Nefertiti

Horemheb took Pharaoh’s hand, but the look in his eyes was one of distrust. “Then I ask to take my leave, Your Highness.” He bowed, and I felt a chill go down my spine as I wondered what would happen if Amunhotep wasn’t as good as his word. I would not want a man like Horemheb for an enemy.

Amunhotep watched him go and turned to Nefertiti. “I will never bow to the priests of Amun again.”

“You’ll be the greatest Pharaoh of Egypt,” Nefertiti swore.

“With the most magnificent queen of Egypt,” he added, “producing Pharaohs that will sit on the throne of Egypt to eternity.” He put his hands across her small taut stomach. “Even now, a little queen may be growing inside.”

“We should know soon. I’m sure by the time we reach Memphis I will be showing.” But she looked at me when she said this, as if I could influence the gods because I was the one who prayed every night and made obeisance at the shrine of Amun every morning.

Chapter Seven

twenty-fifth of Pharmuthi

“WHAT IF I’M not with child and Kiya gives birth to a boy in six months?” Nefertiti was pacing the floor of the antechamber. The sun had set, but Amunhotep was not with Nefertiti. He had gone to visit Kiya. “And who knows how long he’ll stay in her room tonight? What if he’s there until morning?” she panicked.

“Don’t be foolish,” I tried to comfort her. “Pharaohs don’t sleep in bed with their wives.”

“He sleeps in mine!” she shrieked and stopped pacing. “But he is not getting into bed with me tonight. He thinks he can go from one wife to the next? I’m no different from any of his other chattel?” Her voice rose. “Is that what he thinks?” She sat down before her mirror. “Kiya is not more beautiful than I am.” It was a question.

“Of course not.”

“Is she more cunning?”

I couldn’t say.

Nefertiti spun around, and there was the light of a new idea in her eyes. “You must go and see what they are doing,” she decided.

“What? You want me to spy on your husband?” I shook my head vehemently. “If I’m caught spying, the guards would bring me to Pharaoh.”

“I have to know what they do together, Mutnodjmet.”

“Why? What does it matter?”

“Because I have to be better than she is!” She raised her chin. “We all have to be. It’s not just for me, it’s for our family. Our future.” She came and held my shoulders. “Please, just find out what he says to her.”

“It’s too dangerous!” I protested.

“I can tell you how to reach their window.”

“What? Outside? You want me to crawl in the dirt? What if I’m caught?”

“Guards aren’t posted beneath Second Wives’ windows,” she sneered. “Please, just put on a cloak,” she encouraged.

With a deep foreboding, I put on a heavy linen and sat at the mirror to tie back my hair. Nefertiti watched my progress from behind me. “It’s a good thing you’re dark,” she remarked. “No one will notice you.”

I glared at her, but she was no longer watching me. All of her thoughts now were on Kiya, and she stared down the hall as if she could see what her husband was doing already. When I was done, I went and stood at the door. My father would have wanted me to do this. It was for the good of the family. And spying wasn’t against the laws of Ma’at. I wasn’t stealing, just listening.

“I need to know everything that he tells her,” she said. She wrapped a long cape over her sheath and shivered. “I’ll wait here. And Mutny—”

I frowned.

“Be careful.”

I felt my heart in my throat as I slipped into the courtyard. The air was warm and reed mats slapped softly against the palace windows, moving in the breeze. No one was out. The moon was a sliver in the sky, and unless someone were looking for me, there would be no reason to walk beyond the palace doors in the middle of the night. I passed through a succession of courtyards, counting them as I went. I kept close to the walls, near the shrubs and ivy. When I arrived in Kiya’s courtyard, I stopped to listen, but there was no sound. I crept along until I reached the third window. I glanced across the courtyard and saw no one, then crouched to listen. Now there were voices; I pressed myself flat against the wall, trying to hear what Pharaoh was saying.

When you set in western lightland, earth is in darkness as if in death. Every lion comes from its den. All the serpents bite. Darkness hovers, earth is silent, as their maker rests in lightland

.

He was reciting poetry.

Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland. When you shine as Aten of daytime, as you cast your rays, the Two Lands are in festivity. Awake they stand on their feet. You have roused them!

“Let me read the rest.” It was Kiya’s voice. I heard the rustle of papyrus, and then she began to read.

Roads come open when you rise. The fish in the river dart before you. Your rays are in the midst of the sea. You are the One who makes seed grow, who creates life, who feeds the son in his mother’s womb, who soothes him to still his tears. Oh, Nurse in the womb, oh, Giver of breath. You nourish all that you make

.

So this was the spell that Kiya, with her long willowy legs, cast on him…the magic of quiet sanctuary. Away from Nefertiti’s constant plans and politics, Amunhotep and Kiya read poetry together. From beneath the window, I could smell burning incense. I waited to see what else they would talk about, and he began telling her stories of what life would be like in Memphis, where he’d grown up as a boy.

“My rooms will be in the center of the palace,” he said, “and to my right I will place you and give you the best of everything.”

I heard her giggle like a child. Nefertiti never giggled; she laughed, deep and breathy like a woman.

“Come!” He must have grabbed her, because I heard them fall heavily on the bed, and I covered my mouth in horror. How could he take a woman in pregnancy? He would hurt the child!

“Wait,” she whispered, and her voice grew stern. “What about my father?”

“Vizier Panahesi? Of course he will come with us to Memphis,” he pronounced, as if there was never any other option. “And I will give him the highest position at court.”

“Such as?”

“Such as whatever he wants,” he promised. “You never have to worry. Your father is loyal to me and my cause. There is no vizier in Egypt I trust above Panahesi.”

I looked across the courtyard and there, in the silvery light, was the vizier listening to everything that I’d just heard. He was standing motionless, and I believe at that moment my heart stopped in my chest. When he saw that I’d recognized him, he smiled.

Then I was running, all the way back to Nefertiti’s chamber. I forgot about Amunhotep’s poetry and Kiya’s questions. Nefertiti rushed to meet me at the door. “What happened?” she exclaimed, seeing my face, but I couldn’t answer. “Mutny, what happened? Were you caught?”

My breath came in quick gasps. My thoughts raced, and I wondered if I should tell her about Panahesi. We had both been conspirators caught in the night. I hadn’t said anything and neither had he.

She shook my shoulders. “Were you caught?”

“No.” I breathed. “They were reading poetry.”

“Then why were you running? What happened?”