Nothing would change. The walls Aunt Tiye had built around me would remain in place, keeping me apart from Father, Mother, Bit-Bit, Nava, Henenu, and, above all, my beloved. The days and the seasons would pass, and Pharaoh’s heart might soften toward his oldest son and reinstate him as his heir. Aunt Tiye would work toward that goal with every grain of strength and willpower in her being.
And when Pharaoh Amenhotep dies, Thutmose will have the double crown on his head, the crook and flail in his hands, and his brother’s throat under his heel. The thought of how Thutmose would use his unchecked, limitless powers against Amenophis terrified me more than any notion of how he might use those same powers against me.
If I let nothing change tonight, a day would come when everything would change.
“Fine,” I spat. “Have it your way. I’ll still win.” I walked back into the garden, head held high, and motioned for the little maidservant who’d been attending me. “See if you can find some pins to help me hold up this skirt,” I told her.
“Yes, Lady Nefertiti.”
“No, Lady Nefertiti.” Thutmose folded his arms across his chest and defied me to object.
“You said I was to run the race in what I’m wearing now. And I will! Do you think that one pin will be enough to defeat you?”
“But you’re not wearing that one pin now.”
I pointed at the gaily colored sash that bound my waist. “I’m wearing this now. Do you have a good reason why I can’t use it to shorten my dress, or do you need time to patch one together?”
He shrugged. “You can do anything you like to prepare yourself for our contest as long as you do it quickly and you add nothing to what you’ve already got on.”
I tore off my sash and handed it to the little maidservant. “When I pull up the fabric, tie this tightly around my—”
Thutmose snatched the sash from the girl’s hands. She cringed. “I said you can do anything you like to get ready for our contest,” he said. “You alone.”
“And I suppose you did all that yourself?” I waved one hand up and down, indicating Thutmose’s splendid appearance.
“None of it was done after I set foot on our racecourse,” he said smoothly. “Now that I’m here, I’ll abide by the same rules as you. You can see for yourself that no one will lift a finger to help me.” He removed his sandals with two casual kicks and showed me his teeth. “There. All by myself. Satisfied?”
I refused to rise to the bait of another exchange with him. He was getting too much pleasure out of taunting me. I was no sorceress, but there were times I could make certain people invisible by ignoring them so thoroughly it was like they’d never existed. I banished Thutmose’s wickedly grinning face to oblivion and spoke to the still-shivering maid as if we were alone.
“My dear, I won’t need your help with my dress after all. Will you please do me the favor of catching Ta-Miu and holding her until the race is over? I’m afraid she might get too excited or take fright and wind up in the pool. There must be a basket you could use for her.”
“Why are you giving orders to my servant about my cat, Nefertiti?” Thutmose knew he was being ignored and barged in to put an end to it. “Have you forgotten that you gave her back to me, or were you hoping I’d forget?” He clapped his hands in the maid’s face. “Find Ta-Miu and keep her safe, but not in a basket, as if she were a load of figs. Let her watch the race and bring me Bast’s blessing.”
“Yes, my lord Prince Thutmose.” The girl hurried away. Soon she had Ta-Miu in her arms and was standing next to Uni and a group of three torch-bearers at one end of the garden pool. The little cat seemed content to cuddle into the maid’s arms and purr herself to sleep.
I couldn’t resist shooting a small barb at Thutmose: “It looks like Ta-Miu would rather watch dream-mice than witness your performance. So much for Bast’s blessing.”
He gave a disdainful sniff. “As if I needed it!”
I did the best I could to fix my dress, rolling up the material at the waist until the hem was halfway up my calves. I passed my sash under this clumsy ring of fabric, tied a double knot, then began removing the few pieces of jewelry I wore. They weren’t too heavy and wouldn’t weigh me down, but I didn’t want to feel them slapping against my skin as I ran. No distractions!
“I’m not adding anything to what I’m wearing!” I called out to Thutmose, in case he wanted to come up with a new twist to his rules.
“I never said a word,” he replied, all innocence. “I’m simply waiting for you to begin.”
We walked to the spot he’d picked for the start of the race, at the short end of the lotus pool that lay closest to the doorway back into his apartments. “Twice around, remember, and we end there,” he said, pointing to where Uni stood, his shaved head shining in the light of three torches. Dropping to one knee on the raised stone border, Thutmose stretched his hand over the glittering waters of the pool and plucked a single blue flower. “When it touches the ground, we go.” He tossed it into the air.
We watched intently as the handful of fragile petals came to earth and then—we were off! I ran as fast as I could, my eyes focused on the path ahead of me. Torchlight cast some shadows that could be mistaken for obstacles and others that might conceal a hazard on the ground. My feet crunched over earth and crushed stone as a breeze lifted my hair. Thutmose was only a few strides ahead of me, running with a weird, uneven gait. Once I thought I saw him stagger and veer to one side, then catch himself and put on a short, sharp burst of speed just before I caught up.
What’s the matter with him? I thought. I remembered the servants in the hallway who’d spoken about his lack of appetite. His own words came back to me as well: I haven’t eaten properly for a long time.