Free Tiy and the Prince of Egypt by Debbie Dee

it?”
    Nebetya was the only living soul who knew about the short conversation she had shared with Amenhotep, and the only one who knew of her obsessive curiosity for him. Nebetya knew how much she wanted Amenhotep to be her friend.
    Nebetya smirked. “What are you going to wear?”
    “It’s not like that Nebetya . We are just friends. At least, I hope we are friends.”
    Nebetya pressed her lips into a thin line. “Tiy, you followed him into the desert.”
    “I don’t know why I did that . It just felt like what I needed to do. And it turned out to be a good thing that I did.”
    “Are you telling me that when you considered Kepi might be his future bride, you weren’t the tiniest bit jealous?”
    Tiy’s laugh came out as a bark . “Jealous? More like pity for Amenhotep. Although, she is beautiful.”
    “You mentioned that.”
    “And I also said that I don’t have feelings for Amenhotep. I’m too young!”
    Nebetya raised her eyebrows. “You don’t think you can fall in love at your age?”
    “ No.”
    Nebetya huffed as she got up to turn the blankets down on Tiy’s bed “What do you know of love?”
    Tiy didn’t respond. She didn’t think Nebetya’s question warranted an answer. Besides, she knew nothing of love, which was why she knew her curiosity for Amenhotep was innocent. She wanted to be his friend, that was all. Something about him made her feel comfortable, relaxed. After all, she had joked with him the first time they had spoken. Not the awkward conversation in which she pointed to the sky and muttered like a tongue-tied giraffe, but the conversation they’d shared when she’d told him he would turn into an eighty year old with crooked teeth and a hairy back! Just thinking about it made her smile and cringe at the same time. What was it about him that made her feel so at ease?
    She knew she hid a little of herself from everyone. Even Nebetya received half truths sometimes. Not lies, just no more than she thought anyone needed to know. There was a wall, between her and others, a protection she held up like a shield. Others could get close, but not too close. She wanted just one friend with whom she could be her true self. And for reasons she didn’t fully understand, she wanted Amenhotep to be that friend.

Chapter 12. Sharp Lines
     
    The season of Peret neared, and the weather grew colder every day. In preparation, Nebetya pulled Tiy’s longer kalasirises and warmer cloaks from her chests. Kepi had been unbearable in class and Petep had tried to compensate for her rudeness by being extra kind. Tiy appreciated her sweet gestures, especially since they were the only thing keeping her from begging her mother to let her return to Akhmim.
    I f Tiy thought Kepi was unbearable before Amenhotep’s arrival, she had a rude awakening upon his return. It was almost the first of Peret by the time he joined the class. Sunshine poured down from the cloudless sky, and Menkheper had taken the class outside to learn the art of archery. Several students clustered in small groups awaiting their turn with bows.
    Tiy stood beneath a swaying palm and hugged her wooden writing board to her chest. Due to her stringent study habits, she had caught up with her classmates and had even surpassed them. Or perhaps it was her competitive nature that helped her push to the top. Either way, she was ahead of Kepi, which infuriated Kepi and brought Tiy immense pleasure.
    No one else brought their wooden writing board s to archery, which embarrassed Tiy a little, but she told herself that everyone else had already had plenty of opportunities with a bow and arrow and didn’t need their wooden boards for notes. She refused to fall behind in any subject.
    Amenhotep and Ramose strolled across the garden, and everyone stopped to watch. Kepi raised her chin in the air and with a proud tilt of her eyebrow, pranced toward him. She reached out to take hold of his arm with a smile. He regarded her with a polite nod, accepted her arm,