“Of course,” I said, beckoning Berett to walk with me. I saw the woman frown and braced myself for an argument about why I couldn’t bring the little girl with me. I was prepared to stand firm about that, no matter what. As things turned out, it was unnecessary. Berett looked at my hand, then pushed herself deeper into her corner, shaking her head forcefully.
“Sweet one, I have to go,” I said. “Do you still want to stay behind?” This time she nodded, a stubborn look in her eyes. “Well, all right, if you’re sure.” I turned to Kepi. “Take care of her. She can’t speak, but she can hear and understand. She might be hungry, so please see to it that she’s fed.” She bowed, but not before giving Berett a look that was pure kindness. I was able to obey Aunt Tiye’s summons with no misgivings.
The older maidservant brought me out of the sweet-smelling part of the palace and into passageways where I smelled sweat, wood smoke, even animals. Then we made a sharp turn and the air was fragrant once more. She’d brought me to my aunt’s royal apartments. We passed through room after room of furnishings and decorations so awesome that the sight stole my breath. Suddenly we left those treasure rooms behind and came out into the sunlight of a private garden filled with fruit trees and flowers.
In the middle of the garden, in the shade of a fig tree, Aunt Tiye shared a gilded bench with a dark-eyed young man and a slender woman who looked only a little younger than my beloved stepmother Mery. A speckled brown cat with a star-shaped patch of white fur on its forehead and tiny gold hoops dangling from its ears sat on the young man’s lap and washed itself as if this were the most important occupation in the world. The woman was weaving a crown of sky blue flowers. They were two of the most beautiful people I’d ever seen.
She’s probably one of Aunt Tiye’s four daughters, I thought. And he must be Thutmose. Oh! He’s so handsome! I told myself sternly that it was foolish to be so quickly snared by his looks, but he truly was stunning. I couldn’t keep my heart from beating faster or my cheeks from coloring with embarrassment when I took in the sight of him. I came forward and bowed low to hide my face.
I was still bent at the waist when I heard Aunt Tiye’s smug voice say, “Well, my darling, here she is. I doubt you’ve ever seen a more beautiful girl. Your mother will always see to it that you have nothing but the best. What do you think?”
“I didn’t get a good look at her.” The voice that answered Tiye’s was deep, harmonious, and … bored. “If you say she’s all right, I guess she must be.”
“Now, Thutmose, don’t be lazy,” Aunt Tiye said. “I want you to see for yourself.”
“Why? What will happen if I don’t care for her?”
“Don’t be a stupid boy! You will like her!” Just like that, Aunt Tiye’s voice went from honey to flame. “Nefertiti, what are you doing, all bent over like that? You don’t have to bow to us. Stand straight and come closer!”
I was way ahead of her. The blush in my cheeks was now an angry one. My heels thudded hard on the garden path that brought me right into the face of Pharaoh’s queen. “Is this close enough?” I snapped. The young woman seated next to my aunt laughed.
“I don’t know if you like her, Thutmose,” she said. “But I do!” She stood up and set the crown of flowers on my head. “I’m your cousin Sitamun, Nefertiti. Welcome.”
Her sweetness stole the edge from my fury, but I was still mad. “Thank you, Sitamun,” I said. “I hope that you and I will be friends.”
“Never mind her,” Aunt Tiye demanded. “You’ll have plenty of time for her and the others later. I want you and Thutmose to talk now. Sitamun, come!” She rose to her feet and for the first time I noticed how much tinier she was than her graceful daughter. It was hard not to laugh at the spectacle they made when Aunt Tiye grabbed Sitamun’s wrist and dragged her out of the garden, like a flea trying to carry off a puppy.
I was left alone with Thutmose.
“So you’re Nefertiti,” Thutmose said, not even bothering to look at me. The cat in his lap got all his attention as he scratched it between the ears and stroked it under the chin. “That scribe, what’s his name, didn’t lie. You are pretty.”
“His name is Henenu and he’s a friend of mine,” I said. “I wish he’d told me about you.”
That made Thutmose stop petting the cat and look up sharply. “Why? What would you need to know?”
I shrugged. “The things you like to do, how you pass your time, what amuses you, that you’re fond of cats …” I gestured at the sleek, satisfied creature on the prince’s knees. “If you ever smile.”
He pursed his lips. “And of course you’d want to know what I look like, in case you feared Mother was bringing you here to marry a monster. She told me about that silly bargain she made with your family, putting off our marriage for three years. Now that you’ve seen me, perhaps we can forget about that and get it all settled sooner. Oh, not too soon—you’re looking at me as if I’d said you’ll have your head chopped off tomorrow—but sooner than three whole years in the future.”
“Maybe …” My voice trailed off. “I think—I think that we should take a little time to get to know one another.”
“Why?” His question was sincere. “My parents have had a satisfactory marriage for many years and the only thing Mother knew about my father before she wed him was that he was Pharaoh. That was good enough for her.”
“I’m sure it was,” I muttered. “Is that all you want? A ‘satisfactory,’ marriage?”