Sphinx's Princess (19 page)

“Can we wait just a bit?” I asked. “There’s a little girl traveling with me. She’s coming here on foot with Henenu
the scribe and I want her to see me before entering an unfamiliar place.”

“A little girl?” Kepi repeated. “One of your relatives, my lady? The gracious Great Royal Wife didn’t mention that. We’ll have to prepare rooms for her as well.” She turned to the other two girls and began giving quick, crisp commands.

“Please stop; that’s not necessary,” I said. The two girls, who’d started back into the palace in a panic-stricken rush, stopped in their tracks and looked relieved. “The child is my—my personal musician. She stays with me.”

We lingered in the shadow of the gateway until Henenu and Berett arrived with the rest of the queen’s entourage. The child’s face broke into a smile when she saw me waiting for her. I embraced her joyfully. “See? What did I tell you?” I said. She nodded avidly, her tiny white teeth shining.

His purpose as Berett’s guardian fulfilled, Henenu fell in with the rest of Aunt Tiye’s servants as they entered the palace. “We’ll see each other soon, Nefertiti,” he called out to me as they left, then with a wink added: “My
lady
Nefertiti.”

Now that I had Berett with me once more, I felt at ease following my new attendants deep into the royal house. I was quietly thankful for my journey to Abydos: The splendor of the temple-run lodgings there had prepared me for the sumptuous marvels of the palace. How odd to realize that my eyes were growing accustomed to seeing rare woods, brilliant wall paintings, and the gleam of gold everywhere I turned.

I was given a pair of rooms tucked away in a part of the palace where the air was sweet with perfume and bright with the sound of women’s laughter. A slender pool like a captive portion of the sacred river filled the courtyard just outside my doorway. Green reeds and pink water lilies half-concealed the vivid flicker of a fish’s scaly side. The rooms themselves were painted with riverside scenes of waterfowl—ducks, geese, herons, and cranes—and sometimes with the flight of a lone falcon above the water. The inner room, where my bed stood, showed a young woman on a raft, attended by two elegant cheetahs, watching while a royally dressed young man showed off his hunting skill in the thick of the marshes.

The chest of my belongings from Akhmin arrived soon after I took possession of my new place. It looked very small and shabby. Two of my attendants set about unpacking it for me, but soon enough they saw it was a job one girl could do in next to no time. As I watched them work, I wondered whether they were assigned to look after me from now on or if they were only supposed to get me settled.

What am I going to do with three servants?
I thought.
All I need is one. I’m never going to be able to come up with enough things to have them do for me. Servants complain when they’ve got too much work, but they’re bored and uncomfortable when they’ve got none, just like me.

“My lady?” Kepi broke into my thoughts. “I’ll have a sleeping mat brought for the child. Will that do?”

“I’d rather she had a bed,” I said, glancing at Berett. She’d nestled herself into one corner of the room and was playing a lively tune on her harp. With her eyes shut, she
wrapped the music around her like a comfortable cloak, content.

Kepi cocked her head. “If you wish, my lady. But I swear by the Eye of Horus that it’s perfectly safe for her to sleep on the floor. For as long as I’ve worked here, and my mother before me, no one has ever seen a single serpent inside the palace walls.”

“Nevertheless, please bring her a bed,” I said. I wanted Berett to have every comfort now that we’d reached the place where I’d have to spend the next three years of my life.

Maybe more
, I thought.
I suppose I
might
like Thutmose. If that happens, I’m here to stay, but at least I’ll be happy. If it doesn’t—
I tried to imagine myself three years in the future, telling Aunt Tiye that there was no way I could ever marry her son. How would she react? Would she let me go home with her blessing or would she force me into the marriage in spite of my refusal?
Three years is a long time. Maybe she’ll find him a
real
princess by then and set me free. O Isis, let it be so, and soon!
I sighed.
I suppose there’s always the chance that
he
won’t want to marry
me.
That would solve everything. So much depends on Thutmose. I wonder when I’ll meet him?

I think that sometimes the gods hear our thoughts as well as our prayers. I was just about to ask Berett if she were hungry when an older woman came into the room and bowed to me. “Greetings, my lady Nefertiti,” she said. “My honored mistress, the king’s Great Royal Wife, requests your presence in the lesser hall of audience so that you may meet her son.”

“Of course,” I said, beckoning Berett to walk with me. I saw the woman frown and braced myself for an argument
about why I couldn’t bring the little girl with me. I was prepared to stand firm about that, no matter what. As things turned out, it was unnecessary. Berett looked at my hand, then pushed herself deeper into her corner, shaking her head forcefully.

“Sweet one, I have to go,” I said. “Do you still want to stay behind?” This time she nodded, a stubborn look in her eyes. “Well, all right, if you’re sure.” I turned to Kepi. “Take care of her. She can’t speak, but she can hear and understand. She might be hungry, so please see to it that she’s fed.” She bowed, but not before giving Berett a look that was pure kindness. I was able to obey Aunt Tiye’s summons with no misgivings.

The older maidservant brought me out of the sweet-smelling part of the palace and into passageways where I smelled sweat, wood smoke, even animals. Then we made a sharp turn and the air was fragrant once more. She’d brought me to my aunt’s royal apartments. We passed through room after room of furnishings and decorations so awesome that the sight stole my breath. Suddenly we left those treasure rooms behind and came out into the sunlight of a private garden filled with fruit trees and flowers.

In the middle of the garden, in the shade of a fig tree, Aunt Tiye shared a gilded bench with a dark-eyed young man and a slender woman who looked only a little younger than my beloved stepmother Mery. A speckled brown cat with a star-shaped patch of white fur on its forehead and tiny gold hoops dangling from its ears sat on the young man’s lap and washed itself as if this were the most important occupation in the world. The woman was weaving a
crown of sky blue flowers. They were two of the most beautiful people I’d ever seen.

She’s probably one of Aunt Tiye’s four daughters
, I thought.
And he must be Thutmose. Oh! He’s so handsome!
I told myself sternly that it was foolish to be so quickly snared by his looks, but he truly was stunning. I couldn’t keep my heart from beating faster or my cheeks from coloring with embarrassment when I took in the sight of him. I came forward and bowed low to hide my face.

I was still bent at the waist when I heard Aunt Tiye’s smug voice say, “Well, my darling, here she is. I doubt you’ve ever seen a more beautiful girl. Your mother will always see to it that you have nothing but the best. What do you think?”

“I didn’t get a good look at her.” The voice that answered Tiye’s was deep, harmonious, and … bored. “If you say she’s all right, I guess she must be.”

“Now, Thutmose, don’t be lazy,” Aunt Tiye said. “I want you to see for yourself.”

“Why? What will happen if I don’t care for her?”

“Don’t be a stupid boy! You
will
like her!” Just like that, Aunt Tiye’s voice went from honey to flame. “Nefertiti, what are you doing, all bent over like that? You don’t have to bow to us. Stand straight and come closer!”

I was way ahead of her. The blush in my cheeks was now an angry one. My heels thudded hard on the garden path that brought me right into the face of Pharaoh’s queen. “Is
this
close enough?” I snapped. The young woman seated next to my aunt laughed.

“I don’t know if
you
like her, Thutmose,” she said. “But
I
do!” She stood up and set the crown of flowers on my head. “I’m your cousin Sitamun, Nefertiti. Welcome.”

Her sweetness stole the edge from my fury, but I was still mad. “Thank you, Sitamun,” I said. “I hope that you and I will be friends.”

“Never mind
her
,” Aunt Tiye demanded. “You’ll have plenty of time for her and the others later. I want you and Thutmose to talk now. Sitamun, come!” She rose to her feet and for the first time I noticed how much tinier she was than her graceful daughter. It was hard not to laugh at the spectacle they made when Aunt Tiye grabbed Sitamun’s wrist and dragged her out of the garden, like a flea trying to carry off a puppy.

I was left alone with Thutmose.

“So you’re Nefertiti,” Thutmose said, not even bothering to look at me. The cat in his lap got all his attention as he scratched it between the ears and stroked it under the chin. “That scribe, what’s his name, didn’t lie. You
are
pretty.”

“His name is Henenu and he’s a friend of mine,” I said. “I wish he’d told me about you.”

That made Thutmose stop petting the cat and look up sharply. “Why? What would you need to know?”

I shrugged. “The things you like to do, how you pass your time, what amuses you, that you’re fond of cats …” I gestured at the sleek, satisfied creature on the prince’s knees. “If you ever smile.”

He pursed his lips. “And of course you’d want to know what I look like, in case you feared Mother was bringing you here to marry a monster. She told me about that silly bargain she made with your family, putting off our marriage for three years. Now that you’ve seen me, perhaps we can
forget about that and get it all settled sooner. Oh, not
too
soon—you’re looking at me as if I’d said you’ll have your head chopped off tomorrow—but sooner than three whole years in the future.”

“Maybe …” My voice trailed off. “I think—I think that we should take a little time to get to know one another.”

“Why?” His question was sincere. “My parents have had a satisfactory marriage for many years and the only thing Mother knew about my father before she wed him was that he was Pharaoh. That was good enough for her.”

“I’m sure it was,” I muttered. “Is that all you want? A ‘satisfactory,’ marriage?”

He made a dismissive sound. “Do you always fasten on to one word and ignore the rest? My father is devoted to Mother. He made her his Great Royal Wife, he heaped her with riches, he permits her to give opinions when he deals with foreign princes, he had a whole
lake
built for her pleasure! If you don’t like ‘satisfactory’ call it something else, but know what you’re talking about first.”

How “satisfactory” is it if Aunt Tiye’s so afraid of losing her power that she had to bring
me
here to guarantee your future?
I thought. But because I still didn’t have a secure footing in the royal court, I held my tongue. For all I knew at that point, one hard word said to the prince would rebound to harm those I loved. I remembered Father’s counsel; he’d warned me to tread cautiously. So I guarded my thoughts, lowered my eyes, and said, “You’re right. Please forgive me. I’m tired from my journey and it makes me speak without thinking.”

“Fine.” The cat leaped off Thutmose’s knees and went
to investigate something at the roots of a nearby flowering shrub. “We’ll have more than enough time to talk. Be welcome in this place.” The stiff, formal words fell naturally from his lips, but there was no warmth in them at all. “You will be well served. Speak up when you want anything to eat.”

“Won’t we dine together?”

“Tonight, yes. You’ll be presented to Pharaoh. After that, I doubt it, though if we must do so again, you’ll be told.” When he stood up, he looked exactly as handsome, strong, and imposing as a statue of Pharaoh striding forth to defeat his enemies: as handsome, as strong, as imposing, and as cold. “Where are you lodged? A servant should escort you back to your rooms.”

“Don’t bother,” I said. “I know where to go.”

“So quickly?” He looked interested but not for long. “As you like. Until tonight, then.”

Well
, that
wasn’t pleasant
, I thought as I left him.
He didn’t even try to know me. It’s only our first meeting, but still—!
I turned down a corridor painted with scenes of Pharaoh hunting lions from his chariot. I thought it looked familiar. For a time I put away all thoughts of Thutmose as I tried to recall the route by which the older woman had brought me into the hidden garden. The more I walked, the more confused I became.

I’m lost, amn’t I?
I stopped in the middle of an empty room lined with storage chests and sighed.
I only told Thutmose that I knew my way back because he’d made me angry. I
know
he’s the crown prince, I
know
he’s more highborn than I am, even if we’re kin. He doesn’t need to remind me of it. So why did he act as
if I was sunk in the mud and he was standing on a mountaintop?
I left the storage room behind and walked briskly on, cursing my hasty temper with every step.