Slayer of Gods

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Book: Read Slayer of Gods for Free Online
Authors: Lynda S. Robinson
“Your father was
     killed, and so were your cousin’s wife and child.”
    Meren’s heart pounded against his ribs, and his mouth tightened. “I speak of the days after. When I served under Ay.”
    Her brow furrowing, Anath said softly, “I remember. You were often at the palace of the great royal wife, or on some mission
     of diplomacy for Ay. I was studying the language of the Asiatics.”
    “You were quite diligent, as I remember,” Meren said with a brief smile. “You turned up in the most unexpected places—the
     royal granaries, the office of correspondence, the barracks.”
    “I went where there were people who spoke Babylonian.” Anath drew her dagger and began tossing it, catching the hilt and tossing
     it again. “You’re greatly troubled, or you wouldn’t avoid telling this tale by discussing my activities. Go on, Meren.”
    The flying dagger was distracting. When Anath threw it into the air again, he snatched it and kept it. “Very well. I’ll tell
     you what I know, and what I have guessed.” His memories were so clear, they could have been recorded on papyrus…
    He remembered the day he and Ay returned from a journey to Thebes only to hear appalling news. Horizon of the Aten was abuzz.
     From the house of the master sculptor Thutmose, to the great Riverside Palace of pharaoh, people spoke of nothing else. When
     Ay heard the rumor, he dropped his wine goblet. Meren had been sitting with his mentor in the antechamber before the throne
     room of the Great Palace, and jumped to his feet startled. Courtiers and ministers stared at them. Oblivious, Ay rushed out
     of the ceremonial center with Meren close behind. Jumping into his chariot, Ay ordered the driver to the Riverside Palace,
     the private residence of the king and queen. Meren drove after them down the long Royal Road that stretched across the city.
     Dust flew in his face, and Meren glanced to his right. Behind the perpetual haze of suspended dust he glimpsed the horizon
     formed by the cliffs to the east. He dared not take more than a glance, though, because Ay was charging toward the battlements
     of the palace as if a desert fiend were after him.
    He caught up with Ay at the soaring golden gates in the perimeter wall. Hurrying to catch up with his mentor, he had no time
     to catch his breath as they raced by royal guards, the queen’s steward, Wah, and a shocked chamberlain who tried to announce
     them. He finally drew even with Ay as the older man threw open the doors to his daughter’s reception hall. They halted on
     the threshold, stunned.
    Surrounded by servants and priests, standing in a shaft of light shining through one of the high windows, Nefertiti turned
     to face them. Ordinarily her appearance was startling because of her beauty—those enormous eyes, fragile jaw, and hollow cheeks,
     that long and graceful neck mirrored in even more elegant legs. But what brought them to a standstill was the crown she wore—the
     double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, the crown of a king.
    Meren glanced at Ay. The older man’s hands were clenched at his sides as he stared at the sight. Upon Nefertiti’s brow rested
     the red crown of Lower Egypt, wide and flaring out to hold the inner white crown of Upper Egypt. Ay made some kind of sound
     only Meren heard, then walked up to his daughter. With a jerky motion of his hand he dismissed the attendants and priests
     standing around the queen. Nefertiti hadn’t spoken. She swallowed hard, lifted the crowns from her head,and set them in a
     box held by her chief priest, Thanuro. He hesitated, as if he was considering staying, but Meren jerked his head toward the
     door, and the priest left. In moments they were alone with the great royal wife of Akhenaten.
    Ay stared into her eyes and hissed. “Set and Anubis protect us. Are you mad?”
    “Do you think this is my idea?” Nefertiti retorted, her voice rising. She pressed her lips together as if to suppress the
     violence of her emotions.

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