"Kiss of Fate"
This is a short account of the life of Ayeha the Arab, child of Yarab, who defeated Pharaoh Nectanebes, before she became She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, or "She". The story is expanded in the later and rarely-read "Wisdom's Daughter". Ayesha is Wisdom's Daughter, Isis come to earth, or the Isis. She is priestess of Isis at Philae.
A Grecian warrior, captian of the guard at Pharaoh's court, has come to Philae to seek the counsel of the goddess, having killed a fellow officer - his very brother. This is none other than Kallikrates, of whom we learn more in "She". But, though separated from him by a holy divide - she is a virgin priestess - she is strangely drawn to him, and he seems to sense something too. Kallikrates renounces the world and trains to be a priestess of Isis, to the delight of the priests, who are happy that a Greek has renounced his alien gods in favour of one of Egypt's.
But when the newly-trained devotee is presented to the veiled priestess, who on that occasion wears the mantle of the very goddess, both are moved by mundane - indeed carnal - thoughts. When the priestess comes to kiss her new priest on the brow she turns her head and kisses him on the lips instead. At this moment Ayesha hears a silvery peal of laughter, and knows that she is in the snare of Aphrodite, and that Isis will be very angry.
This story is followed by a sequel in "A Tale of Philo", and also developed in "She".
It is a short account, but one which is pregnant with a brooding sense that Ayesha - and Kallikrates - are not free to make their own choices but are playthings of the gods. This theme is repeated by Ayesha in "Wisdom's Daughter" - though there and in "She" and "Ayesha, the Return of She" she shows that she is not afraid to try her strength against the gods.