The Golden Queen

Thirty One

Thirty One

I must have fallen asleep, because I awoke some time later to dim light. Ahmose must have returned and decided not to disturb my slumber. I silently cursed myself for having fallen asleep. I stretched my hand out, searching for Ahmose, wanting to be close to my husband. My desperate fingers were met by vacant air. My heart pounded. I sat up and realized the bed was empty. I gazed out the window and saw the night sky above. It was the middle of the night. How long had I been asleep? It was unlike him not to come to bed. I suddenly became overwhelmed with worry and suspicion.

Something shifted in the shadows, and I fell back on the bed with a startled yelp. "Ahmose?" I called, frightened. The dark figure shifted in the darkness, coming from the shadows to reveal herself in the firelight.

"Nay, it is only I," Iset replied coolly.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. I didn't care if my tone was cruel. She was here in my bedchamber watching me sleep, and my husband was absent.

"My dear queen," she breathed. "I only wanted to be near you." She came to the edge of the bed and reached out to touch my hair. I flinched away. Her eyes flickered over my hair and face, and to the precious gems that adorned my body. "Such beauty," she sighed. "Your hair is like sheens of sunlight." Her eyes darkened suddenly. Her ruby lips pulled into a thin line. "Before you came to Egypt, my beauty was unrivaled, and my husband thought none more beautiful than me."

A cold shiver of fear prickled my lower back. "Where is Pharaoh?" I demanded in a low, threatening voice.

"His Majesty is tied up," she mocked, just as she had that day I departed from the palace. But now, I couldn't decide if her words should be taken literally. Furious, I got up from the bed and stormed towards the door. I had no plan; I only knew I was going after Ahmose myself. "Do you know what happens to women who take something from me?"

Her tone was like a ripple in a lake of ice. I spun around and met her gaze with unyielding rage. I immediately knew where this conversation was headed. Iset had the face of an angel, but her jealous heart held the fury of a monster. "Do you mean your worthless husband?" I hissed. "One cannot take something that is given away so easily!"

My words must have penetrated her cool façade because her lips quivered and her eyes flared. "He only wanders from our bed because my womb is as dry as the Egyptian summer! My body cannot give him the son he desires, but his heart loves only me! And you," she screamed. "You thought you would give him what I cannot! Did you believe he would favor you if you went to his room that night and crawled into bed with him?" Tears sprung to her eyes. She was in hysterics now. "My husband was banished from his own home because of you!"

"How dare you!" The room around me began to spin as the ferocity of my wrath seized my body. I approached her and my hands curled into angry fists. "How dare you speak of this in the room I lay with my husband! You are a vindictive serpent just like Kephri!"

"Kephri," she spat. "That vulgar harlot was a waste of precious air! I am glad she is dead..." Iset halted midsentence and bit her lip. I grasped the edge of the table and supported my weight so I would not plummet with the spinning room.

"You killed Kephri," I gasped. The realization hit me with the force of a thousand pounds. "You killed Kephri in a jealous rage, and you let Menefer take the fall for it!"

"Fall?" she laughed as if she had fulfilled a great accomplished. "It was more of a plunge."

Shaking, I came from the corner to face her. "What do you mean?"

Iset noticed my trembling fists and grinned. "Your outstanding beauty is matched only by your fiery spirit. You have the temper of an Egyptian asp." She tilted her head to the side, and her thick black hair cascaded over her bronzed shoulder like a waterfall of darkness. "I'll never understand why the girl's death struck you so deeply. She was merely a servant."