He snorted. “I’m not the kind of person who can forget the past, Nefertiti, and my sister has a hand in too many sad memories for me. I’m not ready to forgive her, but for your sake, I’ll try to concentrate on how well she’s treating you now. I hear that Tiye has commanded that Princess Nefertiti be moved out of the women’s quarters into more spacious apartments, with rooms for those Habiru girls you’ve taken into your household.”
“She’s done what?”
It was so. Aunt Tiye had recovered some of her old spirit. She didn’t bother to ask for my opinion or consent; she simply assigned me a new place to live. There are worse surprises.
I liked my new rooms very much. They were lighter and airier than the old ones, and they were connected to a huge garden with many small pools filled with fish and flowers. The only problem was how empty they felt, even with Mahala, Nava, Teti, and a new contingent of royal handmaidens sharing them with me.
As the time for my wedding banquet drew near, I became more and more uneasy. Mery had spoken to me about what I should expect from my husband, but that wasn’t the source of my distress: It was Bit-Bit. The distance between us was very real and very cold. Several times since our family feast, I’d tried to reach out to her, but all I met with was a wall.
My feelings must have shown plainly in my face. On my last evening as a bride-to-be, I invited Father, Mother, and Bit-Bit to my new apartments. The silence between Bit-Bit and me was still there and sharper than ever. It left me with very little appetite. Mery noticed this, and while the servants cleared away one set of dishes in order to bring in the next, she gently asked me to show her the garden.
“But it’s dark,” I protested, confused.
“We won’t go far, and the moon is high. Please, my dear.”
It didn’t take her long to get me to reveal the reason for my sadness. When I finished, she said, “I thought something wasn’t right between my girls. You need to talk to her.”
“I’ve tried. She won’t talk to me.”
“You’ll try again, and I will find a way to help this along.”
Mery’s “way” was to return to the table and tell Bit-Bit she was going to sleep in my bedchamber that night. “Your sister will be a married woman before the sun sets tomorrow, and a royal princess. This is your last chance to be together as you used to be.” Bit-Bit greeted the news with the same face of stone she’d worn since her arrival.
Mother’s plan could have worked better. When Bit-Bit and I were by ourselves, I might as well have been alone. No matter how hard I tried to draw out my sister, she never responded beyond a few terse words, a grunt or two, and some very exaggerated shrugs. Finally she announced, “I’m tired,” lay down on the bed I’d had brought in for her, and closed her eyes so tightly that her whole face looked like a fist.
I tried to sleep after that, but it was no use. There were too many things on my mind—not just my sister’s coldness, but thoughts of what was waiting for me in the new life I was about to start. I gave up and got out of bed, padding through my new rooms and out into the garden. I knelt at the edge of one of the small pools and gazed at the reflection of starlight on the water between the fragrant lotus blossoms.
A rustling in the bushes to my right turned out to be Ta-Miu. The little cat’s family had grown to the point where she could leave the kittens on their own more and more. I scratched the star-shaped marking on her brow and said, “What am I going to do, Ta-Miu? Tomorrow I become Amenophis’s wife, and a princess! I don’t care about the princess part, but—this scares me—with Thutmose gone, Amenophis will be crown prince. He will, I know it. His father recognizes his worthiness, and besides, Aunt Tiye wants her son on the throne. Oh, it’s going to happen! And when it does, I won’t be just a princess: I’ll be queen.
“To be a queen—to be Great Royal Wife, like Aunt Tiye.” I hung my head. “No, not like Aunt Tiye. Like myself. I’ll have the chance to do so much good! Amenophis shares my heart. He’ll want me to be more than a wife and a mother, as long as that’s what I want, too. What I want …” My words drifted away as I thought about the future.
“I know what I want,” I said at last. “I want to share his dreams. I want to help him become a stronger man, a pharaoh who governs with justice. If we rule together, maybe we can put a stop to those who buy and sell the word of the gods. I want to help him use his power to clear away schemes and corruption, and to heal … Oh, Ta-Miu, it’s too much! I want to help Amenophis be stronger, but will I be strong enough, too?”
“Don’t be silly; you know you will.” Bit-Bit knelt by my side, put her arms around me, and pressed her cheek to mine. “I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. I missed you so much!”
“I missed you, too, darling Bit-Bit.”
“Yes, but I think first I envied you even more than I missed you. You were going away to marry a prince! You’d have gorgeous jewelry, and wonderful clothes, and all kinds of servants to wait on you. You’d be Princess Nefertiti, Queen Nefertiti, and I’d always be nothing more than plain old Bit-Bit.” She was regretful. “I told myself I was being a bad sister, envying you your good fortune. I decided that I was being foolish, because even if you became Great Royal Wife, we’d always be sisters and you’d never forget how much we love one another, but then …” She looked away from me, but not fast enough. I saw the shining trail of tears.
“But then you didn’t hear from me,” I said softly. “Not one letter, not one message, nothing. You couldn’t have known that Aunt Tiye was intercepting my letters. And you must have thought I was so wrapped up in my splendid new life that I’d forgotten I ever had a sister.” I hugged her with all my might. “Never, Bit-Bit. That will never happen, as long as I live. No matter what I am or what I may become, you are always my beloved sister.”