The Golden Queen

Thirty One

"She was my friend!" I cried. "Did you have something to do with her premature death?"

Iset drew in a breath and smiled. "Yes, I killed Kephri. She was the only one standing between my husband and me. We were happy before...I knew if Kephri was out of the way we could be happy again. But he only grew more distant from me. Of course he didn't suspect my involvement... Planting the murder weapon in the servant girl's room was more than enough to convince everyone. But you..." her hateful eyes locked with mine. "You began meddling. I couldn't let you prove the girl's innocence, lest they would continue searching for the true killer and eventually capture me. If you had just left it alone, I wouldn't have had to persuade the girl that jumping to her death would be more merciful than Pharaoh's verdict."

I crossed the short distance that separated us and slapped her face. My hand burned from the force of impact. She shrank back with a startled yelp. Blood oozed from the corner of her lip and she wiped it with her fingers to observe the severity of her injury. "Wench," she hissed, and pulling a dagger from her robe, lunged at me. "I will get rid of you as efficiently as Kephri, and then my husband and I shall take our rightful places as King and Queen of Egypt."

Blood became ice in my veins. Understanding came to me; the reason behind her abrupt visit. Though the baskets she brought hadn't contained asps coiled treacherously in the bottoms, she still planned to kill me. Where was Ahmose? I shot a panicked glance at the door and prayed he would come in anytime. She swung at me again, and I caught her wrist, but she grabbed me by the throat with her other hand. She pushed me down and we both landed on the bed. I gasped for air and held her wrist above my face as she straddled me, trying to slice me with the dagger.

Would this be my last night of life? The pointed edge of the blade glinted in the lowlight of the alabaster lamps. I struggled to keep the blade from touching my neck, but as Iset shifted most of her weight onto her arms, it became even more difficult to struggle against her.

I wanted to scream for the guards, but the hand that grasped my neck squeezed my wind pipe, making it difficult to even breathe. I couldn't budge her weight, and she was closing down on me. I closed my eyes and saw my inevitable death. Ahmose, if he was still alive, would discover my body here, bloody and mangled. Memories of my past came tumbling back as well. I saw a much younger version of myself with Father in our family's beautiful plantation home back in Georgia. Then I saw myself, older, visiting Aunt Clair in Egypt while she was studying as an intern in Cairo. And then I envisioned Ahmose, the lost King of Egypt, standing in the city the first day I arrived in ancient Egypt. I remembered our first night together, how his hands and lips had felt against my tender flesh as we conceived our child. Ahmose would never know our child.

Panic began to set in. I couldn't push Iset away or even budge underneath her. I tried reaching for her throat, to press my fingers into the region directly above the clavicle, but she was too far out of reach, and I barely brushed her chest. I pressed my chin down on her hand forcefully, somewhat closing off her access to my airway.

Suddenly, I remembered bringing a glass of wine back from the banquet. Over her shoulder, I glimpsed the empty chalice on the table beside the bed. I was lying close to the edge, so the table was within reach. I couldn't turn my head very much, and so blindly, I reached for the goblet, with the hand that had been trying to free my throat. I had to hurry...I was running out of air...

Frantically reaching for the table, my fingertips brushed the cool metal of the chalice and with all my strength I swung it at Iset, slamming it into her face. She lost her grip on me, and I threw a punch at her throat. She wheezed, clutched her neck, and fell backwards. I rolled off the bed, and scrambled for the door.

"Don't waste your breath!" Iset cried, anticipating I was going to call for the guards. "They will not hear you!"

She paced the room, dagger in hand, eyes wide and desperate. My body trembled as adrenaline pounded in my veins. "Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!"