I’ll miss you, Ta-Miu, I thought. But Thutmose does need you more than I do. I’m glad he bears no grudge against you for tripping him. Thank Isis, he’s capable of love.
After Uni’s letter arrived, I spent the rest of the morning letting my new maid get used to my rooms and the women’s quarters in general. Her name was Teti, and she was the daughter and granddaughter of royal servants, though her family’s long history of loyal service had done nothing to protect her from a bad-tempered master. She was a hard worker, but she did her chores with one eye on the door, as if fearing the imminent arrival of a messenger from Thutmose, demanding her return. When I told her that there was no need to be afraid of that, she dutifully agreed with me, but her expression said “I know better.”
If I don’t convince her that she’s safe, she’ll never be able to enjoy her new life, I thought. It will be as if Thutmose still owned her. I considered how I might prove to her beyond all doubt that she was in my household now and finally came up with a plan. “Teti, please come here,” I called. “I need you to help me prepare for a visit.”
“Yes, mistress,” Teti said. “Where will you be going?”
“We are going to see Prince Thutmose.”
“Ah!” His name nearly sent Teti running back into my rooms, but I grabbed her hand before she could bolt.
“Listen to me: I pledge by the sacred Feather of Ma’at that if I bring you back into the prince’s apartments, I will bring you out again. I want you to know, once and for all, that I will always defend you, my life for yours. Do you trust me?”
She nodded, but again I saw doubt in her eyes and the absentminded way in which she cradled her left wrist, the one that had been broken. I could imagine her asking herself, “Who made such promises to mere servants?”
I do, Teti, I thought. I do.
Teti alone did a better job of helping me bathe, oil my skin, and paint my eyes than my two former maids had ever done. As she slipped a fresh dress over my head, she asked where I kept my jewelry. My laughter at the question baffled her.
“Oh, Teti, this is perfect,” I said. “I was wondering what excuse I could give for going to see the prince, and now I have one: my jewelry! I took it off last night in the garden and left it there.”
“You—you don’t have more?”
“Someone else needed it. If Hathor is willing, I’ll have more someday. If not, we can make me some ornaments from flowers.”
“I can do that, Lady Nefertiti!” she cried eagerly, and dashed away.
We arrived at Thutmose’s apartments as the Aten’s bright disk was just beginning to descend from the highest point in the heavens. When Uni opened the great door and stared at Teti, my new maid retreated so closely behind me that I felt her breath on my back through the thin linen of my dress.
“I’m sorry if she is not working out for you, Lady Nefertiti,” Uni said pompously. “But we can’t undo the exchange.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” I said, making my voice twice as haughty as his. “I have come to visit with Prince Thutmose. I want to be certain that he is being well cared for and is resting comfortably. Teti has come as my attendant.”
“I can assure you, my master is receiving every attention.”
“And I can assure you, I will leave as soon as I’ve seen him for myself.”
“As you will, my lady.” Uni bowed and stepped to one side so that we could enter.
Prince Thutmose was not in his bedchamber. He had been moved, bed and all, to the doorway that looked out on the garden. Ta-Miu was snuggled against his side, butting her head under his hand to demand more and more petting. When Uni announced my presence, the prince jerked his head as if waking suddenly from a deep sleep.
“Nefertiti? Why are you here?”
“It’s good to see you, too, Thutmose,” I joked. Tilting my head to one side, I added: “You’re looking much better than last night.”
“They cleaned the mud and blood off me, if that’s what you mean, but you can see for yourself I was right about the broken bone.” He gestured at his right foot, splinted and bandaged with clean linen. There were other bandages wrapping the scrape higher up his leg. A strong smell of honey and acacia gum hung over everything. “I’m going to be trapped like this for a long time. So many long, empty days.” He sighed.
“There’s nothing you can do to fill them?”
He lifted his hands, helpless. “I loved to hunt, and to train for war, and to drive my chariot. Do you know a magician with a spell that will let me do such things from my bed?”
I thought about it. “Maybe not a magician,” I said.
I never did remember to ask for my jewelry back, not even after more than fifteen days had passed.
If a passing stranger somehow gained access to the prince’s apartments and saw us together, he would think we were childhood friends. I came to see Thutmose every morning and sat beside his bed until midafternoon. Uni told me that was when Aunt Tiye paid her visits, and I didn’t want her jumping to the wrong conclusion about Thutmose and me. It was bad enough that she was continuing to keep Amenophis close to her in order to keep us apart. If she found out I was getting any enjoyment out of Thutmose’s company, she might be mean enough to put an end to that, too. She wanted our marriage or nothing.
Thutmose and I almost did have nothing. At first he regarded my visits with suspicion. When he spoke, his words were often mocking or bitter. More than once, he asked me outright what I hoped to gain by coming to see him so often.
“I’m keeping an eye on you, waiting to catch you dancing around the room when you think no one’s looking,” I said dryly. “You’re only pretending to have a broken ankle because you won’t have to give that feast for Amenophis until it’s healed.”