“In
“Mutnodjmet, she is your sister,” he said.
“She is a jealous, selfish queen,
My mother recoiled and my father sat back.
“She sent the general away!” I cried.
“That was Akhenaten’s choice.”
But I wouldn’t let my father defend her. Not this time. “And she allowed it,” I accused. “One word from Nefertiti and Akhenaten would have overlooked anything we’d done. We could have shamed Amun in the streets, and if Nefertiti had wanted it, he would have let it happen. She’s the only one he listens to. She’s the only one who can control him. Your sister saw it, you saw it. And she allowed Nakhtmin to be sent away. She allowed it!” I shouted. My mother put a placating hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. “Is he dead?” I demanded.
My father stood up.
“Is he dead?” I said again.
“He is a strong soldier, Mutnodjmet. The guards will have brought him north to the Hittite lines and left him there. He will know what to do.”
I closed my eyes, imagining Nakhtmin thrown to the Hittites like meat to wild dogs. I felt the tears, warm and bitter, coursing down my cheeks, and my father’s placating arm around my shoulder. “You have suffered great loss,” he said softly.
“He will never return. And Nefertiti did
My mother held me, rocking me back and forth in her arms. “Shh, there was nothing she could do,” she swore.
But that was a lie.
My father went to my bed table and held up a most exquisite chest, inlaid in lapis and pearl. “She’s been here every day. She wanted you to have this for your herbs.”
I studied the chest. It looked like something Nefertiti would have chosen. Elaborate and costly. “She thinks she will buy me off with a box?”
There was the sound of shuffled feet outside my chamber, then a servant swung open the door. “The queen is coming!”
But I would never forgive her.
She swept into my bedchamber, and the only thing I could see was the round belly beneath her linen. When she saw that I was awake, she stopped, then blinked quickly. “Mutny?” She had come with a turquoise ankh, probably blessed in the Temple of Aten. “Mutny?” She ran to me, embracing me in her tiny arms, and I could feel her tears on my cheeks. My sister, who never cried.
I didn’t move, and she leaned back to see my face.
“Mutny, say something!” she pleaded.
“I curse the day the gods decided to make me your sister.”
Her hands began to tremble. “Take it back.”
I watched her and said nothing.
“Take it back!” she cried, but I turned away from her.
My parents looked at one another. Then my father said softly, “Go, Nefertiti. Give her some time.”
My sister’s jaw dropped. She turned to my mother, and when no defense came, she spun away and shut the door in her wake.
I looked up at my parents. “I want to be alone.”
My mother hesitated. “But you’ve been so sick,” she protested.
“Ipu’s here. She will take care of me. For now, I want to be alone.”
My mother glanced at my father and they left. I turned to face Ipu, who hovered over me, unsure what to do. “Will you bring me my box for herbs?” I asked her. “The
She found the box for me and I lifted the heavy lid. I froze. “Ipu, has anyone been in this box?” I asked quickly.
She frowned. “No, my lady.”
“Are you sure?” I sifted through the packages again, but the acacia was gone. The linen-wrapped seeds of acacia were gone! “Ipu.” I struggled to stand up. “Ipu, who could have been in here?”
“What do you mean?”
“The acacia!”
Ipu glanced at the box, then covered her mouth. Her eyes wandered to my midriff, understanding. I grabbed the box and threw open the double doors to my chamber. My long hair swayed wild and loose behind me, my linen tunic was unbelted. “Where is Nefertiti?” I cried. Some of the servants backed away. Others whispered, “In the Great Hall, my lady, dining with the viziers.”
I clenched the box tighter, in a rage so dark that I couldn’t even see the people in the hall when I threw open its doors, startling the guards.
“Nefertiti!” I shouted. The chatter in the room went silent. The musicians below the dais stopped playing and Thutmose’s mouth fell slightly open. Nefertiti’s ladies gasped.
I held up the box so that everyone in the hall could see. “Who stole my acacia?” I advanced on the dais, looking at my sister. Panahesi made a noise in his throat and my father stood up. “Someone stole the acacia seeds and poisoned me with them to rid me of my child. Was it you?”
Nefertiti had gone white as alabaster. She looked at Akhenaten, her eyes wide, and I turned my attention to Pharaoh. “You?” I shrieked. “Did you do this to me?”
Akhenaten shifted uncomfortably.
My father took me by the arm.
“I want to know who did this to me!” My voice echoed in the hall, and even Kiya and her ladies went silent. If it could happen to me, it could happen to any of them. Who were their enemies? Who were mine?
“Let’s go,” my father said.
I let myself be led out, but at the doors to the Great Hall I turned. “I will never forgive this,” I swore, and Nefertiti knew it was meant for her. “I will never forgive this so long as the sun still sets on Amarna!” I screamed.
My sister sat back in her chair, looking as though someone had robbed her of her kingdom.
AMARNA
“I’M AFRAID SHE will stay here tending her herb garden for the rest of her life. Without a husband, without children…”
I could hear my body servant’s words from the garden. Three months ago, on the day I’d discovered that someone had poisoned me to kill Nakhtmin’s child, I had found this villa myself, newly built and sitting empty in the golden terraces overlooking the city. No family had purchased it yet from the palace, so I moved into its rooms and claimed the villa as my own. No one would dare to suggest I be removed.
It had taken three months of seeding and planting, but now I reached down to feel the leaves of a young sycamore, warm and soft. My body servant’s voice grew closer to the garden. “She’s outside, where she always is,” she said, sounding worried. “Tending to her herbs so she can sell them to the women.”
I felt her presence behind me like a pillar of stone. I didn’t need to hear her voice to know who it was. Besides, I could smell her scent of lily and cardamom.
“Mutnodjmet?”
I turned and shaded my eyes. I never wore a wig since leaving the palace. My hair grew long and wild. In the
