own. Tutankhamun finished tying the last knot and stepped back.
'There,' he said under his breath. 'Let Eater of Souls contend with the power of the son of the great god.'
'Majesty, I-'
Tutankhamun almost smiled, but he appeared to remember his godlike dignity before others.
'Is the great Eyes of Pharaoh speechless? Then I am recompensed for having to learn so many endless spells, chants, and prayers for this ceremony.'
Meren felt his features settle into a courtly mask. 'Does thy majesty know what he has done? He has made me at least a dozen more enemies at court than I had before.'
'Better a few more enemies than a hole in your chest where your heart should be.'
With this pharaoh turned and signaled the end of the ceremony. Meren was left to follow. The significant result of pharaoh's actions didn't occur to him until the royal party had descended the step pyramid and returned in procession to the palace. Ankhesenamun and her retinue continued on to her own palace. The queen hadn't liked the king giving his magical protection to Meren, but now he understood what he'd seen in her eyes. Not just enmity, not simple hatred, but jealousy.
Meren hadn't considered this possibility before, and he didn't like it. But he had too much to deal with. He wanted to leave. The search for Eater of Souls continued; Kysen was at the house, supervising and overseeing the continuing searches of the docks, the foreign quarters, and the district around Meren's house.
Back at the palace Meren found himself obliged to attend a royal consultation. With pharaoh presiding, Ay, several other ministers, and the priests were discussing Eater of Souls yet again. Meren's attention strayed. He tried to think about the attack in a different way-who hated him enough to try to kill him?
Well, that list was as lengthy as the carvings on a temple wall. Just recently he'd managed to offend the Great Royal Wife, Princess Tio, Prince Rahotep, Djoser, Lord Reshep, poor Mugallu, and General Labarnas. Those were the ones he could remember. Only the gods knew who else had reason to hate him. His duties made certain that he caused inconvenience, even harm, to many of whom he wasn't even aware. Stifling a groan, Meren turned his attention to the men around him and found the priests still quarreling.
His patience was disappearing quickly, and the longer the high priests argued about the significance of the killings and why the demon had appeared, the more restless he became. Old Parenefer, frail and brittle like an insect, clutched his staff of office and spoke above the competing voices.
'The reason we can find no purpose to these deaths is that they are divine judgments of the gods, who have read the hearts of those who have been killed and found them evil. Because of Egypt's suffering under the heresy of the old pharaoh, the gods have lost patience and have sent the Devouress to carry out punishment.' Parenefer swiveled around to stare at Meren. 'Eater of Souls has been sent to rid Egypt of corruption.'
'Then she should have begun with you,' Meren said lightly.
He shouldn't have spoken, but he was sick of listening to Parenefer whine about how much he and the righteous had suffered because of Akhenaten. Over Parenefer's head he caught the king looking at him. Tutankhamun's eyes crinkled at the outside corners, and Meren thought he glimpsed a fleeting curve of his lips. He was going to hear his own counsel of diplomacy tossed back at him the next time he was alone with the boy.
The high priest of Isis, whose family was far older and more noble than Parenefer's, rolled his eyes and let out a sharp sigh. 'We don't even know if this really is the Devouress. It could be someone who hides behind the guise of a demon to fool us. There was a case in the Hare nome of a farmer who moved the boundary stones of eight different fields and blamed it on the angry spirit of a dead woman.'
Several ministers nodded, and discussion erupted again. Prince Rahotep joined Meren, nudged him with an elbow, and growled at him.
'So, you're an evildoer already condemned by the gods. My commiserations.'
'You're not amusing, Rahotep.'
'If you'd have sent for me the night before last, I could have had my infantry hunt down this bastard killer, and we wouldn't be here listening to that old vulture Parenefer.'
'I forgot,' Meren said.
Rahotep folded his arms over his chest. 'You didn't forget. It's like you to think you can combat even a fiend from the underworld by yourself, just you and your fabled charioteers. The Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh, whose name is known throughout the empire, whose spies and informants are innumerable and as hidden as the secret names of the gods.'
'You're still angry at me. I told you the truth about meddling between pharaoh and his queen.'
'I'm not angry,' Rahotep said. 'You were wrong, if you can imagine it. The golden one was most gracious in his thanks for my advice. Oh, and I hear your Isis is to marry that strutting ostrich Reshep.'
Meren stared at the prince. 'Don't be absurd.'
'Then it's not true?'
'Of course not.'
'Did he hear about Eater of Souls coming for you and withdraw from the arrangement?'
Meren turned on Rahotep and spoke under his breath. 'Curse your smug face, Rahotep. This attempt at humor has the subtlety of a hippo attack and the refinement of hyena dung. If you continue to wrap your barbed tongue around my daughter's name, I'll tie your ankles with your tongue and pitch you into the nearest dung heap.'
He hadn't been as quiet as he thought. The silence in the audience chamber caused both of them to stop glaring at each other and turn to find themselves the center of attention. Rahotep cleared his throat and marched over to the group of ministers near Ay. Meren found that he didn't care whether Rahotep was embarrassed before pharaoh, councillors, and great priests. He stalked around old Parenefer and knelt before the king.
'Golden one, I beg leave to return home to oversee the hunt for this creature. We must find it, or him, before it strikes again.'
'Come,' the king said.
Meren rose and mounted the dais upon which sat the king's golden chair. He knelt beside Tutankhamun.
'If by chance this killer isn't a demon, but one possessed, or a man of devious heart who marauds in disguise, then-'
'We're looking for the disguise, majesty. We-' He stopped because the king suddenly leaned closer and began to whisper.
'Meren, why would this-this thing come for you?'
Avoiding Tutankhamun's eyes, Meren shook his head. 'I know not, majesty.'
'Have you-that is… Is there any reason-'
'Like any man, I have sins for which I must answer, golden one.'
'Great sins?'
Meren raised his eyes to the king's dark gaze. He wanted to say no, but he couldn't. Which was the greater sin-allowing a heretic to cause great suffering, or failing to save a heretic from the consequences of his own heresy? This was the dilemma that haunted his ka. This sin would blacken his heart forever. So he found himself speechless before pharaoh. To Meren's consternation, his silence caused the king to nod as if in understanding.
Then Tutankhamun smiled. 'Do you know why I have such affection for you?'
'No, majesty.'
'Because of all the great men, warriors, and princes about me, only you find it impossible to lie to me. Oh, I know you deceive me about things you consider for my own good. But if I ask you for the truth about yourself, you always give it.'
'Majesty, you don't know what-'
'What you've had to do to survive?' Tutankhamun asked with bitter humor. 'I am the son of a pharaoh, the brother of two pharaohs, ruler of an empire, I know, Meren. It's bred into my flesh.'
'Thy majesty is as wise as the Nile is long.'
'Go, Meren. You've spent too much time in Parenefer's company, and you're beginning to sound like him.'
