Pharaoh’s Pet [BL]

Nofri-it sat motionless in the gilded cage, his body curled into itself, his wrists resting on his knees as his fingers trembled against the cold golden bars.

The sounds of Thebes pulsed beyond the open balcony—the distant hum of the Nile, the chants of priests invoking the gods, the heavy footfalls of warriors patrolling the palace corridors. But none of it reached him. He was trapped in a prison of his own making.

His head tilted upward, catching the dark silhouette of Azech-I, reclining on his grand throne across the chamber, his chin resting upon his hand as he watched Nofri-it with the indulgent patience of a hunter toying with his prey.

The golden adornments on his broad shoulders shimmered beneath the firelight, his dark kohl-rimmed eyes unreadable as he drank from a goblet of spiced wine.

"You look divine in gold," Azech-I mused, his voice as rich as the wine he sipped. "Fitting, considering you were once royalty yourself."

Nofri-it didn't flinch. He refused to give Azech-I the satisfaction of a reaction.

"Is that what you reduced me to?" he rasped, his voice hoarse from lack of use. "A spectacle to be admired from afar?"

Azech-I smirked, setting his goblet aside. "A spectacle, yes. But admired? That depends entirely on you."

He rose from the throne, his robes shifting fluidly around him as he strode forward, each step slow, deliberate, a predator approaching its caged prize.

Nofri-it clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. "You think this will break me?"

Azech-I stopped just before the cage, gripping one of the bars with a lazy hand, his thumb stroking the cool metal. "Break you?" He chuckled. "I have no need to break you, Nofri-it. You were broken long before I ever laid my hands on you."

The words sent a sharp pang through his chest.

He wasn't wrong.

Nofri-it had been shattered the day he was dragged from Thebes, stripped of everything he was, everything he had fought for. He had been broken when he spent years in the dungeons of Memphis, his once-lethal body reduced to a trembling husk, his spirit battered but not extinguished.

Azech-I had not broken him. But he had come to finish what Pharaoh Cairo had started.

"Drink."

Nofri-it blinked, only realizing now that Azech-I had lowered the goblet to him through the cage bars. The wine was dark, fragrant, its scent laced with spices he hadn't tasted in years.

His throat burned with thirst.

He hated that Azech-I knew.

"Go to hell," he whispered.

Azech-I's eyes gleamed in amusement. "I rule over hell, Nofri-it. And now, you do too."

He swirled the wine in the goblet before bringing it to his own lips, taking a slow, deliberate sip before lowering it again. "You will drink eventually," he said, his tone light but assured. "Your body will betray you, just as it always has."

Nofri-it's jaw clenched.

Azech-I crouched, leveling his gaze with Nofri-it's through the bars. "Do you know what it does to me?" he murmured, his voice a molten whisper. "To see you like this? To see the man who once stood against me now kneeling at my feet?"

His fingers reached through the bars, brushing against the dark bruises along Nofri-it's wrist. Nofri-it jerked away violently, but there was nowhere to go, no escape, only the bars keeping them apart.

Azech-I smiled, slow and knowing.

"You still shiver when I touch you," he mused. "Even after all these years."

Nofri-it's breath was uneven, rage curling in his chest. "I will kill you," he swore, the words laced with venom. "Even if it's the last thing I do."

Azech-I chuckled, dark and indulgent. "You already tried that, my love." He leaned closer, his breath ghosting over Nofri-it's lips. "And yet, here we are."

Nofri-it glared at him, his heart hammering in his chest.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," he whispered.

Azech-I traced a lazy pattern along the cage bars, his eyes alight with something unreadable. "Ah, but then I would have never had the pleasure of watching you kneel before me."

The words struck deeper than they should have.

Because he had knelt before Azech-I once.

Not in chains. Not in submission.

But in love.

A memory surged forward unbidden—a night in Thebes, beneath the painted ceiling of Azech-I's private chamber, Nofri-it's body pressed against his, their hands tangled in silk and desire. The warmth of Azech-I's lips, the whispered confessions that had made him forget, if only for a moment, who he was meant to be.

"You are mine," Azech-I had murmured that night, his lips tracing the curve of Nofri-it's throat. "Fate has already decided."

"No," Nofri-it had gasped, his fingers digging into the Pharaoh's back. "I will never be yours..."

But he had been.

And he hated himself for it.

The present slammed back into him like a wave, leaving him breathless.

Azech-I watched him, his gaze knowing. He had seen the flicker of memory in Nofri-it's eyes, the ghosts of the past whispering between them.

"You still remember," Azech-I said, his voice dangerously soft.

Nofri-it's fingers curled into the silks draped over his lap. "I remember everything."

Azech-I exhaled a slow breath, his eyes heavy with something unspoken. "Then you understand why I will never let you go."

Nofri-it swallowed, his throat tightening.

The Pharaoh's gaze flickered to the collar around Nofri-it's neck, a symbol of possession, of triumph. But it was not just gold—it was iron, binding him in ways that went far beyond the physical.

"You are mine, Nofri-it," Azech-I whispered. "And I will make you admit it."

Nofri-it said nothing.

Because part of him already had.

To Be Continued...