The Heretic Queen

“You will not be thirteen forever. But you have to start behaving like a princess of Egypt. You must stop running wild through the palace like some harem girl.”

“I’m the niece of a heretic,” I whispered. “The viziers would never accept it. Rahotep—”

“There are ways around Rahotep.”

“But I thought I would study at the edduba and become an emissary.”

“And who appoints the emissaries?” Woserit asked.

“Pharaoh.”

“And once my brother is gone? Remember, Pharaoh Seti is twenty years my senior. When he is called by Osiris, who will assign his emissaries then?”

“Ramesses.”

“And when Ramesses is off at war?”

“His viziers,” I guessed. “Or the High Priest of Amun. Or—”

“Pharaoh’s Chief Wife?”

I stared at the river mosaic on the wall. Fish swam across the brightly painted tiles while fishermen lay idly on the river’s banks. Their lives were quiet. They were carefree. The fisherman’s son didn’t have to worry about what he would become when he reached fifteen. His destiny was certain, and his fate rested with the Gods and the seasons. No maze of choices lay before him. “I cannot begin a war with Iset,” I resolved.

“You won’t have to,” Woserit said. “My sister has already begun it. You want to be an emissary, Nefertari, but how will you be able to do that in Iset and Henuttawy’s Thebes?”

“I can’t challenge Henuttawy,” I said with certainty.

“Perhaps not alone. But I could help you. You aren’t the only one who suffers if Iset becomes Chief Wife. Henuttawy would love to see me banished to a temple in the Fayyum.”

I wanted to ask her why, but her tone had a finality I dared not question. It occurred to me that in the Great Hall, she never spoke with her sister, even though they both sat at the same table beneath the dais.

“She won’t succeed,” Woserit continued, “but that’s only because I am willing to rise up against her to stop it. There are many times when I go to my brother’s feasts simply to make sure that Henuttawy isn’t destroying my reputation.”

“But I don’t want to have anything to do with court politics,” I protested.

Woserit searched my face to see if I was serious. “Soon, life is going to be very different, Nefertari. You may change your mind about challenging Iset. If you do, you will know where I am.”

She offered me her arm in silence, and when I took it, she walked me slowly to the door. Outside, the tiled halls still teemed with bustling servants. They rushed about us, carrying candles and chairs for the wedding feast. All the palace had talked about for ten days was Iset. What if it was always like this, and the excitement of a new princess and possibly a child meant that Ramesses was lost to me forever? Woserit’s figure receded down the hallway, as servants polishing the tiles with palm oil stood quickly to bow to her as she passed. Their eager chatter about the feast resumed, until my nurse’s voice cut through the noise.

“My lady!”

I turned and saw Merit approaching with a basket of my best sheaths in her arms.

“My lady, where have you been?” she cried. “I sent servants to the edduba looking for you! They are moving your chamber!” She took my arm as Woserit had done, and I struggled to keep up with her as she trotted through the maze of passageways. “Lady Iset is to have your room! Queen Tuya came and said that Iset is moving from the harem.”

“But there are plenty of rooms in the royal courtyard,” I protested. “And two are empty!”

“Lady Iset insisted that yours was meant for a princess. Now that she will be the highest-ranked princess in Malkata, she asked for your chamber.”

I stopped in the hall beneath an image of Ma’at holding the scales of truth. “And the queen didn’t deny her?”

“No, my lady.” Merit looked away. “She’s moving in now, and I took what I could. But she’s demanded to sleep there tonight.”

I stared at Merit. “And where am I to go? I have had that room since I was born. Since my mother—” My eyes welled with tears.

“Oh, no, my lady. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” I insisted, but the tears rolled fast and hot down my cheeks.

“They have found you a new room that’s just as pretty,” she promised. “It’s also in the royal courtyard.” Merit put down her basket and took me in her embrace. “My lady, you will still have me. You will still have Tefer.”

I swallowed a sob. “We should go before Iset decides that she wants my ebony chests as well,” I said bitterly.

Merit straightened. “Nothing of yours will go missing,” she vowed. “I saw her with your mother’s gold and lapis mirror and I have ordered the servants to watch everything.”

“Nefer!”

Ramesses was standing at the end of the hall, and as he strode toward us, Merit took out a small piece of linen and quickly wiped the tears from my face. But Ramesses could see that I had been crying.

“Nefer, what’s happening?”

“Lady Iset is moving from the harem,” Merit explained, “into the princess’s chamber. Since this is the only room that my lady has ever known, where her mother’s image looks down on her at night, you can understand that she is very upset.”

Ramesses looked at me again, and his cheeks blazed an angry red. “Who gave permission for this?” he demanded.

“I believe it was the queen, Your Highness.”

Ramesses stared at Merit, then turned sharply on his heel and commanded, “Wait here.”

I glanced at my nurse. “Is he going to try and change her mind?”

“Of course! She could have asked for any room. Why yours?”

“Because it’s closest to Ramesses.”

“And who says that her chamber must be near to Pharaoh’s? She isn’t Chief Wife.”

“Not yet,” I said fearfully. We waited in the hall, and when Ramesses returned, I saw his face and grasped Merit’s hand. “She said no,” I whispered.

Ramesses avoided my gaze. “My mother says the move has already been made and that she can’t go back on her word.” His eyes met mine and he looked deeply unhappy. “I’m sorry, Nefer.” I nodded and he continued, “My mother wants me back in the Audience Chamber. But if there’s anything you need . . .” His words trailed away. “All of the servants are at your disposal . . .”

I shook my head. “Merit is here.”

“My mother says you’ll still be in the royal courtyard. I made sure of that.”

I smiled thinly. “Thank you.” I could see that he didn’t want to be the first to leave, so I picked up Merit’s basket and said impassively, “We should go. There’s a great deal to pack.”

Ramesses watched us walk away, but I closed my eyes as I heard him turn and the sound of his footsteps faded.

Inside my chamber was chaos. The perfumes and necklaces that had been in my ebony chests for thirteen years lay strewn in baskets, without any thought of how to keep them from breaking. My Senet board had already been removed, but someone had dropped its gaming pieces, now lying abandoned across the tiled floor.

“What is this?” Merit bellowed, and Iset’s harem servants shuddered to a halt, chests still in hand. Even the royal attendants regarded Merit with timid amazement. “Who was responsible for this?” she demanded, and when no one answered, Merit muscled her way through the tangle of baskets and chests. “Somebody is going to clean this up! No one will treat Princess Nefertari’s belongings with carelessness!”

Servants began picking up the scattered pieces at once, and Merit stood over them with her hands on her hips. I waited in the doorway and noticed that Iset’s belongings had been placed on a new cosmetics table. There was a fan of ivory and ostrich feathers, and a dress of netted faience beads in a basket. Someone has bought all of this for her, I realized. I wondered if they were wedding gifts from Ramesses, for no one could afford such luxuries in the harem. A gilded bed had been placed against the wall where mine had been, and long silver linens wrapped around its posts. They would be let down at night to cloak Iset from the light of the moon