Now I did recognize that voice. It belonged to one of the junior wives who’d been present at tonight’s banquet. The sound of her throaty laugh attracted my attention. I saw her chatting with one of the foreign ambassadors and remembered thinking, She’s so beautiful, she’d make Hathor envious.
The plans I overheard, standing suspended in silence just outside that doorway, would have made the evil god Set envious, too. I listened for what felt like hours, until I heard a rustle of linen and the voice of the beauty saying, “I’d better work fast. He’s getting sick again. If he dares to die before I’ve arranged things for your son, I might as well jump in the river, but once everything’s in place, I’ll be happy to push the old man into his tomb myself!” She yawned. “Good night.”
I moved as quietly as I could, creeping along the wall, then scrambling to hide myself behind a clump of shrubs. From there I saw her push back a door curtain and emerge, lamp in hand, before heading briskly for her own rooms.
As soon as she was out of sight, I moved as fast as I could in the dark until I stumbled back into a part of the palace where lights still burned for the servants who were carrying away the last traces of the feast.
I grabbed one man’s arm as he tramped past with an armful of chair cushions. “Take me to Queen Tiye’s apartments at once!”
“The Great Royal Wife has retired for the night,” he replied, looking at me in bewilderment. I realized what I must look like—my new gown filthy and my hair in disarray from my time crouched behind that shrub, but my body decked out with a fortune of gold ornaments. No wonder the poor man was confused.
“I am Princess Nefertiti, Queen Tiye’s niece,” I said. “I have news for her that can’t wait until morning.”
“My lady, I beg you to excuse me,” he pleaded. “You are not aware of the penalty for disturbing the Great Royal Wife at this hour.”
“And what’s the penalty for wishing that Pharaoh were dead?”
The royal palace was in an uproar, feet pounding back and forth through the halls, raised voices bellowing commands, the sound of shrieks and weeping coming from the women’s quarters. Through it all, I sat in the center of a tiny spot of calm in my aunt’s bedchamber, still in my stained, disheveled dress, my hair in tangles, my body smelling of garden soil, sweat, and the fast-souring remains of the perfumed oil I’d worn for that fateful banquet. I was worn out, desperate for a bath and a soft bed. Why won’t she let me go? I thought. I warned her of the danger, I protected our family! Is this how she repays me? My heart thudded wildly at each new tumult from outside.
What have I done? I thought. What have I done?
I was not alone. As soon as I’d told Aunt Tiye about the conversation I’d overheard that night, her first act was to summon all of her children to her side. Sitamun and her sisters could have spared themselves the trouble of coming; their mother had nothing to say to them once they arrived except, “There’s a plot against us. Stay here.” It was only when Thutmose and Amenophis arrived that she bothered to speak of the details, and then only to her elder son.
“Two of your father’s junior wives have conspired to rob you of your inheritance. One of them is an ugly sow from Ugarit, sent here twelve years ago as tribute. The gods alone know why your father didn’t just send her away to one of the rural places that house his surplus women. There are plenty of those scattered everywhere in this land, for his pleasure when he travels. I suppose it’s because she’s a princess.” Aunt Tiye’s tongue dripped scorn. “Anyway, the sow gave birth to a piglet right away—no threat to you until now. Now there’s a new gift from Ugarit under my roof, an ambitious little hyena who can’t give Pharaoh a son herself, so she’s joined forces with the sow. The hyena was going to convince your father that having two sons in line for his crown wasn’t enough. She’d persuade him to make a third crown prince out of the worthless piglet, and once that was accomplished …”
“Kill me?” Thutmose’s eyes were aflame, but his face was the color of ashes. Sitamun’s sisters gasped and mumbled prayers to avert evil.
“Or find a way to turn your father against you, to have you falsely accused of some crime, to have you exiled, and to do worse than that if nothing else worked. She thought she could. She believed she had the power to make him turn a piglet into a crown prince. And once the piglet had his crown, his mother would have to be regent but she would hold the real power. She’d even formed an alliance with one of your father’s most trusted and influential men, to guarantee there’d be swords to back up her scheme. Oh, the arrogance!”
“Did … did they plan to kill me as well?” Amenophis faltered.
“Why would they bother?” his brother snapped. “The idea of ruling the Black Land must leave you terrified. A child could push you aside. Haven’t you always told me that you don’t want the throne?”
“I only said I don’t want your throne,” Amenophis muttered.
“What?” Thutmose stared at his brother like a hunting hound suddenly seeing an unexpected lion.
“Ignore him, Thutmose. This is no time for your bickering,” Aunt Tiye decreed, grabbing both of her sons by the wrist. “We are in danger. Do you understand that?”
“I—I—I don’t,” Amenophis admitted. “Their plans were discovered. Nefertiti warned us—” He gestured to where I sat all bent over on a low stool, hugging my knees and wishing I could block my ears against the sounds of chaos outside.
“Nefertiti is to blame for this!” Aunt Tiye cried. Sitamun’s sisters broke into shocked murmurings.