All For Love

So my current musical obsession is Serena Ryder's All For Love, which I can't seem to listen to enough right now. (This is why earphones were invented - to save my family from these times.)

"Lost my place in the line again
Put it back on the shelf and let the dust settle in
I always thought that we'd be more than friends
I always thought that we were different"

Ramses, aka Walter Peabody Emerson, is an Egyptologist, the son of Elizabeth Peters' highly unconventional (for their time) Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson. Ramses, a precocious child and devastatingly attractive man, has been in love with Nefret Forth since he was a child. He is struck speechless (a very unusual condition for him) the first time he sees Nefret, and in all the years since then, his devotion has never wavered.

"Her slim body, scarcely concealed by the flimsy garment beneath the veils, was that of a girl on the threshold of womanhood. Her face was heart-shaped, curving gently from rounded cheeks to a delicate pointed chin. Her skin had the translucent lustre of a pearl. The faintest tinge of rose warmed its pallor. Her eyes were blue - not the blazing sapphire of Emerson's, but the tender azure of forget-me-nots. Delicate brows arched above them, long lashes framed them. And from her broad white brow the crowning glory of her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back, a flood of molten gold bright with coppery highlights.

The first sound that broke the stillness came from somewhere in the region of my left shoulder blade. It resembled the last drops of water gurgling from a hose.
 
... Her voice was soft and sweet, with a quaint little accent. There was another gurgle from Ramses..." The Last Camel Died At Noon

Nefret, an orphan, is taken in by Ramses' parents, who raise the two as siblings. Unfortunately for Ramses, although the two have a rapport between them that is almost psychic, Nefret only sees him as her younger brother.

Slipping through the hole where the moon don't shine
Spent too long trying to make you mine
Kept on running but I fell behind
Butterfly better fly away this time

The situation becomes far more painful for Ramses as he nears adulthood, when his childish devotion matures to an adult love. No matter what he does, Nefret simply does not return his feelings.

"There you go again," David exclaimed. "Why do you object to showing yourself in a favorable light to a girl you want to impress? You've been in love with her for years. Don't tell me you've stopped caring for her."

"Let's just say that I've decided to stop dashing my brains out against the stone wall of her indifference. If she hasn't learned to appreciate my sterling character and spectacular good looks by this time, it's not likely she will."

"But she is very—"

"Fond of me?" Ramses conquered a childish urge to throw his beer-stained shirt at David. "I know she is." The Falcon At The Portal

And then, just when it seems that Ramses has finally achieved his life long dream of winning Nefret's love, everything goes to pieces. Thinking he has done something terrible, something she once told him she could never forgive him for, she rushes off and marries another man.

"Nobody knows where the hell I've been
Gonna make a fool of myself again
Keep on getting stuck up in the same old scene
Baby why'd you have to go and be so mean

I'm all for love
But I can't see the light
Tell me how to do it
Tell me how I'm gonna get it right
I'm all for love
And I'm trying again
I don't wanna give up
I don't wanna give in"


Books: The Last Camel Died At Noon by Elizabeth Peters
            Falcon At The Portal by Elizabeth Peters
Music: All For Love by Serena Ryder