Author Note: Heads up, the last chapter did not upload properly so there's a little extra on the end that you might want to check before this chapter starts.

The expression of pure fury that Akhenaden bore as he stalked through the hallways was dark enough to send servants and nobles skittering out of the way. He did not care though.

His brother, who had always been the first to try the diplomatic option, had finally found his spine and that meant that suddenly he was in nowhere near as secure a position as he had thought he was.

The Pharaoh had always been predictable. When the invasion had first happened, he had walled up and ensured the security of the palace first. Then he had reached out to talk to the attackers to try and see if they could be expelled peacefully. Even when villages had fallen and land had been seized, the Pharaoh had only taken his country and his family to war when talking had failed.

Akhenaden had been banking on that diplomatic route. Banking on his brother trying to find out what Farasha wanted and bringing in Kheper and Kem Mau so their Miraculous could be handed over to end the conflict.

Instead, the Pharaoh had declared Farasha an enemy of Egypt.

And Akhenaden was VERY aware of the punishment for traitors.

If he was caught, his head would roll.

He suspected he knew why the Pharaoh had reacted so badly. Sending someone to attack Atem had been a grievous mistake. Atem was the Pharaoh's last remaining child and Akhenemkhanon was very protective of the teen. There was no way he would allow a threat to his son to survive.

Not that there would have been a threat if he had managed to capture the woman before she had fled through the portal to safety.

Part of Akhenaden wanted to rip High Priest Shimun apart for his interference. He had not connected the Chinese caravan that his uncle had run into last year, with the caravan he had attacked in Nekhen. He had expected any survivors to be easy to round up because they would have been isolated and alone. That would have allowed him to seize what he needed and this would have been over by now.

He had not expected Shimun to give them sanctuary.

Sending an akuma into Shimun's rooms to drag them out was counter intuitive when only the High Court knew about the sanctuary. It would very quickly label him or one of the others as the traitor and from there he would be found out. Not to mention that there was no guarantee that she was still there. If he had sent her for medical treatment, like the Scales had confirmed, she was more likely to be somewhere safe and secure.

And reading Shimun's mind on the matter would take longer than Akhenaden would like when Shimun knew how to resist the Eye. The Millennium Item was infallible, that was true, but if someone kept throwing other information at the mental probe, it took a while to find what was relevant. That meant it would take him too long to find what he needed and with the Pharoah backing Shimun's play, it, again, would land Akhenaden in the Nile.

The smart thing to do at this point, was leave the Butterfly Miraculous where it could be found and returned to the guardian, but he was not ready or willing to do that. He NEEDED the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous so he could undo everything that had gone wrong under his brother's reign.

Then it hit him. There was a smarter thing to do than that. Shimun's grandson, Heba, had been in Shimun's chambers all day yesterday. He would know where the Guardian was and how injured she was. If he could bring the teen in, he could force the information from Heba's mind without a moment's hesitation.

Officially though, the young man's record was spotless. There was nothing that he could bring the boy in on, without gathering suspicion. Not only that, but he could not just disappear the boy when he was in such a trusted position. Atem would throw a fit, and if the Prince threw a fit, the Pharaoh would look into it.

Then his hand landed on the scrolls that Huya had brought in, and a smirk blew away the scowl that had been marring his features.

He did not need to approach Heba officially. All he had to do was arrest Lord Khufu for the tax skimming and he would have another akuma victim ready to go. The anger and shame of getting caught would allow him to transform Khufu into an akuma and Farasha could offer the akuma more power in exchange for bringing Heba to him.

That way he could rip the information from Heba's mind and leave the boy injured or dead without Akhenaden being even slightly blamed.

Perhaps then Shimun would understand that hiding things from the palace was not how things were to be done…

He slammed the door open, channelling his earlier anger into his disgust at someone skimming off the country as he snarled at the guards on the door, both of whom were from the group he had hired personally. "Gather six others. I have an arrest to make."

As they nodded and scurried off, Akhenaden felt a little bad for what he was about to do. Heba was a loyal servant of the palace and his watered-down royal blood was not his fault. In another time keeping Heba around would have been useful for keeping tabs on Atem and ensured the safety of the lineage.

Now, however, Heba's disappearance was what was best for Egypt and that was all that Akhenaden cared about.

After all, if the consequences of defeat were death, then he needed to utilise every last trick he had to avoid it.

And victory would undo it all anyway.

As long as he won in the end, what he did in this timeline did not matter.

"You've already moved Jie, right?" Heba asked his grandfather as they headed for their rooms, needing a moment to put themselves together before court after the rush of the morning.

"Of course. Not that I'm telling you where she's gone." When Shimun saw Heba pout slightly, he let out a sigh, "No offence, but I don't trust your ability to keep Akhenaden out of your head yet and you don't have the rank to tell him to leave."

That was fair, Heba allowed with a resigned nod. "As long as she's safe, that's what matters."

"You need to be careful yourself. I just put a target on your head." Shimun grimaced, "And for that I'm sorry."

"I…" Heba hesitated for a moment, still unsure about his earlier thoughts, "I think Lord Akhenaden was already in your head, so he might not need me."

"What do you mean?" Shimun frowned, thinking back over the meeting and pretty certain he had not felt the pressure in his head that normally signalled that Akhenaden was trying to reach for information without permission.

"He said 'she' when he was talking about the Guardian." At his grandson's words, Shimun let out a soft curse. "No one before then had mentioned a gender."

"You're certain?" Shimun practically snatched the notes from Heba and scanned them carefully, his hands crumpling the delicate papyrus when he realised his grandson was, in fact, correct. The soft curse the elder let out made Heba wince. "I didn't catch him in there if he did read me, but the only other way he would have known was if he had met her or been told by one of his spies."

"The only people who were in our rooms yesterday were you, me, her and the healers." Heba pointed out. "None of us would have spoken with him about her."

There had been one more, but Shimun severely doubted that Prince Atem would have said a word to Akhenaden about the Guardian considering how willing he had been, as Kem Mau, to find out exactly what secrets he could and could not share.

"Which means either he was watching my rooms through a window, or…" Shimun cut himself off. There were certain things you did not say aloud within the palace walls. Speaking the thought that Akenaden himself may have been at Nekhen was tantamount to accusing the Spy Master of treason and that would only end poorly for both himself and Heba.

Silence fell between them as Heba processed the fear that had flickered across his grandfather's face, then... "I shouldn't leave this at the Ra statue for Kheper to pick up, should I?"

"Not yet. Akhenaden'll have a smart answer for it and I don't want you hurt." The oldest of the Priests shook his head, "We need more proof than just a word."

It was disappointing but Heba understood. The Pharaoh had already told Kheper that the High Court was beyond reproach by anyone except him. Until there was more evidence, an accusation like that would be tossed aside almost instantly.

"He can't hurt me." Heba tried to reassure his grandfather, "Atem needs me for letters and things."

Shimun gave a watery smile but he was still worried. For all that Atem liked Heba and would be upset if something happened to him, scribes were a Deben a dozen. Atem would always be able to replace Heba. Plus, though Shimun had done his best to keep his grandson safe, Heba's royal blood had always made him a target.

Especially after most of the Pharaoh's children had died and Akhenaden's son had vanished or been killed.

The line of succession now, should something happen to the Pharaoh, was made up of Atem, Akhenaden and then, since Shimun had already sworn he would never take the throne, Heba.

Thankfully Shimun's nephews, Akhenemkhanon and Akhenaden, were not blood thirsty enough to take out Heba when he was this far from succession and had no plans of making a move to seize the throne. Heba had even sworn his loyalty to Atem and Egypt in front of the Millennium Items.

His oaths had protected him so far, where they would not have done in lesser dynasties, who had killed their cousins just for existing.

Shimun just hoped that those oaths would continue to be enough to keep Akhenaden from harming Heba.

"Just be careful, please?"

"As careful as I can." The scribe promised with a small smile.

Shimun paused, his eyes flickering to the lapis lazuli studs in Heba's ears. Then he nodded and looked away, aware that Heba did not know he knew about Kheper.

"You need to spend more time in the training yard." The Bearer of the Millennium Ring warned the teen, "So you're able to defend yourself and Atem at all times."

"I've got this afternoon off. I was thinking about going down there once court is over." Heba was in agreement. He was unhappy with the way his first akuma battle had gone and did not want to have to completely rely on Kem Mau the next time it happened.

"Sounds like a plan." Shimun relaxed, glad he was not going to have to fight Heba on this, "Let's get ready."

Lord Khufu was preparing for court with a heavy heart.

Thanks to the actions of his son, he was almost certain that this session would be Khafra's last in the palace.

He could not even entirely blame Farasha for it. Khafra's attempt to attack the Prince from behind had proved that he could not be trusted around the royal family.

The Lord had been doing everything he could to protect his child, but with those actions, Khafra had pushed things too far.

And Khufu had made up his mind.

He had sent a messenger to his mansion on the riverbank on the Nile, calling for his youngest son to be brought to court and written up a formal apology and disownment o his eldest son.

It was the only way to protect the holdings of the rest of the family.

He was aware that it could possibly cause a new akuma to be born from his son. Kheper's warning last night had been quite clear, but the Pharaoh HAD to respond to Khafra's attack. If he did not, anyone could take a shot at Atem in the training yard and expect to get away with it.

That could lead to the Prince getting hurt or worse…

By evicting Khafra publicly from the family, Khufu would protect the rest of his family and, hopefully mitigate the danger Khafra had put himself in.

Hopefully, it was enough to let his son walk free, rather than rot away in a dungeon for the rest of his life.

Because, as much as Khufu considered Khafra a failure. For all Khafra might have had a ridiculous amount of gambling debts. And even though Khafra might have landed the family in trouble, Khufu still considered Khafra his child.

Even after he publicly denounced the boy, he planned to privately give him the deed to the boathouse downstream of the palace, so he had a chance of a roof over his head.

A plan that was firmly shoved out of his mind when his suite door burst open and a set of Guards poured into the room.

Before he could react, he was shoved to his knees and held there as his hands were bound behind his back.

"Khufu." One of their voices sound smug as they said his name, his heart dropping at the lack of title, "You are under arrest."

"What's the charge?" He demanded, shrugging off the hand keeping his head bowed in his anger and staring at the smirking guard before him.

"Theft and tax evasion."

"What?!" The shock that pulsed through Khufu was honest. He had never taken a single gold piece from the taxes. Nor had he failed to send it off to the palace...

"The palace has evidence that you've been skimming money from the taxes you were to send the palace to help fund the temples in your area." The guard continued, causing Khufu's face to pale as he was dragged to his feet.

"You lie. You have to." The Lord spat out, certain that this was just an excuse by the palace to get rid of his family.

The scroll that unrolled in front of his face told him otherwise.

His eyes scanned the numbers and his heart started beating wildly as he realised that the figures he had at home did not match the numbers here.

He even recognized the handwriting. The Prince's scribe, Heba, had a distinctive script when he was being formal and Khufu distinctly remembered the teen being borrowed by the Palace's tax office after two of their scribes had fallen ill.

"Th…there has to be a mistake." He snarled, certain that the brat had written something down wrong, fury causing him to tremble violently. "Let me go this…"

He trailed off as a purple butterfly slipped into his bracer and suddenly all he could focus on was his fury.

'Deben, my name is Farasha.' The voice that echoed in Khufu's mind was strong and came with an air of understanding, 'I can sense your anger and your pain and I can give you the chance to clear up these lies. All you need to do is bring me the Prince's Scribe and I can make all these charges disappear for you…'

Khufu did not hesitate, the anger drowning out the logic his mind tried to provide. "You'll have the brat, Farasha."

The guards backed off quickly as purple ooze bubbled up around the Lord, their hands going to their weapons. They were not fast enough to draw them before the transformation was complete though.

The Lord's skin shone as if made of the purest gold, his eyes sparkled like the clearest diamonds, but the sneer on his face turned him from what would have been the most beautiful statue into a horrifying visage. The strength the akumatisation gave him allowed him to rip free of the rope binding him and lash out at the nearest guard who went flying across the room and slammed into the wall hard enough for something to crack.

With a roar, two of the other guards swung their swords, only for the blades to bounce off the akuma's skin, allowing him to send their owners careening into the furniture.

As the monster turned on the remaining men, the guard closest to the door bolted, racing for the huge war bell that had been set up in the courtyard just that morning.

The creature was on him before he could get further than halfway down the corridor and slammed him through the nearest wall before kicking across the room it revealed.

Deben did not wait to see if he stayed down. Instead, he headed for the route he knew the brat took to get to the throne room. Court would not yet have started and Deben wanted to catch the little ass before there were too many witnesses.

Witnesses would have questions.

Questions would bring out the lies that he had been charged with.

And he refused to be shamed like that.

Especially because of some brat that could not even keep a simple set of figures straight.

As Deben turned into the final corridor and moved into position to lie in wait, he had firmly made up his mind.

Heba was going to pay.