I shed my dress, blew out the two remaining lamps, collapsed onto my mattress, and dove into sleep.
The next morning, I was wakened by Ta-Miu’s cold little nose touching mine. The cat mewed loudly, wanting to be fed. I called for my maids and was pleasantly surprised to find that they’d not only brought my breakfast already, but had also included a dish of fish and cold chicken for the cat. After I ate, the girls escorted me to the bathing room in a nearby part of the women’s quarters. While I washed myself with sweetly perfumed cream, they took turns pouring jugs of water over me until I felt deliciously clean again.
I was just dressing when a messenger from Aunt Tiye showed up. It was a maidservant—perhaps one of those who had attended her last night when she stormed into my bedroom. She could scarcely look at me while she delivered her mistress’s words.
“Hail, Lady Nefertiti. I am commanded to bring you to my most excellent royal mistress, Queen Tiye, Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep, Lord of the Two Lands, god-on-earth, master of—”
“What for?” I didn’t need to hear all of Pharaoh’s grand titles. “Why does she want to see me?”
“Uh! That is, she was expecting … um … You should have—you had to …” My interruption had thrown off the poor girl’s memory. “I mean, um, you were supposed to be there for breakfast!”
Strange, I thought as I followed the maidservant through the palace halls to Aunt Tiye’s apartments. I forgot all about that invitation. Even if I’d remembered it, I wouldn’t think she’d still want to see me after what I said to her last night. It was all very perplexing, but I soon shrugged off my puzzlement. I was too taken up with enjoying my restored freedom. How nice to be a part of the bustling world of the palace that lay beyond the women’s quarters! How interesting to see the grand variety of people swarming in and out of the reception areas, the offices, the storerooms. So many different faces, clothes, jewels, to say nothing of the stunning combination of smells—food, perfume, sweat, spices, even the sudden sharpness of an animal’s presence when we crossed paths with a noble leading his tame cheetah through the halls. What would Ta-Miu make of you, my pretty one? I thought.
Some of the faces I passed were familiar. I was deeply pleased to receive warm greetings and cries of “Welcome back, Lady Nefertiti!” from several people. At one point, I nearly bumped into Pharaoh’s vizier. His momentary frown at being jostled disappeared the instant he recognized me.
“Ah, Lady Nefertiti! May the gods be praised that all went well for you yesterday. The memory of your first trial still disturbs my dreams. I never did believe you were guilty of such terrible offenses. Now that everything’s been settled, I’m going to see to it that the boy who gave false testimony against you is punished. Meketre probably won’t get everything he deserves—he’s still one of Pharaoh’s lesser sons, even if he’s a wicked little liar—but I’ll do what I can.”
“Please, let it pass,” I said.
The vizier was surprised. “You don’t want anything done to the boy?”
“I don’t want revenge against a child.” Especially not a child who was only someone else’s tool, I thought, recalling how badly Meketre had stumbled over his testimony and how closely the Amun priests had shepherded him throughout. He was forced to work for the priests, the priests worked for Thutmose, and even Thutmose worked for another. Has he ever lived free of Aunt Tiye’s power? Has he ever had the chance to ask himself whether he wants to be pharaoh, or have her wishes left no room for any of his own?
Aunt Tiye had a sumptuous meal waiting for me in her apartments. The bread was fresh and warm from the ovens, some of the loaves stuffed with savory onions, and there were bowls heaped with honeycombs, baskets of fruit, and platters of cheeses. She greeted me as if our clash of the night before had never happened, and even set a wreath of flowers on my head with her own hands. I wished her a good day, thanked her for the food, and spent the rest of the meal waiting for her next attack. It never came.
“Hasn’t this been nice, Nefertiti?” she remarked as she escorted me to the door of her apartments. “We must do it again soon. I’m sorry it can’t be tomorrow, but I’ve had such a splendid note from my beloved lord, Pharaoh Amenhotep, saying that he wants my company all day then.” She blushed like a young girl.
“Did he? Oh, Aunt Tiye, I’m so happy for you!” I meant that sincerely. It pained me to think of the family remaining so shattered by what Thutmose had done. I didn’t want to marry him, and I didn’t want him to become our next pharaoh—if he couldn’t govern his own passions, how could he govern the Black Land?—but I did want to see him reconciled with his father. If Aunt Tiye was going to spend the whole day with her husband, I was sure she’d use her persuasive wiles to bring that about.
“What a good girl you are,” she said, patting my cheek a little too briskly. It stung, but I said nothing. Surely it was an accident. “And what do you think you’ll be doing for the rest of today and tomorrow?”
“Oh, I’m—I’m not sure,” I replied.
But I was, and my expression must have betrayed my thoughts because she said, “You’re going to seek out Amenophis, aren’t you? Of course you are.” She smiled and gave me a sharp push across her threshold into the hall. “Good luck.” The words sounded as hard as her laughter at my back when she slammed the door behind me.