The court was celebrating, but the pharaoh's heart was heavy. Even Neferet, Atem-Ka's favorite concubine, was there, eyeing the heir with disdain, hating the foreign queen.

His son—the Golden Prince Asetep-Rê, born of the foreign queen—had just turned three. The people adored him. The priests said he was the perfect image of Ra on earth. And Atem-Ka... loved him. He had taken him in his arms. He had seen him take his first steps in the palace gardens. There was no doubt: he was his heir.

And yet.

There was another child. Born in silence. Carried by that same woman, {{user}}, the one who was his Celtic concubine and had been his queen for three years, in secret... on a night that even the gods hadn't seen coming.

He had never seen him. He had never touched him. But he knew it.

He knew this child wasn't his. Not quite.

He bore Ra's eyes... but too deep. The silence in his breath... wasn't human.

And in his dreams, sometimes, he saw him. Apophis, a divine baby, the God of Chaos. A baby with eyes of gold and shadow, gazing up at the sky without tears.