Sphinx's Queen (27 page)

“You don’t need to be ‘warned’ about my comings and goings, Mother,” Amenophis said evenly. “I’m not a prisoner.”

“But your brother is! And here I find you, in the arms of the one to blame for that. Have you no loyalty? Don’t you understand that she’s destroyed our lives? Your brother was my one hope to secure this family’s future! Now what’s going to happen to us? Because of her, Amenhotep has turned his face away from his own son! I’ve beaten my hands bloody against his doors and he still refuses to let me in. If I could only talk to him, I could make him see that Thutmose was not himself today. He was—he was sunstruck, that’s what happened. It affected his mind, but only for a little while, except
she
took advantage of his momentary weakness to make him look bad in Pharaoh’s eyes. I don’t care how slyly she played it or who helped her, Thutmose can’t possibly be held responsible for what he did today! We might as well punish you for fainting like some weak-blooded girl. My husband must be made to see what really happened in the Palace of Ma’at. He loves the boy. He might be swayed to forgive him. He could—”

“Mrrrr?” Ta-Miu stuck her head out from under my bed.

You would have thought she was a viper from the way Aunt Tiye reacted.
“What’s that?”
she shrieked, pointing at the cat with one shaking finger. “Why is she here? Ah! You stole her, didn’t you?” she snapped at me. “You took the one comfort my poor child had in his unfair captivity!”

“I didn’t take Ta-Miu,” I said, trying to stay calm. “She was given to me.”

“Liar! After all you’ve made him suffer, why would Thutmose give you his most precious—”

“Thutmose didn’t give me this cat,” I said. It was all I wanted to say. Even though she had reviled me, I felt a lingering pity for my aunt. She had built her life on the goal of seeing Thutmose become the next pharaoh. If I told her the full truth about why I now had Ta-Miu, it would devastate her.

Aunt Tiye was a smart woman. She didn’t need me to tell her anything more. I saw the blood leave her face. “Pharaoh.” I could only nod.

I expected her to tremble, to weep, to wring her hands. She knew what this gift meant: If Pharaoh could take away his eldest son’s dearest companion, his heart had turned cold to him. Thutmose had angered his father beyond words, beyond hope of reconciliation.

Again, I underestimated her. This hard-eyed, determined woman from a commoner’s household had used her beauty, charm, and intelligence to rise from the ranks of all of Pharaoh’s women—the highborn, the beauties, the daughters of foreign kings—to become the Great Royal Wife of the mightiest man in the Two Lands. Her small hands had held power that the most nobly born men in Pharaoh’s court only dreamed of. She would not let it go without a fight.

“So, my husband favors
you.”
Her eyes glittered as she gazed at me. “Of course he does. I knew he would from the first moment I saw what a beauty you’d become. Before your trial, he told me how much he hoped that the goddess would declare your innocence. I’ve even heard my own servants whispering that he’s so pleased with the verdict that he ordered a thanksgiving offering for her temple. One of his best sculptors will make an image of the goddess to be covered in gold leaf and sent to her shrine accompanied by a train of slaves bearing chests filled with treasures.” She glared so angrily at the women who attended her that their lamps’ flames shivered like their own reflections in a troubled pool.

“I am grateful for Pharaoh’s kindness—” I began.

“Be
quiet
. Let me think.” She pressed her fingertips together and closed her eyes.

“Mother?” Amenophis tried to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away from him.

Her eyes snapped open. “I said
let me think!
I’m doing this for you, too, Amenophis. I only wish you were smart enough to appreciate it.” She scowled at him. “But you’re not, are you? No, you proved that when you got yourself mixed up with this girl, running away with her, pouring her lies into your father’s ears. Why? Did you envy your brother because he was going to have a beautiful wife? If that’s what you wanted, you could have come to me. I would have found you
someone
. Even someone pretty. What sane man
wouldn’t
give his daughter to the brother of our next pharaoh? You could have lived out your days at ease in your brother’s court, your every desire fulfilled. Instead, you hated him, you undermined him, and you won’t be happy until you’ve ruined him!”

O gods
, I thought.
If this is how she sees Amenophis now, what will she say if she knew what he did in the Palace of Ma’at this morning?

“Mother, you’re wrong,” Amenophis said in his steady, quiet voice. “I don’t hate my brother. He’s the one who thinks I’m his enemy. I love him, in spite of all that he’s done—”

She slapped his face. “He’s done nothing wrong.
Nothing!”
The sea of little oil flames around us trembled anew at her shrill cry of denial.

Amenophis took a deep breath and continued. “I love my brother. It would make my spirit fly on falcon’s wings if I could see him contented, healthy, free, and back in our father’s favor.”

“Would it?” A small, disturbing smile uncoiled itself across Aunt Tiye’s mouth. “Then I am going to make you very happy, my son.” She leveled one finger at me again. “Your name is cleared, Nefertiti. You are free to come and go anywhere you like in the royal palace and in the city of Thebes. Come to my rooms, when you can. You’re my dear niece, after all, and I haven’t seen as much of you as I’d like. We must get to know one another better, dear child.”

“Yes, Aunt Tiye,” I said cautiously.
What is she up to?

“Good. I look forward to our conversations. Come tomorrow. I will expect you to share breakfast with me.”

This was no invitation but an out-and-out command. I bowed my head, consenting. There was no sense in rebelling against her demands just for the sake of rebellion. I had the feeling that Aunt Tiye would give me enough cause to stand against her soon enough.

I was right. I wished I’d been wrong.

“May I come, too, Mother?” Amenophis asked. “I think that you and I need to speak about why I acted as I did, helping Nefertiti escape from the palace.”

“Oh, that.” She waved his words away. “I don’t care to hear your excuses and explanations, and you’ve made it clear that you don’t care about me at all.”

“Mother, you know you’re wrong.”

Amenophis, that is the worst thing you can possibly say to her
, I thought.
Aunt Tiye lives in a world where she is
never
wrong
.

“Is that so?” She wore a tiny, brittle smile.
“Do
you care about me, my son? Do you still have room in your heart for the woman who gave birth to you, raised you, wanted only what was best for you, or is it filled with nothing but my niece’s image?”

“I do love Nefertiti, Mother. The gods would punish me for lying if I denied that. But I love you, too.”

“Ah, love. You love her, you love me, you love your brother, and I presume you love your royal father as well.
Is
there any end to all the love you claim to feel, Amenophis?” She was taunting him openly, but he ignored her sarcasm.

“I hope not.”

“Do you know what love
is
, my openhearted son? It’s being willing to place the needs and dreams and happiness of the ones you love ahead of your own. It’s the reason a mother will take bread from her own mouth and starve rather than let her child go hungry.”

As if
you
ever went hungry for anyone
, I thought, watching my aunt closely.
Why can’t I look at you without thinking of a snake slowly coiling itself into a deadly ring just before it strikes? Oh, Amenophis, she’s your mother and I know you do love her, but still—be on your guard!

“I understand, Mother,” he said. “And I’m glad you said that, because it means
you
will understand why Nefertiti and I want to—”

“And you, child?” Aunt Tiye turned sharply to me, cutting off her son’s words as brutally as if she had a naked sword in her hands. “Does your heart have room to love anyone but this boy?” She couldn’t keep the contempt out of her voice when she spoke of Amenophis. I wanted to shake sense into her, force her to see the worth of her second son, but all I could do was grit my teeth and endure. “Don’t pretend there’s nothing but devoted friendship between you. That might explain why he risked his life to bring you to Dendera uninvited, but not the
spectacle
I saw when I entered this room. And I was not the only one to see it. Here are my witnesses.”

She spread her hands to include the maidservants surrounding us. The poor girls exchanged nervous looks. I wondered if they ever enjoyed a single unanxious moment, working for the Great Royal Wife, or if their days were spent forever balancing on the point of a needle, teetering over an abyss.

“I wouldn’t dream of pretending I don’t love Amenophis,” I said. “I’m not ashamed of it, nor of what you saw.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Aunt Tiye stooped to pick up Ta-Miu and scratch the cat between her enormous ears. “This creature has no sense of shame, either. A room, a rooftop, a darkened street, they’re all the same to her.” She put the cat down again. “But that wasn’t what I asked you. Who else do you love, Nefertiti? Truly love?”

“My family,” I said readily. “You know that. I miss them.”

“Oh, dear, and I thought
we
were your family.” Aunt Tiye put on a false look of hurt feelings. I decided to follow Amenophis’s lead and act as if she’d spoken to me honestly.

“I mean my family that’s not here. I haven’t received a single word from them since I got here, and I haven’t been allowed to send them any news.”

“Where did you get
that
notion? You used to send them messages all the time, before your little … adventure. If there’s anyone who’s keeping news from my brother Ay and the rest of them in Akhmin, it’s you alone.”

How did you know about how frequently I used to write to them?
I thought.
How, unless your agents were the ones who intercepted my messages?

“Then who’s to blame for my hearing nothing from them?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Oh, who knows? Maybe that sort of neglectful behavior runs in Ay’s part of the family. Like father, like daughter, or the other way around. Some people prefer to avoid writing letters. They’d rather hear the news about their loved ones from the source itself.” Aunt Tiye’s lips stretched into a crocodile’s smile. “How would you like to go back to Akhmin, Nefertiti?”

“With all my heart!” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Even as I proclaimed the truth, my head rang with exasperated thoughts:
Fool! Idiot! What have you done? You’ve let that woman see your weakest spot, and you’ve given her the spear to pierce it!

Maybe I’d made a horribly wrong move, but I couldn’t help myself: The thought of returning to Akhmin, of seeing Father and Mother and Bit-Bit again, filled me with longing. I wasn’t like Aunt Tiye, living a life of endless strategy and calculation. I prayed I never would become such a person.

“Such passion!” Aunt Tiye laid one hand to her bosom. “My dear, you should have said something. Akhmin isn’t that far away. Now that there’s no further need to keep you shut away in these rooms, you should be able to go visit your parents and that adorable little sister of yours. I’ll see to the arrangements myself. It will make a lovely wedding voyage.”

I saw Amenophis’s face light up with hope, with joy, and I wanted to cry out, “No! You’re listening to her words but you’re hearing her say what you want to hear! Don’t you understand her yet? When she says
wedding voyage
, she doesn’t mean you and me, she means—!

“How wonderful it will be, dear Nefertiti,” Aunt Tiye spoke on, enfolding me in a hug that felt like strong ropes binding my arms to my sides. “A royal ship laden with gifts for your family, musicians playing love songs on the deck, incense perfuming the sail! And then, your homecoming. What a vision that will be! I can hardly wait to see Ay’s face when his beautiful daughter comes home as she was always meant to be: crown princess of the Two Lands, wife of Prince Thutmose, my beloved son.”

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