Free Flail of the Pharoah by Rosanna Challis

the task, and she gave an involuntary shudder.
    ‘Poor Charmian,’ he mocked, ‘it is all so strange for you, is it not? You know nothing of the ways of men and women, do you? You are an innocent child.’
    For an instant Charmian wanted to argue, but he was right; she was naïve and inexperienced.
    Neshi walked to the door and opened it for her, to show their private chat was at an end. Charmian felt bewildered, both by the prince himself and by her own feelings about him. The way he spoke to her had been friendly and she began to think of him as her only ally in that place, yet she knew she must still be wary of him. The incident with Kiya had demonstrated that he could be dangerous, whatever the truth of his encounter with the Nubian girl had been.
    As she entered the queen’s apartments there seemed to be a chill in the air. Iras was calmly brushing Mira’s long black hair, but there was a distinct atmosphere of tension between mistress and servant. As Neshi announced Charmian’s presence he was waved away, leaving the three females alone together.
    ‘Sit down,’ Queen Mira commanded. ‘Iras will attend to you after she has finished with me.’ When Charmian was seated on the nearby sofa, Mira continued, ‘You know that you are to be admitted to the king’s bedchamber tonight?’
    ‘So I understand, your majesty.’
    ‘He thinks it will give you an “education” in the arts of love.’ Mira’s tone was scornful. ‘You should be grateful that I am the one who will demonstrate, and not some lesser concubine who doesn’t know her arse from her elbow.’
    The coarse expression passed Charmian by, but Iras tittered and was instantly silenced by a look from her mistress.
    ‘The actions I shall perform with the Pharaoh he will expect you to repeat, some day soon,’ Mira continued. ‘So you must watch and learn. He is a kind and patient man, but there are limits to his tolerance. If you turn the whole business into an ordeal, or lie like a stuffed mattress, he will not be pleased. And when the Pharaoh is not pleased, you will be at best ignored and at worst discarded. Your life in the harem will not be worth living if you join the ranks of the rejected ones. Do you understand?’
    The veiled threat alarmed Charmian all the more since she did not fully understand what the queen was implying, but she nodded anyway.
    ‘Good. Now Iras, leave me alone for a while as I wish to rest. Do your best with that pale-skinned creature, make her look as much like an Egyptian as you can.’
    The queen retired behind the curtains that screened her bed. Charmian sat patiently while Iras made up her face and put a black curly wig on her head. Then she was dressed in a diaphanous, off-the-shoulder gown that knotted between her breasts and was split down the front. Charmian imagined she must look very glamorous and alluring, but no mirror was brought forth this time for her to admire her appearance.
    Although Iras did not speak to her, the girl’s touch was gentle and seemed to communicate a degree of sympathy and kindness towards her. Charmian thought that perhaps she too had been taken from her home in some faraway land, and could understand how lonely and bewildered she felt.
    Eventually the queen appeared, and gave a nod of approval when she saw how Charmian had been made-up. ‘Quite the Egyptian maid now, isn’t she?’ she said, with the hint of a sneer in her voice that Charmian found disquieting.
    Iras finished off her mistress’s toilet with meticulous attention to detail, while Charmian sat and watched. Although Mira was no longer young, the expert use of cosmetics and the addition of a perfumed wig with tumbling black curls, soon transformed her into a beauty. She wore a scanty gown similar to Charmian’s, showing off breasts that were still large and firm even though the queen had given birth to three children.
    While the finishing touches were being put to Mira’s wig by Iras, a page appeared at the door,