you not see how father loved his mistress Anck-su-namun? Do you not remember how she treated him? Or are you just ignorant? Love means nothing!" He raised his voice. "You will marry Adeben. That is end of discussion!" He stared me down and I felt like crying again. I turned away from him quickly and calmly walked out of the room without another word. Once I reached the hall I began to run to my room like I had the night before.

There I found a guard who I had never seen before standing outside my door. He bowed low as he let me pass into my room. I stood still momentarily, looking the intruder over. I was upset to not see the sharp blue eyes, strong jaw bone, and altogether chiseled physique that I was used to. Why hadn't Rischura been there? I then remembered the letter I had put away for safekeeping. I walked into my room, closing the door behind me and took it out of the chest and opened it reading quickly. Just as I had known, it was from Rischura.

Princess Nefertiri,

I cannot begin to tell you now, Nefertiri, how I pray to the Gods that this letter will not be found. We both knew this would come, didn't we? We knew that we would be parted eventually. I know it hurts you just as it hurts me, but I have no regrets. Everything we had together, I'm proud of and I hope you feel the same way. I cannot bear to watch over you today for I know that if I did, I would be unable to resist taking you into my arms and trying to run far away from here, which would do neither of us any good in the daylight. Instead, I told another guard to take over for me for the day because I was feeling ill. It wasn't a lie, Nefertiri. I feel more ill perhaps than I have ever felt, but I know that I have to say goodbye to you. Please meet me tonight before dinner in the garden, where I hope we will be alone.

Love,

Your Medjai

I know this letter, I thought to myself. I have seen it before! There was no mistaking the feeling that I had definitely seen Rischura's letter at an earlier time. At that moment, however, I couldn't sit and think about that, because instead my mind was only thinking of how I was ever going to say goodbye to him.


And that's all! A bit longer than the others. Still got a loooooong ways to go! Review, please and I'll update when I get enough of them! The next chapter's a long one!

EvelynC.O