Sekhemkhet's Promise Pt. 04

They had been walking for a half hour. The car had dropped them off at a grassy park where Brits and locals meandered in the hot afternoon sun. William had guided her through street after street, showing her his favourite buildings and spinning tales of locals that he had met. This wasn't his first time in Cairo, and he knew more than she had imagined.

Anabeth couldn't help but admire him. He was so attractive under normal circumstances, but now he was animated -- talking about a passion of his, gesturing wildly, and laughing with ease, his eyes bright and alive. At times he would stand behind her and bring his face down to her shoulder, so he was at her eye level, using his hand to point to something or other that was important to his story.

"Are you hungry?" He asked her as they turned down a small alleyway. It was cooler there, mercifully, as she had become quite uncomfortable under her layers of clothes. Only once he asked did she notice her stomach grumbling.

"A little," she admitted, aware that her mother had always told her that a lady never told anyone that she was hungry.

William grinned at her and took her hand in his. "Perfect. I know this great little place."

Only after a few more steps did he stop. "After you," William stood back, gesturing for Anabeth to lead the way. She hid a smile, realising that whether she had told him she was hungry or not, he was leading her here anyway.

Beth stepped through the ornately carved wooden door into a surprisingly cool area. The floor and walls were covered in patterned tiles, only broken up by the dark wood of a staircase that circled almost the full room, and a few doors. In the centre of the room was a shallow pool of water, surrounded by a serpentine pattern of tiles. Anabeth looked away. She'd had enough of snakes for the day.

Guided by William's hand at the small of her back, Beth moved towards one of the doorways where a small, older woman met them.

The woman's eyes lit up when she saw William. "Ah, William, I thought you'd found somewhere better to eat," she laughed, her voice thick with her Egyptian accent. She pulled William in for a hug and, though she was half his height, he bent to allow her arms around his neck.

"Never, Nyla," William replied, breaking away from the embrace. "There is nowhere better." He turned to Anabeth and gestured to her. "Nyla, this is Anabeth Brightbury, from the museum."

Nyla's eyes widened. "Akhenaten's guest?"

"Yes," Anabeth smiled at her, surprised at Nyla's shock.

"Not that I've been talking about you," William cleared his throat. There was a touch of pink in his cheeks.

Nyla seemed to shake out of it quickly, smiling slyly at Anabeth. "He comes in everyday, talking about the beautiful English girl he will marry."

Anabeth laughed and Nyla gestured to follow her, ignoring William's protests.

They entered into a beautiful space -- the walls were a rich orange colour, but were mostly just archways into a small, grassy garden with a fountain in the middle. The floor was covered in tiny blue and white mosaic tiles, pieced together with such delicate care. Ornate black lanterns dangled at different lengths from the ceiling, rather than one large chandelier, holding candles that were already half-finished.

There were heavy-looking wooden tables and chairs all over the room, with natives enjoying a meal with their friends, families, and colleagues. For the first time since Anabeth could remember, she was a part of the only white couple in the room. It was a strange feeling.

They were led to a small round table beside one of the archways and Nyla held out a chair for her. The table already had a silver tea pot on it. Anabeth was about to begin straining the leaves but Nyla came to her side and did it for her.

"Do I need to ask what you want?" Nyla smiled at William, who looked sheepishly at Anabeth.

"Do you mind if I order for the table?" He asked. Anabeth was a little surprised he had consulted her first. Most men ordered first and then simply stated that he hoped she was alright with that.

"Please," Anabeth gestured with her hand, picking up her teacup and taking a sip. It was an herbal concoction -- sweet but with a slightly spicy after-taste.

"The usual, please, Nyla," William said. Nyla nodded and scurried away immediately.

Anabeth sank back into her chair and looked around. It was a totally foreign idea to her -- dining alone with a man she didn't know, in a city she wasn't supposed to be in, in a restaurant that her guardian wasn't aware she was visiting. She felt as free as a bird.

Looking over, she noticed that William looked perfectly at ease in this setting. Looking out of the archway at the garden, she imagined this was their home. That they were sitting on the terrace, over-looking the garden where two beautiful children -- a boy and a girl -- ran around, laughing and chasing each other. Pure domestic bliss but in the midst of a foreign country.

Anabeth shook her head. She wasn't sure where that image had come from.

"Alright, I've spoken enough," William said, shaking out his napkin and putting it on his lap. "Tell me about yourself."

"Oh," Anabeth thought for a minute. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, for instance, what do you do when you're not discovering hidden tombs and running museums?"

Anabeth grinned, matching William's expression as he teased her. "Firstly, I barely have anything to do with the museum. Akhenaten just keeps me for decoration," Anabeth stumbled over his name. She felt strange not referring to him as Sekhemkhet. "But, really, I don't do much. I applied for Cambridge to study ancient Egypt but had to withdraw to stay here with the exhibit."

"What do you plan to do once you've finished with the exhibit then?" William refilled her cup with tea before doing the same to his own.

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "Get married, I suppose."

"Oh, come on Annie, I'm sure you have more ambition than that," he laughed, though she could see his cheeks go a little pink. That was interesting.

Anabeth smiled. "Only my father calls me Annie."

"A man of good taste then," William winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes. He was a terrible flirt.

"What do you plan to do when you leave Egypt?" She asked, turning the question on him.

"Well, now. I have more options, don't I? One of the great injustices of the world, I suppose." Anabeth wasn't sure if he was teasing her or not, so she remained silent, hoping he would go on. "My father wants me to take over his company at some point, but I have little interest in it. Besides, my younger brother is much better suited to the business world than I am."

"What would you do instead?" Anabeth asked, curious. She had never met an eldest son who didn't follow his parents' wishes before. Then again, she hadn't met many unconventional people at all.

"You know I'm not sure I'd do anything," William cocked his head, looking at her. He seemed to debate saying something, but just then the food arrived.

"It's kushari," he told her as a young man put the plates in front of them. It was colourful and smelled wonderful -- a thousand miles away from the food that she was used to being served in England. It was different even from the variation of food that she was fed back at her villa -- usually typical English food, though sometimes with slight alterations to allow her to try something new.

Anabeth took a tentative bite. It was delicious! So many different flavours -- herbs and spices the likes of which she had never experienced. She understood why William came here to often.

"I think I'll just keep travelling," William told her after swallowing a mouthful. "I have some investments back in New York which will keep me for a little while longer. I'd like to see Japan at some point."

Anabeth's eyes lit up at the mention of travelling. She almost asked him to take her with him but realised how indecent that would have sounded.

"I'd do the same if I had the chance," she said instead. The implication was quite clear in her voice, but she tried not to let it show. "My parents want me to go home and become a proper lady, but I don't have any interest in that. Alternatively, I could stay here for a while longer, but without my father's support I'm really at a loss."

William nodded. She could see the thoughts flashing through his head, though he didn't voice them. Anabeth began to wonder if Nyla had really only been teasing her about what William had said about her.

As they ate, William told Anabeth more about his life in New York. William had studied finance at university and had worked for his father for a few years before he began to travel. So far, he had been to most of Latin America, and parts of Europe, but he had stayed with his aunt in Germany for a few years before travelling with her to Egypt. He was the eldest, at twenty-eight and had three younger brothers and no sisters, which his mother had always complained of, though his father loved. They had a townhouse in the city, the same as Anabeth's family, but they also kept a house in Massachusetts for the summer. Two of his brothers still stayed with the family, but the second youngest had already married and moved to Paris with his wife -- a French bureaucrats' daughter.

Somehow Anabeth found it all fascinating. Perhaps it was like the other stories of travel -- she had never been to the United States and so it was like any other foreign land. Or perhaps it was because of who was telling the story.

In return, Anabeth told him about her own family -- about her father and his expectations, her mother and her fragile nerves, her brother Charles and his irritating over-confidence, and her eldest brother and sister, James and Edith, who were both already married and moved out. She was the opposite to William, as she was the youngest and she would soon only be twenty-one. Anabeth tried to describe Robert, her ex-almost-fiancé to William, but she found it difficult. She had given such little thought to the poor man since she had left England, but now she remembered him -- stuck in some lunatic asylum for the rest of his life, afraid of hippos. Just another of the strange ways that her life had changed since her first trip to Egypt.

Once they were finished the young man took their plates away and a small bowl of hot water was brought to them to freshen their hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused. You were going to marry Robert? You sound like you despised him." William chuckled slightly. He had rolled up his sleeves while he was eating and his forearms were on show, which distracted Anabeth to no end. He was just so masculine.

"I don't know that I would have," Anabeth defended herself. "But I didn't have much choice. If Sekhemkhet hadn't come along I think I would have been stuck with Robert."

William tilted his head. "Sekhemkhet the ancient pharaoh?"

Anabeth blanched. "You know what I mean -- the opportunity to work with his exhibit."

William nodded as though that made perfect sense. He was going to start to think she was insane if she kept referring to Sekhemkhet in the present tense. For now, he continued to converse with her as though everything was fine.

"Excuse me for a moment," William said after a few minutes, standing and heading for the restrooms as Anabeth cleansed her fingers.

Anabeth relaxed back into her chair, looking out at the small garden. She felt strange. Almost elated, as she had when she had first returned to Egypt. William had brought a sense of excitement to her day that had been missing for a few weeks. The monotony of her days was usually only broken up by the arrival of guests for dinner. Besides that, she did mostly the same thing.

She was aware suddenly that her goals in life had changed. Before she had found Sekhemkhet's tomb she had wanted to study ancient Egypt. She had wanted to attend Cambridge and work in a museum, like her father. But she didn't want that anymore.

What she had loved about studying the past of this country was the sense of foreign life -- the idea of a way of living that was so different from her own that she could only imagine it. But now, while she still loved living here and experiencing the culture, she knew that before the year was up, she would tire of it. She would crave a new adventure -- a new culture, a new history. It was the sense of freedom that she yearned for. Anabeth didn't want to stay in Egypt or return home once her time with the exhibit was done. She wanted to travel to new places.

She frowned, realising how difficult that would be. Sekhemkhet would not want her to leave his side and she doubted he would want to travel far from his home -- especially given his duty to his country. Beth remembered Wadjet's warnings. Perhaps Sekhemkhet wouldn't be a worry for much longer, she mused. He might not want her anymore.

"Is it true?" Nyla's voice startled Anabeth, followed quickly by her grip on Anabeth's hand. "Is he back?"

"I'm sorry?" Beth breathed, her eyes suddenly wildly scanning the room for William, hoping that he was on his way back. She had been so lost in thought she hadn't heard Nyla approach her.

"The Pharaoh," Nyla hissed. "The salvation of Egypt. Has he come to free us?"

Anabeth shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about that." She did, of course, and she wasn't sure why she didn't just admit it to this woman -- it clearly meant a lot to her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Perhaps she was afraid that it would make her sound insane. Perhaps she just wanted to keep it her own secret. Either way she admitted nothing.

"All of Cairo knows," Nyla looked deeply into Anabeth's eyes. "The tomb was empty -- the body gone. We have all heard of the English daughter who can understand Arabic."

Anabeth's eyes widened as she realised that the woman wasn't speaking to her in English. Nyla simply nodded.

"Be careful," she whispered, bringing her face closer to Anabeth's. "The Pharaoh is not a kind man." Nyla kissed Anabeth's forehead and pulled away just as William arrived back at the table.

"Making friends?" He smiled at Anabeth, holding his hand out to help her up.

"I was telling her to marry you quickly, before someone else does," Nyla laughed jovially in broken English. She had become the sweet elderly woman that she was when they had first come in again. Anabeth struggled to bring herself back as quickly.

Taking William's proffered hand, Anabeth stood with him. "Thank you, Nyla, I'll see you again tomorrow," William said, though Anabeth didn't really hear him. She followed him to the door and out into the alleyway.

"So, what did you think of the food?" William asked her.

"We didn't pay the bill," Anabeth murmured as they walked away from the restaurant, unable to think of anything else. She was in a daze. That was her second warning, Anabeth realised. Two people had cautioned her in one day -- one of whom was a Goddess, for heaven's sake! What was she doing?

"I have a tab running," William laughed. "I should really try something new, but when the food is that good, what's the point?"

To Anabeth's surprise, the car and driver were waiting for them at the street beside the alleyway.

"It's almost four," William told her, helping her onto the seat. "I thought you might need to get back before too many people noticed that you were gone."

Anabeth thanked him. She was able to keep some amount of conversation going until they reached the museum, though what she had talked about she was unsure. Her mind was elsewhere.

"Well, thank you. For a lovely meal and a wonderful tour. I don't-"

"When can I see you again?" William cut her off. His hand was holding hers and she hadn't even noticed. His large thumb ran across her delicate knuckles.

Anabeth smiled slightly. She loved William's company and found him attractive. She could feel herself begin to develop something. A feeling in the pit of her stomach -- she enjoyed having him near her too much. Yet the joy she would normally feel at this was gone. She was worried, preoccupied with her own life and problems.

Suddenly her smile turned sad. She wasn't sure she should see him again. Surely it was wrong for her to be with Sekhemkhet and yet speaking to another man? But then, was she with Sekhemkhet? They had never discussed it. And he had not yet proposed as she imagined he would.

And then a dread filled her. How would Sekhemkhet react to William if he found out? Anabeth once again thought back to Robert -- a man she had detested and Sekhemkhet had all but admitted to driving him insane. What would he do to someone that she actually liked?

"I know that smile," William told her before she could answer. Anabeth looked up and saw hurt in his eyes, immediately making her want to refuse his assumption. "Don't worry, I've dealt with worse," he tried to smile. "But, listen, my aunt is hosting a formal dinner in a week's time before she goes back to Germany. She would very much like you to come." William pulled the piece of paper that he had been fiddling with earlier out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Please don't say no on my account. Aunt Sophia already adores you."

"William, that's not . . . I didn't intend for you to get that impression-"

"Miss Brightbury?" Mr Banks cut Anabeth off before she could finish.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, before letting herself out of the car and walking away.

"Who was that?" Mr Banks asked, trying to get a good look at William, but she had been blocking his view and the car was already pulling away.

"A friend. He took me out for lunch," Anabeth was trying to stop herself from crying. She wasn't even sure why. "I'm ready to go home now," she told Mr Banks, hoping that he would not question her further.

She was right. Mr Banks could see that something was the matter, so he simply offered her his arm and began the short walk back to her villa.

************

Anabeth had no visitors that night for dinner. Instead she dined alone, before retiring to her room to contemplate her day.

At the heart of it all she tried to figure out: what do I want? In the short-term, staying here with Sekhemkhet was wonderful. She had even agreed to travel with him to London and then to Rome with the exhibit, though she was sure that he would not hold her to that promise if she changed her mind. When she took him out of her considerations and imagined staying here without him, she found that she was still happy in Egypt. In reality, Anabeth was already living that life. She saw him for a few hours every night before she fell asleep and was alone the rest of the time.

But it was the 'after' that she was worried about. The empty expanse that was her life was daunting.

If Wadjet was to be believed, then Anabeth had little future here in Egypt. It would be prudent to have a plan in place in case the worst should happen. But her options were so few. To return to England and her old life seemed like such an unfair prospect; to never have this freedom or excitement again.

Anabeth frowned as she removed the pins which kept her hair in place. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her nose was covered with a dusting of freckles and her cheeks were slightly red from the sun after her afternoon with William.

And then, of course, her thoughts turned to him. Sighing, she moved to the balcony which joined her bedroom to her bathroom. The night air was still warm and Anabeth could hear the insects down in the grass and sands.

William. Had he come along before Sekhemkhet, she imagined she would already be engaged to him -- and quite happy about it. He was everything that her parents would not want for her in a husband -- adventurous, non-traditional, and American. And, though she had longed to never take a husband, she could imagine a good and fulfilling future with him.