A/N: So, I'm sure those of you who are reading realize I am following the miniseries pretty closely and I am but I will also be taking a lot of liberties along the way. I do follow the sequence of events, however, I am going to be expanding and changing details in the miniseries along the way. That will become more and more apparent as the chapters continue.

I have this story outlined from beginning to end. I know what happens in each chapter and how long it will be (26 chapters + the prologue). I hope to update at least once or twice a week and I hope I do Tuhad and their love justice. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Three

She had been gone for the better part of the afternoon and that was not like her. Though Tutankhamun had only been acquainted with Suhad a very short time, he had quickly learned her habits. She usually rose before dawn, creeping from the hut to gather supplies for the day so that she could return before he awakened. What she did not know was that he was never asleep when she prepared to leave. Instead, he would like on his pallet and watched her through heavy lidded eyes as she readied herself for the day.

He had learned many things about his unlikely savior though that quiet study. For one thing, he discovered that Suhad had a most endearing habit of muttering to herself when engrossed in a task. Many times during the morning he would lie there and listen to her scuttle back and forth while talking to herself. It always made him smile. He also learned that she would never, ever leave the hut without first checking him for fever.

Often, he lay there as her fingers coasted across his forehead and cheek, with bated breath and absolutely sure the loud, insistent pounding of his heart would give away the fact he was awake. But the last thing he learned about Suhad was the most pertinent of all. She was a creature of habit. Whatever time she left the hut, Suhad was never stayed away from him more than a few hours at a time.

So when he had decided to take a short nap in her absence that morning, Tutankhamun had fully expected to awaken to her return. But now he was fully awake and had been so for hours and still there was no sign of her. Consequently, his mind began to dwell on several worst case scenarios, each new worry more terrible than the one that had preceded it. What if she had been waylaid by the soldiers looking for him? What if they'd taken her into custody in hopes of discovering his location? Or, worse yet, what if she had been intercepted by a Mitanni marauder band? What if they had taken her captive? What if she was being raped and tortured? Or, he agonized inwardly, what if she had been killed? How would he ever survive that?

The longer Tutankhamun sat there, tortured by morbid what-ifs, the more agitated and helpless he felt. He was in no shape to go looking for her which only worsened his frustration and fear. While he was stronger now than he had been a week prior and he had regained much of the mobility he'd lost following his injury, his reserves of strength were still very limited. If the worst had happened and Suhad had fallen into danger there was little he could do to protect or rescue her. He could barely protect himself.

Disgusted with himself, Tutankhamun passed the time between stabbing the ground with the dagger Suhad had left behind with him for protection and fervently praying to the gods for her safe return. He was moodily drawing deep ruts in the floor when she finally ducked through the hut entrance's just as dusk was approaching. Tutankhamun's sagging relief at seeing her well and unscathed was short-lived, however, and instantly replaced with irritation over the needless worry she had caused him.

"Curse you, Suhad! Where have you been?" he demanded tautly as she bustled inside.

Suhad tossed him an insulted glance as she set aside her supplies. "Well, that's a fine greeting."

"You've been gone for hours without word! I was going out of my mind with worry!"

She winced and immediately came to kneel before him, her head bent in chagrin. "I am sorry. I didn't intend to frighten you. I hadn't realized that I would be away quite so long."

"Where did you go?"

"To my village," she explained, "My family hasn't seen me in days. I had to come up with a plausible excuse for my father or he was going to have my skin. He is not very pleased with me at present."

All lingering irritation leaked from Tutankhamun's body then, leaving him filled with regret and shame. "Then I am the one who should be apologizing to you for placing you in such a position...and for speaking to you so forcefully."

"You're forgiven," she reassured him without hesitation, "Besides, I'm pleased to know you care enough about my comings and goings to feel even a modicum of concern."

"Of course, I am. You're my food source," he joked but the reverential way he looked at her right then made it clear that she meant far more to him than that.

She snorted a giggle. "Of course."

He favored her with a smile filled with admiration. "I meant what I said, Suhad. I don't deserve all that you've done for me and I'm very aware of the untenable position in which I've placed you. You don't owe me anything."

"I truly wish you would not say such things. You haven't placed me anywhere. This is my choice, Khaten."

Rather than argue with her, because he had already learned through experience that he could not win a debate with her, Tutankhamun changed the subject entirely. "Did you have an enjoyable visit, at least? Is your family well?"

"I did and they are." She paused a moment, steadying herself and preparing for his volatile response when she made her next confession. "I told them about you."

His first reaction to that was wide eyed disbelief. "You did not."

"Khaten, I had no choice," she rushed to explain, "We cannot remain here indefinitely. Soon the time will come for the crops to be tilled and there will be people all over this land. If I'm to keep you hidden I'm going to need my family's help!"

"Gods," he uttered in a long-suffering groan, "Suhad, is it not enough that I've placed you in danger, must I compound my guilt by adding your family to the list? I thought you understood that no one can know that I'm here."

"My family will be discreet, Khaten. I promise you. They want to help you. You can trust them."

"I can't trust anyone, Suhad."

"Then trust me," she insisted fiercely, "I promise I will not let anything happen to you."

Tutankhamun reached forward to briefly brush his knuckles across the ridge of her delicate jaw before letting his hand drop away. "And if something happens to you?" he countered, his tone thick with emotion, "I could not bear it."

"I will be careful," she promised, "I will be safe. Haven't I done so thus far? Do not trouble yourself overmuch. I can take care of myself."

He bit back to urge to chastise her for her lack of caution. "When do you propose to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning, if you've the strength. My village is about a quarter day's journey from here."

For another countless time, Tutankhamun found himself bewildered as to why she was so insistent on helping him. Guilt and gratitude swept through him with equal force. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I care about what happens to you. Because we are friends and that is what friends do."

"It is more than I deserve, Suhad. You are more than I deserve. I'm so sorry to-,"

She pressed a swift finger to his lips when he would have argued. "Ah. No more. I've had my fill of your self-deprecation. If you apologize to me again then you will not get your gift."

The corners of his mouth curled in a slow smile. "A gift? You brought me a gift?"

Suhad favored him with a dimpled smile. "Not that you're deserving in the least." She momentarily left his side to retrieve her parcels before presenting him the bundle with a wide smile.

"What is all this?" he asked.

"Have you been without proper attire for so long that you cannot recognize clothing when you see it?" she teased him with a laugh, "I thought that since they are searching for an Egyptian soldier it would be better if you didn't look like one."

He palmed through the garments she had brought for him. They were very unlike the fine linen he was accustomed to wearing in the palace. The material felt coarser, heavier and was nowhere as brilliant in color and yet, in that moment, Tutankhamun felt as if she had bestowed him with the greatest treasure known to mankind. He favored her with a wide, boyish smile. "How very clever of you."

"I have my moments." They continued to regard one another in grinning silence for a few seconds more before Suhad finally said, "Well, try them on then. I've grown quite weary of looking upon your bird-like chest day after day." With a laughing eye roll, Tutankhamun rolled to his feet to oblige her request, slipping the outer garment down over his head. As he worked to fit his arms into the sleeves, he grunted and groaned over the strain the stretching and pulling put on his sore muscles.

Suhad turned a laughing glance up at him. "Come on, then, you can surely do better."

"Can't you see I'm struggling? Some assistance would be appreciated," he pouted.

"What a child you are," she teased even as she rose to her feet to fulfill his request, "You've never made trade. You've never purchased beer. You couldn't build a fire even if your life depended on it and you're completely hopeless at grooming yourself. However did you make it this far in life, Khaten?"

"I'm pleased to know that my limited knowledge in life's most basic tasks amuses you."

"You are an extremely odd man," she told him, "I find it intriguing however, so I'll make allowance."

"How very magnanimous of you."

Suhad was still chuckling softly over their playful banter as she grasped hold of the lapels of his inner robe and tied the drawstrings in a tight loop. She then smoothed the material down against his chest, unmindful that he was slowly closing the distance between them until they stood a few scant inches apart. She gasped softly when she became aware of their proximity, her startled gaze colliding with his darkly intent one. He regarded her with a heavy lidded look, the heat of his body radiating off of him and warming her own. A shiver of anticipation quaked through Suhad's body but anticipation for what she could not be sure.

"Thank you," Tutankhamun whispered before dropping his eyes to her lips deliberately and then meeting her eyes again in silent appeal.

"You're welcome," she whispered back, trying valiantly to ignore the sudden racing of her heart as he moved a fraction closer. Suhad swallowed thickly, her tongue suddenly feeling three times its normal size. "Do...do you need help with rest of it?"

His breath stirred warmly against her sensitive flesh of her ear as he murmured, "Yes...please."

Though it took every reserve of emotional strength she possessed, Suhad cleared her throat and took a step back to place some much needed distance between them. She grabbed the remaining bundle of clothing and shoved the garments into the center of his chest. "I think you're old enough to dress yourself, Khaten."

Tutankhamun watched her retreat with an inward grunt of amused disappointment, the corner of his mouth lifting in an ironic smirk. He followed her with a speculative look as she fiddled with the packages she'd brought back in an attempt to distract herself and avoid meeting his eyes. "Suhad?" She jumped at his soft utterance but still could not find the courage to look at him directly. "What happened just now?" he wondered aloud.

Suhad lifted her shoulders in a careless shrug. "I don't know what you mean."

"Don't you?" Though she shook her head in feigned ignorance, Tutankhamun remained undeterred. "I thought perhaps there was something more happening between us a moment ago. I felt it...didn't you?"

She offered him an arch look over her shoulder. "And what would that be?"

"You know exactly what I mean. There is something between us, Suhad, and there has been almost from the first moment we met in Thebes." His matter-of-fact tone had her snorting out a self-conscious laugh and following it with sputtering protests. But despite her denials, Suhad was acutely aware that nothing he had said was untrue. What was worse...he knew it as well. Tutankhamun confirmed that in his next words to her. "I've wanted you since that first day I saw you in the beer hall and I believe you feel the same for me. This moment was an inevitable conclusion, don't you think?"

"And if I said I don't agree?" she challenged.

"I see no need for us to be coy with one another, Suhad."

Bristling over what she perceived was arrogance rather than forthrightness, Suhad pivoted to face him with arms crossed defensively. "You see no need? So I'm to fall all over you simply because you've expressed your desire for me?" The expression on his face plainly confirmed that was exactly what he expected. Suhad snorted another laugh, but this time she was more affronted than embarrassed. "You really are too much!"

"Are you angry with me?" he surmised with some surprise, "Would you rather I not speak so candidly?"

"Candor? From you? That's a rather ironic turn!"

The mocking censure in her voice was impossible to ignore. Tutankhamun drew himself up into a defensive posture. "Do you think me insincere?"

He regarded her with such a hurt expression that it was difficult for Suhad to maintain her aggravation with him. Her indignation with him abated just as quickly as it had been inflamed. "No. I don't believe you're being insincere."

"Then why are you angry?"

"Because I discern that I could come to care for you very, very deeply, Khaten. I already do."

Tutankhamun furrowed his brow in confusion. "And you find this disagreeable because..."

"...Because I know so very little about you," she replied quietly, "and, regrettably, you don't seem at all inclined to remedy that. The worst thing I can imagine is falling in love with a man who won't let me close to him."

He wasn't surprised by her answer. It was, in fact, the same circular argument they had been having for the entirety of their acquaintance. Her natural desire to know more about him was, unfortunately, diametrically opposed with his newfound determination to remain as honest with her as he was able.

In the beginning, he had kept the truth from her out of a sense of self-preservation. But as they became closer and their friendship began to deepen, Tutankhamun found himself keeping silent, not because he feared he confiding in her, but because he knew could not tell her the entire truth without losing the tenuous bond they had built between them.

Before it had merely been a risk to reveal his true identity, but now he hesitated doing so for fear the dynamic would change between him and Suhad. He had little doubt that once she learned the truth she would stop regarding him as her friend. He would become only her Pharaoh and that was the last thing he wanted. Furthermore, he could not, would not place himself in the indefensible position of having to lie to her. Suhad deserved better than that. She also deserved to know him. And it seemed to Tutankhamun that he was not in a position to give her either thing.

As if she had somehow discerned his inner struggle with himself, Suhad cajoled softly, "I'm not asking you to divulge a full narrative of your history, Khaten. Tell me one, true thing. Just one and, I promise you, I will leave it until you are ready to tell me more."

"His name is Ka."

She gave a small shake of her head, confused. "Excuse me."

"My friend...the one who betrayed me. His name is Ka." Taken aback that he had actually consented to her request and fearful that he would regret doing so if she pushed him further, Suhad sank down on a nearby boulder and waited in patient silence for him to continue.

"We had known each other since our boyhood," Tutankhamun recounted, "and he was closer to me than a brother. He's the entire reason we met in the beer hall that day. There were things he said to me, needed things, that compelled me to want to be a better man. I trusted him with everything. We fought side by side together in the Mitanni battle. When I was wounded, he tried to shield me but I told him to continue on in the battle...that I would get myself to safety...

"I imagine I must have lost a great deal of blood because I don't really remember anything beyond propping myself against a nearby wall. I tried to stay awake, but... When I opened my eyes again, I was in terrible pain and Ka was there...he was kneeling over me. I thought he would help me but he didn't. He walked away. He left me there to die."

"Are you sure?" Suhad pressed, "You were injured and you'd lost a great deal of blood. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

Tutankhamun shook his head in terse denial. "He wasn't alone when he found me. There was someone else with him and they were talking, debating on whether to finish me off or leave me there to rot. In the end, they chose to leave me for dead."

"But why would he do that?" Suhad queried in a quiet tone.

Tutankhamun bit his lower lip in an averse gesture, clearly disinclined to elaborate further. Suhad prepared to press him further but before she could even begin to formulate her next words to him, he surprised her by breaking the long stretch of silence between them. "I suppose he did it because I have the misfortune of being married to the woman he loves."

Suhad inhaled a sharp breath, feeling as if she had been punched in the chest. "What did you say?"

"I don't love her, Suhad, not in that way. Never in that way. We married for duty and nothing more."

"So you...you are married?"

"Yes. Since I was nine years old."

His revelation left Suhad reeling and filled with rolling anguish. Of all the things she had expected him to confess to her that was something she had never imagined. All this time, she had been pressing him for some small insight into his life and now that she had it Suhad wished he had never told her anything at all. She rose to her feet on trembling legs, regarding him with a betrayed expression. "You have a wife."

"It is not a true marriage! I tell you the full truth when I say she is a sister to me! I could never feel for her or for any woman, for the matter, the way I feel for you."

She whirled to her feet, briefly clapping her hands over her ears as if trying to blot out his words to her. "Gods, Khaten...you cannot say such things to me moments after revealing you are married to another! It is not right! It is not fair!"

"It's not a real marriage," he insisted fiercely, "It does not even come close to touching what we share! There is nothing in my life that does!"

"But you have made promises to her, have you not? Do you deny that?"

"No. I do not. Nor do I deny that I hold an obligation towards her still."

Her pretty features crumpled in trembling despair. "Then where does that possibly leave us?"

"I want you to understand. None of it matters. I want you to be with me."

Suhad shook her head, as if trying to shake his words from her ears and from her heart. "I'm not sure if I can, Khaten," she uttered, pivoting to flee for the exit, "I'm sorry."