Hatshepsut stood as Touch fingers grazed her cheek.
She slapped his hand away as she snapped out of her shock.
“How dare you touc—”
Hatshepsut stopped, unable to continue her outrage.
She began to gasp as a searing pain began to spread across her skin.
Her skin blistered as if on fire.
She stumbled back trying to suppress the scream that threatened to escape her lips.
“Are you okay?” Touch asked with fake concern.
He reached for her again.
“You don’t look well.
Perhaps I should take you to a doctor.”
“Get away from me!” Hatshepsut hissed.
She backed away from him, stumbling to the floor as she did.
He did this with purpose.
Hatshepsut glanced around to see if anyone had taken notice of them.
So far it didn’t seem anyone noticed their interaction, but it wouldn’t be long before someone noticed her on the floor.
Hatshepsut looked down at her left arm.
She helplessly watched as burning blisters raced down her arm, braking open her skin in its wake.
The agony was almost unbearable.
Touch reached for her again, she forced herself to jump out of his grasp.
With the little strength she had left, she used her speed to disappear into the dressing room.
Hatshepsut covered her mouth with her right hand as she tried to form ice with her left, but ice didn’t respond.
This pestilence is disturbing my magic!
Hatshepsut took a deep breath as she took her unaffected hand from her mouth and to the cursed skin that was spreading like wildfire over her body.
Ice began to form over the inflamed skin, providing much needed relief.
She huddled in the corner of the dressing room covering herself in ice.
She could feel it absorbing the curse Touch had placed on her.
She rested her head on the wall waiting for her ice to finish its work.
Suddenly, someone crashed through the dressing room door, startling her.
“Don’t touch me!” Hatshepsut hissed with as much venom she could summon.
She huddled herself up as tightly as she could as if to make herself invisible.
“Hatshepsut it’s me.”
Hatshepsut looked up to see Senemut kneeling beside her.
She released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
“Are you okay?” he asked with concerned etched on his face.
He looked at her as if she was dying.
I feel like I’m dying.
“I will be fine,” Hatshepsut said weakly.
“I only need a moment.”
“Sir!” a saleslady rushed in.
“You can’t be in here.”
Hatshepsut noticed that Senemut was using his large frame to hide her from the woman’s view since her being covered in ice would seem beyond strange.
“I’m sorry,” Senemut said sweetly.
“My friend got sick, and I was trying to see if she was okay.” He began to guide her away.
“That is so sweet of you!” the saleslady gushed.
Hatshepsut couldn’t keep herself from rolling her eyes.
Always the charmer.
.
.
********
Senemut stood anxiously outside the dressing rooms waiting on Hatshepsut.
I can’t believe I let this happen on my watch!
Senemut kept replaying the moments before in his head.
How did I not sense him?
Taste him?
I’ve known him for centuries!
How did he get this close without me knowing it?
He had failed at the one task he was given eons ago.
Protecting Hatshepsut.
Was he so distracted with his yearnings that he noticed nothing else?
Senemut let out a frustrated growl as his wiped his hand down his face.
He glanced over to see a lady staring at him strangely.
Senemut didn’t realize the unnatural sound that had erupted from him.
He smiled at the lady with a shrug.
He took off his tinted glasses.
“You know how you ladies are,” Senemut said with the most sheepish look he could muster.
His eyes glimmered a moment, mesmerizing the lady.
“Growling is a normal sound when frustrated.”
“Yes,” she said blankly with a smile.
“It is perfectly normal.”
“You shouldn’t allow that to interrupt your shopping.
Walk away.”
The woman turned and began to walk towards another rack of clothes.
Senemut put his glasses back on and took a quick sweep of the area to make sure no one else heard is ‘frustration’.
No one else seemed interested in him beside the usual lustful gazes he was used to.
He turned his attention back towards the dressing room wondering about Hatshepsut’s condition.
When he found her, she looked like a wounded animal that needed to be put out of its misery.
It was only made worst by Hatshepsut’s outcry.
She sounded so forceful, but it was tainted by the fear that Senemut had already tasted in the air.
Fear.
.
.
That was an emotion that he didn’t experience from Hatshepsut often.
She didn’t allow much to rattle her.
He had watched her stare into the face of doom on more that one occasion and not even flinch.
Seeing her cower in a corner was almost too much for him to handle.
Senemut sighed again with balled fist on his hips.
Anger boiled in him growing hotter by the second.
When he was about to reach his limit, Hatshepsut walked out.
She had a couple of dresses laid over her arm.
“Are you—”
Hatshepsut held up her hand as she walked pass him.
He watched her head towards the checkout counter and lay the items on the counter.
Senemut walked up beside her, eyeing her suspiciously.
Hatshepsut continued with her transaction as if nothing had occurred, handed Senemut her bag, and walked out the store.
A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as Senemut followed her to the car quietly.
He pushed the urge away as he wondered what was going on in her head.
As she pulled out her keys, Senemut grabbed her hand.
He could feel a subtle quiver as he held her hand.
He gently took the keys from her.
“I’ll drive.”
Hatshepsut silently nodded as she released her hold on the keys.
She slipped into the car with her bags as Senemut took his place in the driver’s seat.
He started the car, but his hand paused on the gear.
“Are you .
.
.”
“Angry,” Hatshepsut said flatly without turning to look at him.
“I am very angry.
The audacity!
I .
.
I .
.
.”
Senemut sat patiently as Hatshepsut struggled with her words.
Hatshepsut gave up on finishing her sentence and folded her arms as she looked out the window.
“I will make Touch pay,” Senemut said as he began to drive out the parking lot.
“I do not need you to fix this,” Hatshepsut said as she unfolded her arms.
“But you said he made you angry—”
“I am angry at myself.”
Senemut glanced over at Hatshepsut confused.
Hatshepsut rolled her eyes with a sigh.
“I panicked,” Hatshepsut said with shame.
“It’s understandable.”
“No, it is not!” Hatshepsut practically screamed.
“I allowed myself to lose focus for one moment, and it was almost the end of me.”
“I don’t think he intended to kill you.”
“I know.
There was no malice in his eyes.
His intent was to incapacitate.
I suppose he intended to kill me elsewhere.
It almost worked.
His pestilence rendered my magic useless and blocked my healing.
Fortunately, I could utilize my ice.
If not for that, his plan would have succeeded.”
“Is that what you feared?
Death?”
Hatshepsut looked at him with a face filled with shock and confusion.
“What are you—”
“I could taste your fear in the air as I rushed to find you.”
“I see,” Hatshepsut said quietly.
“I suppose I was afraid but not of death.
We are practically bed fellows.”
“Then of what?”
Hatshepsut turned her gaze back out the window.
“Being .
.
.
helpless.” Hatshepsut cleared her throat as if to keep some emotion in check.
“The pain was so great, I could not think or act.
I could only run.
I ran!
I ran away like a wounded animal!
I have not felt that kind of humiliation, no, desperation in decades.
Maybe even centuries.
I do not know what I would have done if that was Touch that came crashing into that dressing room instead of you.”
Senemut looked over at Hatshepsut, but she wouldn’t turn to face him.
He could hear her breathing tremor slightly.
He took her hand into his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
He then turned his attention back to the road.
Hatshepsut cleared her throat again.
“We are not done shopping, are we?”
Senemut turned to her in disbelief.
“What do you mean?
You still want to continue shopping?”
“Of course,” Hatshepsut replied with an air of obviousness.
“I need new shoes to go with the dresses.”
Senemut chuckled.
“As you wish, my queen.”