Suzanne Robinson (32 page)

Hauron threw Gasantra back in her chair and stood over her, his legs braced apart.

“Guards!”

Hauron whipped around to find two men with spears racing toward him. He threw up his hands and backed away from Gasantra. The woman sat up in her chair She
pushed her wig back into position and sent the men to stand on either side of the door. She drank from her own winecup before speaking.

Cursing himself, Hauron stepped away from the woman and began to make excuses for his behavior.

Gasantra waved a hand at him. “I am pleased.”

Hauron shut his mouth, straightened his kilt, and said nothing.

“You want Anqet,” Gasantra said. “I want Count Seth. To have him, I must get rid of your niece.” Gasantra’s eyes traveled over Hauron’s body from head to foot. She smiled. “I was thinking of killing her, but giving her to you would be much more satisfying.”

“Damn your ka. Where is she?” Hauron moved toward Gasantra, then stilled as one of the guards pounded his spear on the floor.

“With Seth of course. My porter questioned one of the count’s grooms. You’ll have to make haste if you don’t want to see Anqet married to him.”

“I’ll get her from him,” Hauron said.

“From Seth? A Hittite army couldn’t pry her from him.”

Hauron gazed at the woman’s masklike features, assessing her What he saw caused him to abandon his fatherly pretensions; he’d already revealed too much of himself anyway.

“Perhaps an army can’t get her away, but Pharaoh’s judgement can. I’ll appeal to the vizier. If you can use your influence at court to gain me an audience.”

Gasantra bowed from her sitting position. Hauron watched her breasts swinging forward and shifted his hips uncomfortably. The woman dismissed her guards. She poured more wine for him and invited him to the couch.

Hauron’s temper cooled when he realized that Gasantra was going to be an ally. She plotted, and the more he listened to her plans, the calmer he became. At the conclusion of their discussion, he had enough wine in him and was so at ease that he made no objection to the way her hand slid across his shoulders and played with the
muscles of his chest. She murmured something about his strength, but the voice he heard was Anqet’s. Hauron turned on the couch. Keeping his eyes on hers, he grasped the woman’s ankles and pulled them apart so that she straddled the cushions.

Gasantra’s face went red, and her breasts rose and fell, but she allowed him to tear her robe aside. Wasting no time in unnecessary gallantries, Hauron slid his hands up Gasantra’s thighs to her crotch. Still holding her gaze, he pressed his fingers into her flesh. The woman groaned. Hauron quickly knelt between her thighs. Tearing his own clothing askew, he lowered himself upon her.

“It won’t be long now, Anqet.” Hauron jabbed into the swollen flesh beneath him and ignored the whimper of pleasure from the owner of that flesh. “Not much longer.”

Anqet woke from deep slumber. She lay unmoving. Something had disturbed her. The sound of a sharply drawn breath made her turn to Seth. He lay on his side with his bandaged arm uppermost. Anqet rested her hand on his bare hip and listened.

“N-no.” Seth shoved her hand off as he tossed over on his back. Anqet jumped. He shouted an incoherent warning, then cried out: “Sennefer, no!”

At the first cry, Anqet started shaking him. “Seth, Seth wake up.”

There was a groan; the count woke. He sat up and stared at her, his chest heaving and his hands reaching for her. He sank onto her breast.

“A dream, it was only a dream.”

Anqet stroked his fine hair and spread kisses on it. “Tell me.”

“I was at home in Annu-Rest. In the chapel.” Seth’s voice was a dry whisper.

“And it was so real, you could feel the hardness of the columns,” Anqet said.

“Yes. The sanctuary was black, except where I was. Sennefer dragged me to the foot of the god’s image. He tied my hands, and then bound them to the statue.” Seth
cringed into her embrace. “The dagger was still in his chest.”

Seth lifted his head from her breast and stared into Anqet’s face. “He bled and bled, all over his gold corselet. He went back into the darkness and returned holding Khet in his arms. My Little Fire. Khet’s face was so white. Sennefer laid him on the floor before the god and started to pray. I thought Khet was dead, but while Sennefer was praying, the little one opened his eyes and tried to get up. I screamed at Sennefer, but he didn’t hear me. He pulled the dagger out of his chest. The blade dripped with his blood. He shoved it into Khet’s heart. I tried to stop him, but the ropes held me at the feet of the god.

“Sennefer put the dagger back in his own wound and picked Khet up.” Seth shook his head. His hands gripped Anqet’s fingers until it hurt. “Their blood mingled when he carried my Little Fire to the god. Sennefer lay Khet beside me. I couldn’t move. It was as if my arms and legs were as heavy as pyramid stones. I couldn’t even fight Sennefer when he pushed me on my back. He took the dagger from his chest again and stabbed me as he had Khet. Anqet, Anqet, the metal cut into my heart. I lay there bleeding. Sennefer was bleeding all over me, and I was in a pool of Khet’s blood. I looked up past Sennefer and saw the face of the god. It was my father.”

When the disjointed recitation ended, Anqet wrapped Seth in her arms.

“Do you suppose the gods are angry with me?” Seth asked. “I should consult a dream interpreter.”

“Perhaps. My love, you grieve for your brother. He died tragically, and you blame yourself. There. I have interpreted your dream.” Anqet kissed Seth. “After my mother died, I dreamed that she came back. But in the dreams, she always treats me as if I were a child.” She smiled into the darkness. “She tells me what to wear and not to tease poor Lord Menana. I’ve become a woman, but Mother stays the same in the netherworld.”

Seth relaxed.

“It was so real. There’s an ache where Sennefer stabbed my chest.” Seth squeezed his eyes shut. “I fear his ka seeks revenge.”

Anqet rubbed the smooth flesh over Seth’s heart. She caressed his ribs and traced the line of his hip and leg.

“Sennefer’s ka is in the keeping of the gods, and they will teach him. You parted from him in love, Seth. His ka has no reason to persecute you.”

Seth bit his lip and gave her an uncertain look.

“You won’t be able to rest if you don’t stop thinking about it,” Anqet said.

She stroked Seth’s back. Seth turned his face to her breast and nuzzled at her. In a quick movement, he was on top of her, hips worming between her legs. He delved into her mouth with his tongue.

“You must help me think of other things.” He flexed his hips. “Help me.”

Seth fastened his mouth on her breast. Anqet felt his warm tongue tease her nipple. She pressed his head to her, then caught him under his arms and pulled him up until he lay between her legs again. In an instant, he was inside her, making slow thrusts that built her excitement with each motion. Anqet felt her own hips gyrate in response. As their agitation spiraled, she grasped his buttocks and tried to pull him deeper inside. Her movements inflamed Seth beyond control. He stabbed himself inside her with a violence that brought Anqet to groaning madness. Their gasps of fulfillment mingled, and Seth dropped onto her shoulder.

Anqet gave a small exclamation of impatience.

Seth’s head popped up.

“What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t last long enough,” Anqet said.

“What doesn’t?”

“This lovemaking you’ve taught me. That final pleasure. It doesn’t last nearly so long as it should.”

Seth stared at her.

“When we are at that moment, I want us to stay there, bursting into flames, for hours. And then it’s over too soon.”

Seth shook his head. “I think that much pleasure would kill me. You already try my strength as it is. I’ll be an old man in less than a year.”

“Nonsense. You’ll last at least long enough for me to find another strong and beautiful man to take your place. Seth, don’t tickle!”

Seth had no more bad dreams that night. In the morning he exercised with Khet and Dega, but he was back at midmorning with a host of jewelers, weavers, wigmakers, and seamstresses in his wake. He burst in upon Anqet while she was tuning her harp. They spent the rest of the morning choosing materials and designs for her wardrobe.

“My countess must look like a countess,” Seth said.

“Since when did you worry about how your family looks?”

“Since I acquired a betrothed who likes to run around dressed like a coppersmith’s wife.”

Anqet hurled a bolt of linen at Seth, but her dresser caught it. A warrior in leather and gold approached the count while Anqet was busy discussing the price of a set of obsidian cosmetic bottles. Seth rejoined her and dismissed the artisans.

“Pharaoh summons us, beloved.”

“Why?”

“He wants to make arrangements for our marriage agreement. I promised to hold the witnessing immediately so that he could attend. He’s rarely able to attend private celebrations. Pharaoh must eternally preserve the sacred majesty of his father, the god. Do you mind?”

“Do I mind having the lord of the Two Lands put his sacred name to our marriage agreement? You jest. There could be no greater magic to protect our love than the testament of the Golden One.” Anqet gave Seth an oblique glance. “And with Pharaoh as a witness, you’d never dare put me aside.”

She had to cajole Seth out of his offended mood all the way to the palace. Tutankhamun awaited them in an apartment off his bedchamber The king paced down a row
of columns and tapped a papyrus against his palm. He wasted no time on ceremony.

“There is trouble,” the king said.

Anqet and Seth glanced at each other.

“I am always at thy service, my Pharaoh,” Seth said.

“It isn’t me who is in trouble. Lord Hauron has petitioned the vizier for the return of Lady Anqet.”

Anqet’s skin went to gooseflesh. She wrapped both hands around Seth’s arm and forced herself to attend to Pharaoh’s words.

“Ay will hear Hauron’s plea this afternoon.” Tutankhamun handed Seth the papyrus. “He claims dominion over her as head of her only remaining family. Such a claim cannot be put aside without offending the divine order.”

Light-headed, numb, Anqet gripped Seth’s hand. He squeezed it, glanced at the document in his hands, and hugged her.

“Don’t worry, beloved. We’ll marry and Hauron will have no further power over you.”

“You cannot marry,” the king said. “Not until the plea is heard and Hauron gives permission for Anqet to take a man, which he will not.”

Anqet lifted a hand to Pharaoh. “Majesty, Hauron wants revenge. He will take me away and—”

“No he won’t,” Seth said. His face took on the look of a hunting cat contemplating its prey. “I’ll kill him first.”

Tutankhamun squared his shoulders and frowned. “You will not kill him.”

“May I cut off his hands?”

“Seth,” the king said He noticed Anqet’s stricken face. “Lady, I am sorry. Hauron has made a formal plea, and Ay tells me that unless you have a witness to prove your uncle unfit, he will be forced to decide in favor of Lord Hauron’s claim.”

Anqet nodded. She couldn’t make her tongue move. Seth put his arm around her and radiated menace.

“I’ll speak with Lord Hauron. He must be made to understand how quickly he will join the gods if he makes this claim.”

“You will do nothing,” Tutankhamun said. He fixed Seth with a royal glare. “I am the guardian of the sacred law of this kingdom. How can I punish corrupt judges and enforce justice if I allow you to subvert the decisions of my chief official? Be silent, my lord.” The king quelled Seth with an economic gesture of his hand.

“Hauron will destroy me,” Anqet said. She closed her eyes and leaned on Seth.

The count cursed and put his hand to the dagger in his belt.

The king began his pacing again. “Where is your much-renowned expertise in strategy, my friend? If you can employ it in battle, you can use it now.”

“We need proof that Hauron means to do me harm,” Anqet said. “But I have no witnesses. He made sure none could come to my defense when he tried to rape me.” She fell silent. She couldn’t speak of what Hauron had tried to do. Not to Pharaoh.

“We will let Hauron take Anqet,” Seth said. “No, I haven’t gone mad, my Pharaoh. Hauron will take Anqet. I’ll follow. From what Anqet has told me, her uncle won’t be long in attempting to force her. I’ll be there to stop him, and bring a witness who will swear in a hundred courts as to his vileness.”

Fear left Anqet. She blazed a smile at Seth. “We will set a trap. We’ll drag him in our net, throw him on the bank, and let him suffocate in the clean air.” She exchanged bloodthirsty grins with Seth and the king.

Tutankhamun laughed at her. “Lady Anqet, you are indeed a match for my greatest warrior Let us sit. I want to hear the plan. I wish I could go along.”

“Where is the king’s sacred impartiality?” Seth asked.

Pharaoh opened his mouth but evidently could think of no response. Then a sly expression crept over his face. The king took Anqet’s hand and let her to a chair.

“There is another way to protect you, lady,” Tutankhamun said. He put her hand to his cheek. “I could always take you as my concubine again.”

Seth strolled over to a winejar, nonchalant and amused.
“If you do, Golden One, I’ll bring my stepmother to court.”

Tutankhamun made a gesture to ward off evil.

“Please, my Pharaoh,” Anqet said. “If Rennut comes to court, we’ll all end up drunkards or deaf from listening to her complaints.”

Anqet was pleased with the scheme they developed and so faced the prospect of meeting Hauron again with courage, and even a little glee. The next day, when she stood before the vizier in one of the king’s audience halls, she was able to watch Hauron march in without flinching. Seth and Lord Dega waited beside Ay’s chair A scribe sat on the floor with a papyrus stretched across his lap, pen poised to write. Royal guards watched at intervals down the length of the hall. Several bureaucrats from Ay’s staff muttered together in a corner. Anqet tried to look aside unobtrusively, for Pharaoh beheld the proceedings from an alcove screened by hangings.