Nefertiti

I bowed. “It is beautiful, Your Highness.”

He sat down and pulled Nefertiti onto his lap. She laughed, and indicated that I should sit across from them. She said merrily, “Tomorrow the builder, Maya, is going to begin the temple.”

I sat. “To Aten?”

“Of course to Aten,” Amunhotep snapped. “On the twenty-sixth of Pachons, the army will begin collecting taxes from the priests. On the first of Payni, we build. Once the temple is finished, we won’t need the high priests. We will become the high priests.” He turned to my sister in triumph. “You and I…and the gods will speak though us.”

I recoiled. This was blasphemy.

But Nefertiti said nothing and avoided my gaze.

Dinner in the Great Hall was chaotic. Though the chamber was the same as it had been in Thebes, confusion turned the towering hall into a commotion of rushing people that I’d only ever seen the likes of in the marketplace. Servants were bowing to scribes and snubbing courtiers because they hadn’t learned the faces of the Theban nobility. Only a few of Egypt’s viziers were in attendance, and even Panahesi was absent, probably still seeing to his robes and his rooms. Women came up to thank me for my herbs, women I had never seen before, and they all wanted to know if I would continue to carry acacia, adding that they would be willing to pay me for it, and the raspberry leaves if I would continue to provide them.

“You should do it,” Ipu encouraged me. “I could fetch any herbs for you at the quay. You might not have a garden, but if you told me what you needed…”

I thought a moment. It wouldn’t just be acacia and raspberry. The women had asked for other herbs, too. Safflower oil for muscle pain and healthy hair, fig and willow for toothache, myrrh for healing. I could harvest some of those from my potted plants, but Ipu would have to find me the rest. “All right,” I said hesitantly.

“And will you charge for them?”

“Ipu!” I gasped.

But she continued to stare at me. “The women in Pharaoh’s harem charge for the linen that they weave. And your father does not work for free simply because he works for the royal family.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “I might charge.”

She smiled, pulling out my chair. “I will be back with your food, my lady.”

My parents were in attendance at the royal table. Nefertiti would eat with Amunhotep at the top of the dais from now on, overseeing the entire hall. And tonight, because there was no arranged seating, the architect, Maya, sat with us beneath the Horus thrones. He and his wife looked cut from the same cloth, both tall Egyptians with watchful eyes.

“Pharaoh wishes to begin building a temple to Aten,” Maya said warningly, and my father exhaled.

“He has said as much to you?”

The architect looked nervously over his shoulder. Nefertiti and Amunhotep regarded the proceedings with apathy, more interested in their talk of temples and taxes, and Maya lowered his voice. “Yes. And in two days’ time, the army begins collecting taxes from the temples of Amun.”

“The priests will not gladly hand over what has been theirs for centuries,” my father said vehemently.

“Then Pharaoh will kill them,” Maya replied.

“He has ordered this?”

The greatest architect in Egypt nodded solemnly.

My father stood up, pushing his chair from the table. “The Elder must be warned.” He swept from the Audience Chamber with my mother on his heels, and for the first time the royal couple on the dais noticed something outside of themselves. Nefertiti beckoned me toward the thrones with her finger.

“Where has Father gone?” she demanded.

“He has heard that you intend on building soon,” I said carefully. “He has gone to make preparations to clear the way.”

Amunhotep settled back into his throne. “I have chosen correctly in your father,” he said to Nefertiti. “Once every seven days,” he decided, “we will hold court in the Audience Chamber. The rest of the time we shall let Ay deal with foreign emissaries and petitioners.”

My sister glanced approvingly at me.

Chapter Ten

MEMPHIS

twenty-fifth of Pachons

ON MY FIRST morning in Memphis, my father and Nefertiti slipped into my room and shut the door. Ipu, who slept across the hall as both my servant and my guard, remained sleeping soundly.

I scrambled from beneath my covers. “What’s happening?”

“From now on, this is where we meet,” my father said. Nefertiti took a seat on my bed and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“Why here?”

“Because Panahesi is in the same courtyard as Father, and if I make a habit of visiting, he will make a habit of sending spies.”

I looked around the room. “Where’s Mother?”

My father sat himself down. “At the baths.”

Apparently, she wasn’t to be included in our meetings. Just as well. She would only spend nights sitting up worrying.

“Tomorrow, Amunhotep begins collecting taxes from the temples,” my father said, “and we will need a plan if it all goes wrong.”

I sat forward. “If what goes wrong?”

“If Horemheb turns on Pharaoh and the priests revolt,” my sister said shortly.

I felt fear rising in my throat. “But why would that happen?”

Nefertiti ignored me.

“If it goes wrong tomorrow,” my father decided, “everyone in this family will meet behind the Temple of Amun. Take chariots from the north of the palace, where the gates are unguarded, and ride them to the docks. If the army turns, they will storm the palace from the south. At the water steps, a ship will be ready to set sail. If Pharaoh has been killed, we will return to Thebes.”

Nefertiti’s gaze flew to the door, to be sure no one was listening. “And if he hasn’t?” she asked, her voice dropping.

“Then we all go by ship.”

“And what if he won’t come?”

“Then you must leave without him.” My father’s voice was stern. “Because he will be marked and will not live to see the night.”

I shivered, and even Nefertiti seemed disturbed. “If it goes wrong,” she repeated. “There is no indication that it will.”

“We still prepare. Let Amunhotep make his rash decisions, but he will not take this family with him.” My father stood, but Nefertiti didn’t move. “You both understand what to do?” He looked at us and we nodded. “I’ll be in the Per Medjat.” He opened the door and disappeared into the Hall of Books.

Nefertiti looked at me in the glow of the rising sun. “Amunhotep’s reign will be decided tomorrow,” she said. “He has promised Horemheb all manner of things. War with the Hittites. New chariots, greater shields.”

“Will he give them to him?”

Nefertiti shrugged. “Once he has collected the taxes, what does it matter?”

“I would not want to make an enemy of Horemheb.”