Free Priestess of the Nile by Veronica Scott

Dead. She shall be sent to the Afterlife lacking for nothing. I want her richly equipped with the finest jewels, perfumes and robes.”
    “It shall be done, Great One, as if she were my dearest sister. This I swear.” The nomarch stepped forward to take Merys from Bek’s arms.
    Bek released his precious burden and put his head close to Ienhotep’s. His next words were only for the young noble’s ears. “And on the tomb you shall inscribe ‘Here lies Merys, Beloved of Sobek.’”
    “Each part of the task will be carried out as you request, I swear.” The nomarch bowed his head in acknowledgement.
    Bek squatted to look Tyema in the eye. She didn’t flinch at proximity to his great crocodilian head. Bek held out his closed hand. “I give these to you.”
    She opened her palm and he rained six teardrops of emerald onto it, his tears for Merys. Tyema closed her small fingers over them, rose on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the edge of his snout.
    Bek stood, patted her on the head and disappeared forever from the village.

Chapter Four
    Merys was tired of walking. Where am I going? How did I come to be in this tunnel? She contemplated the passageway filled with mist and bathed in blue light. She stumbled and stopped, one hand on the cold stone wall to steady herself. She was dressed in fine robes, bedecked with jewels. A thin gold circlet held her hair. Rings and bracelets she had never seen before adorned her hands and arms. Her shoes were soft leather, lined with fur, trimmed in gold. Merys turned to see what lay behind her. The tunnel ended at a closed door. The door fit snugly into the tunnel wall, with no handle, no hinges.
    “My tomb,” she said out loud and the words echoed. She felt strangely detached from the reality. “But my family wouldn’t honor me so, even if they had the funds.” She put a hand to her forehead and rubbed at a sudden ache behind her eyes. I remember the Hykso finding me on the beach but the details are gone . Those wouldn’t come to her mind. A blank white space filled her head when she tried to think of those moments after the enemy soldiers had landed on the beach.
    Bek was there. I remember him holding me, then nothing more . Merys laid her forehead against the wall and the cold seeped through her body despite the fine dress and filmy scarves. “I didn’t survive the Hykso attack. He came for me, but he was too late.”
    She slid down the wall and sat huddled for a few moments, mourning all she had left behind in the upper world of the living.
    Eventually, Merys took a deep breath and stood, using the wall for support. She smoothed her skirts and straightened her jewelry. Every Egyptian, even the children, knew at the end of this tunnel lay the Hall of Judging, where her heart would be weighed and her spirit’s ultimate fate decided. It is no less and no more terrifying than what I have already endured. It doesn’t matter what happens to me now that I can no longer have Bek. A flash of painful sorrow shot through her at the thought.
    She walked on. A lighted chamber lay ahead and as she entered the enclosure, she found Anubis, Thoth and Lady Ma’at waiting as she expected. Anubis had the semblance of a man from the neck down, well muscled. From the shoulders up, he was a sharp-featured, ebony-furred jackal. Long, pointed ears framed a feral face. Cold emerald eyes glowing with uncanny brilliance scrutinized her as if assessing whether she was to be his prey in some otherworldly hunt.
    Breathtakingly beautiful, Lady Ma’at had a kind face and welcoming smile. She was clad in fine white robes, and many intricate necklaces formed a multicolored collar swathing her elegant neck. A scarlet ribbon headband threaded its way among the glossy curls on her head, holding a large feather, which curled gracefully back over her hair.
    Thoth sat behind her, cross-legged on the floor, in the manner of all scribes. Merys rejected a mental picture of her father, working on his scrolls in the