As Fate Dictates

XL-DOUBLE OF EVERYTHING

My child...

I cried out and I felt like my heart was snatched away from me. I had carried her for nine months, nurtured and went through Anubis' stormhold to give birth to and she's no more?

"Nefera, I'm sorry," my mother said to me.

I sat there looking deranged and frigid absolutely lost. Sabiah told me that the goddess Bastet had promised to give me the joy of motherhood.

Was this joy?

Was this happiness?

I looked over at Merhut who was holding our son, trying to avoid my gaze.

"Give me my child," I yelled out loud.

"My Quee-" the physician began.

"Give me my baby! I want my baby! She's mine, my baby..." I screamed at him and said through sobs.

My mother took me in embrace and patted my head gently trying to calm me down.

"My child, mother..." I began as she hushed me and hummed a lullaby from my childhood.

"I also want to have a daughter, nurture her into a strong independent woman like you have done for me. I want to be there for her, mother. Is that a sin?" I asked her with pain stricken sadness.

"Can I hold her?" I asked but it was more of a command than a request.

The physician handed me my child, wrapped in the royal blue linen looking awfully distressed, but still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I held her up to my chest, rocking with her and trying to hold back tears, singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Merhut handed my mother our son and came to sit by next to me.

"Nefera, forgive me. I should have been able to give you a perfect first child..." He started and I hushed him immediately.

"Look how beautiful she is," I told him and he glanced over at her tiny face and her head full of thick dark hair just like her brother.

She moved one her tiny hands and brushed against my breast.

I could not believe it.

She did that again but with both hands and quite ferocious too.

She opened her mouth and took her first gulp of acrid air, sending out a scream that assured me of her powerful set of lungs.

The entire room broke into applause and I could not help but admire my baby.

Her skin was flushed and a sweet baby pink. The joy of motherhood. That right there was my definition of happiness.

                                                                                     ***

Nebamun and Neith were officially revealed to Egypt at the Royal Feast of Birth to goddess Taweret for the delivery and blessing of two heirs to the Egyptian throne. My son was named Nebamun because he was born first therefore the Conqueror. My beautiful daughter was named Neith because she fought all odds to survive therefore the goddess of war.

My mother in law attended the feast with a humble look on her face. She gifted Nebamun a lion cub from the plains of lower Abyssinia and announced to the public, "A conqueror such as the heir to the throne requires a pet of his standing and what better pet for a prince than a lion?"

  Vizier Raeah was pleased and took the two day old lion cub from her chains and handed them over to the servants. Merhut nodded a pleasant appreciation to his mother who took the act gracefully like the queen she was.

"And to my beautiful granddaughter Neith, I gift her with the Tulip of Love," she said and unveiled a beautiful crown embedded with diamonds. the centerpiece was a large ruby clearly befitting the accessory.

"May she wear it for days that need love above all," she announced and handed the crown to Raeah.

"To the Queen of Egypt, I humbly present you with the very same necklace the late Pharaoh gave me after the birth of Pharaoh Merhut. May it pave way for many more blessed children and ensure the continuity of our reign through your womb," she surprised me with the most elegant yet extravagant necklace.

Her sweet display of what I interpreted as an apology was well received and I could not help but look at my husband whose eyes were full of love for the woman who gave birth to him.

Many royal people came to pay their respect to the heirs of the Egyptian kingdom, among them an old friend Heraclius. He brought with him a beautifully designed sword with three diamonds at the hilt.

At the base of the sword were some words in Greek engraved :

με αυτό το σπαθί μπορεί να σας κερδίσει τις καρδιές

"With this sword, may you win hearts"

For Neith, he brought a golden bracelet also engraved in Greek :

για τη μία συλληφθεί στην Αθήνα

"For the one conceived in Athens"

The entire ceremony was the most memorable event ever to have taken place in the Royal Hall. To be able to hold my children and have the world show their respect for their arrival was one of the greatest achievements I hold dear to my heart.

                                                                    ***

After I lay my children to sleep that night, I was walking down the hallway to my chambers when I met an old friend. Sabiah smiled at me and I greeted her.

"Hathor bestowed her the ability to love and be joyful; Maat gave her the strength to fight for justice and fairness; Nephthys gave her beauty while Isis promised a beautiful marriage life and Bastet promised her the happiness of motherhood and the joy of having a family"

I remembered how naive and young I was since I first met Sabiah. I had gone through so much since my marriage to Merhut. I remember how he used to be such an egotistical maniac. I lost my father to the Medjay but my relationship with my mother grew to heights I never deemed possible. I got married to a complete stranger but I got a family with two beautiful children and a mother in law who respects me. Not to mention an entire nation bowing to me as their Queen.

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Hello darlings!

I apologize for the late update. But good news, though bad news:

THE BOOK IS COMPLETE!

I thank all of you for this journey we've been on and I thank you for your support and your love.

This is my first book and to have it greatly appreciated and well received is a blessing.

Next I have a series titled Crown. It will encircle royals who find love in the middle of political strife. As usual, the genre will be Historical Fiction although not as old as this. This book is around 500 B.C while the Crown series is in 1550.

I hope we will be together in the coming books and may the friendship we have forged last us a lifetime.

Goodbye for now.   قد يكون السلام عليكم الآن وإلى الأبد