"Make him think you don't love him!"
"I would never, never do that, your Majesty!" Ariel cried, shocked.
"You think that just because he calls you a princess that you are worthy of that title?"
"Sire, you are much mistaken in your beliefs! I love Ramses more than I can possibly say!"
"You...love...him?"
"Yes, very much."
"Prove it."
The words were soft and dangerous. Ariel trembled. "What...what do you mean?"
"Prove to me that you love him and are worthy to be his wife."
"But...how?"
"Leave him."
"What?!"
"Hurt him. Abandon him. Make him think you don't love him."
"How...how will that...? I don't understand."
"If you do that, I will believe that you love him."
"But..." Seti was tricky, Ariel knew that from experience. "If I do leave him, you'll accuse me of not loving him and convince him that it's true! I just know it!"
"Will you not risk that to be with him?"
Sobbing, Ariel fled from the room. She does not love him, Seti thought to himself, scoffing...
Ariel was still crying as she went back to her room. When she had cried enough tears to flood the Nile again, she pulled herself together. What does Seti want me to do? she thought, miserably to herself.
"Ariel?" It was Ramses, outside her door. She jumped up at once, uncertain of herself. "Come in!" she called.
"Ariel, are you-?" He was cut off in mid-sentence as she threw herself bodily at him. "Oh, Ramses! What have I done?"
"What are you talking about?"
She made a quick decision. It would hurt her and him too, but perhaps then Seti would see how much they loved one another. "I've done you wrong. I'm so sorry."
"What? No, you haven't!"
"I have, I have, Ramses! I've made a terrible error of judgment!"
"What? What do you mean?" He looked into her eyes. She felt tears welling inside her but she bit them back.
"Oh, Ramses..." she pulled away from him. "I need to leave this frightful place. I need to be free." Yes, that was it; her freedom. "I feel smothered here all of a sudden. I need to go."
"Right." He was startled by her sudden outburst but he shook aside all negative thoughts. "Then we'll leave, Ariel; if that's what you want. We'll run away together-"
"No! No, I need to be alone!" she stammered.
"Ariel?" Ramses touched her arm. Ariel ceased her hurried packing and turned to look at him. The concern in his eyes cut into her heart. "What's my father been saying to you?" he asked, suspiciously.
Ariel took a deep breath. "He's made me see sense. I was so foolish, so silly!" She let out a false giggle that caused Ramses to raise an eyebrow. "My head was so muddled..."
"What are you saying, Ariel?"
"I've been leading you on, Ramses."
"No!"
"Yes, I have!"
"No! I don't believe it!" Ramses slammed his hands on the table, causing everything upon it to rattle. "This is my father's doing!"
"No! It's my own! I'm so sorry!"
"Ariel, stop this!" Ramses caught her by the arms, staring into her eyes. "You know that what you're saying isn't true!"
"It is true, Ramses!"
"No, Ariel!"
"Every word of it is true!"
"This is my father's doing!"
"No, it isn't!"
"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me!"
For a second she almost faltered. Ramses looked at her, imploringly, waiting for her to admit that this was all a pack of lies and she truly loved him; he was looking at her with all the love that she felt in her heart for him. But Seti wanted it this way and if it was the only way...could she risk it all for love, true love?
Yes, yes, she could.
Ariel looked straight into his eyes; never blinking, never faltering. "I don't love you."
Ramses dropped his arms, staring at her in disbelief. "No...no, Ariel..."
A sob caught in her throat as she snatched up her bag. "I'm sorry! I really am!"
"You don't love me?"
"No!" This last was a moan as she fled from the room...
"Father!" Ramses stormed into the room to where Seti was standing, talking to Hotep and Huy. "Father, what have you been saying to her?"
"She is not worthy of you, son," Seti replied, bluntly.
"That's for me to judge!" Ramses shouted.
"She's gone, isn't she? Is that proof that she loves you?"
"You got to her, didn't you? You knew she'd leave if you manipulated her enough, didn't you?"
"Are you accusing me of putting ideas in the silly girl's head?"
"You know I am; and she isn't silly! She's confused, because of you!"
"She doesn't love you!"
"She does! She told me so!"
"She was delusional!"
"How dare you? How dare you tell me who to love?"
"She isn't-!"
But whatever Ariel wasn't, Ramses never found out; for, to the surprise of everyone, he grabbed his father by the front of his tunic, his eyes ablaze with fury. "She's gone because of you I loved her and you took her away from me; you ruined the best thing that has ever happened to me!"
Running through the dunes, Ariel suddenly stumbled and fell down. Catching her breaths, she began to cry again as she looked up at the palace she was leaving behind. Her home, her friends, her lover...
A sudden memory struck her, of being lost. She, Ramses and Moses had been playing Tag in the palace and she was it. But she had become lost in the tangled maze of rooms and eventually ended up in the Embalming Chambers. That had scared her, the dead bodies in bandages and the people in Anubis masks and the jars of goodness knows what, so she had run away but become lost again. She could remember calling out and crying as she ran through door after door, one room looking exactly the same as another. And then a hand touched her shoulder and she turned with a gasp. It was Ramses. "Hey, Ariel, you alright?" Sobbing, she had pressed against him and he had hugged her. "Hey, it's ok."
"I was lost!" she sobbed. "I couldn't find you
"Ok, well, don't worry; you're safe now. We'll find Moses and my mother and it'll be ok, you'll see."
How could she leave him after that?
"I must be strong!" Ariel declared, scrambling to her feet, all thoughts of running away abandoned. "I won't give him up! Ramses, I'm coming back to you!"
As she ran, all her images of Ramses played before her in her mind; as a child, a through their youth, now as he was, the strong, kind, fun, loving man that she loved so well; who needed her.
"Ramses!" Seti brushed him off. "You're mad, boy!"
"Perhaps, but I am in love! And no matter what you say, I will have Ariel as my wife!"
"She doesn't love you!"
"Yes I do!" Ariel cried from the doorway. Ramses turned. "Ariel!"
Throwing down her bag, Ariel darted into his waiting arms. "I do love you! I love you so much! I'm so sorry I hurt you! I'm sorry!"
Ramses kissed her rapidly. "I knew you did, Ariel; I knew you couldn't mean it, my darling."
"I'm sorry!" she wept, as he continued to kiss her. "I do love you; I love you! I love you!"
"I know, I know. I love you too."
Ariel pulled away from him to look defiantly at Seti. "You can try all you like to cast me aside or convince me that I can never be right for your son; but I won't give him up. I will never give him up! Beat me, hang me, do whatever you please but nothing will ever, ever stop me from loving Ramses!"
"And you won't keep me from wanting to marry Ariel, either!" Ramses snapped, putting his arm around Ariel's waist and pressing her close to his body.
Seti stared at them both in surprise; he was absolutely flabbergasted. "Well," he said, when he could finally speak, and "Well," and that was all he could say.
"When do you think he'll calm down?" Ariel asked. It was midnight and the pair of them were sitting on one of the great statues in the temple. Ariel was half-reclining with her back to Ramses; her body pressing into his front, her head resting against his chest, fingers entwined with his own, dreamily.
"Oh, I give him until next spring, my princess," Ramses murmured. Ariel smiled. "You know," he added, playing with a lock of her hair, gently teasing it with his fingers, "I really didn't believe that you couldn't love me, although you were very convincing."
"I know. I'm sorry. Your father, he..."
"I know."
"I just thought...maybe it would make him see...but I could never leave you. I know that now."
"Good; because I can't bear to be parted from you."
"Ramses..."
"Yes, my princess?"
"I love you."
He kissed the top of her head. "I love you too. Ariel?"
"Yes?"
"That's twice I've called you my princess and you've not objected to it."
"I know. But it will be true soon, so I don't mind so much any more."
He smiled. "Then I shall call you my princess forevermore...Princess."
"I won't give him up!"
