Free Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

room,” she pointed out.
    “But they aren’t—”
    “Power.” She raised her finger while our body servants pretended not to listen. “That’s why. They don’t want the queen to have too much power.”
    “That’s foolish. Queen Tiye is Pharaoh in all but name.”
    “Yes.” Nefertiti began brushing her hair vigorously, dismissing Merit and Ipu with a wave. “In all but name. What more in life do we have but our name? What will be remembered in eternity? The gown I wore or the name I carried?”
    “Your deeds. They will be remembered.”
    “Will Tiye’s deeds be remembered, or will they be recorded as her husband’s?”
    “Nefertiti.” I shook my head. She was aiming too high.
    “What?” She tossed the brush aside, knowing that Merit would pick it up later. “Hatshepsut was king. She had herself crowned.”
    “You are meant to discourage him,” I said. “You were talking about Aten on the barge!”
    “Father said to control him.” She grinned smugly. “He didn’t say how. Come.”
    “Come where?”
    “To the king’s chamber.”
    She moved down the hall and I followed on her heels. In front of Pharaoh’s room, a pair of guards moved aside. We swept into Amunhotep’s anteroom and stood before the entrances to two separate chambers. One was clearly Amunhotep’s bedroom. Nefertiti looked at the second room and nodded. “That will be yours after the feasts.”
    I stared at her. “And where will you stay?”
    “In here.”
    She pushed opened the doors to the king’s private chamber and I heard Amunhotep’s gasp of surprise. I caught a glimpse of tiled walls and alabaster lamps, then the doors swung shut and I was alone in the king’s private antechamber. There was silence for a moment, then laughter echoed through the walls. I waited in the antechamber for Nefertiti to come out, thinking the laughter would eventually cease, but the sun sank lower and lower in the sky and there was no indication of when they would emerge.
    I seated myself and looked around. On a low table, hastily scrawled poems to Aten had been written on papyrus. I glanced at the king’s door, which was firmly shut, then read them while I waited. They were psalms to the sun. “Giver of breath to animals…Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea.” There was sheaf after sheaf of poetry, each one different, each one praising Aten. For several hours, I read while inside Nefertiti spoke. The sound of Amunhotep’s voice penetrated through the walls, and I didn’t dare to imagine what they were speaking of so passionately. Eventually, evening fell, and I began to wonder if we would ever go to the feast. When someone knocked on the door, I hesitated, but Nefertiti’s voice rang out brightly, “Mutny can answer it.”
    She knew I’d still be waiting.
    On the other side of the door was General Nakhtmin.
    He stepped back, shocked to see me in the king’s antechamber, and I could tell by the way his eyes shifted to the king’s door that he was wondering if Amunhotep had taken both sisters as lovers. “My lady.” His gaze focused on the closed inner chamber. “I see that the Pharaoh is otherwise…occupied.”
    I flushed a brilliant scarlet. “Yes, he is busy now.”
    “Then perhaps you can give him the message that his father and mother are awaiting his presence in the Great Hall. The feast in his honor has been going on for some hours.”
    “Perhaps you can give him the message?” I said. “I…would hate to disturb them.”
    He raised his brows. “All right.”
    He knocked on the king’s door, and I heard my sister’s voice call sweetly, “Enter.” The general disappeared and reappeared a moment later. “They have said that they will come when they are ready.”
    I did my best to hide my disappointment, and the general held out his arm to me.
    “That doesn’t mean you should miss the feasts.”
    I looked at the closed door and hesitated. If I left, Nefertiti would be angry. She would accuse me of