The Egyptian Royals Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

for my children.” We both looked at Nefertiti, commanding the servants in the courtyard. “She will be monarch of Egypt,” my mother said, a little in awe. “Our Nefertiti, only fifteen years old.”
    “And me?”
    My mother smiled, the lines on her face coming together. “And you will be Sister of the King’s Chief Wife. That’s no small thing.”
    “But who will I marry?”
    “You’re only thirteen!” she exclaimed, and a shadow crossed her face. I was the only child the goddess Tawaret had given her. Once I was married, she’d have no one. Immediately, I felt sorry I’d said anything.
    “Perhaps I won’t marry,” I said quickly. “Perhaps I will be a priestess.”
    She nodded, but I could see that she was thinking of a time when she would be all alone.

Chapter Two
     

    THEBES
    nineteenth of Pharmuthi
     
    OUR BARGE WAS ready to set sail for Thebes four days after my aunt’s visit to Akhmim. As the sun rose in the east above the temples of our city, I stood in front of my small herb garden and plucked a leaf of myrrh, holding it up to my nose and closing my eyes. I would miss Akhmim so much.
    “Stop looking so sad.” I heard my sister’s voice behind me. “There’ll be plenty of gardens for you at Malkata.”
    “How would you know?” I looked out over my tenderly cultivated plants. Cornflowers, mandrakes, poppies, a tiny pomegranate tree that Ranofer and I had planted together.
    “Well, you’ll be Sister of the King’s Chief Wife. If there aren’t, I’ll have some built!” I laughed, and so did she. She took my arm in hers. “And who knows? Maybe we’ll build an entire temple to you, make you goddess of the garden.”
    “Nefertiti
, don’t say such things.”
    “In two days I’ll be married to a god, and that will make me a goddess, and you the sister of one. You will be divine by relation,” she joked shockingly.
    Our family was too close to the Pharaohs of Egypt to believe in their divinity the way the common people did, the way they were told to believe so they wouldn’t challenge their authority. My father explained it one night, and I was afraid that next he would tell us that Amun-Re was not real, either, but he never did that. There were things you believed in for convenience’s sake, and things too sacred to speak against.
    Despite Nefertiti’s promises, I was sad to leave my little garden. I took as many herbs with me as I could, placing them in small pots, and I told the servants to take care of the rest for me. They promised they would, but I doubted if they would really pay attention to the jujube or give the mandrakes as much water as they needed.
    The trip to Thebes from the city of Akhmim was not a long one. Our barge pushed through the reeds and cattails, and then splashed through the muddy waters of the Nile south toward the City of Pharaohs. My father smiled at my sister from the prow, and she smiled back at him from her chair beneath an awning. Then he beckoned me over with his finger. “You have cat eyes in the sun,” he said. “Green as emeralds.”
    “Just like Mother’s,” I replied.
    “Yes,” he agreed. But he hadn’t called me over to speak about my eyes. “Mutnodjmet, your sister will need you in the days to come. These are dangerous times. Whenever a new Pharaoh sits on the throne there is uncertainty, and never more than now. You will become your sister’s Chief Lady, but you must be very careful what you do and say. I know you are honest.” He smiled. “Honest sometimes to a fault. But the court is no place for honesty. You must take heed around Amunhotep.” He looked out over the waters. Fishermen’s nets hung limp in the sun. At this time of day, all work was abandoned. “Also, you must rein in Nefertiti.”
    I glanced at him in surprise. “How?”
    “By giving her advice. You have patience and you are good with people.”
    I flushed. He had never said that about me before.
    “Nefertiti is hot-tempered. And I am afraid …” He