The King's Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

it. Have never wanted it .
    Leaving his chair, he knelt before her, and taking her little foot in both his hands, he kissed it and set it gently down. “I am more than grateful for this honour, but I must refuse it. I can’t serve the King and you if I hold a title.”
    “Why not?” There was no edge to the words, but Huy sensed the wariness beneath them.
    “Because you have brought me here to be an adviser to His Majesty. You know that I love him and hold the greatest respect for you. You stand behind the throne as Regent. When the King reaches his majority, you will no longer have that power, although you will of course always have influence with him. My position as his adviser will not change. I must be seen to be above the politics of both the nobility and the priesthoods, to favour neither the servants of the King nor the servants of the gods. Only then can I be seen as incorruptible. The priests will not be able to accuse me of a bias towards my fellow nobles. The nobles will not see me as a contender against them for the positions and preferments available through His Majesty’s generosity. As Huy the peasant, I am completely impartial. As Huy the Seer, I am seen to serve only the King.”
    She had been motionless while he was speaking, the gossamer linen that fell to her ankles stirring only with the rise and fall of her breast. Now she reached out her hands, lightly stroking down his hair and then taking both of his long braids and tugging them gently. “Get up. You are very wise, aren’t you, my Seer? I had not considered your argument, but it has validity. Very well. I shall explain it to the King.” She rose, went to another table, and returned holding a thick roll of papyrus, which she passed to him. Now standing, he took it reluctantly. “Not for tonight,” she said. “You are dismissed. And before I forget, you have our permission to hire anyone you like to be your new scribe and the captain of your guards. Choose well. The palace is not always a safe place.”
    Bowing, Huy made his way to the door. Beyond it, Ameni acknowledged him and entered, closing it behind him. The passage was full of moving shadows between the torches on the walls, but Huy had no reason to share his fellow Egyptians’ fear of the night. Not anymore. He came to his own door without difficulty, bade the two guards a good night, and made his way to his bedchamber. Tetiankh was asleep across its entrance. Stepping over him, Huy had just enough energy to rid himself of kilt, loincloth, and jewellery before crawling onto his couch with a gusty sigh. On the table beside him was a stoppered vial. After picking it up and shaking it, Huy pulled out the stopper and drank his poppy. Almost at once his fatigue became a pleasant lassitude and he drifted easily into unconsciousness.
    He dreamed that he was sitting in his garden at Hut-herib drinking wine with Ishat. Even in his sleep he knew that drinking wine was a good omen. It meant that he would open his mouth and speak important words. He turned his head to tell Ishat so, but the woman beside him was not Ishat. It was the Queen. Mutemwia was wearing the crown with the gazelles’ heads. There was no wine cup in her graceful hands. Instead, she was lifting a wreath of jasmine and ivy over his head. “I love you also, Huy,” she said. “I have loved you almost as long as you have loved me. But what can I do?” The garden suddenly darkened and the hennaed lips so close to his own became ebony in the uncertain light. “Kiss me, Huy,” she whispered, and it was Anuket wearing the crown, Anuket whose fingers pressed the wreath against his skin. Huy cried out softly, but he did not wake.

2
    HUY HAD EXPECTED THAT AMUNHOTEP would hold audience in the Throne Room he remembered so uncomfortably from the time when he had lost his nerve to expose the sphinx dream as a sham. But the servant who arrived the following morning did not lead him through the palace and out into one of the gardens;