The Pharaoh's Kiss (Reincarnation Romance Chronicles Book 3) (6 page)

Chapter Twelve

I bolted upright in the bed, panting and trembling. For a moment I wasn’t sure where I was or how I got there. My eyes darted around the room. Bit by bit, I recognized the beige walls and the large hotel bed. I looked down at Alex sleeping next to me, watching the rise and fall of his chest for a moment to convince myself it was real.

He is alive
...
He’s okay
...

I knew it didn’t make sense. My dream was about Tutankhamun, not Alex, but still, it calmed me some just to see him there. I ran my hands through my hair and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, I told myself again it was all in my head. I lay back down and cuddled up next to him.

“You okay?” Alex asked sleepily as he wrapped his arm around me..

I kissed his shoulder and snuggled closer, “Yes. Just a bad dream.”

“About Tutankhamun?”

“Yes.”

He rolled over and faced me. Wrapping his arms more securely around me, he buried his face in my hair.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered hot in my ear. “I promise.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled the scent of his skin, surrounding myself in the realness of him. I tried to convince myself that he was right.

I’m okay...I’m safe...

I fell into a dreamless sleep until morning. The sun streaming in the window woke me up. When I opened my eyes, the nightmare from the night before felt distant and harmless.

I reached out toward Alex, but only touched the empty pillow beside me. I sat up and looked about the room, trying to convince myself there was no need to panic.

Just then the door opened and Alex came in with a tray of breakfast foods.

“What is this?” I asked as I tried not to look too relieved.

“I thought after your rough night you could use a little pampering,” he said with a smile as he set the tray on the bed.

I looked down at the juice, eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. It was such a simple gesture, but still, it made me smile.

“You made all of this?” I asked.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead, “No, but I did call down for room service. Anything to make you feel better.”

I watched as he raked his hair back into a ponytail on his way to the closet. I watched as he dressed, the delicious ripples of his muscles under the skin as he pulled on a fresh shirt. I was tempted to ask him back into the bed, but I had other plans for the day.

“Do you really want to make me feel better?” I asked.

He nodded, “Of course I do. What do you want?”

“I want to see Tutankhamun’s tomb again.”

Alex stopped and frowned, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea after what happened last time. It seemed to shake you up pretty bad. Why would you want to risk it?”

I nodded and took a bite of the toast. Maybe it was just the memory of the dream so close, I felt like I was just on the tip of finding out everything. How could I explain that to him when it didn’t even make sense to me?

“Are you disappointed?” Alex asked, watching my face as if trying to gauge my mood.

“A little, but you’re probably right.”

He looked away, standing there for the longest time with his hands on his hips and his head bowed. At last he looked back up at me and sighed, “Okay, how about a compromise?”

“What sort of compromise?”

“I know something we can do, but it’s in Cairo.”

“What’s in Cairo?”

“The Egyptian Museum... With the Tutankhamun collection.”

* * * *

From the outside, the Egyptian Museum looked more like an American university than a museum. It was a brick building with a large white archway leading visitors inside. It looked like nothing special or impressive, but as soon as we walked through the doors we were greeted by the huge, lurking statues of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye.

I know you...I played at your feet...

There was a quick flash of a younger me, playing under the stony gazes of these behemoths. I darted around them giggling as some other little girl chased me.

Was she some advisor’s daughter or perhaps a child of a lessor wife?

I looked back up at the stone faces and smiled if we shared a secret. It was as if I could sense that they knew me.

I took Alex’s hand and almost pulled him down the stairs with me. I walked only a short way before I stopped, finding myself standing in the shadow of a statue of Akhenaten. I looked up at it, seeing not the stone features, but the lust filled face of the Pharaoh the night in the hall of Akhetaten.

“There he is,” I whispered as I stared up at it. “That was Tutankhamun’s father.”

Alex looked up at the statue and I felt a shiver overtake him. He continued to glare up at the stone face even as I turned away.

Another exhibit drew my eye as I stepped away from Alex’s side. I circled it slowly, looking into the blank face and knowing who it was to that other me.

There she is...Nefertiti...

There, in a glass case, was the famous bust of Nefertiti. I circled it slowly, comparing it to the image in my dreams. If what I was seeing was real, this was my mother.

There was no chance for sentiment. In the reflection of the Nefertiti exhibit glass I saw it, the burial mask of Tutankhamun. I turned and moved towards it. Looking at it, I saw not the mask, but the Pharaoh’s still face as the linen was wrapped about him and the diadem was placed on his head. I saw that mask being lowered, covering the face of my love forever.

No...No...

Alex stepped closer and looked at the display. I heard his subtle gasp and he couldn’t hide the shiver that overtook him.

I took his hand, “Are you okay?”

He nodded, but I could feel him tremble again as he looked at the mask.

“It’s just weird, you know,” he said, not taking his eyes off of it. “According to you, all of this was taken from my tomb and that was my funeral mask. I sort of feel like I’m not supposed to be seeing any of this.”

“I know,” I said as I hugged his arm. “I keep wondering if I’m acting right... I mean I don’t know who I am so does that mean I’m acting like her or is it like me to act like her...I don’t know.”

“I didn’t think any of this would get to me like this,” he said. “It’s all a little overwhelming.”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked at the display again. “I just keep feeling like the closer I get to Ankhesenamun, the closer I am to finding out who I am.”

Alex nodded, “I guess that makes sense.”

I sighed and leaned my head over onto his shoulder, “I just need some answers. I just feel so... Lost.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Can’t you just hypnotize her again?” Alex begged. We were back at the hospital following David down the hall.

David shook his head, “We tried last time you were here and it didn’t help. In fact, she seemed pretty shaken up by the whole thing.”

Alex glanced back at me and gave me a reassuring smile, but his voice was urgent when he turned back to David.

“I know, but I think she’s close to remembering something,” he explained. “Look, my other guy hasn’t come up with anything off her fingerprints yet and you’re our last hope. I swear, I think it will work this time.”

“What’s happened? What’s so different?”

Alex glanced over at me again and lowered his voice, “She keeps dreaming that I’m Tutankhamun and the dreams are becoming more intense. I don’t know what to make of it, but she really thinks she’s close to remembering something.”

David shook his head, “Where will that leave you?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care. I just want to help her.”

We were coming upon the emergency room waiting area. David stopped, crossed his arms, and shook his head.

“You need to take her to see a real doctor,” he argued.

“You are a real doctor,” Alex replied.

“You know what I mean,” David said, looking over at me nervously. He lowered his voice to a whisper, “Someone that can actually help her...A psychiatrist.”

Alex put his hands on his hips and shook his head, “I won’t do that to her. I
can’t
do that.”

I leaned against the wall, wishing the floor would just swallow me up. I hated that they were talking about me like I wasn’t even there and I hated it even more that Alex was going through so much trouble trying to help me figure out who I was.

“I don’t want to lose my job over this,” David hissed loudly.

“You won’t.”

“And what if I do?”

“If you get fired,” Alex said, “I’ll pay your salary until you find another position.”

That seemed to settle it. Within minutes we were on our way back down that narrow hall to the morgue and once again, I was stretched out on the gurney, trying not to think about the dead bodies in the wall, and listening to David’s instructions.

“Are you both sure you want me to do this then?” David asked.

“Don’t you think she deserves to know who she really is?” Alex said simply, smiling down at me.

David shook his head, “And what if it turns out she really is has a husband or something?”

“I’m willing to take that chance.”

David looked down at me, “What about you? Are you sure about this? Whatever caused your memory loss...”

“I know,” I said. “It might be bad.”

David shrugged, “Okay, here we go, but we have to hurry.”

“I don’t think this is something we should rush,” Alex frowned. “Why do we need to hurry?”

“It’s a full moon,” David said as if that should explain everything.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Alex asked

“You just need watch the door,” David said with a jerk of his chin. “More people die on full moons than other times. People will be coming in and out of here constantly.”

I looked up at him from my position on the gurney, “Do you really believe that?”

David smiled down at me, “Do you really believe that Alex is Tutankhamun?”

“Point taken...” I lay back again and closed my eyes.

“Okay Senna,” David said. “We’re going to step it up a little bit. I want you to go back, back to the most traumatic moment you can think of—”

“David!” I heard Alex call out.

“I’m trying to get the two of you some answers,” he said. “Now do you want me to do this or not?”

I could hear Alex stepping away and moving back toward the door. David leaned over me again, “Okay Senna, let’s start again. I want you to relax and just focus on your breathing.”

I breathed in and out slowly, feeling myself sink into my own skin. David cleared his throat, “Okay, show us, how bad was it?”

Chapter Fourteen

At first, I was staring up into nothing. Slowly, I began to see the paintings on the wall once more. They were swirling and changing shape as I tried to bring them in to focus.

Some of the paintings seemed to move, looking at me and blinking cartoonish eyes at me before taking their place on the wall once more. What was this? What was happening?

Suddenly, I was in the hall, looking up at a golden etching of Tutankhamun and I. It depicted the Pharaoh on his throne and I was sitting at his feet. Tutankhamun was giving me wine from his own hand and I touched his shoulder lovingly. I looked up at that carving not thinking of my husband, but of the long nights at his bedside praying that he would somehow survive.

And there, always lurking just in the shadows, was Ay. Day in and day out he was there, watching my husband’s recovery and speaking in hushed tones with the other advisors. I grew to hate the sight of his aging face and eager eyes looking to me every morning and asking if Tutankhamun survived the night.

In the distance, I could just hear the faint sound of footsteps approaching. I turned to see Tutankhamun leaning on his cane and one of his servants at the end of the hall. He was out of bed and walking, but he looked so weak and worn.

I went to my husband, kissed his hand, and looked up into his thin face. “How are you feeling today my love?”

Tutankhamun leaned heavily on his cane, he looked down at his servant, “Leave us.”

I took his arm as the servants scurried away. I could feel how he was trembling with the effort to remain standing. I felt my heart sink and wished that I could give him some of my own strength. I would rip the very heart from my chest to make him whole again.

“Are you feeling well today?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, but I knew it was a lie.

“I have missed walking by your side.”

He nodded, but motioned for us to stop so that he could rest. I could see the small beads of sweat breaking out across his brow.

“I must ask something of you,” I said cautiously.

“Whatever it is,” he panted. “It is yours.”

“You must dismiss Ay.”

“Ankhesenamun –”

“He means you ill.”

“If I dismiss him,” he said. “The priests would outcry, they would rally the people against me, and there would be war in the streets. He is my most trusted advisor.”

“Then we are both doomed.”

“I will never allow any harm to come to you,” he said as he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed each one of my fingertips one by one. “I promised you that, remember?”

“I remember,” I said as I reached out and smoothed back his hair once again.

“Good,” he said with a tired smile. “I need to rest now.”

“Of course,” I said as I took his arm again and began walking with him back to his chambers. We moved very slowly, the anger he felt towards his own body radiated off of him.

“I am sorry to bring you so much shame,” he said.

I looked at him curiously, “You have brought me no shame.”

“I have,” he said. “I am weak. How can I be Pharaoh and rule Egypt when I can barely walk?”

I sighed and patted his arm, “Do you know the moment I knew you would be a great king? It was not when you returned from battles, but from a moment that bore no witnesses.”

“What do you speak of?”

“It was a night long ago outside the palace of Akhetaten,” I explained. “You were in the courtyard, royal garb of any kind, and a beggar approached you asking for food. You could have sent him away or had the guard punish him for daring to speak to the royal prince of Egypt, but instead you placed your hand on his shoulder and guided him into the palace. You saw to it that he was fed and given enough food to take back to his family. That is the moment I knew you would be a great king, because you could show compassion.”

Once in his chamber, I helped Tutankhamun to bed. I smoothed back his hair and kissed his forehead. “Rest now my love.”

“Ankhesenamun,” he said as I prepared to leave. “I swear I will recover and I will be the king you remember and I promise I will always keep you safe, in this life and the next.”

I sat down on the edge of his bed, and took his hand. I watched the rise and fall of his chest as he fell asleep, almost counting each breath. I prayed to the gods to give him strength, to give me back the man that he had been only months before.

Once I was sure he was sleeping soundly, I got up and went to the door. Looking back at him asleep on the bed one last time, I tried to convince myself that he would recover, be strong, and that one day we would have sons that would rule Egypt after we were gone.

I went to my own chambers as the night began to set in. I was not tired, but I just felt the need to be alone. There was a feeling coming over me that I could not explain.

For the longest time, I stood in the center of the room, feeling it coming, feeling the approach of the moment when everything was going to change. I could almost feel fate breathing down over me.

Why do I feel this way...What is coming?

Suddenly, my maid appeared at the door. “My queen?”

“Leave me.”

“My queen—”

“What is it?” I demanded.

“There is an army approaching, my queen, the Pharaoh is leading his army to meet them.”

My strength left me. I fell to my knees, praying to the gods. Was this how it was all to end? Tutankhamun was so weak, how could he survive battle?

There was the sound of horses and chariots in the courtyard. I ran to the balcony and looked down at the chaos unfolding. Soldiers and chariots leaving the palace in a dusty cloud.

My eyes looked over the crowd until I saw the golden chariot of the Pharaoh. He stood, tall and proud, though even from above I could see how very pale he was.

As if he felt me watching him, he reined his horses and looked over his shoulder and up to me. His kohl rimmed eyes met mine and I knew...He wasn’t returning alive.

“I love you,” he mouthed silently.

I reached out my hand, wishing I could pull him up to me and hold him to me. He turned and his chariot raced out of the palace gates.

Don’t go...Don’t go...

He was gone. I backed away from the balcony. I walked past my servants and out of my chamber. I spoke to no one, holding up my hand to silence those that dared to speak, most simply bowed and backed away from me.

I wasn’t sure where I was going until I found myself standing before the throne of the Pharaoh. I looked down at it, turning my head so that the colored glass sparkled. My eyes were drawn to the back panel of the chair where our images were depicted. I saw the way the me shown there reached out and touched Tutankhamun’s shoulder. I closed my eyes and remembered how warm his shoulder was when I would cradle my head upon it.

I sat down at the foot of the throne, remembering the many times I sat there with my head leaning against his leg. I looked around me to the paintings on the walls showing him in battle defeating his enemies. It was as if he was all around me.

I remained there throughout the night, watching the shadows darken the walls and then disappear as morning came. I heard the servants enter, but I ordered them away before my eyes fell upon them. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be alone with his image.

It was Ay that finally dared to approach me. My eyes were closed, dreaming of Tutankhamun in my bed when I heard the soft tread of footsteps. I opened my eyes just as he leaned down over me.

“My queen?” He said softly, “What do you need? How can I help you?”

“Leave me,” I said in a hoarse voice. “Just leave me be.”

I closed my eyes again and listened to the sound of him walking away. I could hear him whispering to the other advisors.

“Is there any word of the Pharaoh?” He asked.

“No,” one said. “But it is believed he may be among the dead.”

My eyes fluttered open and fell again on the painting of Tutankhamun in battle. Was it true? Was he dead?

The shadows continued to move over the walls as day faded once more into night. I was weak with hunger and thirst, but if my love was dead, it was better to die here and now, surrounded by his image than to go on to empty, meaningless days without him.

I could hear the commotion in the hall. There were voices giving orders and people rushing about, and then there was only silence. The silence was heavy and seemed to pull the very breath from me.

Out of the silence came the sound of hurrying feet and the rustle of a maidservant’s gown as she came toward me. I could hear her panting and sensed her panic even before I opened my eyes.

“Your highness?”

I forced myself to sit upright, “Yes?”

“It is the Pharaoh.”

I no longer felt my body, my tears began to fall, but I didn’t feel their wetness. I cleared my throat and swallowed past my thirst. “What of the Pharaoh?”

My eyes fell to the guard behind her. She bowed and moved aside so that he could come forward. His head was bowed, but I could smell the stench of battle and death on him.

“The Pharaoh has returned,” the guard said. “He fought bravely, but was wounded. His leg seems broken and the fever—”

“Take me to him,” I ordered as I tried to stand, my legs gave way, but the guard reached out and took my arm.

The guard led me to my husband’s chamber, almost carrying me. He opened the door and stepped aside. I stood in the doorway and even from there, I could see that the Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not long for this world.

He lay in his bed, his feverish eyes staring blindly up at the ceiling, and his chest heaving with great raspy breaths. He did not hear me enter and writhed weakly as I approached.

“I am here my love,” I whispered as I reached out and touched his face.

Some of the fear left his eyes, but he struggled to gasp his next breath.

“I am here,” I repeated.

Tutankhamun’s wild eyes continued to stare forward, but his hand clutched at mine.

“He asked for you,” the guard said from the door. “He asked that we bring him to you.”

“Leave us,” I choked out.

“Yes, my queen.”

I slid into bed beside him, resting my head next to his. I placed my hand on his chest, “You are my Pharaoh, my love, and my life.”

His chest shook with another terrible breath. I reached up and touched his cheek, trying to calm him.

“Ankhesenamun,” he said in a raspy whisper. “Ankhesenamun...”

He took one more deep breath and then a slow exhale out... And then there was nothing. I waited for him to take another breath, but there was only silence. Silence that was filled with the piercing scream that seemed to explode my chest.

“No!”