Rae cast an eye over the green soup. She’d managed not to spill any, but it was getting cold. She’d better hurry.
Her mind whirling with plans, she made her way to the young seer’s room.
***
Nefermaat was sitting at a low table surrounded by piles of papyri when Rae arrived.
“Oh good, you’re here,” the girl said with a smile, then pushed some of the scrolls aside to make way for her breakfast.
Rae blinked. Nefermaat looked very different than she had that first day in the courtyard. She was wearing a simple white shift—not unlike Rae’s own—and no jewelry except for the Bast collar she’d worn before. Her face was free of makeup, and shockingly, she wasbald.
So, itwasa wig.
Stripped of all her finery, Nefermaat looked to be barely more than a child.
Rae let her guard down, just a little.
A golden cat with black stripes rose from her spot in a sunbeam and padded over, clearly interested in sharing the girl’s meal.
Nefermaat chuckled as the cat snagged a chunk of cheese from the tray. “I should ask Cook to bring you your own plate,” she said with obvious affection. Primly, the cat carried her spoils back to the sunbeam to eat. Nefermaat glanced at Rae. “How about you? Have you eaten yet? I’m happy to share my breakfast, if you’d like to sit.”
The girl’s guileless expression was enough to melt the stoniest of hearts.
Still, Rae was no fool.
There’s more to this Nefermaat than what she seems, she thought.A young girl didn’t get to be both a priestess and the pharaoh’s favorite by being a simpleton.She is close to Meryamun, so it would behoove me to get close to her too. Who knows what she might tell me, if she let her own guard down?
Rae bowed her head in reply to the invitation. “Thank you, Priestess. I would like that.”
“Call me Neff,” the girl said, and gestured to the cushion across the table.
Rae sat, feeling unusually nervous as she watched the girl pile bread and cheese, fruit, and a slice of some kind of egg dish onto a plate and hand it to her. Once Neff started in on her soup, Rae began to eat.
As expected, it was the best meal she’d ever eaten. The egg dish, cooked with an abundance of onion and parsley, was particularly good. Rae nearly asked for seconds but reconsidered andstayed quiet. As if reading her mind, the girl cut another piece and slid it onto Rae’s plate.
“So, Ahura,” Neff said casually. “Tell me a little about yourself. You’re not from Thonis, are you?”
Rae froze, a chunk of bread lifted halfway to her mouth. She was starting to regret using her mother’s name as her alias, and she hadn’t bothered to come up with a backstory for the person she was pretending to be. Hadn’t Tam recommended she do that?
She shoved the food in her mouth, using the time she spent chewing to come up with an answer. “I’m from Bubas, actually,” she said.It’s the nearest High Khetaran town, she reasoned.Besides, I bet this highborn girl rarely sets foot outside the palace, so she probably doesn’t know much about the villages anyway.
“Bubas, you say?” the girl replied with interest. “Is that where your father lives? When we met, you said you needed this job to help him.”
Rae nodded, hesitant to elaborate. She sensed that this girl was clever enough to ensnare her if her web of lies became too tangled. Instead, Rae said something that was undeniably true. “I love my father. I would do anything for him.”
The girl regarded her with dark, bottomless eyes. “I feel the same about mine.” She dipped a piece of bread in her soup and ate it. “What about your mother? Does she need help too?”
Rae’s eyes dropped to her empty plate. “My mother is dead. She died when I was very young.”
“I’m so sorry,” Neff said softly.
She means it, Rae thought, taking in the seer’s solemn face.Who is this girl?She wasn’t at all what Rae expected from the villainous, bloodthirsty king’s closest confidant.
Neff reached for her cup of beer. “You know, Ahura is my mother’s name.”
Rae suddenly went cold. “It is?”
“I haven’t been able to see her since I came to the palace,” Neff went on. “Every night when I go to sleep, I wish she was here with me, telling me not to forget to wear my sandals and to look out for scorpions. When you told me your name in the courtyard, I knew you were sent for a reason. I knew that the gods had given me a sign we were meant to be together.”
