Nefertiti

proclaimed. “He shall be Overseer of Foreign Affairs in Memphis, and I will raise him above all other viziers!” Amunhotep looked at me again. “You may go,” he said carelessly. “The queen and I have plans to make.”

Nefertiti reached out her hand to stop me, but I shook my head sternly, slipping past her out the door. Tears welled in my eyes and I wiped them away with the back of my hand. I had lied to a king of Egypt, the highest representative of Amun in the land. Ma’at will be ashamed, I whispered aloud, but there was no one in the columned halls to hear me.

I thought of going to see my mother, but she would say that what I had done had been the right thing to do. I found my way into the gardens and sat down on the farthest stone bench. I would be punished by the gods for what I’d done. Ma’at would want vengeance.

“It’s not often a queen’s sister comes to the gardens alone.”

It was General Nakhtmin.

I blinked away my tears. “If Pharaoh sees you with me, he will not be pleased,” I said sternly, gathering myself.

“No matter. Soon the new Pharaoh will be in Memphis.”

I looked up sharply. “You will not be coming?”

“Only those who choose to leave will be moving. Much of the army will remain in Thebes.” The general took a seat next to me without asking my permission. “So why are you here, among the willows and all alone?”

My eyes welled up again. I had shamed the gods.

“What? Has a boy broken your heart?” he demanded. “Shall I banish him for you?”

I laughed, despite myself. “No boy is interested in me,” I said.

We were quiet for a moment.

“So why all this weeping?”

“I told a lie,” I whispered.

The general studied me and a smile began at the edges of his lips. “That’s it?”

“It may be a small thing for you, but it is a great deal to me. I have never lied.”

“Never? Not even about a broken dish, or somebody’s lost necklace that you found?”

“No. Not since I became old enough to understand the laws of Ma’at.”

The general said nothing, and I realized I must look like such a child to him, a man who’d seen war and bloodshed. “It doesn’t matter,” I mumbled.

“It does matter,” he said seriously. “You value truth. Only now you’ve lied.”

I said nothing.

“It’s fine, your secret’s safe with me.”

I stood up, furious. “I should never have told you!”

“You think you will lose my respect over a lie?” He laughed kindly. “The court of Egypt is built on them. You will see that in Memphis.”

“Then I will close my eyes,” I replied childishly.

“At your own peril. Best to keep them open, my lady. Your father depends on it.”

“How do you know what my father depends on?”

“Well, if you don’t keep a sensible head, who will? Your beautiful sister? Pharaoh Amunhotep the Younger? They’ll be too busy building tombs and temples,” he replied. “Maybe even,” he added treasonously, “dismantling the priesthood in order to control the gold it brings in.” I must have looked scandalized, because the general asked, “Do you think your family is the only one that sees this? The new Pharaoh has everyone running. If the priests of Amun fall, so will many other wealthy men,” he predicted.

“My sister has nothing to do with that,” I said firmly and began walking back to the palace. I didn’t like the way he implicated my family in Amunhotep’s plans. But he followed after me, matching my stride.

“Have I offended you, my lady?”

“Yes, you have.”

“I’m sorry. I shall be more careful in the future. After all, you will be one of the most dangerous women at court.”

I stopped walking.

“Privy to the secrets that viziers and priests are paying spies very handsomely to procure.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Information, Lady Mutnodjmet,” he said, and he kept walking toward the stables.

“And what do you think information can do?” I called after him.

“In the wrong hands,” he replied over his shoulder, “it can do anything.”

That night I prepared for bed in the room next to the king’s private chamber, knowing my sister was next door but that I was unable to call to her. I looked over at my windowsill at the potted herbs that had endured the journey from Akhmim, and then a shuffling from one room to the next. Tomorrow, the queen would announce the date for our move to Memphis, and the plants would have to survive yet another uprooting.

When Ipu appeared to undress me, she saw my long face and clicked her tongue. “What is it, my lady?”

I shrugged, as if the matter was of little consequence.

“You miss your home,” she guessed, and I nodded.

She slipped the sheath over my head and I put on a fresh one. I sat obediently on the bed so that she could braid my hair. “Don’t you ever miss your home?” I asked quietly.

“Only when I think of my brothers.” She smiled. “I was raised with seven brothers. It’s why I get along so well with men.”

I laughed. “You get along with everyone. I saw you at the feasts. There’s not a person in Thebes you haven’t met.”

She lifted her shoulder casually, but didn’t deny it. “This is how we are in the city of Fayyum. Always friendly.”

“So you were born near Lake Moeris?”

She nodded. “A little farming village between the lake and River Nile.” She described vast stretches of loamy soil rolling away into earthy green hills. And the vineyards dotting the blue-green Nile. “There is no place in Egypt better for gardening, for tending to crops or harvesting papyrus.”

“And what did your family do?” I asked.

“My father was Pharaoh’s personal vintner.”

“And you left his gardens to work in the palace?”

“Only when he died. I was twelve, the youngest of five daughters and seven sons. My mother didn’t need me, and I’d inherited her skill with paints.” I studied her heavily made-up eyes in the mirror above our heads, the sweeps of malachite that never smudged in the sun. “The Elder found me a place as one of the queen’s women. Eventually, I grew to become the queen’s favorite.”

And the queen had let her go to be with me. I thought of my aunt and imagined all the selfless acts that she performed that went unnoticed. And squandering her kindness away was her son, selfish and self-absorbed.

“Palace life is better than life on the vineyards,” she continued. “To be in a city where women can buy whatever they need…” She exhaled thankfully. “Kohl, perfume, real wigs, exotic food. The boats come along the Nile and stop at Thebes. But no boats ever stopped in the Fayyum.”

I sighed as she brought me my robe and linen socks. No boats. No people. No politics. Just gardens. I put on my slippers and sat near the brazier. Ipu remained standing, and I pointed to a stool. “Tell me, Ipu.” I dropped my voice low, even though Nefertiti could never have heard me. “What is the gossip around the palace?”

Ipu gleamed. She was in her element now. “About you, my lady?”

I flushed. “About my sister and the king.”

She raised her eyebrows and said with caution, “Ah…I hear the new Pharaoh is willful.”

I sat forward. “And?”

She glanced briefly at the door that led to the antechamber and, outside of it, the king’s private rooms. “And