Not that she’d gotten to enjoy much of the food herself.
Rae grunted, shifting her grip on the tray.It’s criminal howmuch these High Khetarans eat. This one meal could feed an entire Sakeshi family for a whole day.She studied the bowl of soup. It was thick and green, and gave off a bitter, but not unpleasant, aroma.
“What is this?” she asked.
The cook returned with the fruit and set it on the tray. “Didn’t Ijusttell you to stop asking questions? Your mind is like an empty room, girl!”
Then the cook sighed in resignation. “The soup is made with jute mallow leaves, garlic, and coriander. Very tasty, very healthy food. The little seer has taken a liking to it, so she gets a bowl every morning. Happy now?”
“Delighted. Can I go?”
The cook pointed a finger at her and said, “Spill a drop of it and I’ll have your hide. I don’t care how big you are.”
Muttering a litany of curses under her breath, Rae shuffled out of the kitchen into the open corridor leading to the palace proper. She paused, letting the fresh cross breeze dry the perspiration on her brow. Her muscles relaxed a bit, though she still didn’t feel at ease.
As soon as she, Tamerit, and the other new arrivals had been brought into the palace, she’d been ushered into a bathing chamber with the other women, ordered to strip, and then instructed to wash herself until the head attendants were satisfied. After she’d nearly scrubbed her body raw, she’d been fitted with a long white kalasiris made of linen so fine that even Tam was impressed. Soft as it was, it drove Rae to distraction, as it was so tight that she was forced to take mincing steps everywhere she went.
The kingdom for a tunic!she thought. She could hardly walk in the dress, no less run, fight, or any other useful activity.
Not that she expected to be doing those things anytime soon.
It hadn’t taken long for Rae to recognize she wasn’t cut out for the life of a spy.
She was accustomed to danger. She’d faced it back in Sakesh, time and time again. Sought it out, even. But that danger was straightforward—it was fists in an alleyway, a whip at her back, arrows in the night.
The risks of the king’s palace? Those were different.
There was no fighting, no violence, no pain—aside from the frustration of dealing with the royal cook. And yet, danger was everywhere. Hidden in every glance, every word, every decision she made.
It was awful. She’d take a fistfight over courtly intrigue any day.
While she paused to catch her breath, two maidservants exited the kitchen carrying their own breakfast trays. One looked to be about Rae’s age, the other slightly older. Rae followed at a short distance behind him, hoping to catch a bit of their conversation.
“Still no word of Femi?” the older one asked.
The younger maidservant sighed. “No. His wasn’t among the bodies taken across the river to be interred with King Amunmose. So, I have to believe he still lives. I have a theory he’s being kept down in a subterranean chamber. One of the cooks told me that in addition to the gruel for the rebels, the pharaoh’s head guard told her to make up a tray of bread and beer. I think that food is for Femi.”
“What makes you say that? Why would the king keep Femi prisoner?”
The young woman’s expression darkened. “Because ofher. Sitamun.”
Rae had been so spellbound by the conversation that she’d almost let the jute leaf soup spill into the fruit salad. She steadied the tray and continued.
“The princess?”
“Femi was bedding her before she disappeared. The king must think he knows where to find her.”
The princess is missing?Rae filed the information for later use.I wonder where she got off to?
The older maidservant looked both scandalized and delighted. “Femi and the princess? Together? Are you certain?”
Scowling, the younger woman said, “I’m certain. Before Sitamun took him into her bed, he’d been in mine. Something happened the day of the Bast Festival. We’d met in the pleasure garden that afternoon and all was fine, and then…then it was over, and the only star in his sky was Sitamun.” She paused. “I still care for him, though. I still want to know if he’s all right.”
“Of course you do,” the older woman said sympathetically. “Amun willing, you will see him again.” Then they turned down a corridor toward the ladies’ chambers.
Rae stopped tailing them, having learned exactly what she needed to know.
Gruel for the rebels,she thought.So they’re keeping the prisoners underground. That’s where I’ll find Father!
