Sphinx's Princess (17 page)

Bit-Bit shrank back, nibbling on her knuckles, too overwhelmed by our aunt’s forceful personality to answer. I stepped forward, out of Father’s sheltering shadow. “Why should I have only two paths?” I said. “I don’t need to choose between marrying your son and being the wife of some other man in Akhmin. What if I don’t want to marry at all? There are other roads. Maybe even one I can make for myself.”

Aunt Tiye put on a dramatically pathetic face and shook her head sadly. “Just when I think you’re wise, you play the fool again, Nefertiti. You speak boldly, but you don’t know anything about the world or how things are for women. Fortunately, you’ll have a good teacher to correct that fault. When you marry Thutmose, I will look after your education personally.”

“I’m not going to marry—”

“I’m not asking for your consent, girl!” the queen barked at me. “I don’t need it.”

“No, but you need mine,” Father said. “If you try to force this marriage, I’ll go to Pharaoh. I’m more than just Tiye’s brother to him. He’ll remember how well I served him in the past and how closely I’m looking out for his interests in Akhmin now. He’ll stop you.”

“And then he’ll forget all about it the moment you’re out of his sight,” Tiye shot back. “If my son loses his claim to the throne because of your stubbornness, I’ll make it my business to ruin your life, brother or not. Do you think I can’t do it?”

Father breathed deeply. “On the contrary, Tiye,” he said. “I’ve known you since birth. You’re never more dangerous than when someone is standing between you and what you want. What I don’t understand is why you’re so insistent on turning my Nefertiti into your gaming piece. If your chief worry is the royal-born women in your husband’s harem, why aren’t you trying to marry Thutmose to a princess? Fight a sword with a sword.”

“Princesses can be made,” Tiye replied. “Beauty can only be discovered. Have you
looked
at your daughter, Ay? There isn’t a more enchanting face in all of the Black Land. My husband is very fond of beautiful things. If Thutmose has such a lovely wife, Pharaoh will favor him for her sake.”

“I’m not beautiful and I’m not a
thing
,” I said hotly. “And I don’t want to be a princess, or to marry Thutmose, or—”

“Nefertiti.” Father’s hand closed on my wrist. “Nefertiti, take Bit-Bit outside. I need to speak with my sister alone. We’re going to settle this once and for all.” He sounded confident. My spirits rose and I couldn’t help
giving Aunt Tiye a triumphant look as I clasped Bit-Bit’s hand and left the room.

The tall servant saw us come out. He was waiting in company with five others, all of whom were holding trays piled high with succulent meats, fruits, and fresh, hot bread. He bowed low when he saw us and said, “Most noble young ladies, beloved of our revered Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiye, may she live eternally, is it time to bring in the banquet to celebrate the royal betrothal?”

“Not yet,” I said.
Not ever
, I thought, exulting, though it was a pity to see the longing in Bit-Bit’s eyes as she gazed at the delectable array of food.

“Nefertiti?” The bread and the roast meats were still hot enough to send trails of fragrant steam wafting through the air when Father stepped out to join us. An awful change had come over him. He looked haggard. He hugged us both so tightly it felt as if he never wanted to let us go. Then he noticed the waiting parade of servants. “The queen commands you to enter,” he said. All the life had gone out of his voice. “Bit-Bit, go to your mother. Nefertiti and I will be just a little while longer out here.” When Bit-Bit stayed put, he shouted “
Go!
” so loudly in her face that she yelped and fled.

“Father?” This was worse than the time he’d tried to force us away from his confrontation with Henenu. Then his anger sprang from grief, but now—now he looked crushed, broken. My father, the strongest, bravest man I’d ever known, was like a small slave boy who’d been punished harshly for some small misdeed. I tried to hug him again, but he held me at arms’ length and shook his head.

“My little kitten, do you know how much I love you?” I nodded, my mouth dry. He sounded on the brink of tears. “I’d do anything I could to protect you, but sometimes—sometimes …”

I understood. “Sometimes you can’t.”

“She threatened us, Nefertiti.” Now his face was streaked with tears. “I didn’t know she had so much command. She’s not just Pharaoh’s Great Royal Wife; she’s also the God’s Wife of Amun, high priestess of the supreme god. The domination of the Amun priests is greater than anything you can imagine. Pharaoh Amenhotep is doing what he can to weaken it by declaring himself to be a god while he lives, instead of after death, but what strengthened him also strengthened her.”

“What did she say she’d do?” I asked. I didn’t want to hear, but I had to know.

“My sister is wise.” Father uttered a hollow chuckle. “She didn’t bother menacing me with poverty or exile. She simply reminded me that there was a high priest of Isis who’d be more than happy to add his testimony to hers that I’d blasphemed against the gods. I would die for that, my possessions would be confiscated, and my family—enslaved. I had no choice, little kitten.” His laugh became a sob. “I had no choice.”

This time when I tried to put my arms around him, he let me. “It’s all right, Father,” I said. “Maybe it will work out well. I might like Thutmose.”

“May the gods grant it.” He wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand. “To hear Tiye talk, it’s
impossible
not
to like Thutmose.” He laughed again, and now it sounded a bit more natural. “Which is why I was able to gain you a
little
breathing space.” He saw my questioning expression and went on: “My sister says she doesn’t make ‘marketplace bargains,’ but the truth is that she’s a born haggler at heart. As much as she likes winning, she likes a challenge even better, so I gave her one. When I saw that there was no hope of escaping this marriage, I began to plead that you were too young to marry just yet.”

“But didn’t she say she was even younger when she married Pharaoh?”

“Ah! But then
I
pointed out that she was an extraordinary woman. You can guess how much she liked that.” His old smile was back. “I also said that it might be best if she used the time between now and your marriage to teach you all about the perils and practices of the royal court, making you into a worthy wife for her precious Thutmose.”

“Time?” I echoed. “How much time?”

“Three years!” Father proclaimed his small victory over his sister as if he’d conquered an entire kingdom for Pharaoh. “With the condition that if you decide you want to marry Thutmose sooner, so be it.”

“So it
won’t
be,” I said. “If I’m fated to marry him, I’ll do it when I
must
and not a single day earlier.”

“Don’t close your heart or your mind, my sweet kitten,” Father said, beginning to lead me back into the room where Aunt Tiye, Mery, and Bit-Bit waited. “You might like Thutmose. You said it yourself. Now come, let’s enjoy your aunt’s fine hospitality.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Then come and stop your sister from stuffing herself with too much duck. You will stay here with the royal court, but your mother and I have to go back to Akhmin, and I don’t look forward to sailing down the river with Bit-Bit being sick over the side of the boat all the way home.”

The next day, Father managed to persuade his sister to make a public oath before the temple of Amun, renewing her promise to delay my marriage to Thutmose by three years. The ceremony took place before many witnesses, not just the members of our family but also those nobles attending the queen, the priests of Amun, of Osiris, and of several other gods who were revered in Abydos.

I wore my best dress and sandals for the occasion and stood between Father and Aunt Tiye at the top of a wide flight of steps leading to Amun’s sanctuary. Aunt Tiye tried to get me to agree to have my head shaved so that I could wear one of her finest wigs, with gold beads weighing down every one of the hundreds of tiny plaits, but I refused. As a compromise, I let her heap my body with the weight of enough bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and hair ornaments to bring a horse to its knees. One of those bracelets was the silver one I’d given back to her. She made it very clear to me
that while she was only lending me the other ornaments, I had better not refuse the silver bracelet a second time. I was beginning to understand that with Aunt Tiye, you either gave her her own way, made a compromise that left things going
mostly
her own way, or fooled her into thinking she was getting her own way when she wasn’t. The last option was very dangerous.

After she took that oath in Amun’s sight, she dismissed Father and me. “We’ll be leaving for Thebes tomorrow. I must make sure that everything awaiting you there will be perfect, my dear.” She patted my cheek and swept away.

Father and I rejoined Mery and Bit-Bit in my parents’ room. The queen’s oath-taking had eaten up a lot of time, but I had no misgivings about leaving little Berett behind for so long. Once again, my good friend Henenu had volunteered to keep her with him while I was busy elsewhere. The child seemed happy in his company. Though Henenu was one of the most experienced and respected scribes of the royal court, he willingly tossed his dignity and importance aside in order to dance, sing, tell stories, recite poems, and even make fantastic faces—all to entertain one small slave girl.

I was glad. As much as I cared about Berett and as passionately as I wanted to help her out of the pit that had swallowed her voice, I knew that we two would have plenty of time together after we left Abydos. I couldn’t say the same for my beloved family. Once the next day dawned, we would part ways, and the gods alone knew when we would see one another again. My heart ached, but I didn’t cry during the
short time we had left to spend together. I was afraid that if my tears started, they’d never stop.

We all sat together, Father and Mery on chairs, Bit-Bit and I on the bed facing them. Mery’s smile wobbled whenever she looked at me.

“I’m such a silly woman, Nefertiti,” she said, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Here you are, grown up enough to be getting married, and all I want to do is hold you in my lap the way I did when you were small.”

“I don’t think you’re silly, Mother.” I started toward her, but she held up her hands to stop me.

“Not yet. If I hold you again, I’ll never let you go, and I know that’s not possible.” The room was not well lit, but I could still see the tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

I touched Bit-Bit’s shoulder. “Sit with Mother.” So my little sister took the place I longed to be and dried Mery’s tears with her kisses.

Father looked at me intently. I think he couldn’t bear the sight of Mery weeping. Perhaps he was afraid that if he looked at her too long, he’d cry too, and then we’d all be in tears. “My sweet Nefertiti, will you make me a promise?” he asked. “Be my voice when you next see Henenu. My poor friend! He sent me a message begging my forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness? But he hasn’t done anything,” I pro tested.

“I know that, but he thinks he has. He blames himself for—for our parting.” Father sighed. “He fears that by praising you to Tiye so much and so eloquently, he gave her the idea to make you Thutmose’s bride. He’s convinced I must hate him for it.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” I cried. “He was only telling her about her family. He’s not at fault for what she did with that news.”

“That’s what I say, too.” Father managed a weak smile. “You’d think Henenu would give me credit for having more sense than that, but the fellow’s desolate. So promise me, dear one, that you’ll let him know our friendship is secure.”

“I promise,” I said. “Gladly.”

“Another thing,” Father said. “When you reach Thebes, little kitten, be careful. You’re a smart girl, but you’re very young and you think that everyone can be trusted.”

I laughed. “Not anymore. The high priest of Isis and Aunt Tiye already taught me that lesson.”

“The high priest is a stupid bully and my sister is so powerful that she doesn’t care if anyone trusts her as long as they do what she commands. I’m talking about the sort of people who’ll
pretend
to befriend you. They’ll seem exactly as faithful as your true friends, but they see you only as a step to help them rise high or a hoe to clear away the muck they don’t want to touch with their own hands.”