When she put her feelings aside, she could see that Nefermaat was indeed the perfect target. The priestess was their best chance at shifting power in their direction, and Rae had easy access to her. Even if using Nefermaat as leverage forced the king to merely delay the cursing ritual, it would give them the opportunity to alert the rest of the rebels back in Sakesh and the time to transport more of their number to Thonis.
It was a good plan, and as their leader, Rae should have been the first to think of it. She felt a sting of shame. She glanced at Omari. He was watching her, waiting for her answer.
“You’re right,” she said. “The girl is no innocent. Every day she works to serve and protect the king, which increases his power.”
“She is an accomplice to the murder of our people,” Omari said. “Whatever comes to her, she deserves.”
Rae repeated the words in her mind, knowing she’d need to come back to them later, when the time came to do the difficult thing.Whatever comes to her, she deserves.
Grimly, she said, “We need to plan—and quickly. I must return before dawn.”
Omari took a step back, his tension falling away. “I knewyou’d see sense, Ay,” he said approvingly. “This is going to work, you’ll see. You wanted to send a message to Pharaoh, to bring the fight for Low Khetara to his doorstep. This is how we do it. This is how we start.”
Her heart thus hardened, Rae agreed. “Let’s begin.”
17Karim
Karim felt fate on the wind.
He felt it as soon as they emerged from the underground temple into the yellow blaze of day. A hot breeze dipped into the valley, ruffling his brown curls and filling his senses with that familiar, intoxicating scent. Even before Aya had shared her warning, he heard the words in the air, whispered with divine certainty.
Something is coming.
He hoped it was merely a figment of his imagination, the result of overexerting himself in the midday sun as he ran to the village for help.
When he saw the scarabs, he knew it was true.
“Where are they coming from?” Sita exclaimed in alarm as the beetles surged from beneath the desert floor to swarm all around them.
Aya started screaming, and Karim lifted the girl into his arms. She clung to him, shaking. “Don’t let them get me!” she begged.
“Shh, young sena. I’ve got you.” He watched the flow of black iridescent shells. They were not attacking them, merely moving past them—and in one direction. “They’re all going toward the old palace!” he told Sitamun.
The breeze lifted the princess’s mane of black hair off her shoulders and tossed it as she turned to Setnakht’s palace, where the massive statue of Set beckoned. When she met Karim’s gaze again, he knew they were sharing the same thought.
Handing Aya to Zev, Karim said, “Run to the village and raise the alarm, sen. Arm yourselves, quickly now. I fear these creatures are harbingers of what’s to come.”
“Why should I follow your orders?” Zev snarled. He was about to continue his rebuke when Aya pressed her cheek into the side of his neck.
“Please listen to him. Please!”
Zev relented. “This is your fault, I know it,” he said to Karim. “You’ve brought this upon us.” Then he hoisted the girl higher in his arms and ran.
Karim told Sita, “You should go with him too, Princess, where it’s safe. Khetara needs you.”
Sitamun lifted her chin and held the twisted serpent staff at her side. At her feet, the scarab beetles parted before her. Karim couldn’t help but stare. Standing there, with her shoulders thrown back and the wind in her hair, the princess was magnificent to behold, the kind of woman who inspired men to take up paintbrushes and chisels, who soldiers traveled to the ends of the earth to fight for—to die for.
“I know my kingdom needs me,” she said. “That’s why I’m coming with you.”
Karim nodded. “As you wish, sena.”
He didn’t believe in the Khetaran gods, but in that moment, he believed in her.
Together, they took off at a sprint, following the river of scarabs to the ancient palace.
***
They reached the large tree-lined courtyard in front of the palace in short order, though Sitamun was winded once they got there. Her staff must have been heavy, and Karim was impressed at how fleet of foot she was on her twisted ankle. As for himself, he was continually mystified at his inexhaustible stamina. He should have been tired after the run back and forth to the village, yet he felt as strong as ever. Perhaps his time among the Hudjefa had been more rejuvenating than he’d accounted for.
