Read The Twelfth Transforming for Free Online

little cabin. Horemheb gave an order, and the hangings were lowered. Si-Mut began to chant, the incense rose, and the soldiers took up their positions along the railing. Oars were run out. The timekeeper began to shout his rhythm, and the barge with its little blue and white pennants moved lightly away from the steps and across the lake, heading for the canal and the freedom of the river.
    As the boat dwindled from sight, Tiye clutched the fly whisk tightly, wanting to slash it across her niece’s flowerlike little face, but instead plying it vigorously against her own legs. Before the girl could edge away, she made a quick decision. “Nefertiti, you will have your belongings packed and moved into my palace as soon as possible,” she snapped. “Leave your staff with your father, or send them all to Akhmin, or sell them, I don’t care. I will provide servants for you. It is time you learned how to behave like a wife, not a simpering concubine.”
    “I am neither yet, Majesty Aunt,” Nefertiti replied, uncowed. “Amunhotep kissed me. I did not kiss him.”
    “You know very well that you should have taken a step back and gone down on one knee to show that you were both honored by his attention and embarrassed by his public display. What is the matter with you?” And what is the matter with me? she demanded of herself. Why am I so annoyed at this tiny slip on the part of my son, who is today surely filled with an exultation that must be hard to repress? Am I afraid that my influence over Amunhotep will be weakened now that he is no longer wholly dependent on me for affection? She managed a cold smile to Nefertiti and felt the jealousy fade.
    “I know what I should have done,” Nefertiti replied half-defiantly, half-apologetically, “but my cousin took me by surprise. It was a gesture of great favor, and I am honored.”
    The priests had moved to the edge of the lake, and Si-Mut was throwing flowers upon the water as the crowd began to disperse. Mutnodjme had come up to Tiye and was listening to the exchange with interest.
    “So you should be,” Tiye said grudgingly. “We will forget it. You might as well begin to assume some of the responsibilities of a princess, Nefertiti. Envoys from this upstart Khatti prince arrived yesterday, and tonight Pharaoh is giving them a taste of Egyptian hospitality. You are all expected to attend. It is a pity Tey is still at Akhmin. I want to see her.”
    “Mother cannot bear Thebes in the summer, Majesty Aunt,” Mutnodjme broke in. “She only feels at home on the old family estates. But I shall be there. May Nefertiti and I be dismissed?”
    Tiye nodded, and both girls bowed. Mutnodjme’s whip cracked over the heads of the drowsy dwarfs, and they jumped to their feet with squeals of wrath. Running one hennaed palm over her shaven head and tossing her ribboned youth lock over her shoulder, she made off in the direction of Ay’s barge, moored under the sycamores at the far end of the water steps. Nefertiti beckoned to her train of women and followed. Tiye, turning back to the palace with an inaudible sigh, noted that the pillar that had sheltered the silent bulk of her husband was empty.
    The excitement caused by Amunhotep’s departure was soon overshadowed by the arrival of Princess Tadukhipa. The river had by now deepened and was flowing swiftly, tugging at its banks like an unruly horse, and though it had not yet begun to spill over onto the parched fields, the thorny acacias whose roots overhung the bank were already tinged with a green flush. The air had thickened but was no cooler. Breathing required an almost conscious effort, and every task was defeated by the enervating atmosphere. Sickness had broken out in the harem among the children.
    Tiye watched the princess’s disembarkation seated on her ebony throne, beside her husband. Though her canopy shed a thin shade and scarlet ostrich fans moved ceaselessly over her, Tiye’s linens were drenched in sweat, and the pink