Lynda Robinson: Slayer of Gods

Anath eyed him with hatred. “You killed my father as surely as if you wielded the knife yourself. I want to see you suffer as I do.”

“Even at the price of your own agony.” Meren grabbed her arms and lifted her so that her face was close to his. “In all your years abroad, have you forgotten what black horror awaits those whom pharaoh’s wrath condemns?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “If I have to, I’ll cut off your fingers and toes one at a time and make you watch me feed them to his majesty’s leopard.”

At last he saw fear flicker in Anath’s eyes.

“You know me,” he said. “I give you my promise, and make this vow by the souls of my children. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I will make your death so horrible it will make the demons of the underworld piss with fright.”

“Don’t!” Anath began to struggle, and Meren released her. She fell against the beer stall and blurted out, “Nebra was in charge of the plans for your family. He was the one who was to decide whom to kill and when to do it. With him dead, you have nothing to fear.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Anath straightened and gave him a sly look. “An excellent question. You’ll never be certain unless I give you the names of Father’s men. Persuade pharaoh to send me into exile instead of killing me, and I’ll give you all of them.”

Meren hesitated, but his answer was forestalled when Karoya came for them. They returned to the king.

“Majesty, Anath says she’ll give us the names of all Zulaya’s men if you will exile her instead of putting her to death.”

“You know my answer to that, Meren.”

“But, majesty-”

“No! She has betrayed my majesty and endangered the kingdom. She has plotted with one whose power threatened mine.” Tutankhamun lashed his chariot whip against his thigh as he glared at Anath. “You will give me the names of Zulaya’s men and reveal every plot and evil plan.”

Meren dropped to his knees before the king. “Please, majesty. I fear for the lives of my children.”

He bent down and touched his forehead to the ground before the king’s feet. He heard the whip slap rhythmically, then the king ordered Anath taken away. Meren felt desperation begin to take hold of his thoughts. He was startled when Tutankhamun spoke again.

“Rise, Meren.”

He stood and lifted his gaze to behold a chilly and ruthless youth. Abruptly the severity in the king’s expression faded, and his voice softened.

“I will bargain with her for your sake.”

“I am grateful beyond expression, majesty.”

“You’ve nearly lost your life in my service once again. How could I not protect you and those close to you in return?” The king smiled at him. “Anath will suffer no harm while she is in my kingdom, and she will be sent into exile.”

Meren bowed low to the king. As he did so Kysen and a complement of charioteers appeared across the marketplace. The king gave a string of orders and stalked to his chariot.

Kysen hurried over to Meren. “Father, you’re all right? What happened? That’s Zulaya.” Understanding broke over him, and he looked at Zulaya’s body again. “It was him?”

“Yes,” Meren said. He was watching the king and Anath. She was on her knees before pharaoh, and when the king barked out an order, Karoya and another guard dropped to one knee and listened to their prisoner intently.

“What’s happening?” Kysen asked.

“Not now, Ky. You shouldn’t even be on your feet, much less out in the streets.”

Karoya and the guard stood, saluted pharaoh, and vanished into the crowd. The king beckoned to Meren.

When Meren joined him, pharaoh nodded to Kysen and said, “My majesty is pleased to allow Mistress Anath to go into exile once it is proved she has revealed all the secrets of the traitor Zulaya. Until then she will be imprisoned.”

Tutankhamun left them abruptly and motioned Kysen to accompany him. As Meren watched them go, he was suddenly aware of his misery and exhaustion. But he still had questions for Anath, though it cost him much to face her again. Released from fear for his children, however, he could no longer ignore the personal betrayal that lay between them. She had exposed him, and he hated feeling naked and defenseless. And it was painful to behold her fierceness, her courage, now that he knew she’d never loved him.

Holding himself in check, Meren spoke quietly. “Thanuro was your father?”

“Why are you surprised?” Anath snapped, bitterness etching lines around her mouth and eyes. “My mother was bound to an old man. Tell me you haven’t served as a refuge and giver of pleasure to a young woman saddled with an ancient partner.”

Meren had no answer to a commonplace problem. Young men were often without means to set up a household of their own. Older ones could afford to do so, and many refused to admit that affording the company of several women was not the same as making them happy.

“I can’t believe that you committed treason and murder simply to help your father.”

Anath snorted. “No, I don’t suppose you can, you with your golden lineage and place at the right hand of the king. What did I have? Nothing but scraps from that old wreck of a man, until Fa-” A spasm of pain passed over her.

“But Ay trained you, gave you a position to which few women could aspire.”

“He did that for his own ends, not for me. No one ever thought about me except Father. Did you?” Anath’s voice trembled with animosity. “None of you cared how I felt about being a spy and a whore. Did you ever ask me what I wanted? I would have told you, back then, at Horizon of the Aten. Do you want to know now?” She spat at his feet. “I wanted to be like other girls, curse you. I wanted a husband and children and to be called mistress of the house, like any woman of honor and good birth. And because of Ay and the rest of you, I was denied all of that!”

Meren opened his mouth to refute her accusations, but no words came. How could he know what a young girl might feel in such a situation?

“You could have refused,” he said.

Anath’s eyes glittered, and she gave a sharp laugh. “Do you know what my choice was? I could accept Ay’s offer, or marry an ancient nobleman my father insisted upon. He stank, Meren, and he had no teeth.”

“I’m sorry,” Meren said. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t care. The only one who did was my real father. He tried to buy me from the old man, but he was refused. So I became one of the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh.” Anath bowed mockingly. “Your servant.”

“And you’ve been Zulaya’s ally all along.”

“Why do you think I went to Babylon?”

Meren looked away. “So you came home to help him by spying on me.”

“Did you know he admired you?” Anath’s lips twisted in a parody of a smile. “When you began to investigate Nefertiti’s death, he wasn’t alarmed. He thought he would rid himself of you easily. Later, when you survived all that he threw at you, he began to respect you. I told him you were dangerous and that trying to control you was foolhardy, but he wouldn’t listen. He wanted to keep you, like some kind of war trophy.”

“And you wanted to kill me.”

Anath met his eyes with resentment. “He was the only person besides my mother who ever really cared about me. Me , not the Eyes of Babylon. I didn’t have to earn his good opinion or his affection. He loved me, and I was afraid for him. With good reason.” She turned to gaze at her father’s body, still lying on the packed earth of the market.

“I must know one thing.” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “Why did he poison the queen?”

“He never told me,” Anath said. “I think she discovered he was spying on her for pharaoh and threatened to ruin him. None of you understood him. He was serving pharaoh by watching the queen and her daughters, protecting them against heresy and seeing that they didn’t fall victim to misguided notions. It was long ago, and he must have had an overwhelming reason to kill her. She must have tried to harm him.”