Chapter 11 (Green Day – Time of Your Life)
Atemu sat silently, gazing with a faraway look in his eyes at the little angel on his bed. He didn't know how long he had been staring; he only knew that the sight of the injured angel filled him with such sadness and hope that he had forgotten the world around him. After a while the questions that had been plaguing him earlier came back.
Atemu turned to see Heqet kneeling on the floor beside the bed. Tears of shame fell from her eyes as she looked at the still form. Once again she had entirely forgotten about proper courtly respect. Atemu found that he couldn't care less. Heqet had been a concubine in the court since his father was pharaoh. She was almost like a mother to him and he had never even considered sleeping with her. He smiled encouragingly and gestured for her to sit beside him on the bed.
Heqet looked up at him with broken eyes, but then lowered her head. She couldn't bear to look at the pharaoh right now. Atemu frowned.
"Sit by me, Heqet, and tell me what bothers you." Atemu commanded. Heqet pulled herself up onto the bed, pausing for a moment to wipe away her tears and take several deep breaths.
"This is all my fault, my pharaoh." Heqet said.
"How can this be your fault, Heqet? You were with me the entire time. It was that guard I told to escort Yugi back to my rooms, I'm sure of it." Atemu tilted his head slightly, confused as to why Heqet was spouting nonsense. "I know you Heqet; you would never do anything like this. I'll see to it personally that the guard is found, punished, and then fired."
In response to this little speech more tears streamed down Heqet's face and her shoulders shook with suppressed sobbing. "There's so much more to it than that, my pharaoh."
Atemu reached out to her, but she flinched away from his touch. "So tell me, then. Tell me all about this little angel."
Heqet nodded, and then lowered herself onto the floor again. She took a few deep breaths before beginning her story.
"Several generations before your father was born, my pharaoh, it was not uncommon for the pharaoh's to marry the princesses of another country in the interest of peace. It was also well known that some of these great leaders preferred both men and women as sexual partners. If no princesses were available, they would simply wed a prince in a special wedding ceremony. No heirs could come from such a union, but rulers of lesser nations were still subdued by the honor and riches that their sons could bring. There were both male and female concubines in the concubine's quarters and the pharaoh had his choice among them.
"The men chosen to be concubines were small, slender, and submissive, chosen for their ability to please the pharaoh as a woman would. It happened that some of the more…er…adventurous pharaohs wanted stronger men to please them in other ways. Their eyes began wondering to the strong guards, always just behind those bedroom doors, and bound to do whatever the pharaoh ordered them to do.
"It wasn't to long before the inevitable happened, and in a few years it became commonplace. However, while the male concubines were usually as content with their positions as the females and always eager to please the pharaoh, the guards were not. Disgraced and humiliated, the guards turned their hatred towards the male concubines, blaming them for this fate.
"Four generations ago, around the time of your great, great grandfather, the world changed. Other great empires to the north and to the east were discovered, and relations with other countries became not a matter of marriage, but of trade and war. A pharaoh no longer needed so many wives and concubines, and the numbers of both men and women bed slaves were greatly reduced. It happened that your great, great grandfather did not desire the company of men in his bedroom, so the number of male concubines was reduced rather more sharply than it needed to be.
"It was at this point that the guards began to act on their long-standing hate. The remaining male concubines were beaten and abused. When the pharaoh would request a lineup to choose a pleasing bedmate or escort, the guards made sure that the line consisted of females only, so that no pharaoh could discover a liking for male companionship and history could not repeat itself. Gradually the pharaohs forgot that they could even have a male concubine to please them and the remaining concubines left for other noble houses. At the time of your grandfather, there was only one male concubine in this harem. He was only allowed to remain because Ra forbid the day should come when the pharaoh should ask for something and it is unavailable to him."
Atemu listened in awe at this unwritten history. All of this under his very nose and he hadn't even known! Some of his nobles criticized him for learning the names and strengths of his servants. It was an activity considered beneath the human incarnate of Ra. It had never even occurred to him to ask after servants he did not know. Seto said that he did too much, but apparently he had done to little. "So you mean all this time I could have had this little angel in my arms and all I had to do was ask for it." Atemu said.
"Yes my pharaoh." Heqet replied, the tiniest of smiles gracing her lips for the first time since their discussion in the hall. "We would have dressed him in the finest clothes and washed him with oils and he would have almost ran up to your chambers, ready and willing to please his pharaoh."
Atemu once again found it hard to breathe when Heqet said this. Yugi's single devotion was still too much for him to understand. "I don't see how any of this is your fault, Heqet."
Heqet's smile vanished. "I was getting to that. Shall I continue Yugi's story?" Atemu nodded and Heqet picked up where she had left off.
"I was already the overseer of your harem when Yugi's mother died. I did not know her very well, but she saw me as a responsible and capable leader. When her illness took a turn for the worst, she called me to her and asked me to take care of her child if anything should happen to her." A single tear fell from Heqet's face and her voice trembled. "She told me to raise him with the other girls and teach him everything I knew about serving the pharaoh." Heqet stopped to steady herself. "And I began to do just that.
"Your harem may be full of thoroughly corrupted women who have taken all necessary measures not to get pregnant, but it is still full of women. The responsibility of raising a child was not a wholly unwelcome one. When divided among so many women it is relatively easy, especially such a wonderful boy as Yugi. One look at those big amethyst eyes and you are lost. Even among the tougher of the slaves he is well liked for his sweet disposition and his honesty. The girls who know him best have taken to calling him gem, after those sparkling amethyst eyes.
"When he grew older I began the more specific part of his training relating to being a concubine. He had already picked up a surprising amount of information from the girls, despite my best efforts to prevent that. He's very observant, you see, and he doesn't always listen when you say that something is none of his business." Heqet laughed softly at this. "I thought learning such things at such an early age would traumatize him and make him unwilling to serve as a concubine, but he seemed rather eager to learn and not at all shy about asking questions. It was at this point that I went astray."
Heqet sighed. "Ra, I was so foolish. The guards knew that Yugi had an entire harem to educate him. They feared that if you should ever desire a male companion you would be so pleased by him that you would turn your tastes to men. They did everything they could to discourage us from helping Yugi. They have been known for rough punishments in the past, but now they locked the doors around our quarters so we could not leave the palace without their permission, they monitored us so that we could not sleep with our lovers among the palace slaves, and they took to harsher punishments if we stepped out of line. But the very thing they feared, I hoped for.
"I explained the situation to Yugi. We both knew that, between the harsh punishments and the dirty work the guards gave him to do, it would be almost impossible for him to please you with his looks alone. I trained him to be the best concubine in your harem, and put him in every single lineup you ever requested, even if he was completely unsuited for the position. We waited and prayed for the day when he would be able to slip past the guards and I could introduce him in the line. If he could catch your eye and fall into favor then the guards wouldn't be able to punish him anymore, and his success would improve our situation. He was to be our voice to you, our advocate. The guards would stop hurting us and locking us up.
"Yesterday my plan fell apart. Yugi has always been fiercely loyal to you, but I didn't count on him falling in love. He saw you in the gardens yesterday. He told me that he was just below the veranda. Forgive him pharaoh, but he was curious and saw your face for the first time. Last night he described what he saw to me. I suspected that he had a crush on you, but I didn't think that he had fallen so deeply in love. He probably wasn't thinking very clearly and only wanted to see you again. This morning he tried to return the pendant.
"From that point on you know as much as I do. I don't know what happened after the escort left him, but you can ask him when he wakes up. For now I leave myself at your judgment, my pharaoh. If it hadn't been for my foolish plan, none of this would ever have happened. Yugi would be well and safe in the concubine's quarters right now, and perhaps the girls would not be so oppressed for trying to help him." And with this, Heqet kneeled before the pharaoh and lowered her forehead to the floor, awaiting punishment.