Gold and black. His eyes were carved, almond-shaped windows that looked down upon her, framed by heavy lashes and a sharp line of kohl that brought out swirling flecks of amber and honey. His raven black hair was cut short, cropped close to his skull, but this only brought out the sharp curve of his cheekbones, his wide-set, aristocratic jaw. As his ship grew closer, driven forward by two dozen shirtless, sweating men, she could make out his broad shoulders, the hardened planes of his abdomen.

Jezza could feel herself blushing. It wasn't that she had never seen a shirtless man before -- she didn't think that Apa and the other male slaves even owned a shirt -- but it was different, here and now, with him. He was a man, and she was suddenly, acutely aware of the fact that she was a woman. She would never forget it again.

But she also couldn't forget this: he was Amun-Ra's chosen one, and she was nothing.

Her mother was the first to drop to her knees. She did it long before the king's slender, curved ship drew alongside the bank, and the men threw out their anchor and jumped over the side, like an overflowing purse filled with shining, bronze coins. Some of them were as dark as she, others lighter, like the warm sand that Elia had once brought back from the beach after one of her excursions with Lord Andromedus.

The God King himself was brown-skinned and glowing. He was the sun and moon and stars and everything in-between; the light bent into iridescent shards wherever it touched him, and Jezza had never been so jealous in her life.

A hand came up and grabbed her around the wrist, pulling her downwards. She let her mother guide her to the gravel-covered ground, ignoring the tiny sharps rocks that dug into the skin of her knees. She was trembling now, shaking at her very core. The God king's ship had finished mooring; he leapt off the starboard in one clean sweep and landed on his feet.

She could hear the golden bangles on his forearms clinking together as he walked, the heavy chains that hung around his throat and fell halfway down his chest brushing against his skin. The breath escaped her lungs in heavy, witless gasps. Sweat prickled in her underarms as the Spartan sun beat down upon her.

The God King was coming towards them, and she couldn't do anything but wait.

At last, he came to a stop in front of her, and silence reigned supreme. The heat from his flesh wafted down towards her, and she was scared to even look at his muscled legs, even though they were directly in her line of view.

"Ramses!" she heard a man call out behind him. "What are you doing, brother?"

"Not now, Adom," Ramses answered him, his voice deep and velvety and delicious.

"Not now?" another man's voice rang out, and now Jezza could hear two sets of footsteps coming towards her. The first man who had spoken sounded like honey poured over glass: rough and abrasive, not at all like the liquid quality of the God King's tone. But the third man was even a greater mystery still; he sounded kind and lighthearted, the least threatening out of all of them. "Come now, Ramses, you're scaring the poor girl."

"Am I scaring you, sweet one?" Ramses bent down to her height, while she continued to stare at the ground. "Look at me." He placed two fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Am I scaring you?"

Jezza's mouth was dry; she could barely find it within herself to speak. "No, Your Grace."

Ramses smiled, white teeth flashing. "What a liar you are."

Her heart seized beating in her chest. "I...," she scrambled to escape the wrath she knew must be coming, "Please, forgive me, my king. I didn't mean to-"

"Oh no, there's nothing to forgive. I find I quite like liars, especially when they are as beautiful as you are."

Jezza could feel herself blushing again.

Ramses rose to his full height, towering over her once more, just as the two other men drew alongside him. She couldn't keep her eyes trained on the ground anymore, now that she had already drunk her fill of the God King's face. The man on Ramses' right had ice blue eyes, lighter, and sharper even that Eritreus', and light brown hair that fell in rippling waves to his proud shoulders. He was shorter than Ramses by perhaps two inches -- the God King stood at six foot three, while he was perhaps six foot one. The man on Ramses' left was slightly taller than them and sported hair that was as black as ink, and curled around his pointed ears. Two locks of hair were braided in the front and tied off with silver beads. His eyes were a deep, mahogany brown, skin darker than Ramses' but still much fairer than Jezza's. Of the three, the blue-eyed man was the lightest of the three, his skin the same shade as Elia's. He must not be native to Egypt, then. But then where could he possibly be from?

"You're too kind, Your Grace."

The raven-haired man laughed, the low sound rumbling through her like a tidal wave. "Believe me, Miss, my brother is far from kind."

"Adom," Ramses growled, though the light in his eyes betrayed his playfulness, "shut your mouth before I shut it for you."

"Miss," the blue-eyed man said, glancing to Jezza's left, "You must excuse my brothers' antics. Is this your mother?"

Jezza gave him a little nod. "Yes, your highness."

The man flashed her a kind smile. "Oh, I am not a prince by any accounts, Miss. There's no need to use titles or honorifics with me."

"But....but you just-"

"Called the God King brother? Yes, we are brothers of a sort, but not by blood. I grew up in the palace as his father's ward, you see. My name is Moses."

"Moses," Jezza repeated, the name sounding strange on her lips.

"Yes, Moses. And you are?"

She bowed her head, embarrassed at the undivided attention all three men were paying her. "Jezebel, my lord."

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

"You have a wife," Ramses was quick to point out. "Zipporah, if I recall."

"I'm not making a play at her, brother," Moses chuckled. "Merely stating the obvious. Jezebel," he said, turning back to her, "this is my brother Ramses II, king of Egypt and son of Amun-Ra, and this is my other brother, Prince Adom."

"I....I am blessed to have met you all."

"Jezebel," Adom said, his unorthodox voice causing goosebumps to break out across her skin, "what is wrong with your mother? Why does she not greet the King?"

Jezza shot an anxious glance in her mother's direction, who was staring up at Ramses with unshed, glistening tears in her eyes. She squeezed her mother's hand hard, and mother returned it, even beneath the three royals' watchful gazes.

"That is because she can't, your highness," she tried to explain, though she was loath to tell the prince the truth of it.

"What do you mean she can't?" Adom demanded of her, obviously not satisfied.

She swallowed her fear, her disgust for Calix and anger towards her pitiful father, and squared her shoulders, ready to defend her mother's weakened state even unto death. "Unlike you and I, my prince, she has no tongue."

Author's Note :

Finally, we meet the brothers! I'm so excited for all of you to see more of the dynamic between Moses, Ramses and Adom, which you are definitely going to get as the story progresses onwards.

As always, please leave a vote and a comment if you liked this chapter, and stay tuned for the next chapter on Saturday! Thank you guys so much.