Free The Sekhmet Bed by L. M. Ironside Page A

wrist. She thrust it toward Ahmose. “Here, take this. It will look perfect with the gold bracelet.”
    “ Oh, and my necklace!” Baketamun reached up to undo the clasp of an ornate scarab collar. “It’s lucky!”
    “ But I wanted to be understated,” Ahmose said, waving away their offerings. She was determined to turn Mutnofret’s trick around on her. She would not go loading herself with jewels at the last minute. Let Mutnforet see the true strength of a queen.
    “ Hisst!” Iryet elbowed Baketamun. “Here he comes!”
    Ahmose raised her head from the group. Thutmose strode into the feast room, followed by the same young steward who had helped Ahmose and her sister through the crowded throne room the day Thutmose was named heir. The steward was reading aloud from a scroll. Ahmose caught her husband’s eye. He stopped, smiling, and bowed to her.
    “ Go talk to him!”
    “ What will I say?”
    “ For Mut’s sake, you’re married to him, silly! Say whatever you want.”
    “ No.” She knew it was absurd that the idea of merely talking to Thutmose should make her so nervous. Hadn’t she ridden with him in the hills above Waset when he’d been no more than a stranger? But he wasn’t a king then, and she had been only the Second Princess.
    “ It will be your first great act as queen of Egypt.” Iryet’s arm slipped out of Ahmose’s, reached across to link with Baketamun on Ahmose’s other side. Queen or no, she was shut out of the circle. The women giggled, watching her expectantly.
    “ All right, then.” Ahmose took a deep breath and walked to her husband on weak legs.
    “ There’s my Great Royal Wife,” he said, smiling.
    “ You look…well dressed.”
    Thutmose laughed. “You can thank Ineni here for that. He’s hired a whole army of serving men to make me look more like a Pharaoh and less like a soldier. It’s quite a job, I’m sure.”
    Ahmose smiled at the steward. So Ineni was his name. “A very good steward. I remember how you led my sister and me through the crowd the day Thutmose was proclaimed heir.”
    Ineni’s hands crinkled against his scroll. He smiled shyly at Ahmose’s praise.
    “ Not just a steward. An architect, sometimes, eh, Ineni? He designed the expansions your father made at Ipet-Isut.” Thutmose reached for Ineni’s shoulder, no doubt to squeeze it in a gesture of approval, but the steward flinched. Thutmose let his hand fall again, smiling. “Ineni isn’t good at talking to pretty women when he doesn’t have a stick to hit nobles with, but he’s always very good at reading lists. He was just going over the wedding gifts with me. Why don’t you listen, Ahmoset? You can claim anything you like for your new apartments.” Thutmose waved for Ineni to continue with his scroll.
    “ From the jewelers’ guild, eighteen casks of jewelry for the wives of Thutmose.” Ineni’s voice was shook. “From the steward of cattle, six black bulls. You can sacrifice them or breed them, whichever you like. From the merchant Hirkhepshef, a pleasure barge with rowers. From the carpenter Huy, many pieces of fine ebony furniture. From the horse-trader Pawera, six black stallions and sixteen red mares; very fine animals from what I hear.”
    “ Excellent,” Thutmose said, rubbing his hands together. “Anything you like, Ahmose? I think the pleasure barge would look nice in your room.”
    She laughed. “Perhaps so, but I couldn’t choose from the gifts without Mutnofret.”
    Thutmose looked around. “Where is she?”
    “ I last saw her out in her litter, in the courtyard.”
    Thutmose dismissed Ineni. He stepped closer to Ahmose. The smell of him came to her powerfully, myrrh and horse-sweat and leather. It made her thoughts all a muddle until she exhaled. “Mutnofret told me you lost a friend three days ago, Ahmoset. I’m sorry to hear it.”
    “ Aiya,” she said, caught off guard; and her eyes filled with tears.
    Thutmose laid his hand on her cheek, softly. His thumb