The prince looked at her with interest. “You already have an open channel to the gods. What else could you need to learn?”
“I wish to learn the ways of Heka.”
Meryamun’s eyes narrowed. “Magic?”
Neff nodded. “What good is knowing the future if I don’t have the power to change it?”
The prince’s expression was inscrutable. “Indeed,” he murmured.
As the seconds passed, Neff began to sweat. Had she asked too much, too quickly?
Don’t take no for an answer.
“I ask because I wish to serve you as best I can,” she said, filling the silence. “Not only as the voice of the gods, but as their hand as well. With the power of prophecy and Heka combined, there is nothing we could not achieve.” She paused deliberately. “But if the knowledge is forbidden…”
“Nothing is forbidden! Not from me!” Meryamun exclaimed, just as she’d hoped he would.
He regarded her, his eyes intense, the heat from his body radiating like an aura around him. “If I allow you this knowledge, you will use it to bring glory to my reign?”
Neff’s thoughts turned to “The Forty-Two Ideals of Maat,” the scroll she’d recited over and over again in the House of Life. They were vows made to a goddess whose name she shared, and whose essence was truth.
She’d vowed that she wasn’t guilty of sin, nor of wicked magicagainst the pharaoh.
Neff took a deep breath and sent a message to the heavens.
Forgive me, goddess.
“Everything I do,” she said, “I do in your service, my prince.”
The prince licked his lips. “Then there is nothing beyond your grasp, little priestess. All you desire, consider it yours.”
“Thank you, my prince.” Neff bowed, deeply enough that the prince could not see the emotional battle on her face. It was the struggle of a truth-teller who’d uttered a lie that would seed itself in her soul, be fruitful there, and multiply.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Prince Meryamun,” said a voice from behind her.
Neff was surprised to see two figures standing in the portal behind her. One wore a falcon mask, and the other the mask of a long-beaked ibis. Each of them carried a large ceramic jug in his arms.
The Heka priests, she thought with alarm,you bring up the cat and it comes jumping.
“Not to worry, Nefermaat,” Meryamun said, mistaking her alarm for a childish fear of the strange-looking men. “The Heka priests are here to perform my ritual purification before the ceremony.” He gestured for them to enter.
“Fresh water from the Iteru, my prince,” said the one wearing the falcon mask, raising the jug for inspection. His gaze flicked to Neff, but only for a second. Either he didn’t remember her or knew better than to question a girl under the prince’s protection.
“Very good,” the prince replied, and made his way to the gleaming copper basin sitting by a window. Stepping inside, the prince knelt while the two priests poured the contents of the jars over him, speaking sacred words. Neff watched the water roll over his shoulders, down his back and chest, cleansing him body and soul.
Is it really so easy to erase your sins?she wondered. Her lie was the first of many, that she knew. She scolded herself.You must do whatever it takes to stop him. For Kenna. For Bubas. For Khetara.
Still, she couldn’t help but think that she would never feel clean again.
***
It felt strange being back at the Temple of Amun that afternoon. It had only been a day since Neff had left, and yet so much had changed. The atmosphere was akin to that of the Bast Festival, but multiplied a hundredfold. Festivals happen every year, but the coronation of a pharaoh? For most, that was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Upon arrival, she was led through a throng of priests and priestesses making frantic last-minute preparations. Some of the Wabet passed by, dressed in translucent skirts and bead-net dresses. She waved to them, but they only turned to each other, whispered, and hurried on.
Nehshi crossed her path, and the young priest at least had the courtesy to acknowledge her.
“Nefermaat?” he said, his eyes wide. “Is that you?”
