“He dismissed almost all the palace servants,” I said. “To pay for war with the Hittites, and to buy armor from Crete.”
Merit pressed her fingers to her lips. “Henuttawy has given up her ka to make Iset queen. She will come for you,” she said with certainty. “You must hire a taster of your own.”
I recoiled from the idea, but Merit persisted.
“Ramesses has tasters.”
“Because he is Pharaoh.”
“And you will be queen! If you use a taster, Henuttawy will know, and she will never risk poison. Think of your sons! What would become of them if something were to happen to you? Do you think that Iset would keep me in this palace to watch over them? I would be sent with Woserit to the farthest temple in Egypt, while they lay here, defenseless.”
I felt my limbs grow cold. It was true. I looked at my children, beautiful princes of Egypt who might someday be kings. “Hire a taster,” I said.
“And if Pharaoh asks?”
“I will tell him . . .”
“That you are afraid of Hittite spies?” Merit said helpfully.
Henuttawy and Iset were liars. I didn’t want to lie to Ramesses as well. I should tell him the truth, I thought: that I am afraid his own aunt will kill me with a cup of wine or sip of shedeh.
There was a knock at the door, and before Merit received it, she turned to me. “Another year, my lady . . . Do you think he will keep his promise?” she asked.
I tried to ignore the hurt of Pharaoh Seti’s request. “He has never broken a promise,” I said.
“Even when Pharaoh Ramesses knows he made it to honor a lie? The people in Thebes heard from the messengers what happened to the pirates. They are starting to call you the Warrior Queen. They are saying that you risked your life for Egypt.”
But I repeated, “Ramesses has never broken a promise.”
Her shoulders sagged and she answered the door. “Your Highness!” She was startled in the doorway, quickly straightening her wig. “You have never knocked before . . .”
“I heard voices and thought Nefer might be telling you what happened in Avaris.” Ramesses entered my chamber and saw me with our sons. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“I am sorry for what happened to your father. He was like a father to my lady as well. Always kind, always gentle.”
“Thank you, Merit. We will all be moving down to my father’s court at Avaris as soon as his funeral has been held.”
“The entire palace?” she cried.
“Even Tefer.” Ramesses looked down, and Tefer responded with a plaintive cry. The cat had been sleeping beneath our sons’ cradles and appeared in no hurry to abandon his post. “It will take seventy days to prepare my father’s body. But once he is buried in the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, the court will move with us to Pi-Ramesses.”
I could already see Merit cataloguing the work that would have to be done. She excused herself with a bow, and Ramesses stood next to me.
“My father loved you, Nefer.”
“I’d like to believe that,” I said softly.
“You must believe that. I know you heard what he made me promise. He feared for my crown. He wanted to see you made queen, but someone misguided him.”
“I don’t think he was misguided,” I said carefully. “I think he was lied to.”
Ramesses watched me, and I wondered whether he was thinking of Iset and Henuttawy. I could not be the one to tell him the truth. It would have to be something he came to on his own. At last, his look of concentration faded, and he put his arm around my waist. “I will protect you. I will always protect you, Nefer.”
I closed my eyes and prayed to Amun, Just let him discover whom to protect me from.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
IN THE VALLEY OF THE
SLEEPING KINGS
Thebes
WHEN THE SEVENTY days of mummification were complete, Pharaoh Seti’s body was placed in a golden bark and carried on the shoulders of twenty priests into the Western Valley. Assuming that his heart was as light as Ma’at’s feather of truth and he was allowed to pass into the fields of Aaru, he would need this boat to travel with the sun on its daily journey around the world. Thousands of Thebans had crossed the River Nile to follow the winding funerary procession, and as the sun began to sink beneath the hills, the scent of sage baked all day by the sun was carried down on the cool