MERYT
Where had he gone? I had felt such a rush of love for Nakht when I was suddenly right there, close enough to embracehim, but then… nothingness. Nakht was gone again, and I… I…
What was I doing?
“M-my lord, I-I can get you—”
“Come, little one, I have all I need right here.” The drunken slurs might have been imperceptible to another, but my attention was immediately drawn to it because the stuttering, frightened voice before that deeper one had been Nakht’s.
One of the older soldiers, inebriated and too liberal with his hands, was trying to pull Nakht into his lap. But we were not yet acceptable choices for what he had planned. There were other slaves for that, older dancers trained to please our masters. Nakht and I were but boys, only here to offer wine and trays of food.
I rushed to the soldier with my own pitcher nearly empty. Nakht was having trouble hanging onto his, while fighting to escape the soldier’s grasp without earning his wrath, something I knew was impossible. Another tactic was needed.
“Last of Pharaoh’s special wine!” I announced, loud enough to draw the soldier’s eye. “But is there anyone worthy enough to drink it?”
“What is that?” He reached to stop me as I feigned moving past him.
“Why, this is Pharaoh’s most prized vintage, my lord, but there is very little left. I was tasked with finding someone worthy enough—”
“Give that to me.” He promptly forgot about Nakht, nearly bucking him from his lap in his haste to snatch the pitcher from my hands. “There is no finer soldier who serves our Pharaoh than the one before you.”
“I have no doubt, my lord,” I said.
As soon as he brought the pitcher to his lips to drink directly from the source, I snatched the startled Nakht by the hand and dashed out of sight with him. Out of sight, out of mind, I hoped,and given the soldier’s intoxication, I was fairly certain he would not remember what either of us looked like in a moment.
We ran until we were safely tucked behind a pillar on the other side of the hall, laughing a little and out of breath. Nakht was such a lovely little thing but too thin, not yet mature enough to form the muscles he would one day grow, and at this age with his bronze hair barely brushing the tops of his shoulders.
At this age…
Because we were so much older than this now.
Weren’t we?
“You saved me,” Nakht said, smiling more dazzlingly than I had yet seen from him back then. He never smiled in those early years. He would tell me later that he rarely had a reason to smile until me. Until our friendship formed and blossomed into more.
“Of course,” I answered. “I will always be there to save you, Nakht. We have to look out for one another.”
I had yet to let go of his hand. I hadn’t wanted to. Nakht didn’t pull his hand from mine either but continued to stare at me with that enchanting smile and the torchlight dancing in his eyes as though they were made from that fire. The light danced because we were in more shadow than we had been a moment ago. The ambient light from outside was starting to dim.
Nakht noticed too, and his gaze darted behind me, eyes widening in wonder.
“The sun is almost set.” His attention flickered back to me with a hesitant bat of his lashes. “The dusk reminds me of you. Your darker coloring and how lovely it is.”
“Lovelier than the day?” I asked.
“Oh yes. Don’t you prefer the nighttime?”
“I do, but there is something equally as beautiful about the dawn.”
Nakht smiled brighter, understanding exactly what I meant.
I think I wanted to kiss him already in that moment, young as we were. We were friends, but that night, after my impromptu rescue, was when I first wondered if I loved him the way love was written about in the poetry Nakht was already starting to read and write. It had not been a purely selfless act to risk my safety on his behalf. I hadn’t been able to stand the thought of another touching him when he clearly did not want to be touched.
Once we were older and did want such things, so much would change.
Ithadchanged, for we were twice the age of the child before me or the body I found myself in.
Where was Nakht this time? Where would he appear? I looked around desperately in search of him.
