Beauty and the Pharaoh

Chapter 50 - [The Tomb of Akhenatem]

When arriving in Egypt I'm usually thrilled. The smell of the air, the feeling on my skin... everything made a trip to Egypt absolutely wonderful. This time, I should have been more thrilled then ever. Tomorrow was the day we finally opened the tomb of Akhenatem, after all. The press was going to be there, many famous Egyptologists and scholars were going to be there, Egyptian officials were going to be there... it was going to be remarkable.

But instead, I felt rather gloomy.

Maybe even depressed.

What May had said to me a few days ago refused to leave my mind. I could not, no matter how hard I tried, push it out of my mind.

Part of me believed that she was just having a strange breakdown. Maybe the stress was getting to her. Maybe things were tough and she's hiding the real issue from me.

But I wasn't a psychologist.

I was an Egyptologist.

I was the last person on earth who could diagnose her behaviour.

However, despite that part of me that felt that way, my entire heart disagreed. The look on her face... the emotion in her eyes... all of that was so real.

Whatever she was going through was real, and it broke my heart to leave her behind in the middle of all this to pursue my own dreams.

When I got to the hotel, it was nine in the morning. I had a lot of meetings to attend later today to finalize everything before tomorrow, but for now, I thought a nap would do me some good.

Of course, I couldn't sleep.

All I could really think of doing was calling Ethan. So that was exactly what I did.

"Maya," he said when he picked up, just as I rolled over in the bed I was in. His voice was deep and husky and he sounded drunk with sleep.

"Hey, Ethan..."

"It's three in the morning here, Maya," he said. And despite the fact that he sounded annoyed, he still managed a chuckle.

Oh. I forgot about the time difference. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's fine," he said, still sounding sleepy. "Are you okay?"

"Mhmm... got off the plane not too long ago," I started, "Is Kiya sleeping?"

"Yes," he said. "Right here. Listen."

After a moment, I assumed he put the phone near Kiya because I could hear her soft breathing. I smiled, my heart skipping a beat.

The only thing I hated about traveling to Egypt was leaving my little baby behind. That was why Ethan stayed back, despite wanting to be there for this legendary day. We made a promise when I got pregnant that one of us would be at home with Kiya at all times. We would never leave her without at least one of us.

"She's fine," Ethan said when he got the phone back. "Are you sure you're okay? You must be exhausted, you should sleep, Maya."

"I know," I started. "I tried."

"But you can't."

I let out a breath before turning in the bed and staring at the ceiling. "The entire thing with May..." I had told Ethan everything, positive that May wouldn't mind. Uncle Ethan was in the story, after all.

And as Aurora had felt that déjà vu sensation, so did Ethan... and it worried me more.

"Maya, don't feel guilty for leaving in the middle of that," he said, figuring it out in an instant. "May wouldn't want you to feel guilty. She already told us that she's going to try and move past it all."