He sighed. “Still, you’re not a bad consolation prize. With you as my guest, I’ll have Tash prostrate at my feet soon enough.”
Listening to this speech, Rae felt chilled.If Meryamun is willing to murder Tashan ambassadors on a whim, what will he do to the people of Sakesh?
She needed to act. To get out of that room, find her father, and return home. But her mind was softening like butter, and though she strained to keep hold of it, her grip on reality loosened with every passing second. She began to breathe faster as a wave of unwanted yet unstoppable euphoria crashed over her.
The king noticed.
“You see, Harsi?” he said. “The blue lotus tames everyone, even the lioness. You should have some too.” He lifted the wine jar, filled the prince’s cup to the brim, and then held it to the Tashan’s lips.
It was only when Harsi began to struggle that Rae saw the prince’s wrists were tied to the arms of his chair.
“Drink,” Meryamun ordered, tilting the cup until red rivulets spilled from the corners of Harsi’s mouth. “Drink…”
Rae’s head lolled. Suddenly, she was on her back on the floor, with no memory of how she got there. Above her, the ceiling was painted with stars that glittered, and it felt as if everything in the room—the air, the music, her dress—was made of warm honey that dripped over her body and blocked out every other thought.
Tam’s face appeared before her, a constellation of stars shining around her head like a halo. “For the love of Ra, why did you drink so much?” she whispered.
“Thought I had to… Didn’t you?” Rae’s words were slurred. She reached out to touch Tam’s hair, and its softness was almost too much to bear.
“I pretended to drink, then spit it into a potted plant,” Tam replied.
A shadow fell over them.
“Is this why you weren’t interested in the good prince?” the king asked Rae. He reached down and tangled his fingers in Tam’s curls, then closed his hand into a fist.
Tam’s nostrils flared with pain.
“Well,” he went on, releasing her. “You have excellent taste. Please, don’t let me stop you. I’ll be right here, watching.” He resumed his seat in the chair, and the other women fell over him once more, their hands on his shoulders, his chest, offering plump figs and dates to his lips.
The stars on the ceiling were so bright and golden and beautiful they made Rae want to cry. Some small part of her understood what was going on and roared because she too wanted to put a knife in the king, wanted to tear him apart and taste his blood…
But then the violence melted into desire and made her dizzy. She could see the anxiety in Tam’s face, but Rae couldn’t feel it within herself. All she could feel was the fire on her skin where the weaver’s body melted into hers.
“What…what do I do?” she gasped.
Tam pressed her lips into a thin line, and Rae could see the weaver’s fear twisting itself into resolve. Gently, Tam cupped Rae’s face in her hand and pulled her closer.
“I’ll tell you what to do,” she whispered. “Forget about the king. Forget about the man tied to the chair. Forget the otherpeople around us. Just look at me, do you understand? Look at me, and forget everything else.”
Rae nodded. Then, starving, desperate, she dove headfirst into her lover’s arms.
12Karim
Karim swung his scythe across the stalks of grain, and they fell at his feet with a satisfying swish.
I could get used to this.He thought of Raetawy, the farm girl he’d met on his journey downriver, to whom he’d given the red lion amulet. He remembered the golden fields of wheat behind her and wondered if she took the same pleasure in harvesting. It was certainly quieter and sweeter-smelling than being a shepherd.
Safer than tomb robbing too.
Karim couldn’t blame the Hudjefa for wanting to protect their life in that secret, fertile valley. The oasis provided rich soil for growing grain and vegetables, and there were date palms and fig trees in abundance, likely the progeny of those planted by the ancient city’s architects. Knowing what he did about his own people’s struggles for survival in the Red Lands—the constant travel, the fear of nighttime raids, the reliance on the herds to provide everything from food to clothing to barter—he could understand the tribe’s decision to cut themselves off from the outside worldto preserve their way of life. Not that Karim wanted to be trapped in Perset indefinitely, but…
The ideawastempting.
He thought of Sitamun. Her smile as they danced in the firelight. The curve of her back against his hand as he held her. The exhilarating softness of her lips as they kissed.
How wonderful it would be to forget everything outside the valley, as the Hudjefa had done! What a relief to cast off the burden of the past, to be tomb robber and princess no more, and start life anew in that hidden paradise!
He swung the scythe again and again, allowing his mind to fill with pleasant, preposterous thoughts.
