She glanced around the table at the serious-faced men, men including Sabni and the new viziers he had appointed. As Meryamun had commanded, the old viziers had been named traitors to the crown and executed, their bodies thrown into the river to be carried out to sea, for traitors were never to know the comfort of a tomb or the promise of eternal life. To Neff’s eyes, the new men seemed no different from the old ones, aside fromhaving a much healthier fear of their young king.
The new viziers said many things, but none of them included the wordno.
Neff pushed her plate away. She had no appetite.
Nearly every minute of every day, she was surrounded by people, and yet she’d never felt so alone.
“More water?”
Neff turned to see Ahura standing beside her carrying an alabaster water jug. She had dark circles under her eyes, but she managed a tight smile.
“Yes, thank you,” Neff replied.
Ahura bent to refill her cup, spilling a little on the table. Then the attendant nodded and moved on to the next guest.
Watching her, Neff thought that perhaps she had acquired a new friend.
When she’d met Ahura in the courtyard that day, it had felt just like when she’d met Karim. Like fate had placed her in Neff’s path. Karim had described the fourth person in the Oracle of the Lamb as a tall, strapping farm girl from Sakesh. Ahura certainly fit the physical description, and Neff doubted her claim about hailing from Bubas. If she was indeed a Sakeshi, why had Ahura come to the palace and assumed a false identity? Neff knew from her audiences with Meryamun that Sakesh was the heart of the southern rebellion. Did Ahura have her own plans to disrupt power in the kingdom?
Neff had to believe that her new servant could be trusted. After all, if the gods hadn’t meant for them to meet, why would they have sent a woman with her mother’s name?
You may doubt yourself, the High Priestess of Bast had told her,but never doubt the goddess. You are on this path because she deemed it so. Stay on it, no matter where it leads.
Neff took a deep breath and forced herself to eat, using a pieceof spiced flatbread to scoop some fava beans into her mouth.I need my strength to get through the day.
“Montuhotep!” sounded the king’s strident voice. “You’re late.”
Neff looked up to see her old master, the high priest of Amun, enter the chamber. He was pale, his shoulders hunched, a shadow of the powerful, self-assured man she’d met when she first arrived in Thonis. Back then, he had been the one to sit at the king’s right hand.
Their eyes met, and Neff saw a flash of hatred pass over his face as he took a seat at the other end of the table.
“Forgive me, my king,” Montuhotep said. “I was caught up in the preparations for your execration ritual.”
“Execration ritual?” Sabni asked, a bite of baked egg halfway to his mouth. The small man looked to Meryamun. “I had not heard about this, my king. Curses?”
Meryamun tutted. “Don’t be grumpy, Sabni. I have entrusted you with the management of my viziers. It doesn’t mean you overseeallmy affairs. As a healer has his pills, ointments,andheka to cure the sick, so a king needs an army, a strategy,andmagic to defeat his enemies. Sematawy knew this, but like so much of his wisdom, it was forgotten. The kingdom my father bequeathed me is plagued with rebellion and has lost the respect of the neighboring kingdoms. If I am to heal Khetara of these ills, I need heka on my side as well as bows and arrows. This execration ritual will give me just that: a curse upon each and every enemy of the crown.”
“My priests have commissioned all the clay pots that you need,” Montuhotep broke in, apparently not wishing his accomplishments to be forgotten in the exchange. “And they are working on the wax figures as well. I have also personally spoken to the man in charge of the fortress, and he is honored you’ve chosenthat location for the ritual.”
Meryamun turned to the high priest. “And what of the Sakeshi dogs? I want them out of the palace as soon as possible.”
“It won’t be much longer, my king. They too must be prepared for the ritual.”
The king’s smile sent a shiver up Neff’s spine. “Of course they must. They’re the main event.”
“Ach!You stupid girl! You are spilling everywhere!”
Neff turned to see Ahura recoil from one of the viziers, whose robe was soaked with the water she’d poured into his lap.
Ahura blinked at him, distracted. “I’m sorry…” she said and left the room in haste.
Meryamun leaned over and whispered in Neff’s ear. “Your maidservant is about as graceful as an ox. One more misstep, and I’ll be forced to have her thrashed. Perhaps that might teach her some manners.”
Neff nodded. “I’ll speak to her, my king. May I be excused? I have arranged to go to the queen’s quarters for a dream reading.”
“You may little seer. Perhaps your auguries will do my mother some good. She hasn’t been herself since Father’s death, though I would have thought my ascension to the throne would lift her from her doldrums.”
Neff noted bitterness in his voice.
