Stars After Midnight

III. A Nile's Glow

"I am not coming out."

Sethe rolled his eyes. "As much as I would love to stay in here all day with you, I unfortunately have my Pharaoh duties to attend to."

Nyla scoffed, her silhouette picking at the fabric of the dress he picked out. He tried his best to keep the gown as radiant as her, but such a dress was hard to come by. There was not enough in the world to fully describe the glowing, vibrant passion he felt towards this sassy priestess. Even now as the sands of time continue to fall deeper down the hourglass, he could not pry himself away from her small antics. 

"Nyla, come out," he tried gently as a thin, white curtain separated them. 

The outline of her shape shadowed the veil between them, a tempting fruit waiting for his touch, for his affections. Though they were on two sides of a river, Sethe knew he would swim past the storming anger of the current to reach Nyla. He knew that she was consuming him, and he was helpless to stop her. 

Sethe exhaled an exasperated breath. They had been bantering for half an hour, and his scheme and obligations awaited his attention, but as the most powerful man of Egypt, he still could not convince her to come from behind the curtains. 

Seeing no other way, Sethe slowly pushed the veil to the side, revealing the shy and embarrassed priestess that could only peek up at him through her thick, black lashes, fluttering like the wings of a phoenix, her eyes holding the same timid fire that he remembered from last night. 

He was at awe. 

The dress he chose was the same shade as the nile when harvest season neared, the sun's ray reflecting against the sharpness of the blowing current, a glassy reflection against the lightness of her gown, a beautiful cerulean shimmering along with the rest of her. 

It hugged the top of her chest tightly, the creases wrapped lowly across her shoulders instead of a typical two strap gown. Like most fashion for royalty, this dress cinched her waist with a gold band tightly pressed against her abdomen along with the numerous layers of a gem enriched necklace sparkling against her chest. 

His eyes were stuck on her expression, the small breaths that escaped the rosy tint of her parted lips, the curious yet frightened lure of her dark, maple eyes, so warm, so sweet that he could feel the intensity rip his soul apart, driving him to madness. The dark, midnight outline of her eyes only amplified the hypnotising spell she cast on him.

With her long, flowing mass of black hair left to cascade down past her shoulders and a sun-beaded headpiece plated and weaved into her hair with a small, azure opal dangling at her forehead, she looked as beautiful as the goddesses she studied. 

He had no words.

Hesitantly, Nyla wrapped her arms around herself, a deep sadness etched across her small features as she averted her gaze to the ground. "I... I know this looks strange on me," she whispered brokenly. "I tried to... tell you."

The shock wore off, and Sethe tried his best to stifle his laughter at how ridiculous she was being. 

Nyla's body froze, eyes squeezed shut. 

Taking a couple steps to close the distance between them, Sethe tilted her chin upwards, forcing Nyla to look up at him even though crystal tears were threatening to spill out like a river of her own anguish, her own insecurities seeping through the cracks of her demeanor. 

He smiled. "How could you ever be embarrassed of your beauty?" he murmured lowly, leaning down to place a tempting kiss to her nape. "Do you not see how haunting your mere presence is for my broken heart?"