Suzanne Robinson (30 page)

They remained in this position for some time. The only sounds in the chamber were their breathing and the rhythmic creak of the wooden staffs of the fans. Anqet waited for Pharaoh to speak. Tutankhamun sighed and looked up at her.

“Thank you. I just spent seven hours at the temple of Amun-Ra. Festival of Opet is near, and the high priest wants a completely new sacred boat for the god, the greedy old—no, if I think of him I shall fall into a rage. Mmmm. That spot is tender.”

Anqet kept silent at the reference to the high priest of Amun-Ra. She was sure Pharaoh referred to the man’s part in the defilement of his brother’s tomb.

“Majesty, I have a recipe for a healing balm that will help the soreness. I will make some.”

“That is good of you.”

“It is my honor to serve Pharaoh,” Anqet said.

The king tilted his head up and smiled at her Anqet gave him a nervous smile.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to see you until today,” the youth said. A shadow came over his face. “I had to deal with the thieves Count Seth brought to me. Which reminds me—” The king took Anqet’s hands from his forehead. He guided her to sit beside him. “There will be no talk of what happened or who led the villains. The priests of Amun-Ra are powerful and have many spies. Do you understand, lady?” Tutankhamun held her eyes with his.

Anqet murmured her assent. The temple of Amun-Ra owned more land than any in Egypt except Pharaoh. Its vast wealth and influence rivaled that of the king.

“Seth told me you could be trusted.”

Trapped in the gaze of her god-king, Anqet pledged upon her ka that the secrets of Pharaoh could be entrusted to her At last the king released her from his soul-exposing gaze. Anqet shivered.

“The vizier Ay judged the prisoners in the temple of Amun-Ra,” Pharaoh said with an ironic sneer. “I insisted on that location. Paheri and the other enemies of the gods have been punished. They—are not.”

A wave of cold washed over Anqet. She had known the punishment of the murderers would come swiftly. She listened to the king’s firm voice. They had been impaled on stakes, according to Ay’s decree.

The king rubbed his forehead again. His hands curled into fists. He had forgotten Anqet.

“They made me leave him alone—the high priest of Amun-Ra. Seth and the others, they say I must wait. He’s too powerful.”

It took a while for Anqet to notice that the king was staring at her. Dark, soft curls strayed over his brow, displaced by the breeze stirred by the fans moving overhead. Without warning, he left the couch. Anqet stood up and watched him down the contents of his goblet.

“Brave Lady Anqet, I shall be tempted to cast aside my good intentions if you keep getting more and more beautiful. No wonder Seth defied me.”

“Majesty, I don’t understand.”

“No? Well, it’s my fault. I intended to explain after I sent you to Ta-usert, but Ay thought the prisoners should be judged. Seth is miserable.”

Anqet’s stomach turned over. “Majesty, you wish to punish Count Seth for the atrocity by separating us?”

“By the Two Lands! What an idea.” Tutankhamun collapsed on the lion couch. “Come here, Lady Anqet. Sit down. This matchmaking is much harder than bribing ambassadors or subduing a Libyan revolt.”

“Matchmaking?”

Tutankhamun sat up and grinned at her. “Yes. I’m sure it’s plain to you that Seth fears marriage. He is in love and in terror at the same time. I can’t have that. Seth is dear to me, and I need him, with his wits intact. So I decided that he needed to know what his life would be like without the woman he loves.”

“Oh,” Anqet breathed. Relief spread through her.

“You do want him, don’t you? I haven’t misjudged?” Tutankhamun looked at her with an open, grave expression. “I am not well versed in love matters. If you don’t want Seth, you may stay with me. I want you.”

“I want Count Seth, Majesty. I want him, but he doesn’t understand that I have responsibilities and honor.”

The king took her hand and squeezed it. “He understands, but he’s unable to think clearly at the moment. After I sent you away, he actually defied me.” Tutankhamen studied Anqet’s face. “I think I would have dared such a thing for you, were I in his place.”

“Pharaoh is generous.”

“I’m beginning to regret being so generous,” the king said. “But let me continue. Seth is too powerful for you to resist. In fact, I can think of no one who could successfully thwart him.” Tutankhamun chuckled. “Except my sacred majesty.”

Anqet’s spirits began to lift. Her lips curled in amusement.

“And how long does Pharaoh think it will take to destroy the battlements of isolation of which his commander of chariots is so enamored?”

Tutankhamun laughed. “Not long. For three days he was in such a rage that he dared not appear before me. Dega says he wrecked two taverns and a stable trying to drink away his wrath. It took him another two days to recover. Yesterday and today our count spent on patrol with his men.”

“He is a stubborn man, my Pharaoh.”

“That’s why I ordered him to attend me at the evening meal. You will be there, and we’ll give Seth a look, but not a taste, of the delicious wine he craves.”

Anqet couldn’t stop the tears that came to her eyes. “Majesty, thy gift is unsurpassed.”

“I am Pharaoh. Pharaoh cares for his people, especially for two to whom he owes so much.”

The wind stirred the garlands that hung about the neck of a winejar on the veranda of Count Seth’s town house. At a prudent distance from this jar sat the count. He regarded the wine container with a malevolence born of another night of drinking. Dressed for his mandatory appearance at Pharaoh’s table, he was spending a few quiet moments with Khet before he left. The boy sat at his feet and polished one of Seth’s ceremonial daggers. Seth pressed his fingers into his closed eyes. Fire burst into life in his head at the touch.

“I miss Anqet,” Khet said in a lost voice.

Seth removed his hands from his eyes. “You do?”

“Yes. She made composition bearable, and everyone was happy when she was with us.” Khet held the bronze blade up to the lamplight and examined it. He let it fall to his lap and gazed out at the tree-crowded courtyard. “Something is missing now that she’s gone. I don’t know what it is, even though I’ve tried to understand.” The boy glanced up at Seth. “She’s so unlike Rennut. Anqet knows things, and she talks to me.”

“I will spend more time with you, Little Fire.”

“That’s good.” Khet nodded. “That’s part of what’s wrong. Anqet disappeared into Pharaoh’s house, and now you are removed from me, as if part of you is gone too.”

Seth put a hand on Khet’s arm. “I’m sorry.” He watched Khet grip the dagger until the flesh of his hand was white.

“I’m afraid,” said Khet.

Leaving his chair, Seth crouched in front of his brother “I won’t leave you.”

“Why did he hate us?” Khet bit his trembling lower lip.

“Sennefer didn’t hate us He was jealous of me, and it’s true that he couldn’t love you as he should have, but he didn’t hate either of us.” Seth gave Khet a bitter smile. “He tried hard to hate us, I admit But in the end, he gave up and let his love rule. That’s why you and I are alive.”

Seth released Khet and watched the boy. Khet gazed back at him with eyes full of questions and pain.

“I know you’ve been hurt, Khet. I tried to prevent it.”

“But I disobeyed orders,” the boy said. “I know. Orders should be obeyed.”

Seth rumpled his brother’s hair and stood up. “Most of the time. Now I must go. Promise not to harry your tutor into letting you stay up late. If you’re to begin training under Lord Dega in the morning, you’ll need rest.”

“I promise.”

Seth left Khet busy with a manuscript Anqet had found in the study at Annu-Rest. It was the first time Seth had known the boy to read anything voluntarily. Anqet located an eyewitness account by one of their ancestors of a decisive battle in the defeat of the Hyksos invaders. They had begun reading it together before Sennefer’s death.

He was continually discovering acts of kindness the girl had shown to Khet, to Rennut, to Uni, and others. She drew the members of his family together in a way he would never have thought possible. Rennut sent a message asking after Anqet, even wanting to know if the girl could come to Memphis.

“Probably to serve as her steward and scribe,” Seth said to himself.

The journey to the palace was spent sinking into a depression fed by his loss of Anqet, Sennefer’s suicide, and what he considered Pharaoh’s betrayal of his trust. On top of this mountain of ill fate rested his inability to search out that foul worm Hauron. The man wasn’t on his yacht, which was docked in the harbor, and none of the man’s servants could be convinced to reveal his whereabouts.

Seth tried to fight off unhappiness with thoughts of what he would do to persuade Hauron that he should never see Anqet again. Unfortunately, that thought led to the idea that since Anqet was Pharaoh’s concubine, Seth might not see her either The Divine One had said he would give Anqet time to adjust to her new, honored status. This remark was the only thing that had prevented Seth from committing suicide by trying to snatch Anqet from His Majesty’s grasp. Once the king touched her, there was no hope.

He was a fool. There wasn’t any hope at all. Tutankhamun was the living god If he didn’t love the king so much, he would hate him—and surely be struck down by the gods.

By the time he approached the entrance to the king’s private dining chamber, Seth knew a blackness of the soul that equalled the darkness of a closed sarcophagous. It suited his mood, therefore, that the room he entered was shadowed. A few lamps were scattered about, but Seth could tell that this was to be one of Pharaoh’s more intimate evenings. The semidarkness all but concealed the enamel paneling that depicted wild gazelles, ibex, and quiet lagoons filled with ducks and cranes.

Seth paused inside the door to let his eyes adjust to the lack of light. Minhetep, at his post beside the door, nodded a greeting. A small form jumped out from behind the overseer of the audience hall.

“Count Seth, be welcome.”

“Ta-usert,” Seth said “May Amun-Ra bless thee.” He looked around for Anqet.

“Yes, my beauty. Pharaoh is waiting. Run along.”

Ta-usert patted his arm and licked her lips at him as if he were a freshly roasted oryx set on a tray for her consumption.

Seth passed through the guests Tutankhamun had favored with an invitation. He greeted Prince Khai and his new consort. Prince Ahmose, distant cousin to the king, murmured a welcome to Seth in his hushed, timid voice. He could see several others lounging on cushions and
chairs. Next to the commander of the king’s archers was Lady Gasantra.

She was watching him. Seth nodded to her curtly. Gasantra smiled and gave him one of her long, carnal inspections that ended at his groin. Seth swerved away from Gasantra’s domain and headed for Pharaoh’s customary place in a back corner of the room. In gold-spangled and pristine linen, the king lay on a couch, feet crossed at the ankles, arms behind his head. Seth went down on his knees beside the youth, his head bowed. Tutankhamun stared at the ceiling.

“How are the taverns of Thebes?”

Seth cursed silently. It was disconcerting how the young king found out the most embarrassing details of his life.

“Taverns can be repaired, Majesty. I’m not so sure about my head.”

Tutankhamun chuckled and propped himself up on his elbows. He called for a pillow. Seth breathed more easily as he settled onto the cushion. He watched the clouds of ostrich feather sweep the air over Pharaoh’s head while the king joked with Prince Khai and promised the commander of archers a place in the next expedition to quell the Rutenu people.

Flute and drum struck up a dreamy tune. Bare pale bodies glided in under the watchful eye of Ta-usert and began to dance. Under the cover of watching the performers, Seth searched the chamber for Anqet. She wasn’t there, and he dared not ask Pharaoh where his newest concubine was.

“I’m going on that expedition, no matter how many advisers say I’m too young,” Tutankhamun said when Khai and the archer moved away.

“Yes, Majesty.”

“No arguments from you? How odd.”

Seth glanced up at the king. “Pharaoh is ready to lead his armies, and I have no wish to argue with the Living Horus and provoke another punishment.”

“What punishment? Are you angry with me? You’re lucky you have my affection. My father would have banished you for defying him.”

“I know. Pharaoh is—kind.” Seth lowered his eyes.

Tutankhamun shooed off the line of dancers as it wove around his couch. The girls snaked away to the blushing Prince Ahmose. The king turned on his side, rested on a forearm, and lowered his voice.

“I’ve never seen you this way, Seth. Your eyes hold the grief of Isis. Your brother’s death weighs upon your ka.”

“And I have lost my beloved Anqet,” Seth said.

“You wouldn’t have lost her if you had cared enough to make her your wife.”

“She asked too much.” Seth gripped the edge of the couch and pinned his king with his gaze. “My Pharaoh, Majesty, can you say to me that having a wife is a good thing?”

Seth saw the color drain from Tutankhamun’s face. Briefly the king failed to meet Seth’s eyes, but the youth soon raised his head and smiled.

“Anqet is not the Great Royal Wife, thank the mighty Amun-Ra. Anqet, if I remember your words, is the most gentle and loving woman in the Two Lands.” Tutankhamun lifted his eyes to look over Seth’s head. “And I think you will agree that the lady is also a gift from the gods.”

Seth turned in the direction of the king’s gaze. She had come in when his back was turned, and he was unprepared. Anqet stood at a side door and directed a line of servants bearing food. A reverent obscenity escaped him. Tutankhamun lifted a brow, but made no comment as Seth stared at the girl.

Anqet wore white. A rare white wig cascaded to her waist and blended with the ivory hue of her gown. A blue lotus was fastened to her headband, and a heavy broad collar of gold, lapis lazuli, and red jasper lay on her shoulders. Seth drank in the sight of the breasts that swelled just below that costly necklace. He swore again, silently, as he felt his loins begin to bum. He wanted to snatch her away and burrow deep inside her body.