THE HUNTERS AND THE HUNTED
He yanked me away from the door, back into the darkness of his tent, and shoved me to the floor. “Listen closely,” he whispered. “I don’t know which god I have to thank for bringing you here, and I don’t care. Unless you popped out of the earth under this tent, you’ve seen where you are, less than a bowshot away from my soldiers. I’m going to light a lamp, and if you make one sound or try to take one step out of this tent while I’m doing it, all I’ll need to do is shout one command and they’ll have you. Understand?”
I nodded, then realized he probably couldn’t see the gesture in the dark. “I do.” My throat felt as though I’d swallowed a double handful of sand.
I felt a slight stirring in the air as he moved past me, then heard him curse as he fumbled for something. A brief while later, a spark in the darkness bloomed into a petal of flame and Thutmose’s face showed clearly in the light. He set aside the small fire drill and lifted the oil lamp he’d kindled, bringing it to where I sat, unmoving, on the ground.
“Good girl,” he said, patting my cheek hard enough to make me wince. “Now, then, care to tell me why you’re here?” I bent my head and wouldn’t answer, not even when he grabbed my chin and jerked it up, compelling me to look into his eyes. “Silence? Maybe you’re only a dream. But, no, if you were a part of my dreams, you wouldn’t look this bedraggled or smell so bad.” He laughed at his own jibe, but when I refused to react to it, his mouth became a small, hard line.
“Why have you come here, Nefertiti? Giving up? And where is my brother? Your surrender’s useless without his. I won’t return to Thebes until I have both of you. He’s supposedly the reason I’m out here. A royal son of the Black Land can’t simply disappear into the night without the palace, the temples, and all the city calling for a massive search and pursuit. I should thank him for giving me the excuse to hunt my true prey. It’s not the crown prince’s business to chase down an escaped prisoner, even one condemned for blasphemy. If I declared openly that I wanted to go after you, not even my loyal Amun priests would accept that without questioning me. Me! When I rule the Black Land, they’ll learn that only I will ask the questions.” His eyes narrowed. “And I will expect answers.”
I maintained my silence, watching the angry flush rising to his face, seeing his hands tighten into fists. I braced myself for the first blow.
With a loud meow, the same cat who’d startled me before came bounding out of nowhere to land in my lap. It was astonishing to hear such mighty purrs coming from such a lithe and slender body.
Thutmose’s hands relaxed. His whole attitude softened, and he looked at the cat with the affection and tenderness I’d seen him give to only one other living being—Ta-Miu, the innocent she-cat I was accused of killing. I remembered the bloody bits of evidence that had been brought to my trial and felt sick at heart. Did Thutmose hate me enough to have given up the one creature he loved in order to see me killed?
“Well, Nefertiti, you seem to have a new friend,” he said in a good-natured way. It sounded false. “Pretty, isn’t she?”
“Very.” I began to stroke the cat’s back, to her delight. Then I scratched her neck under the fine gold and turquoise collar she wore. Thutmose’s unknowable heart had found a replacement for poor Ta-Miu all too easily.
“Ah, a word at last!” Thutmose snickered. “I was afraid that you’d wandered into the savage Red Lands and the vultures ate your tongue. Is that what happened to Amenophis? Is that why you won’t talk about him? He’s dead. The fool risked his life to save yours and lost his own. What an idiot! And now you think you’ll dodge the blame for his death by refusing to talk about it. You’d abandon his unburied body like a mongrel dog’s, starve his souls, deny him his place in the afterlife, just so you can—”
“He’s alive.” I spoke softly, but in truth I wanted to shout those words in Thutmose’s face. I didn’t dare, not with his men outside. “And I would never abandon him, never, alive or dead.”
The momentary glimpse of a kinder, more human Thutmose vanished. “It’s true, then. You love him. You insulted me, cast me aside, refused to help secure my path to Father’s throne, and all because you love him.”
I could have denied it. The words He’s only my friend and nothing more were halfway to my lips. I could have spoken them. I’d said them before, so easily, so simply.
For the first time, I couldn’t.
I looked Thutmose in his hate-filled, hurt-filled eyes and said, “Yes. I love Amenophis. With all my heart, I do.” The cat in my lap purred louder, as if she approved.
“Love …” Thutmose turned the word to poison. “It makes no sense. You’re as beautiful as he is ugly. What can he give you? I will have the throne. I will wear the double crown. I will be the god-on-earth. He’ll be nothing. Even if … if there were a way for your blasphemous crime against the goddess Bast to be erased and forgiven, if you were free to marry Amenophis, you two will still be outcasts. I’ll see to that! Do you think I’d allow the worthless pair of you to lead royal lives once Pharaoh’s regal crook and flail are in my hands? The Red Lands can have you both, forever.”
“If that’s what the gods decide for us—” I began.
“Don’t you listen? It’s already so. As god-on-earth—”